by John Coy
“’Allo,” Mackenzie answers sleepily in French.
“Kenz, Kenz, it’s me. I made varsity. I thought I’d make it next year, but it’s now. For tonight’s game.”
“Awesome.”
“I wish you could be here to see it.” Liam paces in front of his locker.
“I do, too. I’ll send good vibes to you in my dreams. Play well for me.”
“You know I will.”
“Bow your heads.” Coach Kloss kneels on the smooth bench of the boys’ locker room.
Liam lowers his head and admires the shiny number forty-three and the H in a shield of his new uniform. This is the first time this uniform has been worn. His Nikes tap the double-time beat of pre-game nervousness.
Coach closes his eyes. “Lord, help us to play strong. Help us to do Your work as we take the floor with strong hearts, strong bodies, and strong minds.”
Liam folds his hands. Coach G never prayed like this on JV. Varsity feels so different already. He glances up and catches the eye of Darius Berry, the sophomore shooting guard, who transferred this year from Milwaukee.
“Let us all join in the prayer You taught us,” Coach continues.
“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.” Liam’s voice blends with the others, but Darius is silent. He holds his hands behind his back and stares straight ahead. “Deliver us from evil.” Liam’s set to add amen, but the prayer continues.
“For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.” It’s the Protestant version with the extra words that he’s not used to.
“Let’s get a win.”
Copyright
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
Copyright © 2005 by John Coy. All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
E-ISBN: 978-0-545-23001-8