Chapter 23: Halloween Kittens

Monday October 31
As Duke and I were going out to jog, we found Precious waiting for us by the door. I knew something was up when Duke gave her a complete puppy-scan (sniffed her all over), and she didn’t bloody his nose.

“You not feeling well?” I asked her as I squatted down to check what might be wrong.

Yep. We were having kittens today. Gently picking Precious up, I took her to Duke’s crate. Brit had brought over her blanket, which I assumed was washable, and put it in his kennel. Duke had told me in puppy-speak that he would rather sleep next to my bed than sleep on her blanket.

I set Precious down, and she waddled right into the crate, lay down, and began to pant. All signs indicated she was about to have them. I sent Brit a text to tell her that if she wanted to witness this, she’d better get over here. Duke and I wanted to witness this ... not so much. Duke seemed to feel the stress coming off Precious, so he decided we should go outside. I agreed with my buddy, and the two of us left for our jog.

Mischief sometimes arises out of the most innocent of circumstances. Duke and I had gone for an actual jog. Doc Grog had provided me with a mask that made it harder to breathe, which helped raise my heart rate so I could have a shortened workout. The mask made me look like Bane from Batman. When I put it on, Duke wasn’t sure who I was. It was like the first time I wore a baseball cap around him. Once he heard me talk, he was all wiggles and embarrassed.

It was a glorious fall day, which just happens to be my favorite time of year. The cool air was crisp, and there was a hint of smoke from neighbors burning leaves. As we jogged, I could tell I wasn’t one-hundred percent yet, but I was able to move without wanting to cry. Believe me, that was a significant improvement. If I were fortunate, I might be ready for the playoffs without needing drugs to get me on the field.

Jeff Delahey had an article in the Sunday newspaper that made me sound like the second coming. He’d claimed he had never seen a comeback that dramatic. Jeff urged everyone to come out and see us live because they were in for a treat. What I focused on was the one interception. The messages I received from recruiters told me they too were impressed. Bo Harrington, from Alabama, had hinted that he might be able to get Tim a committable offer after what they’d seen. In essence, they would use two scholarships to get me to commit. If they did that, it would be hard to turn them down.

When we got back, I let him in the house and ran upstairs to shower and get ready for school. I could tell Brit was there because Precious was being vocal, obviously trying to let her mom know what was wrong. Typically, her complaint was about me. When I got upstairs, Brit seemed to be nervous.

“What should I do?” she asked.

“Believe it or not, Precious knows what to do.”

Somehow, that didn’t reassure her, so Brit got her phone out and called her mom. I just shook my head and went to take my shower. When I got out and was in my bedroom, I could hear her mom in my living room, saying, “Cats have been having babies forever. Precious will be fine.”

I believe that was what I said.

When I came out to gather my stuff, Brit was still worried.

“Do you think we should call the vet?”

I snorted. Brit gave me a look that said she didn’t appreciate me thinking this was funny. Her brothers probably got this same look all the time. I decided that my contribution—the use of my apartment—was all that was needed, so I left to get breakfast.

When I arrived at school, all seemed right with the world. Dare stopped me to tell me about what he’d done over the weekend. Brook decided she would rather talk to the other cheerleaders than hear about Dare’s adventures with the drone.

Don, Destiny’s brother, interrupted Dare.

“She shouldn’t have done it,” he said cryptically. “My sister extended an olive branch on your date.”

I must have looked confused as Don grabbed Dare’s arm and dragged him away. I turned around to see what they were looking at as they beat their hasty retreat. My girlfriend had transformed into Satan’s spawn; all that was missing was fire shooting out of her nostrils.

“You son of a bitch! I trusted you!”

Shocked, I sort of froze. That was until Brook tried to kick me in the nuts. Out of instinct, I gave her a palm strike to the chest to back her off. Holy crap, that was a mistake! Cassidy came flying at me, and this was no joke. She intended to put me down.

Cassidy was as quick as a viper and would be twice as deadly if she got inside my defenses. I had the advantage over her in strength and reach, and in a real fight, Cassidy wouldn’t have a chance. I hit Cassidy with a palm strike as well, and she fell back into Brook. They both collapsed in a heap.

