Chapter 30: Season Ends

Thursday November 24
We really didn’t have room for the crowd that was coming for Thanksgiving dinner, so Mom had decided to hold it at the restaurant. Dad, Uncle John, and Greg said that football-watching was a requirement. Caryn had a TV installed at the bar to keep them from whining.

I was awakened by someone pounding on my downstairs apartment door. I looked at the clock, and it was almost ten. Watching all the little rug-rats last night had been a nightmare. After dinner, everyone bailed on me. Even my girlfriend couldn’t be lured back to the house. I grabbed a robe and ran downstairs. Precious pushed out the door and hissed at Paul who about fell on his ass to get out of her reach.

“Jesus!” he exclaimed.

“I know, I know. My mom sent you to fetch me. I need a shower. Can you make some of that Cuban coffee? I think I need it.”

I climbed back upstairs, and noticed it was too quiet. The kittens had all escaped their crate. Where could they all be, I wondered? I frantically looked under the furniture and then entered the bedroom to check under the bed. Just what I didn’t need was to play ‘find the kitty.’ I might have to get Duke to help me with that. Then again, I think he felt it was just an excuse for us to hang out and for him to get excited. When Precious got serious about hiding, Duke was never able to find her.

Then I heard a meow come from my closet. I opened the door and found the little darlings all looking up at me. I almost got them all back into the crate unscathed. There was a little golden boy who was the second coming of the cat from hell. The little beast bit me. He was lucky I didn’t do what came to mind and bounce him off a wall. That would have been wrong. I might not have felt bad about it, though.

I took my shower and rushed downstairs. Precious was waiting by the door, so I let her back in and followed her back up the stairs to stuff her into the crate with her kittens. I sent Brit a text to warn her that her cat was in a mood.

Paul was drinking a cup of the magic elixir we’d discovered in Cuba. It was the equivalent of espresso, with a sugar foam to make it palatable. It had enough caffeine to wake the dead, so it woke me up just fine. There were cinnamon rolls on the counter, so Paul and I had to finish them off.

It was now time to go face the horde that had descended on us for the holiday.

I walked into Our House and witnessed the chaos. The football games hadn’t started yet, so the guys were off in a corner. I suspected from their laughter they might be imbibing. I guess it was five o’clock somewhere.

“David!” I heard a squeal and turned in time to catch my cousin Elizabeth, or ‘El’ as she preferred to be called, as she launched herself at me.

She was followed by two boys I hadn’t met before. One appeared to be her age and the other a little older. With one glance I could tell they were Tami’s brothers.

“Who might you two be?” I asked.

The elder was a serious young man.

“I’m Jason Spalding the Third, and this is my brother Braden. Tami’s our sister.”

“When you were on the ice planet, was it really cold?” Braden asked.

I felt a slight headache coming on. I put a smile on, and the three of us found a table so I could be grilled about Star Academy. The older boy was also a football fan. I smirked when I saw Tami searching for them. When she saw they’d cornered me, she gave me a sheepish look and came over. She only let them grill me for another half hour before she suggested that they go get washed up for lunch.

Mom had made the call to do the lunch version of Thanksgiving in case others had to be somewhere for the late afternoon meal.

El decided that she would hang out with me, so the two of us roamed the restaurant to find my girlfriend. Brook was talking to her grandmother.

“Hello, David,” Brook’s grandma, Grace, said.

Brook was surprised we knew each other. I reminded her that we’d met at her grandmother’s birthday party at her house. We’d talked for a while, and I’d found her to have a great sense of humor. El got bored and went to find Tami’s brothers. I saw that the buffet was open, and Tami was helping her siblings not to be pigs.

I took Brook around, and we tried to talk to everyone. We ended up being the last ones to eat. We filled our plates and sat with Ian and Ava, her parents.

“I figured you’d be watching football,” I said to Ian.

“Not really a fan,” he admitted.

“We should do this every year. This is much better than having to get up and cook all morning,” Ava said.

“I’m sure that’s what my mom thinks.”

“I’m looking forward to coming out to LA over Christmas,” Ian said.

