A Deal With God: The Power of One (2 page)

The coaches emphasized taking the initiative and being a catalyst. The coaches did not believe in star players. When one player took the lead by forcing a turnover or making a big play to set up a goal by giving extra effort, the other girls were expected to do the same.

Instead of losing 5–1, the losses were becoming more like 4–3. As they learned to play better team defense the scores became 2–2 and 1–1. Teams that used to beat them badly now were struggling to beat them.

The following season, all of the hard work started paying dividends. What used to be close losses were now ties and close victories. Eight wins, two losses and four ties earned a division championship. Winning a division championship earned them the opportunity to play for the State Championship.

Properly named, the state championship tournament is called the “State Cup.” The top teams play against each other. When it’s down to the final sixteen teams it becomes a single elimination tournament.

Deana’s Tampa team won its first four games and they were now in the final four. A fringe benefit for the girls was that the end of this tournament was played in Cocoa Beach. The girls enjoyed a nice little road trip. They knew they were long shots to win the championship, but just being there was exciting in its own right.

The first game was against Southside. One of the players on Southside was the daughter of a popular professional football player. There was actually a member of the national media at the game.

The Southside team was the fastest team in the tournament. Southside was a team that could easily beat you 7–0 if you did not bring your best effort. Southside scored within the first four minutes. They scored again before the half. Tampa was down 2–0 and it was an intense talk at halftime.

The head coach told them they needed to play with even more heart and passion than they did in the first half. He led a prayer for the strength to dig down deep into their hearts. Every girl had to play to 100 percent of her potential.

In the second half, Southside’s defense stole the ball from Tampa and chipped the ball high to their best midfielder. Deana played defensive midfield and had done a really nice job defending this girl so far. In the first half, the girl had tried to overpower Deana. At the time, Deana was almost 5’4, 155 pounds and solid as a rock. The Southside girl had been unsuccessful; Deana was too strong.

Deana figured this time the girl would try something different. Deana was afraid of the girl going wide on her and beating Deana with her speed. So Deana spread her cleats wide to take that away. Deana wanted to bait and dare the girl to try to go thru Deana’s legs with the ball.

Dribbling the soccer ball between an opponent’s legs is called a “meg.” It helps an offensive player get from point “A” to point “B” as quick as possible. But, you have to execute it correctly.

Sure enough, the Southside player went for the “meg” and as she did Deana buckled her right leg making a literal bar out of it. This technique traps the ball to the defender as the dribbler runs past having lost possession.

Eighteen girls on the field went the direction of the girl they thought had the ball. The Tampa left winger Meghan went the other way as did Deana with the ball. Deana had a clear path to the goal on the right side as she dribbled around a lone Southside defender. The Southside goalie now had to challenge Deana because Deana was raising her leg to shoot. Deana stared at the right post and the goalie dove that way.

Instead of shooting, Deana passed the ball left. Meghan had stayed onside so she was in a trailing position. The pass was a bit out in front of Meghan but Deana had sold the fake so brilliantly, Meghan could have walked the ball into the goal. Meghan scored and the Southside lead was cut to 2–1.

Tampa now had the momentum and felt they could beat Southside if they could somehow score the next goal. You could see how motivated Tampa was by the increased tempo of the game. There were no more smiles on any players’ faces, just serious and focused expressions. There were good shots by both teams and good saves by both goalies.

One of the shots by Tampa was really hard and fast and the Southside goalie did not think she could catch the ball cleanly. She decided to punch the ball out into the field as hard as she could to clear the ball out of the defensive zone. The ball went past Tampa’s offense and Southside’s defense. The ball landed between the top of the eighteen yard box and the midfield line.

Tampa’s smallest midfielder, Alexa, was also one of Tampa’s fastest players. She was the anchor on her high school track team. She sped to the ball, which was still bouncing. She got her foot up under the ball and kicked it as hard as she could. The ball whizzed rapidly past a Southside player’s ear. By the time the goalie tried to make a play on the ball it was already heading into the back of the net. Tampa 2, Southside 2.

