Chapter 14: That Was Yesterday

Medway High School, Arva, Ontario

8:18am, Monday, November 19, 1979

I wasn’t surprised to see Tempe, Sammy, Elizabeth and Andi sitting on the eight-inch concrete ledge with their backs against the glass wall as I walked up to my locker. All those girls had their first two periods’ books sitting on the floor between her feet, and were talking about the three major events that took place over the weekend.

“So, Cuda,” Sammy said as I worked on my locker combination, “you survived your Sunday foursome without any major fireworks exploding in your face, huh?”

“The four of us definitely had a good time Sunday after church,” I replied over my shoulder as I hunted for my English Anthology book. “Damn it! I knew I’d forget to bring that blasted book,” I fumed and slammed my locker shut.

“Tempe, you never said anything about the four of you getting together,” Elizabeth said.

“There are some things that are better left to your imagination, isn’t that right, Mike?” Tempe calmly replied and winked at me when I smiled down at her.

“There sure was a lot of estrogen happening at Zupena’s house,” I added, playing off Tempe’s statement.

“You didn’t? ... Did you?” Andi forcefully asked the first question before she barely whispered her second one after pausing for three or four seconds.

I just raised my right eyebrow at the three flabbergasted girls.

“Tempe, you gotta tell us what really went on,” Sammy cried.

“Sorry, we promised Zupi that we wouldn’t share anything with anyone,” Tempe honestly replied with a smile.

“And I better not hear about any of you were pressing Zupena for information, or you’ll see an angry Mike like you’ve never experienced before,” I said with a smile.

“If Zupi wants to tell you what happened, let her do it by herself,” Tempe said, basically rephrasing my words to her and Lisa.

“Oh, alright,” Sammy semi-whined but I know she understood why Tempe and I asked that of them.

Just then, the bell sounded for homeroom. I reached down to help Tempe and then Sammy up from the small ledge. Jon had just arrived to give Andi a hand and a small amount of morning sugar.

“Don’t I get any morning sugar,” I softly asked Tempe as we walked to our desk.

“Didn’t you get enough sugar from your three girls, yesterday?” Tempe whispered as she gave my upper arm a light smack.

“But that was yesterday, I had the world in my hands!“ I softly sang for my grinning blonde girlfriend.

“Would you stop singing like that,” Tempe laughed as she shook her head at me.

“That’s Foreigner, right?” Sammy asked from her seat a row over from us.

“No more hiding in yesterday, ‘Cause yesterday’s gone!“ I sang with a positive head nod to Sammy and an extra big smile for Tempe.

(Note: That Was Yesterday was written by Lou Gramm and Mick Jones of Foreigner. It was from their 1985 album, Agent Provocateur. This song reached number 12 on the Hot 100, and number 3 on the Mainstream Rock charts in the States. Do I even need to tell you that about the time shift with this song in my story? Ha-ha.)

“Alright, Mr. Nevins, or should I say Rock Star Nevins,” Mr. Ballas called as the rest of my homeroom classmates scurried to take their seats.

“I think Rock Star sounds good,” Jon Lunby laughed.

“Don’t even think of starting that, Jonathon Igor,” I replied with his full name like I had heard his mother use when he was going down the wrong path with her or her husband.

“If it starts, it starts,” Jon chuckled with a smug look on his face.

“But if I hear it began with you, don’t expect to see the basketball as long as I’m the point guard on the floor with you,” I replied with a wink.

“What part of ‘Alright’, Mr. Nevins, and now Mr. Lunby, didn’t you understand?” Mr. Ballas laughed.

“You really started this, Sir,” Jon called out and then added, “Didn’t he, Rock Star?”

“This ain’t gonna be good, Cuda,” Sammy said through her laughter, right before Mr. Williamson’s voice came over the class’ intercom speakers.

As we all thought, Mr. Williamson began with the three major news items from the weekend. I was glad to hear him start with the girls’ WOSSA basketball championship. That to me was the biggest piece of sporting news our school has had in many years. I really liked his summary of the game, and that Andi and Lynette were all-stars, and that Zupena was the MVP of the tournament.

The second big item covered was our undefeated football season and the championship game. I tried my best to deflect all the hoots and yells to Geoff, who played unbelievably well for a non-starter and shared the game’s MVP award with me.

