Men, Women & Children (28 page)

chapter

twenty-four

T
he second half began with a forty-six-yard kickoff return by the Culler Cougars and a subsequent touchdown and extra point after a drive of three rushing plays, making the score seventeen-seven in their favor. Coach Quinn could feel the head-coaching job slipping away from him. On the sideline he said, “We have to win this game. We have no other option. They have a good defense and a good offense, so we’re just going to have to be better. Hit your blocks and let’s make some plays out there.”

Danny Vance led the Olympians on a thirteen-play scoring drive of his own, culminating in a screen pass to Tanner Hodge for the touchdown and bringing the score to seventeen to fourteen. His thoughts of having sex with Brooke Benton had subsided to some degree, and he found it much easier to concentrate on the task at hand. The next kickoff was dropped by the Cougars’ returner and recovered by the Olympians on the thirty-five-yard line. Coach Quinn said, “That’s a gift from God, boys. Let’s not waste it.”

Danny Vance led the Olympians to another touchdown after eight plays, this scoring drive culminating in a pass over the middle to Chris Truby, making the score twenty-one to seventeen in favor of the Olympians. The score remained the same for the remainder of the third quarter and well into the fourth.

With three minutes left on the clock, the Olympians were forced to punt. Jeremy Kelms, assuming that he might have been one of the players Coach Quinn was referring to in his pregame speech, exerted himself to his fullest capacity as he kicked a thirty-eight-yard punt that put the Cougars on their own fourteen-yard line.

Coach Quinn gathered the defense before they took the field and said, “This is it. The game—hell, the entire season—is riding on your shoulders right now. You stop them, we win, we go to the playoffs. You don’t, we don’t. So don’t let me down.” He sent them onto the field and thought to himself how absurd it was that his professional future depended on the performance of a group of eleven thirteen-year-old children. He had no control in the matter.

After two successful three-play drives for first downs, the Culler Cougars found themselves on the fifty-yard line with one minute and twelve seconds left of play. Three rushing plays later, they were faced with fourth down and eight yards to go, with forty-eight seconds of play left in the game. Culler’s coach knew that a punt was pointless. He used the last of his time-outs and brought his offense to the sideline. He gave his players a speech very similar to Coach Quinn’s pregame speech, citing the fact that many of his players would not play in high school and this might very well be their last chance to do something meaningful on an organized level. He explained what they already knew: that without at least a first down, the game and their season would be over. He insisted that their best plan of attack was a run directly up the middle. It would be unexpected, as they had eight yards to gain for a first down. It was likely that the other team would spread the defense somewhat, in order to protect against a pass, and as long as the offensive line hit their blocks, the play should be successful.

The play was run just as Culler’s coach had instructed, and the Olympians’ defense was spread out just as he predicted. His offensive line hit their blocks just as they were asked to do, and the Culler Cougars’ fullback had an open hole straight up the middle, directly to Bill Francis, the middle linebacker. For Bill, the play happened in slow motion, each second storing itself in his memory forever. He would remember the images, smells, tastes, and sounds of the next five seconds for the rest of his life.

The Cougars’ fullback ran through the hole in the line and made no effort to sidestep, or spin, or in any way avoid Bill Francis. He lowered his head, tucked the football under his arm, and ran as hard as he could directly toward Bill Francis, who leaned back on his heels out of fear for the impact he could see coming. The Cougars’ fullback planted his helmet squarely in the chest of Bill Francis, who made an awkward attempt to tackle him but failed. Instead, Bill Francis found himself lying on his back, wheezing from having the wind knocked out of him, as he watched the Cougars’ fullback run unobstructed fifty yards down field and score a touchdown.

In the stands, Don Truby said, “Tim would have stopped him.”

Kent Mooney said, “I know. I know.”