“What is the matter with you two?!” I demanded.

“Destiny told Lisa that after her date with you Saturday night she had to get the morning-after pill,” Brook seethed.

“For fuck’s sake! Instead of just asking me, you assumed I was the cause of her getting treated?” I asked. “Did it ever occur to you that ratting her out might have had something to do with your hearing about this?”

Brook suddenly realized what she’d done. I was in no mood to listen to an apology, so I turned my anger on Cassidy.

“You’re fired,” I said and stormed into the school.

I’d almost reached my locker when I encountered Destiny with a smirk on her face.

“Fuck you, too!” I yelled at her, to her utter surprise.

Waiting for me by my locker was Coach Hope.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked.

“Nothing. What can I do for you?”

“I need to talk to you.”

“Of course you do.”

“I don’t need any attitude from you,” he warned.

My first instinct was to tell him to stuff it; I all but blurted that out. Instead, I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. By now, both Brook and Cassidy had cleared the front door. At that moment, I would rather talk to Coach than those two, so I let him lead me to his office. He pointed to a chair for me to sit in.

“I received a call from Pam Lowden. She shared that you and Destiny Crown went to a party Saturday night and that she’d seen evidence that Destiny had been drinking. Coach Lowden has suspended Destiny for Thursday’s game.”

“Let me guess. Destiny threw me under the bus and said I’d also been drinking.”

“No. In fact, she said you hadn’t been drinking.”

I blinked a few times as I let that sink in.

“Then why am I in here?” I asked.

“I wanted to hear it from you because I know you’ll tell me the truth. Did you drink Saturday night?” Coach asked.

“No, sir.”

“What has you so riled up this morning?”

I told him about Brook being the one to turn in Destiny and how his daughter had retaliated. He was about as impressed as I was with how both Brook and his daughter reacted.

“I understand you wanting to fire Cassidy. Would you give me a chance to talk to her before you make it official?”

“What about Brook?” I asked.

He laughed and shook his head.

“Let me tell you about my wife and me. She and I had a serious falling out shortly after Brad was born. It doesn’t really matter what it was about. Suffice it to say, she was ready to use a rusty spoon on the family jewels. We both said things in the heat of the moment that could never be unsaid.

“The bad part was, I was in the processes of being deployed to Germany. I flew out the next day,” he explained.

“I guess everything worked out since you had Cassidy,” I ventured.

“It did, but it was touch-and-go there for a while. For almost a month, my wife wouldn’t even take my calls. The bad part was I couldn’t tell my commander that I needed to take some personal time to save my marriage. That’s not how the Marines work, for the most part.”

“So, what happened?” I asked.

“Brad got sick, he developed pneumonia, and they hospitalized him. It made us realize how silly our argument was when compared to seeing our son in the ICU. I’d be disappointed if you broke up with Brook over a misunderstanding. You wouldn’t want Destiny to win.”

“No, I get that. What I have a problem with is that Brook didn’t even ask me if I did it.”

“Let it go. In the heat of the moment, I’ve seen people commit all sorts of stupidity. I’ve heard you say it’s not the mistake that matters but how you handle it. Give her a chance to handle it,” he suggested.

By now, I’d started to calm down. Coach was as bad as my uncle, using my own words against me. I simply nodded, and he gave me a pass to go to class late.

Was this one of those times I was trying to make her wrong because she hadn’t handled the situation the way I wanted her to? Or was I justified in how I’d reacted? I could hear my uncle tell me that my feelings were valid. That was code for ‘suck it up and get over yourself.’

I was at my locker when my phone rang. The caller ID said it was my mom.

“This is David. How may I be of assistance?” I asked cheerily.

“When did you think it would be appropriate to tell me you lent Brit your apartment so that cat from hell could have her kittens there?”

My first thought was it was my apartment and ... well, then my brain kicked in. Technically, it was my parents’ apartment, and if I weren’t careful, I would learn that the hard way.