Brook winced. Someone had forgotten to tell her boyfriend that parental units were coming with her.

“You do have enough bedrooms for us?” Ava asked.

“I believe there are six. If it gets too crowded, I can always bunk with Brook.”

Ian closed his eyes to try to not think about what I’d said. I was sure they knew that Brook and I planned to be together. Brook jabbed me in the ribs to show her displeasure.

“I’m sure it won’t come to that,” Ava said, not missing a beat.

“She’s not too old to have a tracker implanted, is she?” Ian asked.

The expression on Brook’s face was priceless. For some reason, I got jabbed again for her dad’s remarks.

“Have you ever been surfing?” I asked to change the topic.

“No. Your dad told me that you’re teaching him. I might want to try that out,” Ian said.

“His dad is teaching David to play golf,” Brook innocently offered.

The look of delight on Ian’s face made me cringe. It was bad enough I had to act like I could play golf for my J-drama. Then I had an idea. I would have to get Caryn to schedule tee times and pay for my dad and Ian to play golf the whole time. That would keep the dads busy. Yes, I assumed my parents would also be there. It would be best that I confirm that at some point.

I’d intentionally had Caryn rent a bigger house so people could come to visit. I would bet she told my parents, and they planned to take full advantage. To be honest, if it were me, I wouldn’t let my son and his girlfriend have free rein of a house for Christmas break, either. Their presence would also prevent us from throwing any wild parties.

“We’ll have to play a few rounds when we go to California.”

“I’m sure David would love to,” my now-dead-to-me girlfriend said.

“It’ll depend on my schedule. I’m there to work, after all.”

“Maybe David doesn’t want to play golf,” Ava tried.

“Oh, look. I need to go to talk to someone,” I said, and left the three of them amused.

I found Mac pouting. Against my better judgment, I decided to find out what the problem was.

“What’s wrong, Princess?” I asked.

“Mom and Dad said no horse. Ms. Zoe has to sell Bolt. Mom and Dad said no,” she repeated.

I knew better than to try to fix this.

“Sometimes things don’t go our way,” I tried.

“You fix it,” Mac implored.

I was so screwed. Her Unca David would fix everything, right? Those sad eyes made me want to just buy the damn horse for my niece. What was I to do with all the little rug-rats when they gave me that look? I needed to suck it up. If I couldn’t say no to my three-year-old niece, I was done. I looked around and spotted my mom, the queen of dream-crushers. She could tell Mac no for me. I waved her over.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“Ms. Zoe has to sell Bolt and Mom and Dad said no,” Mac said, and then she turned to me. “Unca David fix.”

My mom looked at me and burst out laughing. Mac was confused and began to cry. Mom bent down and hugged her.

“Honey, it’s okay. I was laughing at your uncle. Something you need to learn is men are worthless. You need to stick with us girls.”

I shook my head. Wow. I never realized that girl power was taught at such a young age. I left my mom to fill my niece’s head with nonsense. Okay, I was a coward and ran off to find my brother to find out what was really going on.

I tracked my brother down.

“Congratulations,” Greg said as I sat down next to him.

“Huh?”

“You were named Player of the Year, again.”

“Oh. I’d forgotten the All-State Team would be announced today. Who else made it?”

“At Lincoln, Ty, Wolf, and Tim were all on the first team. Johan was on the third, and Yuri and Roc received honorable mentions. They said you were the first two-time winner. And this was the first time a high school has had three straight winners, with Bill winning before you,” Greg said to fill me in.

“I honestly didn’t even think about it. I’d assumed that with my injury I wouldn’t have a shot at it and put it out of my mind.”

“Wesleyan had a couple of players make the list. Damion Roth was first team, and Mike made the second. His numbers were better than yours,” Greg said to earn a light punch on his arm.

“Dick.”

“Hey, I’m just telling you what I read.”

“Damion’s numbers must be sick for a receiver. He’s at least half of their offense,” I said.

“Try sixty-four percent. I hope you can figure out how to stop him. He also has the most twenty-plus-yard plays of any receiver this year.”