The third major school event was our band’s victory in the NIS Band Challenge on Friday. That bit of news caused the biggest yells to be heard from out in the hallway. Sammy and I couldn’t sink far enough in our seats as Mr. Williamson praised our performance way beyond what we thought it deserved. I was super happy that our VP also mentioned Montcalm High School with Eda and Lisa’s names before he mentioned Sammy’s, Lynette’s and my name. I also loved that Mr. W mentioned that former Medway students, Paul and Cathy McGregory had also played exceptionally well to earn a spot in the NIS concert in January with their new band.

The raucous nature within the school soon dropped when our VP easily transitioned from that good NIS announcement to the dreaded ‘roll call’ of this week’s NIS participants. Lucky, no one in our homeroom was selected this week. However, we all groaned when we heard that Andy Lunby, Warren Grainger, Tracy VandenLoo and Shannon Pike were the eleventh grade students selected this week.

“Dodged a bullet, huh, Jon,” Elizabeth said after the nervous buzzing in our class died down.

“Better him than me,” Jon laughed but then gave a short, heart-felt sigh of relief (i.e., from worry, not NIS sexual build-up).

Sammy looked at me and smiled when she recognized that the first grade thirteen student selected for the NIS program was Gary Van Den Heuval, her relief giver in last week’s art class. I then said, “Some redhead just might have a return engagement as an art model, huh?”

“I just might,” Sammy laughed.

“Wanna join her again, Mike?” Tempe asked.

“I may, but I think we need to let Sammy have her moment alone under the art spotlights,” I chuckled and rubbed Tempe’s shoulder.

“Yeah, we’ll model sometime when we can’t get outside for our fifth period run,” Tempe said with a head nod.

The rest of my Monday was pretty normal, if you could call accepting or acknowledging other students’ and/or teachers’ congratulations for my two big weekend events normal. Hell, I was happier with my ‘private’ big event with Zupena, Lisa and Tempe. I was just as glad that the four of us were the only ones to currently know the full extent of how special this was to me and them.

In the hallway between our English and Chemistry classes, I was surprised to see grade thirteen students, Janice Hurt and Gary naked. I heard their names called in the morning but from my understanding, the ‘thirteens’ had to let Mr. Williamson know they were alright with being in the program.

While Janice was a pure athletic beast on the basketball court and on the track, I always thought of her as a true prim and proper girl outside the athletic world. She was definitely prim and trim-looking as she walked along with her naked partner, Gary to their third period class.

When I saw Desi’s slight show of disdain while watching Sammy’s obvious stare at Gary, I knew I had better talk with her before she did something she might not be able to take back. As Sammy and Jason started to walk towards their third period French class, I said, “Wushu, wait for me outside math. I’ve got to talk with you for a sec, ‘kay?”

“Sure thing, Cuda,” Sammy said as she sauntered away from our chemistry crowd.

Outside Mr. Quigley’s Math room, I corralled Sammy and said, “I’m not sure that you doing anything with Gary ... relief wise, would be a good thing. Desi didn’t look all that thrilled when he saw you staring at Gary as he and Janice walked by us last period.”

Sammy sighed and leaned against the lockers just down from the door to our next class. She then said, “Desi and I aren’t doing so hot. I think he may have found someone else he likes better when he was in ‘The Program’.”

“What makes you say that?” I asked with a concerned expression on my face.

“Well, I first noticed a girl’s perfume smell on his clothes when he got down to Strathroy for the championship game. Then, he kinda was hesitant to kiss or do anything with me after the girls won. Finally, he left right after you and Zupena did on Saturday, even after I told him we’d have the guest house to ourselves if he’d wait around.”

“Have you talked to him about all this?”

“Not yet. Am I supposed to question him or wait for him to come to me ... if he wants to call it quits?” Sammy softly asked as she let the back of her head lightly knock into the lockers.

“Well,” I replied, buying a moment to think about this. I then remember how her last ‘waiting’ on a guy to talk relationship issues went for her, so I said, “You best do the initiating on this. It may not be what you want to do or possibly hear, but knowing where you stand is always better than being strung along ... like with Matt.”

“Yeah, you’re right. As soon as you started your answer, that is the exact thing that came to my mind,” Sammy replied and then let out another long sigh. Then, her spirits picked up and she added, “I’ll talk with Desi at lunch.”