The Cougars scored their extra point, bringing the score to twenty-four to twenty-one in their favor. The Olympians kicked off to Tanner Hodge, who returned the ball to the thirty-four-yard line with twenty-six seconds left in the game. Danny Vance gathered himself and led the Olympians back on the field for their final offensive attempt. He knew they likely had enough time for three plays, which had to result in a touchdown. A field goal would result in a tie, which would put their overall record at six wins, two losses, and one tie. This was an identical record to the Pound Squires, who had a higher points-per-game average than the Olympians, a factor that would determine which team would receive a playoff berth.

The first play of the drive was a thirteen-yard pass completion to Chris Truby for a first down, leaving twenty seconds on the clock. The second play was a pitch to Tanner Hodge, resulting in a seventeen-yard gain, leaving twelve seconds on the clock. The third play was another pitch to Tanner Hodge, resulting in a gain of twelve yards and leaving five seconds on the clock. Coach Quinn called his final time-out of the game and brought his team to the sideline. His team needed twenty-four yards for a touchdown, and they had one play left. He had become used to the idea that the outcome of this game—and, consequently, his career—was out of his control. He looked to Danny Vance and said, “Danny, this is your moment. You’ve grown a lot this season, and I think you know better than anyone on this field what play is going to get us in that end zone. I believe in each and every one of you guys, and your season comes down to the next five seconds. Okay, now, Olympians on three. One, two, three—Olympians!”

Danny jogged back onto the field and into the huddle. He saw Brooke on the sidelines cheering, her position slightly exposing her buttocks. He thought briefly about winning the game and then celebrating by having sex with his cheerleader girlfriend. He felt no more ready, psychologically or emotionally, to have sex than he had at the beginning of the season, but the idea of sex as a trophy for his victory was alluring. He assumed the Cougars would be playing a deep-pass prevention defense, so he called an X flat left, a pass play designed to be thrown to a receiver approximately eight to ten yards from the line of scrimmage in order to gain a first down.

Chris Truby said, “But we need to score a fucking touchdown here, man.”

Danny said, “We need to get twenty-four yards down the field to do that. If they’re going to give us the first ten, I say we take it. I’ll put the pass right in your numbers, Chris. No one will be near you. Catch it and run your ass off.”

Chris said, “Thanks, Coach.”

They broke from the huddle and approached the line of scrimmage. Danny initiated the play, and everything unfolded before him just as he had assumed it would. The Cougars were backed up to protect against the deep pass, allowing Chris to slip into the flat with no one covering him. Danny threw him the perfect pass he had promised, and Chris caught it. Chris turned to run upfield and saw that he had to beat only two defenders; the rest had been so spread out that they had no chance of getting to him before he reached the end zone. He employed a spin move to avoid the first defender, and as he approached the second defender, he attempted a head fake. But he was unsuccessful in duping the free safety, and he was tackled on the eight-yard line with no time left on the clock.

Danny Vance looked at Brooke Benton on the sideline. She was frowning in a display of sympathy for Danny. He stayed on the field longer than necessary, staring at the scoreboard, slowly accepting the fact that his season was over and his freshman year in high school would be more difficult than he expected or wanted in terms of winning the starting quarterback position on the junior varsity team.

He thought about all the decisions that led to that moment—decisions made by both him and Coach Quinn. He wondered whether, if he had not gone against Coach Quinn’s early desire to run the ball so much, it would have made a difference. He came to no conclusion. Once all the other players had left the field, Coach Quinn said, “Danny, come on,” and Danny joined the rest of his team as they made their way into the field house.

Coach Quinn had no interest in coaching eighth-grade football at Goodrich Junior High School for another year, but that was beyond his control. As his team gathered around him in the field house, he said, “Guys, you played hard. That’s all I asked of you, and you gave me that. Sometimes in life things just don’t work out the way they’re supposed to, and you have to learn from that, pick yourself up, and give it another shot. Those of you who go on to play high school football: Remember tonight and become stronger from it. Those of you who just played your last organized football game: You should remember this night, too. Remember that, for one night, you put it all on the line and gave your best effort for something. That’s an important thing, an important moment in your life, and even though we didn’t get the win tonight, you guys should all be proud of a great season and a great last game. Olympians on three.”

