Chapter 46: Cutting an Onion

Jason lived up to his promise in the second half. He not only recorded two more sacks, but on the last one, stripped the football and then managed to recover the bouncing ball and run it in for a touchdown. Everyone on the defense was patting his helmet when he walked over to the sideline still carrying the football.

"Take it easy," Coach Grisham told him. "There are only two minutes left in the game. We'll let the backups play."

I walked over to the benches. Jason followed me. He grabbed a couple of water bottles from one of the team's volunteer trainers and sat down on the end of one of the benches.

I stopped and stood next to the bench. "Why aren't you sitting?" Jason asked.

"I'm afraid that if I sat down, I'd need help to stand back up," I replied with a smile.

"Who cares?" Jason asked. "You have three cheerleaders willing to pull you to your feet."

"Why cause trouble?" I asked.

Jason laughed but said no more. We watched the rest of the game in silence, enjoying the break. Jason did look back to wave to Leticia more than once, earning him a dirty look from Coach Durant.

Finally the game came to an ended. We headed to midfield for the final handshakes. When we turned back to the sideline the crowd came to its feet. They cheered as Coach Grisham led us toward the locker room underneath the bleachers.

Jason moved so that he was following Claus and standing in the middle of the group. I drifted to the left. Ashley and Letty both came by to shake their pom poms in my face as I crossed the track. Their antics brought a smile to my face.

I was about to enter the tunnel when I heard a shout. "Mark!" from above me. I stopped and could see Lenore leaning over the railing. She was holding out a backpack.

The instant she saw she had my attention she dropped the backpack. "Your costumes!" she shouted. "You forgot them this morning."

"Dare I ask what they are?" I called up as I caught the backpack.

"You'll have no complaints," Lenore said with a giggle. She had a smirk on her face.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. "We should head in," Coach Durant told me.

I allowed Coach Durant to push me forward. Once again I could hear Miss Kirke calling out for Jason. My friend had already disappeared into the locker room.

"What is up with Miss Kirke?" Coach Durant asked me.

"She tried to take advantage of Jason," I said. "Unfortunately, her real attitude has been discovered."

"I'm sure there is a reason," Coach Durant said. "Finding someone with a good CAP who is willing to show some patience is rare."

"You've had trouble?" I asked.

Coach Durant sighed. "I have a five point nine. My wife is a five point two. Neither of us can go and we have three children under the age of eight. My wife could try to get picked up, but she doesn't want to leave me. We've talked about it, but haven't been able to find a solution."

"Unless you find someone with a high CAP willing to take both of you," I said with a nod as we entered the tunnel.

"I won't ask," Coach Durant said.

"I don't have the ability to take two more," I said. "I have two ladies I've already promised to take, and another who hasn't tested yet because she doesn't turn fourteen until December."

"She could get a six point five," Coach Durant said hopefully.

"She would be mortified if she did," I responded. "The idea of fighting and killing upsets her. So she doesn't want a high score."

"Some people are like that?" Coach Durant asked.

"Not everyone wants to fight. But that isn't a bad thing. I was reading about the rise of Rome," I started to answer.

"How does Rome relate to now? Rome was in the days where we were barely using Iron to make weapons," Coach Durant asked loudly.

The locker room was instantly quiet. I glanced up and could see everyone staring at me. "He had to be loud," I muttered with a shake of my head.

I turned to look directly at Coach Durant and spoke firmly. "One thing I learned with all my studying is that there are some parallels between today's situation and situations from the past. Rome is interesting in part because a huge part of the Fall of Rome was due to them using more and more mercenaries because they couldn't find enough warriors in their own population. And what I was talking about was a change to their culture. While Rome was rising young men from their cities were expected to join the military and would be told by their family, 'come home carrying your shield or on it.' It was a powerful motivation for the men of that time. The current system has the potential to remind the humans who do head to the stars of something similar. They will have companions they have to return home to. Ones who I'm sure will remind their warriors that they must win each fight for. I know that I feel that way for Ashley and Lenore. I won't be fighting for the aliens, but for them."

"Just like I will for Letty," Jason called out. "I've never met an alien, but I'll happily fight to protect the woman I love."

"I thought you got to bring them along as a baby factory," Martin Pasquel called out.

"Officially you do," I replied. "But I never agreed with that idea. If all you consider them is a simple baby factory you are missing out on a whole lot that is important to people. That's a huge part of why Jason and I have looked to find people before we get picked up."

"My sister is not people!" Jason shouted. I was making my way over to him. He noticed the bag I was carrying as I walked over to our lockers. "What's that?"

"Our costumes for tonight's dance," I said. "But we should shower before we pull them out."

"What did the girls decide on?" Jason asked. "I can't remember."

"I'll worry about it after the shower," I said as I put the bag into my locker. I began working on removing my uniform as Coach Grisham called for quiet.

"I know you have a dance to want to run to," Coach Grisham began.

"Run to? I'll be lucky to walk," Lucas shouted. "You only had Mark in there for a couple of series."

"I thought you didn't enjoy playing with him," Coach Grisham stated. "You certainly displayed a lot of animosity in practice."

"I enjoy standing up and being able to finish plays more," Lucas said.