“Don’t make any accusations about your suspicions of another girl. If he has gone out with someone else, let him tell you ‘bout it ... if he wants. I would think that with you bringing this up, Desi will either clear the air and all will be well, or he’ll let you know that you weren’t meant for each other,” I said as I reached out to squeeze her shoulder.

Just then, the warning bell sounded. With a nod at me, Sammy pushed up from the locker and we headed into Mr. Quigley’s Math class. We were in the second week of our geometry unit, and we were working on our ‘proofs’ of equality in various shapes.

After Tempe and I did a short two mile run in our ‘spare’ fifth period, we got up with our friends in the cafeteria. Sammy had a sullen look on her face as Tempe and I carried our trays towards her at our table. When I gave Wushu a little head nod and eye-roll in Desi’s location at a different table, she shook her head and made a little throat-slashing motion.

“Didn’t go well, huh?” I softly asked.

“A Banting girl,” was all Sammy said before she dropped her head on the table.

“Are you, okay, Sammy?” Cano asked as she was engaged in a conversation with Warren, Elizabeth and Brad.

“No-ah,” Sammy sniffled through her bent over forearm.

“I’m guessing Desi just broke up with her,” I said as I pulled the chair out for Tempe.

“Oh, Sammy, I’m so sorry,” Tempe said as she quickly set her tray down and then leaned over to hug our friend.

“What is so wrong with me that I can’t ka-keep a guy like the rest of ya-you ga-girls?” Sammy asked through her tears.

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Sammy,” Brad replied at the same time most of us said something along those lines.

“The right guy will come along, Sammy,” Tempe softly said as she rubbed the crying girl’s back.

“Tempe’s right, Sammy,” Elizabeth sweetly added.

“I ka-know that but...” Sammy sniffled as she rubbed her cheeks with the sleeve of her sweat shirt.

“We know, Sammy ... this sucks, big time,” Andi Whiting offered.

“You need me to get you a drink or something, Wushu?” I asked.

“No, I’m good ... that way at least,” she half-heartedly chuckled.

“Gawd, Girl. I, we, hate this for ya,” Cano replied as she lightly rapped her and Warren’s joined hands on the table a few seats down from us.

“Yup, this sucks,” Warren reiterated what a few others had said to Sammy.

In the guys’ change room after our PE class to end the day, I let both Shannon and Tracy know that I was good with letting the other guys in class have fun with them in the shower. I made sure to tell them that I would be keeping a watchful eye on them to make sure things didn’t get out of hand with these two naked blonde beauties. As I always noted earlier, Shannon was definitely a Playboy quality girl, while Tracy wasn’t hard on the eyes with her slender build and cute ‘bee-sting’ sized, perky boobs.

“I’m sure you will, Mike,” Shannon laughed as she hung her towel up on a hook outside the communal shower.

“You know what I meant, Shan,” I replied but couldn’t help giving her stellar nude body a ‘once-over.’

“Yeah, Mike. It’s still nice to see that we can get a rise out of you,” she calmly said and then looked down at my nearly erect cock.

While I and a few other guys had seen Shannon and Tracy naked in the girls’ change room during our NIS week, they were now well out-numbered in our change room. Having two knockout girls in the shower definitely elevated the testosterone levels, and I wanted to make sure it didn’t lead to any unwanted activities

Even though I didn’t help with washing or ‘relieving’ Shannon or Tracy, I wasn’t immune to their beauty. With my cock fully erect, Tracy said, “Are you sure you don’t want some help with that problem, Mike?”

I let a light laugh escape from my mouth and said, “I’ll survive this, Trace, but I will definitely take you up on that offer on Wednesday or Thursday.”

“What about me, Cuda?” Shannon asked after recovering from the orgasm she experienced from Ian and Geoff’s hands and fingers.

“Didn’t you hear me say Wednesday or Thursday to Tracy? Doesn’t that leave the other day, or possibly Friday for you, Girlfriend?”

“I can’t wait,” Tracy said as she ran her hands over her small boobs, making sure all the shampoo’s suds were rinsed from her body.

“Me, neither!” Shannon added as she ducked her bright blonde head under her shower stream to ‘cool-off’ in the hot water.

“Did you two have a good first day?” I asked as I dried my body off with my towel at the shower entrance.

“I’m just glad we weren’t the first ones to do this. You guys kinda gave us an idea of what to expect,” Tracy replied with smile.