Explaining Bandit’s involvement and how Brit considered that made me responsible made me even more late for first period. Mom made it clear that the conversation wasn’t over, but she let me go to class. I probably should have mentioned what had been planned. My explanation got me off the hook ... for now.

Between classes, Dare touched my arm to get my attention. Someday he might actually be able to say something to get me to notice him. It was hit-or-miss with him right now, as far as him talking. I gave him the one raised eyebrow to get him to spit it out.

“We need another drone,” he mumbled.

I had to count to ten because drones weren’t cheap.

“You might want to explain why,” I suggested before I blew up.

He blushed because he realized I assumed he’d broken the other one.

“Your drone is fine. I want a smaller one for security.”

Dare quickly explained a couple of different ideas he had that showed me how smart he really was. He’d observed how my drivers would get out of the car and check around it before they would let me out. He suggested that they release a drone and have it check for them. That way, they were still in the car and could drive away if there was trouble.

Another idea was to link a drone to my phone’s Bluetooth and have it follow me. That would serve as a replacement for my bodycam. He said it could act as a live feed to my security team and be monitored remotely in case something serious happened.

Both ideas sounded like fun to me, but I knew that I would have to explain it to Caryn. That was when I had a brilliant idea.

“Sounds fine to me, but you’ll have to present it to my business manager. She’s in charge of the funds.”

I used that one for anyone who came to me and wanted money. Some random person would approach me with the next big idea or charity that needed backing. If it were left to me, I would be adopting kids in desperate need all over the world, or even better, sick puppies. I was a sucker for that type of appeal. Sending them to Caryn saved me a ton of money.

Dare was a man on a mission. Thinking of my business manager, I shook my head. Caryn had no idea how persistent a teen could be if they really wanted something.

By lunchtime, I’d come to a decision as far as Brook and Destiny were concerned. I sent them each a text saying I wanted to eat lunch with them―alone. I skipped out of class five minutes early so I could be seated at a table before they arrived.

I picked one in the corner that was usually occupied by a girl who sat by herself. It surprised me a little when the girl came and sat down. She ignored me as she opened her sack lunch and pulled out a California sushi roll, wasabi, soy sauce, and a salad. I looked at my meal and then back at hers.

“Want to trade?”

“I’ve never had a school lunch. Are they as bad as they look?”

“You’re in for a treat. Today is mac and cheese,” I said to try to sell it.

“I’ve never had mac and cheese.”

“What? Then you have to trade. It would be irresponsible of me to deprive you of the wonders of boiled noodles in a sauce made from processed cheese powder.”

Her hesitancy said I might have provided too much information, so I made her a counteroffer.

“Try it first. If you don’t like it, I’ll let you off the hook for the trade.”

I was worried when she took a forkful and sniffed it before she put it into her mouth. When she smiled, I was in.

Destiny was the first to arrive and saw what I had.

“You are so sharing that,” she informed me.

I hunched over and put my arms over my new lunch. Girls had tricked me before.

“Mine,” I said with a growl in my voice.

Brook came up and appeared unhappy when she saw Destiny. Then she spotted my sushi roll.

“Remember what your mom said: you have to share,” she reminded me and then turned to Destiny. “Bitch.”

“Skank.”

I turned to the girl I’d just met.

“You might want to eat lunch somewhere else. This is about to get ugly,” I warned her.

“Are you kidding me? This is the first time anyone has eaten lunch with me. I’m not going anywhere.”

I just shrugged as Destiny and Brook ignored us and began arguing. They vented their grievances while I ate my California sushi roll. I figured they would forget about it if they were busy fighting. When I got down to the last two pieces, they both stopped and glared at me. I rolled my eyes and gave them each one. While their mouths were full, I weighed in.

“You,” I said, pointing at my girlfriend, “shot yourself in the foot when you gave me away as a date. If you’d thought about it, for even a second, you would have figured out who might be motivated to go out with me. None of those girls would have made you happy. It just so happens that Destiny has the unique talent of making you crazy.

“This morning you let her win when you reacted to a rumor she started,” I said, looking her in the eyes.

I then turned my displeasure on Destiny.