The game ended tied 2–2. At that time they played “Golden Goal.” Basically, the girls have an extra 30 minutes to play until someone scores. If no one scores they do a shootout.

The overtime seemed to last forever. Then, a Southside player made a hand ball infraction inside their own defensive eighteen yard box. Tampa was awarded a penalty kick and they scored off of it. Tampa 3, Southside 2.

Later that afternoon they had to play in the finals. They were going up against a team from Jacksonville. Jacksonville was ranked 7th in the country. Tampa lost 4–1, but finishing 2nd out of thirty–eight teams in Division One was outstanding. Each girl received a large trophy. Deana said it was the first time she’d ever received any kind of accolade other than Honor Roll at school.

She was now sixteen and good enough to make her high school Varsity team. Even though she was only a sophomore, she started every game and played every minute. The high school team lost most of their games, but Deana earned the respect of every team she played. She had the reputation for being a fierce competitor. Her coaches to this day remember the huge effort she always gave.

As Deana approached age seventeen, the Wilsons were now approaching their upper sixties. The orphanage was down to four boys, plus Tammy and Deana. Deana was afraid the Wilsons would have to close the orphanage if it got to be too much work for them to handle. Deana took on even more responsibilities to make things easier for the Wilsons.

With the help of Mrs. Wilson, Deana was becoming an above average cook. She also had a penchant for dealing with and mentoring her foster brothers. Mr. Wilson had an amazing ability to reconcile any differences that arose among the boys. He had a natural way with children, even ones with difficult personalities. Mr. Wilson was the master of using positive rewards and incentives to motivate the kids.

Deana also seemed to have natural parenting skills, much of which she learned from the Wilsons. Being an orphan herself, she wanted to one day adopt children of her own and be an excellent mother.

Deana earned very high grades in high school and qualified for a substantial amount of grant, aid and scholarship money for college. She figured if she could handle a job working twenty to thirty hours a week and still keep her grades up, she could get thru college with very little debt when she graduated.

Deana stayed in Tampa to go to college. She attended The University of South Florida. Her grant money covered most of her tuition, dorm expenses and the school food program.

She got a job waiting tables at a local full service Italian restaurant. She went to class from 9am to 3:30, and then worked from 4:30 to 9:30. Waiting tables wasn’t exactly Deana’s passion. She’d have to lug heavy trays and clean up big messes. Nonetheless, living at the orphanage had prepared her well for this job. She was, in her own right, a very good waitress.

Unfortunately for Deana, she seldom had the free time enjoyed by most teenage girls. When she was done with work or had a day off she would study to keep her grades high so the grant and aid money would keep coming in. Despite her difficult schedule, she never complained or felt sorry for herself.

Deana graduated college April, 2011. She got her Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration. She got a job at a finance company that made loans to families and small businesses. Her company also did mortgage loans. Handling the mortgage loans was her preference, but she would need more experience and training to advance in her career.

On June 4th 2012, a husband and wife were scheduled to come to the office where Deana worked to fill out an application for a small home improvement loan. They called to say they were running late. They didn’t get to the office until 8:20 pm. By the time the loan was approved and the paperwork finished, it was well after 10 o’clock. Deana got in her Dodge Stratus intending to drive home to her apartment so she could enjoy a long overdue dinner.

She was driving north on Dale Mabry Highway, having just passed the Busch Boulevard overpass. A drunk driver going southbound jumped the median and went into Deana’s car head on. Deana was knocked unconscious and into a coma that would last over eleven weeks.

Late in the evening of August 21st Deana was in the intensive care unit at a Tampa hospital. Over the weeks since she’d been brought in, she’d seemed to be improving.

It was shocking to the Intensive Care Unit nurse when the machine monitoring Deana’s vital signs suddenly flat lined.

Deana felt her body floating thru a huge tunnel with a dazzling yellow light in the distance.

Deana was heartbroken, shaken and panic stricken. She screamed at the top of her lungs: “Lord please don’t take me yet. I have worked so hard to turn my life around. Please give me one more chance. I will do anything, I mean anything if you will send me back.”

