On the punt, Ty ran forward. I hadn’t watched the ball and assumed that it was short. McHenry must have thought the same because they closed in to cover the kick. Then I caught sight of the ball: it was hooking right towards Ed. The punting unit discovered their mistake and tried to recover. Then two things happened at once. First, they were on sketchy footing, and several of them slipped and fell when they tried to cut back. Second, our defenders had set up to return the ball to Ed’s side of the field. When the McHenry players turned around, they were cut down.
Ed only had to evade the kicker, who’d known where the ball was going, and he did that with ease. We added the two-point conversion and were now up 22–6.
On the ensuing onside kick, we recovered it. I huddled the troops up.
“We’re going to end this,” I said and paused to make sure everyone was paying attention. “I’m going to run the naked bootleg again, but this time, Roc, you get open.”
“Down! Set! Hut, HUT!”
I faked the ball to Ty and ran towards Roc. This time, the defensive back covering him decided to force me inside so his defense could catch me for only a short gain. Apparently, at halftime, they’d concluded that no one could throw in this wind. That might be true if you didn’t have my arm strength. I ripped a rifle shot to Roc and watched as it only moved a little off-center. Roc looked the ball into his hands and turned upfield. Just like that, we were up 30–6.
At that point, McHenry conceded and agreed to allow the ref to just run the clock. We both put in our backups and let them play out the rest of the game. About ten minutes into that, I thought I might freeze body parts off. When you quit running around, you discovered how cold it really was.
I don’t think Coach Hope appreciated us filling up a water cooler with snow and dumping it on him when we won. But that didn’t matter, I was ready to get to the State Championship game.
◊◊◊ Sunday November 20
I was awakened when my bed moved. It was Tracy crawling into bed with me. I glanced over at my clock and saw it was two in the morning.
“Just hold me,” she ordered.
I rolled over on my side and took her into my arms. She didn’t say anything else, so I just went back to sleep.
◊◊◊
I woke and found Tracy smiling at me. She’d used one of my t-shirts as a nightshirt. I mentally shook my head, knowing I would never see it again. It was one of my favorites, one I’d gotten on my trip to Japan. I wondered if I might trick her into taking a different one.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“I’m feeling a little unsteady. You leave at the end of the week, and I’m off to college at the first of the year. I guess I’m worried that I won’t see my friends enough. I’m sorry if this is a problem,” she said as she teared up.
Wrapping my arms around her, I pulled her into a hug, and that caused the waterworks to start. I just held her as she let it all out. There were times when I forgot how vulnerable she was. Tracy seemed to be so in control most of the time. I hated what Bill Rogers had done to her and how it changed the confident woman she should be.
Part of the problem seemed to be that she didn’t think we would still spend time with each other. I’d recently turned her down when she asked me to help her with her food video blogs reviewing desserts at local restaurants. Uncle John had taught me that I needed to be able to say ‘no.’ I wondered if I should change my mind. My volunteering my girlfriend might not have been the right thing to do.
“We will always be friends,” I assured her.
“It’s just … I don’t know,” Tracy said as she realized she was about to say something I would make fun of her about. She looked me in the eyes. “I don’t even know where you plan to go to college.”
Tracy had been after me to decide so she could figure out where she would go to school. I’d thought she was going to USC, with Pam just down the road at Pepperdine.
“I’ll make you a promise. If you go to USC, I promise it’ll be in my top two. Besides, I have a house there, and I’m sure I’ll be out west for movies and other stuff.”
She laid her head on my shoulder.
“Thank you, I appreciate that. I want you to go to the school that’s best for you, not where I plan to go. I won’t hold you to that promise. If USC isn’t a fit, don’t go there.”
We fell silent, and then Tracy giggled. I looked down, and she was looking at the tent Mr. Happy had made with the covers.
“I should really take advantage of that,” she suggested.
My first thought was, ‘Yes, you should.’ Instead, I rolled out of bed and gave her a little show as I swaggered to the bathroom to take my shower. When I came out, Tracy was gone—along with my t-shirt.
