Chapter 38: Games 8/9

Chapter 38: Games 8/9

Receiving mail is a common instance for every family, lots is junk mail, but that is just a fact of life, most are utility bills, but now and again there is something of interest.

Parcels are less common, but more often than not they are more exciting since they have been ordered and are expected.

Not really so much for the younger generation, there might be the occasional item, but more often than not it is our parents who get the post and parcels.

Not today though, the UPS driver turned up at our house with a huge packaging box on a trolley. And for some reason my name was on the shipping label.

Although the box was big, five feet long by two foot square, it wasn’t that heavy, just awkward to carry.

Once signed for Dad and I carried it into the front room. Dad used a crowbar to open the box for me, we lifted the lid off to discover SWORDS.

Not just one but several, there was also another sealed wooden box as well as a number of other items as well as USB data stick in a letter.

The letter stated that the USB should be watched first. I plugged it into the TV and got the remote to let it play.

Master Tanaka appeared on the screen. “Greetings Honoured Student, enclosed in this package is all the equipment you require as a specially trained Ninjutsu warrior. Master Saito requested Yoshindo Yoshihara to put together all the equipment on returning to Japan. There is however one additional item, within the locked black box is a present from myself, it was left to me by a very honourable friend who had no male heir to leave it to. It would please me if you would take it and honor it’s family as you add to its history. The key to open the box only you will know. Please ensure that the blade is returned to its heritage if you have no honourable heir.” Master Tanaka then gave a small bow with a smile as the recording stopped.

All this had been in Japanese, so my parents had no clue what was going on.

They looked at me for an explanation.

I picked up the Katana and pulled part of the blade from the saya (scabbard) etched into the blade was a tiger face, on the reverse side was the japanese kanji for white tiger. I showed these to my parents and explained their significance.

Each piece of equipment was equally marked.

I explained that a modern and most renowned Japanese sword maker had made all of the equipment and had etched my name into each piece.

The secure box was also a sword case, it was an amazing piece of construction in its own right. Only a trained ninja would know how to open it. You could spend years trying to pick the lock on it and would never get the case open, since that wasn’t even the lock to the case. I took one of the stilleto from the equipment and used it to push in a hidden opening at the end of the case. There was a click and the end of the case came loose, I then pulled the tray which ran the whole length of the box out. It was only once the case was open that you realised that it was metal covered in a wooden sleeve.

I gasped as the Masamune Sword was revealed, it even had a scroll of ownership, to which my Kanji had been added.

It took some explaining why this sword was so special, I think the fact it was over 500 years old told my parents the reason I was so astounded to be presented with it.

That Friday Coach Stevens had decided to make a subtle change in the team. We had needed some relief players for when the original squad had to miss a game for whatever reason, the ones he had used so far had pulled their weight, so the coach decided it would be unfair, if now that everyone was available again, if they were pushed back to just being inactive reserves.

He was going to organize things so everyone would get some playing time. This would allow some of the backups to get some actual game experience as some of the reserves hadn’t played at all so far.

He explained to the team what he was going to do, rotating players in and out of the squad, freshman year was about learning how the game was played at the high school level, winning and losing wasn’t as important as getting experience, now was the time to allow those who hadn’t had a game yet to gain that experience.

He asked Ben and Me to stay back while the rest of the squad went out to practice.

“What I told the guys was true, it is also true that some players get the chance to gain a different type of experience, the JV coach has asked that the two of you move up into his team to boost their depth for the last few games.”

Ben perked up at the news but I wasn’t so keen, they had not won a game all season, whereas we had a good chance of winning our remaining games.

“Coach is it mandatory to play for the JV team if they ask for us?”

“Well no, but it would let you see what you will have to face next year in the JV league.”

“If we don’t go, will it make it harder for you to let the reserves get in the team to play?”

“It would be harder, yes. But nothing is impossible. What is it Jack? I would have thought you would want to pit your skills against the next level.”

“I would, except for the fact I have made good progress at becoming friends with all the players on this team. They accept me and let me play, I don’t know if the JV squad would do that. We have also got a winning mentality where as they have gone into a slump, which even if we played for them might not make any difference.”

“Hmm, yes, I can understand that, let me think about it for a bit before we make any decisions, what about you Ben, any thoughts?”

“Coach when you mentioned it, I was all for it, but after listening to Jack, I admit I will have to think hard about leaving this team, he is right it would be nice to finish off the season with this team, which we have helped get to where it is.” Ben agreed.

Coach nodded and told us to go and join everyone else at practice.

So it was that way on Friday, we were still playing on the freshman team, the coach told Ben and I that he had fixed it with the JV coach, that we would only be available to play in the JV teams last game of the season.

We were away for the eighth game of the season, we batted first, our opponents were not having a good season, if there opening pitcher was any indication, it wasn’t a surprise, he didn’t have great fastball or curve, our first six batters all got a hit, and only one not getting on base, the bottom of our lineup hiccupped, getting out with only Harry left to bat, but we had scored three runs.

Tim was still out with elbow issues, so our opening pitcher was Harry this week, he managed to get them out without giving up a run, that was the type of game it was, we could bat almost at will, they struggled to even get a player onto a base, the game could have been called at the end of the four innings, we were ten runs ahead, the coaches talked, both decided to play the fifth innings anyway, bringing in a couple of substitutes to allow them to get some game experience, we didn’t add any more runs, but then neither did they.

I was finally getting used to the after game celebration I had been attracting, yet another girl caught me for a hug and kiss, but she got a glare from Gemma who had travelled again to watch us play. She had waited to talk to me, the girl giggled, but after seeing Gemma, made off quickly.

Gemma wanted to talk about Chloe’s birthday, I wasn’t even aware it was coming up, there wasn’t going to be a party, Chloe’s parents were not prepared to pay for one, since Chloe still hadn’t got herself a job yet. Instead, there was just going to be a gathering at the local pizza place. Gemma wanted to know if I would attend.

I would be happy to go, but I wasn’t sure that my relationship had gotten back to the point with Chloe, that she would appreciate me being there.

I told Gemma I would consider going, but would want to check first that I would be welcome.

Gemma accepted this, but got me to promise to try my hardest to try to make up with Chloe before next Saturday.

That weekend I continued my state football camp project. I had spent time during the week, discovering the names of the best players on the JV football team that year. I got my bike out and rode to a couple of the players houses over the weekend, explaining the dates, the cost and the benefits the camp could give them, before trying out for the varsity team next year. I got three of the four to give soft commitments, one would be away during the time of the camp, the other three would have to check the finances, and whether their parents would allow them to attend. All four did promise to keep it to themselves, since I explained I wanted to make it a surprise for Rory if he went to have several of his players training with him.