“I’ve stayed out of your little drama until you sucked me into the middle of it this morning. When I left you Saturday night, you had it under control. You chased off that frat guy without a problem. That leads me to conclude that you made up the morning-after pill rumor you started. Am I right?”

She looked away, and both Brook and I saw the truth in what happened. Destiny got a determined expression on her face and turned on me.

“She told on me.”

I blinked a couple of times to keep from laughing. Destiny sounded exactly like my niece would in a couple of years. Unfortunately, my daughter would probably follow suit.

“You need to own that. You’ve been hanging out with your cousin and getting drunk. That night wasn’t the first time, because I saw the pictures of them drawing on you after you’d passed out. Either you need to straighten up until the season’s over, or I’ll go to your coach and fill her in on what you’ve been up to. I’d bet you’d be off the squad for more than just this week’s game.”

Then I turned back to Brook.

“If you’d sent the pictures to your coach because you’re cheer captain, I would understand. But you did it because you dislike Destiny. I’ve played ball with some players that I couldn’t stand, but I’ve never turned them in unless they’d harmed someone. Most recently was Mike for what he did to Mona,” I said, to give her an example.

I turned again to face Destiny.

“Did you mean what you said on the date? Or were you just telling me what I wanted to hear?” I asked.

“Yes, I meant it until I got suspended.”

“As I said, get over it. You gave her the opportunity to do the wrong thing,” I said, then turned to Brook. “Can we do a reset? You two have been fighting about nothing. You are the captain, and Destiny’s never going to take that from you unless you let her. I will never be more than friends with her. You even got to kick her butt.”

That brought a smile to her face.

“I’m willing to end this if she is,” Brook said.

I looked at Destiny.

“Yeah. I want to enjoy the rest of the year and not have it dominated by fighting with your girlfriend.”

“Good. You two work out the truce while I get to know my new friend. I’m sorry, I don’t even know your name,” I said.

“Shouldn’t you introduce yourself?” she teased.

Both Brook and Destiny laughed at me when I blushed. I’d gone and assumed and made an ass out of myself.

“I’m David A. Dawson. Actor, model, and future Bond. You can either call me David or Bond, Ian Bond,” I said dramatically.

“I’m Chrissy. We moved here a few weeks ago. My dad worked for the government, and we were posted in Korea until he got a job at State as a teacher.”

We decided to go to my usual table while the two rivals worked out their differences.

Brit had skipped school to be with Precious when she had her kittens. She sent me pictures of mama and her five babies, which I forwarded to Halle and copied her mom. She needed to tell me which one she wanted since the stud fee was usually the pick of the litter or the price of a kitten. Personally, I was worried Halle might owe money if the kittens were anything like Precious. I won’t repeat what Rita wrote back. Let’s just say that one pet was all Halle would get as long as she lived under Rita’s roof. The name-calling was unnecessary. Wasn’t there an unwritten rule about not shooting the messenger?

Halle texted back that since I allowed it to happen, I had to take her kitten. Of course, I forwarded that to my parents. Dad wanted to know when I planned to move out. My mom was mysteriously silent on the matter, which scared me a little.

When Chrissy and I joined our table, everyone seemed to be divided. Those who’d met the ‘cat from hell’ recommended not to get a kitten. That was except for Wolf, who thought he needed a guard cat. To me, that was a great idea since Precious would freeze any would-be intruder when she yowled at them. For the uninitiated among my peers, I volunteered to make introductions to Precious. If you hadn’t experienced her displeasure, it was a little hard to describe.

Cassidy suggested that we needed to go to the dojo for the offer of the proposed introductions to Precious. I suspected she was upset I’d ruined her perfect record of taking down guys at our school―a fact I was freely sharing with anyone who would listen. With the dojo comment, I quickly reassessed my earlier comments concerning my little ninja’s takedown ability. I knew she could cause me way more pain than Precious ever could. Maybe I should reassess why I hung out with girls who caused me pain.

I still wasn’t happy with Cassidy and decided I would wait for her dad to talk to her before I agreed to hang out with her.