“It was scary at first but everyone has seen some type of naked person by now so it wasn’t as bad as you, Tempe, Sammy and Jason had it, I’m guessing,” Shannon added as she shimmied against the towel wrapped around her slender waist and tight tush.

“You girls better be careful, this week,” Brad said as he pulled on his jeans.

“Use those safety whistles if you’re scared; and make sure you have a buddy or buddiette with you at all times,” I added with a smile.

“I hope I don’t have to use this,” Tracy said as she fingered the whistle hanging between her smallish boobs.

“We hope you and the other NIS folks don’t have to use them,” Wayne replied.

“Well, time to head on up to the office to get our clothes,” Shannon said as she slipped her feet into her red Keds.

“That’ll be a relief ... pardon the pun!” Brad chuckled before the rest of us groaned at his awful pun.

At our lockers, Jon and I grabbed our homework and decided to head to the café, as we had the ‘five-to-seven’ practice time slot for our first boys basketball practice. With the girls’ basketball rightfully getting the preferred three-to-five practice period, we both had learned to get all or as much of our homework done in that hour-and-a-half window before our practice started.

At the bottom of the rear stairs, Coach Jacket saw Jon, Andy, Andrew, Wayne and I milling about and said, “Will you five come and give my girls a good challenge around four-thirty?”

Now that was a task we couldn’t turn down. “What do you want us to do, Coach?” Andrew asked with a smile on his face.

“Just play. We’re gonna try to pressure you guys. If we can keep you from going crazy on us, I think we’ll do fine with the teams we’ll play this weekend.”

“We’ll see ya at four-thirty,” I replied with a nod.

The five of us eleventh graders went into the cafeteria after that practice invite, and found a table to get our homework finished. I figured I would get the worst done first. Even on this second go round through high school, I still had a real strong dislike for chemistry equations. I was much better equipped to do the work, but this was still something I didn’t see the need for. I guess if I had a more open mind about it the first go round, I may have given med-school a stronger look. However, I soon realized in my undergraduate chemistry class at Western that sixteen more credits of chemistry weren’t on my dance card.

I followed my chemistry homework with a few simple physics problems, and a write up of our short experiment on frictional forces. Lastly, I took a gander at Andrew’s Anthology text to read the material for tomorrow’s class. Mrs. Pierce was nice enough to give me a pass on leaving my text at home, but I figured I would be front and center tomorrow, as ‘unofficial’ punishment for that screw-up. Because we were part way through Sir William’s Romeo and Juliet, reading this was almost as bad as doing chemistry problems. ‘Ye-Ol’-English‘ was not and never would be ‘my cup of tea.’

At quarter after four, Andy Lunby said, “C’mon, guys. Let’s get ready to kick some Cowgirl tail!”

“What are you guys doing?” Big Mike asked when he heard that and saw the five of us get up from the next table.

“Coach Jacket asked us to play her girls at four-thirty,” Andrew replied with a smile as he stretched his six-five frame up after sitting at the table for over an hour.

“Ooooh, you guys will be in trouble if you lay a whippin’ on them, and you’ll be in bigger trouble if you don’t!” Matt Connell laughed.

“At least Jon is the only one with a girl who might be stingy if you put a hurting on them,” Gary Danner laughed.

“Na-uh! Mike’s gotta be careful around Zupena, now,” Wayne laughed.

“What? When did you break up with that little gymnast and your bass player?” Matt Connell forcefully asked.

“Who said anything about Cuda breaking up with them?” Jon replied with a grin.

“Yeah, Cuda left the party on Saturday night with Zupena ... AND he had Tempe’s and Brick’s blessing!” Andy replied as he smacked me on my shoulder.

“Get the ‘F’ out of here!” Gary testily replied.

All I could do was shrug my shoulders at my older teammates, as I carried my text and notebooks under my arm.

“You shoulda seen it! After Zupena and Mike danced, Zupena went over to Brick and Tempe. She then kissed both girls, before...” Jon animatedly said as the five of us stood up at the end of the tables.

“Alright, enough,” I said in slightly raised tone. I then added, “Let’s see how all this plays out before we go any further, ‘kay?”

“You better not go dunking on your new girl, or your ex-girl, Cuda,” Kane chuckled from beside Matt and Smytty.

“A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do,” I replied with a reverse dunking action of my left arm and hand.

“If you ever want them long, lean legs wrapped around ya, you better not embarrass your new girl, Cuda,” Matt laughed.