“We’ll stop him. We have to, or it’ll be a long day,” I admitted.

Tami had told me that Damion would have to go to a junior college. Even with Wesleyan’s help, he had too much ground to make up grades-wise. That made me a little sad because if he could qualify, he would be rated a five-star recruit. When you considered that there were currently only thirty-five in our class nationwide, having two from our state would have been a huge deal. Over the last five years, our state had only produced three five-star recruits. Being a five-star put you in the top 0.1% of all recruits.

Four-star comprised the next four hundred; that was only 1.3%. Wolf and Ty fit that category. Three-star were the next fourteen hundred or 4.7% of all recruits. This was where Tim landed in the pecking order. It was also where Mike was listed on the recruiting sites, despite his inflated numbers because of Damion. No, I wasn’t bitter. I would have to check to see if it were possible to catch him in passing yardage during the State Championship game.

The subject changed from football to Mac’s horse.

“The little devil. She thought her Unca David would fix it, did she?” Greg asked with a hint of irritation in his voice.

“I didn’t say I would do anything,” I assured him. “If it’s money...”

“No. Zoe’s parents don’t want to have the horses if she’s not around. They have enough on their hands with the farm. Roc will be leaving in a couple of years as well. They decided they should start looking for new homes for the horses. A neighbor knows Bolt and has offered to buy him at a fair price. I could tell that Zoe didn’t want to sell him, but she knows them, and they would take good care of Bolt. I couldn’t blame her.”

“And you don’t want to buy him because of the upkeep,” I finished.

“That, and I would have no idea what to do. It’s not like we could just take him to Grandma’s farm and have her take care of the horse. It wouldn’t be fair to her.”

I just nodded my agreement. Greg could tell it bothered me that Mac wouldn’t get to ride anymore. I knew that she and Greg had used riding as daddy-daughter time.

“What you could do is give her riding lessons for a Christmas gift,” Greg suggested.

“Isn’t she too young?” I asked.

“Zoe knows someone local who teaches young children to ride on ponies. She’s probably too young, but Zoe said she would talk to them and see if they would make an exception. I guess it’s mainly her riding the pony while they lead it around. She’d love to be able to ride alone.”

“I’ll talk to Zoe and get the information. If you have any other ideas for Christmas gifts, let me know. Just remember I want to be the cool unca.”

“No worries. My kids think Phil’s a goof. He’ll never be the cool uncle,” Greg said.

I smiled.

“We should break him in on watching the little ones,” I suggested.

“Who would watch him?”

“Good point,” I admitted.

When Kyle was little, I watched him while his parents were on their honeymoon. There was always an adult around to back me up.

“Maybe Dad would do it,” Greg suggested.

We both laughed at that. Dad was from the old school where an eye-for-an-eye would hold sway. There would be payback when Phil destroyed the house or lost one of them. Dad also didn’t appreciate my dark humor when I suggested that it would just be thinning the herd. There were days, though, that any child would test your patience.

Coby, our escape artist, had somehow ended up on the second floor, where Mom and Dad’s room was. He’d gotten past a baby gate on the third floor and scooted his butt down a flight of stairs. Peggy was in a panic when he’d disappeared. We later watched it all unfold on one of the security cameras. The little monster had wiggled under the gate. Peggy had raised it because if he could reach the top, he could pull himself over.

Duke ended up being the hero. When Coby began to wiggle under, he’d jumped the gate and put his body between Coby and the bottom. That prevented him from tumbling down the stairs. The two of them worked as a team to get my son to the bottom. I guess it tuckered them out because they were found at the foot of my parents’ bed, taking a nap.

Mom took it in stride and told Peggy I’d done similar things when I was Coby’s age.

I finally got a chance to watch this week’s segment of the documentary. Most of it was focused on recruiting. Ty, Wolf, and Tim were interviewed, and they explained the methods employed and how they planned to decide. Jeff talked to our coaches as they shared how they helped facilitate the process. They had our websites, shared game film, allowed access to watch practices and the like, and finally, made sure our grades were released.