“Deana Murphy,” God said, “I will send you back but there will be strict parameters.”

“You will move permanently to Dothan, Georgia.”

“A realty man named McGee will rent to you and watch out for you.”

“His niece Delores will help you find work.”

“You are to become the new matriarch of the Samuels’ family. The father Leon is a good man.”

“You are to meet the Samuels this November 4th, at Dothan Christian Church.”

“On April 20, 2020, the middle son Mark will be harmed at his school. You must prevent this. Tell no one of this deal. Do your best, you have my blessing.”

When Deana had flat lined the ICU nurse summoned the emergency room doctor and performed CPR. Within 20 seconds the doctor rushed to Deana’s bed. Deana’s vital signs returned to normal.

In a loud, firm voice Deana said the word: “DEAL!”

CHAPTER 3
LEAVING TAMPA

“Happy Birthday Miss Murphy,” the emergency room doctor said to Deana, as he was reading her chart. “Well Happy Birthday in about six more minutes.” It was 11:54pm.

“But doctor, it won’t be my birthday for two and a half more months.”

“Well, Miss Murphy, here’s the story. The night you came in was June 4th. You’ve been in a coma for over eleven weeks. In a few minutes it will be August 22nd.”

“You must be kidding.” However, as Deana looked around the intensive care ward she realized it was no joke.

“How do you pronounce your first name Miss Murphy?” The doctor asked politely.

“DEE–nuh, with only two syllables. The first ‘a’ is silent.” As Deana responded to the doctor she had been looking around for a mirror. She saw her reflection in a glass and something did not look right. “How bad and how permanent are my injuries? May I have a mirror to see my face?”

The doctor paused before replying. “Your head injuries are minor and you seem to have no brain trauma, so you should end up being fine. During your eleven week coma, your broken bones healed and our emergency room doctor and his ophthalmologist colleague Dr. Roberts did an amazing job saving your eyes. You’re very lucky, Deana. The night you came in on June 4th, glass from your windshield was embedded in your eyes. Usually when patients come into the emergency room like you did, the main objective is to stabilize you only. But in your case the doctor was afraid of permanent blindness if the glass was not removed immediately. Your vision seems fine and your eyes look beautiful. Are you seeing everything clearly Deana?”

“As long as I keep from crying, my vision seems normal. But my nose and chin look strange.”

The nurse had given Deana a mirror.

“Your chin and nose can be corrected with simple procedures. The damage to your chest can also be repaired. They do amazing things with cosmetic surgery after your kind of accident.”

Deana reached down to her breasts and started to cry. There wasn’t much left under the bandages.

“Honest Deana, the damage can be fixed. Look at it this way, the insurance company has a financial incentive to bring in the very best reconstructive specialists. If you take them to court and show permanent disfigurement to the jury, you’ll receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation. They don’t want to pay that kind of money. By making you look good they can pay you a much smaller settlement. I can have someone help you find which insurance agent to deal with. The important thing now is getting you well.”

The next day was one MRI after another. The hospital’s doctors wanted to confirm there was no brain damage. She was even given a CT scan.

Deana appeared alert, coherent, and sharp. She was, however, having trouble walking. The healing process would require extensive physical therapy. Deana thought to herself, I have to regain my strength, get three surgeries and be in Dothan by November 4th. I’m understanding the gist of strict parameters.

She asked to talk to the doctor to figure out a game plan. Dr. James was the doctor from the previous night and Deana felt comfortable talking to him.

When Dr. James came to her bedside he sought to boost Deana’s spirits, “Your dark brown hair has grown three or four inches since you first got here. It looks really flattering with your complexion and green eyes. Also, they’ve scheduled your cosmetic surgery for next Tuesday. Between now and then we need to get you walking, even if it’s with crutches.”

“Thank for the compliment, Dr. James. I’m grateful for all you’ve done for me. I’ve been doing some thinking and before we map out my rehab schedule I should let you know I’m moving to Georgia. I have to be there the 1st week of November, if not sooner. My entire future depends on this move.”