I just shook my head at my teammates and laughed. I’m sure they thought I was laughing at the possibility of having 3-Z’s legs squeezing me tight. I highly doubted they thought I was laughing because I already had that wonderful experience with my Amazonian beauty.

“You guys mind if I come and get changed with you?” Geoff asked from the end of the table.

“Yeah, man. C’mon. No sense in waiting around,” Andrew said as he flipped Geoff’s Anthology book shut.

After the six of us eleventh graders changed into our practice gear, we walked into the gym at four-twenty-five. Coach Jacket nodded at us and held up two fingers in her right hand to indicate about how long it would be before she wanted us to scrimmage against her girls.

We went over to the open area, off the main court and got a couple of balls to dribble and pass around. Other than the odd morning pickup games and that one coed basketball PE class, I hadn’t had the ‘round-ball’ in my hands for almost three weeks. I spent most of those two minutes dribbling around and through my legs to get some of that feeling back in my fingers. There was a definite difference in how the ball felt against my now much larger hands and fingertips. It felt like I didn’t have to focus as much or be as precise with how I pushed the ball into the court. That was a good change, at least based on this short little practice session.

With me being the second tallest guy in our group, we decided to have Jon, Wayne and Andy serve as the main guards, while Andrew and I were the ‘big-men’ on the floor versus the girls’ team. Because they were definitely a well-oiled team, I wasn’t surprised that we had some troubles advancing the ball against their ‘Dogs of War’ 2-2-1 full court press. Even though Andi and Jill were giving up four to seven inches against Jon, Andy and Wayne, they were super quick with lightning fast hands. Lynette, at five-nine but with a wingspan of a six-footer, and five-eight Janice were quick to get a hand on any lazy passes.

“You guys are giving me lots of things to work on!” Coach Williamson called out after watching the girls turn two consecutive errant passes into layups or short jumpers.

“‘You guys’, referring to Jon, Andy and Wayne, right Coach?” Andrew yelled as both he and I rarely had the ball as Coach Jacket emphasized the front court activities in this part of the scrimmage.

“Jon, Andy! I know you know how to break a zone press!” I yelled at my friends who were trying to go one-on-two, which led to steals or poor passes. My words seemed to spark something in my teammates, who slowed things down, started to cut into open areas, and made crisp over the top passes.

Wayne caught a pass from Jon and dribbled hard around Janice at half-court. With a three-on-two attack, Andrew and I stayed wide as we went against Lynette and Zupena. Wayne passed to Andrew on the left, which drew Zupena towards him. Before the tall center got to him, I had a couple of steps on Lynette, which allowed Andrew to fire a bounce pass between the girls. I corralled the ball to the right of the free-throw lane and took my two steps to leap up and throw down a wicked two-handed jam.

“What part of ‘taking it easy on the girls‘ didn’t you understand, Cuda?” Big Mike laughed from the far edge of the court.

I just laughed and ran back to half court, waiting for the girls to bring the ball up. I was semi-surprised to hear Lynette yell, “If Cuda, or anyone ‘takes it easy‘ on us, I’ll kick him where the sun doesn’t shine!”

“And I kick, too!” Zupena huffed as she ran down to the offensive end. None of the girls expected nor wanted any favors as they prepared for the biggest basketball weekend of their young lives.

Coach Jacket blew her whistle and said, “I want you guys to use a 1-3-1 half court trap, and then zone it. I heard Peterborough Central uses that as their main defense.”

The five of us got together real quick with Coach Williamson to figure which positions in this zone he wanted us. I manned the top, with Jon and Wayne on the wings, and Andrew in the middle. Andy was the bottom man, similar to where he played last season in this defense.

Andi and Jill were at a major disadvantage, now, as they probably have never gone up against a ‘Zupena’ sized, lightning quick point guard in this type of defense. I figured I would only steal lazy passes, not good passes that ‘normal’ sized female guards couldn’t intercept. While I would try my best to force them into that danger zone, I tended to keep my arms down to allow the ‘required’ cross court pass needed to defeat this type of trapping defense.

When Coach Jacket saw what I was doing, she yelled, “Keep playing like that, Mike,” and then a more forceful, “Andi, Jill! You two can’t make lazy passes against these guys. Lynette cut into that space, hard!“

The girls did a good job of breaking our half-court trap as they were a well-schooled team going against our ‘pickup team’. I loved that both Lynette and Zupena made some slick post moves against Andy and Andrew to score a couple of easy baskets. Zupena muscled Wayne’s six-two body out of the way for inside position to snag the rebound, and put it up quickly before Andrew could use his six-five body to block her short jumper.