Coach Hope talked about the various approaches that different colleges took in their recruiting. On the one hand, there were schools like Alabama that investigated everything about each prospective recruit. And on the other hand, there were those schools that just wanted to confirm our eligibility, and nothing more.

It then switched to talk to some college recruiters. Of course, they couldn’t talk about any individual players. It was against NCAA rules to comment about an athlete until they were signed.

Friday November 25
Today I had my finals to take. This year they’d gotten smart, and Coach Stevens was the only one who had to come in to proctor them. I was supposed to be given an hour for each test, but I convinced him that when I finished one test, I could start the next.

The only teacher who wanted to be present for their test was my photography teacher, Ms. Saunders. I had to turn in my macro photography project, and her test turned out to be verbal and hands-on. She had me demonstrate different photography and video skills and then use the software.

“I like your pictures of navels. It’s not something I would ever have thought of,” Ms. Saunders admitted.

“The football team did help me some,” I confessed.

I didn’t share what they wanted me to take pictures of.

“Good job. You get an ‘A.’ Do you plan to take more art classes next semester?” she asked.

“I’m not sure. I’d hoped to take it easy for my last semester, so I’m hoping so.”

“Are you saying I’m easy?” Ms. Saunders teased and then blushed when she realized the double meaning.

“No, I just enjoy your classes. My worry is my mom will get hold of my schedule and make sure I enroll in the classes she thinks I should be taking. She would rather my schedule be all AP-level classes to get me ready for college,” I explained.

“If you decide not to take any more art classes, don’t be a stranger. I think you have an eye for photography and I’d be willing to give you little projects to help you learn more.”

“I just might do that,” I said, and Ms. Saunders left me to finish up.

When I was finally done, Coach Stevens graded my tests. I’d gotten a solid ‘A’ on every one of them. That would give me straight ‘A’s again.

I’d sent a text to Brook to let her know I was done early and asked if she wanted to go to lunch. She called me a ‘stupid boy’ and reminded me that it was Black Friday. She had shopping to do. Brook might also have mentioned she could use a pack mule to carry stuff. I somehow deleted that text message.

I was more the ‘have Caryn buy stuff or buy it online’ kind of guy. The upside to Caryn doing it was that the presents came wrapped.

I received a text from my mom, telling me to come to her real estate office when I was done. That sounded like a great idea since Granny’s West was right next door. I called in a to-go order and told them to ask my mom if anyone in her office wanted anything for lunch. I would just pick it up with mine.

When I walked into Granny’s West, I got a big smile. Geri, the former assistant manager at Monical’s, was talking to Jan at the hostess stand. I couldn’t wait until my brother found out. Maybe I should mention that his massage business was in the strip mall. I would make sure to buy her a free massage for Christmas. Come to think of it, that would be a great gift to give all our employees, and give Greg a chance to earn some cash for the holidays.

“Hello, Mr. Dawson,” Jan said formally.

I noticed she rolled her eyes at the new girl and kept a straight face.

“Your order is almost ready,” Jan continued.

“We’ll help you carry it over,” Geri said.

I thought they were just being polite until the food started to come out in sacks. Jan handed me the bill, and I figured Mom must have decided to feed every realtor in the county. The three of us carried nine bags of food next door.

When we walked in, I figured it out. Cindy and her Ohio State contingent were here. I was told they wanted to get confirmation on their design direction. They had made a model of the proposed changes, and pictures were taped to the wall in the conference room.

Dean Lloyd and Cindy each grabbed a plate of food and joined me to look at what was planned.

“We’ve been showing your mom what everyone came up with. Once we get her okay, we can finish our projects for the semester,” Cindy said.

This was one of those moments when I had to bite my tongue. I’d told my mom to take care of the details. It would have been nice to at least be given the chance to see the final plans before everything was decided. I took a deep breath and realized that was precisely what they were doing. Dean Lloyd began to walk me through the proposed changes.

The interior of the house was going to be completely updated. Downstairs there were five bedrooms, and each one would have a bathroom with a shower. They would close off the garage and turn it into a man cave-slash-playroom. The second floor would have the master suite with huge walk-in closets and a bathroom that would rival a five-star resort.