At football practice, we did something new. On Mondays, we usually watched game film to do the postmortem of the previous game and then watched video of our upcoming opponent. Today, Coach Stevens, our special teams coach, ran the meeting.

“Part of my job is to do research on kickoffs. Kick it through the end zone or kick it short. The risk of a long kickoff is that they may pick up more yardage with a return. I was leaning towards the short kick because the New England Patriots started kicking the ball short so they could pin their opponents further back. I mean, seriously. If they’re doing it, there has to be a good reason for it.

“Then I ran across something interesting that changed my thinking completely. I’d been focused on the wrong thing. The Patriots were the key to my discovery. They brought in a high school coach from Arkansas whose team has won seven state championships in the past fifteen years, including the last four. He basically says that risk-averse football is all wrong, and he has the stats to back it up.

“His premise is that turnovers, not field position, win games,” Coach Stevens said.

I looked over at Coach Hope to see his reaction. His whole coaching philosophy when he came here was one of good defense and field position. I expected to see him shut this down. What I saw instead from his body language was that he was on board with what Coach Stevens proposed.

“When I first talked to the coaches about this fundamental change of philosophy, they were skeptical, so I proved it to them. Our football software makes it easy to research trends. While they were on board with the idea that turnovers win games, they were hesitant about the field-position argument. What we confirmed was that the reward of a turnover outweighed the risk of giving up field position.

“In my opinion, Coach Mason put it best: he said that they keep the turnover stat for a reason. I called Bo Harrington at Alabama and asked him if he had any stats on how turnovers correlate to wins. Bo pulled four years of college football data from across the country. Apparently, they have staff that can do that for them. Anyway, what they found supported what this Arkansas coach was saying. There is a direct correlation between turnover margin and wins. In a twelve-game season, if you can maintain a plus-1 margin, you will win eight to nine of your games. If you push it to plus 2, you’ll win all of your games.

“I want to remind everyone that while turnovers are important, they don’t guarantee victory. You still have to play football,” Coach Stevens warned.

He let what he’d told us settle in. I wondered what he planned.

“Based on what I’ve found, the coaching staff has decided to make some changes. First, we will start onside-kicking for every kickoff. This is something that most teams never practice for. If they see they have to defend for it in the playoffs, it’ll take away part of their practice time to game-plan,” he said.

Holy cow, was he serious? I looked around to see if we were being punked. Jeff Delahey and his camera crew were filming as usual, but he didn’t look like he was in on a prank.

“Second, we will seldom punt on fourth down because the chance to run four downs worth of plays is more valuable than field position. Third, with plays where at least three players touch the ball, the chance for an explosive play of 20 yards or more actually doubles. Bo’s research also revealed that if you can account for more explosive plays of 20 yards or more than your opponent, you win 81% of the time.”

That caught my full attention. Suddenly a smile appeared on my face. I hated when we had to punt. I always felt that I could get us the yardage if given another chance. And I liked the idea of more players touching the ball.

“Finally, we will blitz more often because sacks change the game more than allowing first downs,” Coach Stevens concluded.

I glanced over at Tim and Yuri, and they both had big grins on their faces. Coach Hope took the floor.

“Coach Stevens did a good job of laying out the facts for the coaching staff. I debated whether we would try this or not this year. Coach Stevens convinced me that we would need to prepare for it and we’d see how it worked next year. Then I saw this,” he said and started the video of our next opponent, Broadview Academy.

The first video he pulled up was a local newscast showing what they’d said about the upcoming game in St. Louis. Their star defensive end, Percy Wilkes, was interviewed.

“I think we can run the table. We view the game in St. Louis as a warm-up for the playoffs.”

“What do you think of Lincoln High? Doesn’t their offense worry you?” the off-camera reporter asked.

“Everyone knows that Texas football is better than anywhere else; it’s just a fact. Lincoln High would have a hard time beating anyone in our league. It’s a whole different class of football. It’s a shame, really. They’ll try to ride our coattails to relevance. It’s a shame that ESPN didn’t feature two Texas teams in this game. If we played Trinity, Lake Travis, or Allen ... now that would be a game worth watching. Compared to them, Lincoln High is irrelevant.”