"Besides who cares what Cunnie thinks," Jason shouted. "It's not like she would really put out for a member of the junior varsity."

"Exactly ... wait ... What!" Lucas responded.

The rest of the team laughed. Coach Grisham loudly cleared his throat, bringing silence to the room.

"If I might continue," Coach Grisham growled. He waited for a moment and then nodded. "I just wanted to congratulate all of you on a solid win. We have just one more game in the junior varsity season and then we'll be done as there are no playoffs at our level. We are the top junior varsity team in the state, so I expect everyone to be ready for practice Monday. Beyond that, shower up and go have fun. You've all earned it."

The team began cheering. A lot of chanting of "We're number one!" could be heard as I struggled out of my uniform and pads. I ended up being one of the first to grab a towel and head over to the showers.

I was rinsing off soap when Lucas walked into the tiled area that limited the flow of water from the showers. He looked over at me and shrugged. "Thanks for what you did during the game."

"I was doing my best for the team," I replied.

"I wouldn't have blamed you if you had allowed me to be sacked. I haven't treated you all that well," Lucas added.

I just shrugged as I reached out to turn off the shower I was standing under. "I play for the team. Allowing the other team to sack you would have hurt the team, so I wasn't going to do that."

"Perhaps that's why you got the CAP score you do," I heard someone whisper as I walked out of the shower.

I grabbed a towel to wrap around my waist as I strode through the locker room. A couple of my teammates slapped me on the shoulder as I passed. When I arrived back at my locker and sat down I heard Jason shout. "I'll be there in a second. I want to see our costumes."

I opened the bag. At first I wasn't sure what I was looking at. Everything I could see appeared to be tan colored. I reached in and pulled out a khaki vest that was covered in pockets and pouches. I looked down again and discovered two large white helmets.

"Dude, what is that?" Jason shouted as I looked at the helmets.

"I think we are supposed to go to the party as adventurers," I said holding the vest out to my friend.

"Adventurers?" Jason asked.

"Think eighteen hundreds," I replied. "European men would travel the globe looking to discover new riches. Hollywood would later romanticize about these men. One of the tropes they used was the 'great white hunter'. I think that's the costume we'll have. Only no guns."

Jason laughed. "I like it, but what about the girls?"

"Either eighteen hundreds women, with long skirts and lots of lace, or we'll be escorting native girls to the dance. I expect the long skirts through. Not sure Flanagan's heart could take Ashley and Letty dressed as native girls," I said.

Jason laughed louder. "He doesn't have enough blood in his body to survive the boner he'd get."

I started going through the bag, pulling out each item. The ones that were clearly for Jason I handed over immediately. In minutes we had divided everything and were ready to dress.

"Let's hurry," Jason said. "I want to find out what the girls are wearing."

I nodded and we rushed through getting dressed in the costumes. They proved to be made up of a white button down shirt, a clip on tie, the khaki vest and pith helmet and then heavy khaki shorts with multiple pockets. Jason also found a bandolier that was filled with fake shotgun shells. He was arranging this as I tied my shoes.

"What are you supposed to be?" Claus shouted from right behind me.

I finished tying my shoe and then stood up and turned around. I held my right hand out to Claus and in my best mock-British accent spoke. "Ah, Mister Livingston. I had heard you were travelling in these parts. Beastly weather we're having though, and I can't say we found any reliable porters. But needs of the empire you know. The crown has offered a fine prize for any gem mines we might find. Personally I think we'd be better looking up the Niger River, but the grant from the Archeological Society would only pay for another foray into the Congo."

"Wha?" Claus said as the rest of the team filled the locker room with laughter.

Coach Durant wandered over and slapped me on the shoulder. "Where did you come up with that?" he asked.

"We watch too many movies," Jason gasped out. My friend was laughing heartily. "Mark, I'm surprised you didn't add 'pip, pip, cheerio' and all the rest."

"I figured I'd save that for the end of the conversation," I said with a smirk. "But shouldn't you get your shoes on? The ladies are waiting."

"Right," Jason said in his own mock-British accent. My friend hurriedly started tying his shoes as I got my uniform packed away for washing and retrieved my backpack from the locker. I was ready to leave when Jason stood up and started walking to the exit.

"He left without you," Claus pointed out.

"He's been in a hurry all week," I said. "And I should follow."

I rushed after my friend. He was at the door when I caught up. Coach Grisham was standing there with a clipboard. He nodded at us as we approached. "Have a good weekend."

We waved and headed out. The instant we were outside a girl started running toward me. I had to squat down to catch Angelique. The girl giggled as I stood back up. "Mommy says you were a hero," she told me as she hugged my neck.

I looked over and could see Lenore gliding towards me. She was wearing an elaborate crimson dress. The full skirts complete hid her legs and the bodice looked quite uncomfortable. Her smile kept me from worrying about that as my love hurried to my side.

"You look great," I whispered as she put a hand on my shoulder.

I was about to reply when a poisonous voice hissed. "So you avoid me, but your friend has a girlfriend who is no longer in school. I might have known."

"Miss Kirke," I heard Jason say with a sigh. "Right outside the locker room is not the place to have this conversation."