Kitchen upgrades included a set of commercial appliances. Cooking for a family my size needed something bigger than a standard kitchen offered. I know that at our house there were times when a second oven would have been handy. The rest of the upstairs was an open concept that combined the dining and living spaces. There were floor-to-ceiling windows on the two sides that had the best views of the ocean. The windows were movable walls that would open the home to the outdoors and to the balcony that wrapped around.

There were three different designs of the overall look and feel. One was modern and mainly white. The second was a Spanish style with large red tile on the floor and hand-painted tiles as accents. The final version was labeled ‘Italian.’ It featured more earth tones and used stone for things like outside wall accents and the island front in the kitchen.

“Which one did my mom like?”

“She’s leaning towards the Italian design,” Cindy shared.

It was my choice too.

From the balcony, there was a staircase to the roof. It was designed for more outdoor living with a kitchen, bar area, fireplace, and hot tub. I could see spending an afternoon spending time with friends and family, just enjoying the ocean views.

The current pool house was going to have a second story added, which would add three bedrooms. There was already one bedroom on the ground floor, along with a large family room-like area with a small kitchen. There were also two dressing rooms for the pool and an outside shower.

In the back of the property, there would be a new two-story building that would double as a garage and security office and have four additional apartments. The garage was double depth and had garage doors on both the front and back.

“That looks huge,” I said as I pointed at the garage.

“Its ground floor is four thousand square feet. That makes the apartments a thousand square feet each,” Dean Lloyd explained.

When we’d kicked ideas around, I guess it hadn’t seemed real. Now I started to worry that this might all be too much. Only the fact that my mom and dad had been involved with this from the beginning stopped me from panicking.

I’d also expanded my family since the initial discussions. I could envision the kids downstairs and Peggy, Pam, Ashley, and Scarlet in the pool house. The new garage would allow us to have a driver, housekeeper-slash-cook, nanny, and security living on the premises.

“The only thing missing is a tennis court,” I joked.

I saw Cindy write that down.

I left the conference room to grab my lunch. My mom took me back to her office.

“What do you think?” she asked.

I could see she was happy.

“I think you’ve done a great job. Are you sure I can afford it?” I asked.

“You sound like your father.”

“It’s a valid question. I mean, wow! It doesn’t seem like they had a budget in mind when they suggested all the changes.”

“Jack Mass talked to several realtors that handle that area and shared what we planned to do. They told him that an estate like what they’ve proposed would be easy to sell. Some of the numbers that were suggested would make you a handsome profit if you decided to flip it instead of move in.

“I told them I wanted this to be designed to be your forever home, so not to hold back,” she said.

“I’m good, then. Are you okay with continuing with all the details?” I asked.

Her face broke out into a huge smile.

“I’ve had a lot of fun doing this. Cindy hasn’t been shy to ask for help with ideas from Jack Mass and Abigail Wesleyan. Now that woman has exquisite taste. I think Jack has decided that she’ll help design and decorate his model homes.”

Tonight was our awards banquet. Brook would meet me there since her parents and grandmother were coming to see her get her cheerleading letter. Everyone planned to wear their letterman’s jackets and football jerseys. It was a stark difference from what had happened my freshman year when hardly anyone even owned a jacket.

We’d changed the culture over the last four years to where players were proud to represent our high school. It was a long-held tradition to wear your school’s letter as a high school athlete. It singled you out as someone worthy of receiving the award for contributing to your team. Tonight, Ed, Wolf, and I would each receive our fourth letter for football as we’d all played varsity ball even in our freshman year.

The banquet was being held at my dad’s country club. The Booster Club was putting it on again this year, so it was free for the athletes and their families. I’d made enough donations that Mrs. Sullivan said I could bring a few extras. Besides my parents, my brother and his wife were coming. Also attending were my aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmothers, and baby mamas and their parents. I’d also invited Peggy and her parents to come. Okay, maybe more than a few extras.