Coach Jacket called an end to her team’s practice right after I flew in from the offside, and basically leapt over Lynette’s back to cuff-dunk the rebound of Jon’s missed baseline jumper. I made sure to twist my body to avoid kneeing her in the head or shoulder area.

“What the hell, Cuda!” Lynette shouted after I landed and did a little minor ‘pec-pose’ trash-talking to my flustered ex-girlfriend.

“I sure didn’t want to give you any reason to kick me where the sun doesn’t shine,” I laughed and faked doubling over in pain.

“But I sure didn’t mean for you to damn near kill me,” Cano laughed as she charged over at my bent body and place my head in a ‘side-headlock’ hold.

“He would have killed me, if he try to jump over me like that,” Zupena huffed at the end of her two hour practice.

“Wouldn’t have tried that over you, Zupena,” I replied with a small grin.

“Why not?” she hotly asked with daggers coming from her hazel eyes.

“Ah, you’re like six inches taller than Lynette, so I doubt I would have tried to do that,” I said as I walked over to my new girlfriend.

Zupena looked me squarely in the face before she said, “I would have blocked you out, so you no dunk like that on me.”

“Now that’s a challenge if I ever heard one!” Andy laughed and high-fived Wayne.

“She nearly put your butt onto the stage with her box-out, Wayne, so I wouldn’t laugh too hard,” Coach Williamson rightly said as he faked falling over into the end wall.

I just smiled at Zupena and gave her a little wink. She then winked back at me, before we shared a high-five. I then gave her a light tap on her sweat-drenched butt as she headed off to the girls’ change room. Zupena got a step on me before she turned and stopped. We reached for each other’s hands and then she slowly leaned forward to share a small peck on my lips.

Our first basketball practice of the year was pretty darn tough and ugly. Being in prime football shape is majorly different from being in prime basketball shape, even for an aerobic person like me. Being run to death in our drills led to some big time misses on jumpers and some errant passes. I was half way proud, though, with our team’s defensive showing. Even with an extra two inches of height and fifteen pounds of muscle since our loss to Strathroy in last year’s championship game, my footwork and quickness weren’t negatively impacted.

Although it was our first practice, Coach Williamson informed us he was going to roll two different defensive oriented units like we did last year, because of our depth of players. On the man-to-man unit, he had Jon, Big Mike (although I was now taller than Mike Horichek), Matt, Andrew and me. He wasn’t sure how he was assigning responsibilities with this four-guard oriented lineup. Andrew at six-five was nearly as good a ball-handler as Jon, who was five-eleven. Even six-two-two-hundred-and-thirty pound Matt Connell wasn’t stone-handed with the rock in his mitts.

On the zone defensive unit were Andy, Wayne, Smytty, Gary and Dennis Grainam. Kollin Werring with his prosthetic leg was going to be a substitute on this team, as his artificial leg wasn’t the best for serious cutting and defending in full-court pressure situations. Coach Williamson also had Geoff Thirlwall as a sub for both the man and zone teams. Tenth graders Desi Kilkenny and six-seven Mike Morelli were also at our practice. Desi and Mike were going to be swing players, serving on both the varsity and JV teams depending on the needs of our team. Kane, with his surgically repaired shoulder, was a student assistant coach.

After practice, Coach Williamson called me, Jon, and Big Mike off to side as the others put up the basketballs and other practice gear. “As strange as this might seem, guys, I’m gonna have Little Mike be the main ball handler and point guard on defense,” he said as he looked up into my tired face. He then said to Jon and Big Mike, “You two are our best shooters, and if Mike can run the offense like he did the football team’s, I like idea of you two running off screens or picks to get open jumpers.”

“I’m good with letting Cuda handle the ball and the offense,” Big Mike said with a head nod.

“No problems, Coach. If Cuda needs a break bringing the ball up, either of us or even Andrew could do it a time or three,” Jon added with a small smack on my right shoulder.

On the way to the varsity locker room, I asked Coach, “What time is our Friday game in that Parkhill Tournament?”

“We’re playing at six against Clinton. Why?” Coach replied.

“We have a gig at Strathroy, at eight,” I softly said, not really wanting to get into this with my coach.