They all put their hands together in the middle of the field house and the words rang hollow to Danny Vance as Coach Quinn said, “One, two, three—Olympians!” He hung his shoulder pads in his locker next to his helmet, knowing that he would not wear them again that year. His next set of shoulder pads and his next helmet would be issued to him by the North East High School equipment manager. It was over.

On the drive back home, Jim Vance told his son many of the same things Coach Quinn had told him in the field house: to be proud of his effort, to realize that something was to be learned from the experience, and to know that he had played well. Danny wondered if he could have played better, if he could have led a scoring drive in the second quarter had he not been preoccupied with thinking about Brooke and having sex with her. He reasoned that he might have been able to win the game. Jim said, “You know, if anyone is to blame, it’s that Bill Francis kid. Jesus, what kind of tackle was that supposed to be? He was sitting back on his heels, not moving into the tackle at all. It looked like he was scared out of his mind. You can’t beat yourself up.”

Danny said, “I know,” and thought about Brooke.

C
hris rode home with his father, who attempted to convince him that he’d done everything correctly. There just wasn’t enough time to win the game. Chris said, “Dad, it’s cool. It’s not that big a deal. Seriously.” Chris didn’t care about the game. His thoughts had already refocused on how he could take advantage of the belief, now held by his entire class, that he was no longer a virgin. He wondered if it would make it easier for him to find a girl willing to engage in some of the stranger sexual acts he found himself interested in. If not at Goodrich, Chris thought, certainly once he got to high school he would be able to find at least one girl who had similar sexual tastes, and who had seen enough Internet pornography to know how to indulge them with some proficiency. Football was the last thing on his mind.

His phone vibrated and he saw that Hannah Clint had sent him a text message. He was surprised to be hearing from her at all. The message read, “Hey, know anything about websites? I’ll make it worth your while. We can do whatever you want.”

A
cross town, Chris’s mother, Rachel Truby, found herself licking Secretluvur’s anus as she stroked his penis. She had never been commanded to do anything similar by any of her sexual partners, and she found it enjoyable. She knew that her son’s final game of the regular season was happening simultaneously, but she found it difficult to care. She had no regrets about missing the game in order to meet up with Secretluvur, and she wondered briefly if this made her a bad mother.

As Secretluvur ejaculated all over her face and hand, she thought less about her son and about her husband. They were becoming increasingly ghostlike to her. In the bathroom of the hotel room, Rachel cleaned Secretluvur’s semen from her hand and face. She knew she didn’t want a divorce. It would be far more trouble than it would be worth. Chris would be eighteen soon enough. She assumed he would go to college. She hoped it would be out of state. In the past month or so it seemed that Don’s attempts to have sex with her had diminished. Rachel knew he was a decent husband and pleasant enough to be around. As long as their relationship could exist without a sexual component, Rachel could see herself staying married to Don for the rest of her life. She would even have sex with him a few times a year. That seemed a small price to pay to avoid the turmoil of a divorce, of moving to another house, of trying to find another man. Rachel knew that logically she didn’t need a man in her life in the capacity of a husband, but she had become used to it, and she had to admit that she would feel like something of a failure if she were to get a divorce.

She turned off the light in the bathroom and went back to Secretluvur, who was sleeping in the bed. She ran her fingers though the coarse hair on his chest, and for the first time she wondered why her husband’s attempts to have sex with her had subsided. She wondered if he had simply given up, or if perhaps he had found a sexual release outside of their marriage, as she had. She reasoned that the latter was far more likely, and she found that she didn’t care. She knew that she would never ask him if this was the case, and as long as he was good about being secretive, she couldn’t fault him for doing the same thing she was. This was the last thought that went through Rachel Truby’s mind as she fell asleep on Secretluvur’s chest with the faint smell of his semen and anus still in her nose.