Jeff was given free rein to cover the event with his camera crew. I was happy that they would be out of our hair after the game tomorrow. The documentary had shined a light on Lincoln athletics. I’d heard through the grapevine that several athletes’ families might move to our district so they could play ball here. There weren’t many places that had the coaching and facilities Lincoln had. If someone’s son had aspirations toward playing college ball, we had the best opportunity for them to achieve that. Our goal had been to leave a lasting legacy. With the upcoming seniors and the influx of talent, I was sure Coach Hope would have another successful year next year.

It turned out to be a fun night. They kept the presentations to a minimum, and I spent the evening going around and talking to everyone. I had a good time talking to my guys’ parents and clueing them in that their boys really were okay. I think parents think the worst of us sometimes. Then the music started, I found my girlfriend, and we danced.

I did dance with other women ... like my mom, grandmas, and Brook’s mom. Finally, Brook asserted herself and told her grandmother that she would have to wait for their New Year’s party to dance with me. Knowing how to actually do old-school dances, instead of just shaking my booty, made me popular with the geriatric crowd.

Then at the end of the night—ten o’clock, because we had a game tomorrow—I was asked to come up on stage. Coach Hope and Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan joined me.

“We didn’t want to leave tonight without recognizing David and what he’s meant to Lincoln High’s football team the last four years. David, we have something for you,” Mrs. Sullivan said.

There was an easel with what looked like an oversized picture frame under an orange sheet. She pulled it away and uncovered a shadow-box frame that had a picture of me taken at our away game in St. Louis. I was on the sideline, looking out onto the field with my helmet clutched in my hand. It looked like I was about to enter the game. Around the picture were a list of all my awards and the records I’d set at Lincoln, for the school, conference, state, and nationally.

“This will be hung in the Field House next to the trophy case,” Mr. Sullivan told everyone.

“We’ve also decided to retire David’s number 11. We’ll place his State Championship jersey in a similar frame to be displayed,” Coach Hope said.

I looked at them and was at a loss for words ... for all of five seconds. I grabbed the microphone and turned to the audience.

“Some of you have heard me say that individual awards and recognition were silly in a sport like football. For me to be successful, I need my teammates to be there for me. I must say that each and every one of you has worked your butt off to make it possible for these things to have happened.

“I will say, though, that if by retiring my number, it can motivate future Bulldogs, I’ll know it was all worth it. If it encourages a future Bulldog to work a little harder or dig a little deeper when things go against them, it was all worthwhile. The mornings I didn’t want to get out of bed to go run. Times I traveled to football camps to improve my skills. Hours I spent with you all at practice and in the weight room. Let’s not forget Cassidy and her personal goal to see me keel over from a killer workout. If my doing all that inspires you all to strive to be better ... it was all worth it.

“I want to thank my parents and family for all their support. The coaches, our fans, and especially the Booster Club. Without your guidance and support, none of what we’ve achieved to date would have been possible,” I said, and then paused.

“Take the mic away from him,” Wolf called out.

That got a laugh.

“Tomorrow’s a big day for us. It will be the last football game some of us will ever play. For the seniors, it will be the last time we have the privilege of putting on our Lincoln football gear and taking the field of battle. For all of you, I want to say up front that I thank you for everything you’ve done. We have one last chance to make our mark. I plan on going out a champion,” I said and then handed the mic back to Mrs. Sullivan.

Saturday November 26
It was hard to believe that a week ago, we had four inches of snow on the ground. The high today would be in the mid-50s.

I opened the downstairs door, and Precious darted out with a kitten in her mouth. It was the evil golden one. He was the dominant kitten and kept his brothers and sisters in line. He must have been getting the majority of the food because he was bigger than the rest. For some reason, Precious favored him.

I let Duke out, and he ran straight to the kitten. I had visions of Precious ending his life, but she just went about her business. The kitten wasn’t happy when he received a puppy-scan. When the golden boy took a swipe at Duke, Duke got down and wanted to play. That was when Precious sprang her surprise attack. Duke shook her off and then chased mama around the backyard.

I sat down next to the kitten as Precious and Duke played. I was surprised when he came to me and crawled onto my lap. We must be making progress if his first instinct wasn’t to make me bleed.