Chapter 7: Dancing With The Devil

Monday September 19
Cassidy had gotten Paul to show her the video of my fight. She wasn’t happy when I announced that I didn’t want to go to the dojo, but grudgingly accepted my reasoning. She and Brook went instead. I made Paul drive me home and told him I planned to stay in the rest of the night so that he could take the night off.

What I did instead was get the Demon out and drive until I found myself at the Pearson farm. Zoe took one look at me and put me to work mucking out stalls and putting down new straw as she did other chores. I wondered why I always seemed to get this job or washing horses. Not that I minded, but she brushed, babied, and fed them, while I did the dirty work.

It was exactly what I needed. When we were done, Zoe saddled two of the horses, and we took a ride. She got me talking about how I felt horrible for hurting Mr. Rios. We ended up on my farm, and I took her to the river and found my favorite walnut tree. She listened as I shared everything and when I finally stopped, she nodded.

“Let’s pray about it,” she suggested.

I bowed my head and prayed for Mr. Rios. I asked for forgiveness for my role in hurting him. I felt better after the work, talking to Zoe, and praying. Somehow, she always made me feel better, more grounded after we did this. Sometimes you needed to get back to basics, talk to a friend, and put it in God’s hands.

“Thank you, I needed that,” I admitted.

“I’m just happy you felt comfortable enough to share with me.”

“I would hope we could still be friends even if you are seeing Johan and I’m dating Brook.”

I think it surprised her that I knew about her date with Johan.

“I don’t know if ‘seeing’ is the right word. I just went out on one date with him,” Zoe said, pushing back.

“Come on. You’ve known him your whole life. Johan is one of the nicest guys I know. I can see the two of you together.”

“That’s part of the problem. We know just about everything about each other.”

“I understand; someone new can seem exciting. There’s all that mystery of who they are and the fun of discovering new things about each other. That doesn’t mean they’re better. Yes, you think you know everything about Johan, but I would bet he can surprise you. The key is, you know that deep down he’s a good guy.

“I wanted my best friend Tami to be my girlfriend. She kept pushing it off to a mythical ‘someday.’ Now I don’t know that we’ll ever be together. A part of me hopes so, but now she’s dating my best friend, and I’m in love with Brook. Only you know if Johan might be the one you’re meant to be with. I would recommend that if you suspect he might be, don’t overthink it.”

She bit her bottom lip.

“You love Brook?” she asked.

“Yes.”

She just nodded and stared off into space, thinking.

“What does she have that I don’t?” Zoe asked.

What do you say to that? I suddenly felt like I was dancing with the devil. No matter what I said, it would be wrong, but Zoe didn’t deserve for me to just brush it off.

“Comparison is a joy stealer. It’s a bottomless pit of self-doubt and self-deprecation. You need to know that there’s nothing wrong with you. You’re not less sexy, less lovable, or less anything else. I think it’s telling that I’m here when I need to talk about something I consider serious. You’re my anchor.”

“Then why did you choose her? If I’m the one you feel you can share serious stuff with, why aren’t we together?” Zoe asked.

“That same argument could be made for Pam, Halle, Beth, or even Tracy,” I said, and saw her frown. “You represent a lot of what I find important. I want to eventually have a large family; I have strong religious beliefs; and I can see someday living on a farm. There are times when I wish that was the life I was destined to have.”

“You could have all that with me.”

I could see the start of tears. I pulled her to me and gave her a hug.

“Zoe, I care for you more than you may even realize. When I decided to have a girlfriend, I knew what I was giving up. I could’ve just kept the status quo, but that wouldn’t have been fair to you or any of the others, especially Brook. Believe me, I didn’t have reasons why anyone was better than someone else. It simply came down to my heart.

“I know that isn’t what you want to hear. If I told you it was some arbitrary reason, you would fixate on trying to making yourself better in that area. I can’t emphasize this enough: you are perfect just as you are,” I tried.

She gave me a weak smile.

“I was prepared to be mad at you,” she admitted. “Dang it, David. You should have picked me.”

I was smart enough not to say anything.

We mounted the horses and rode back the farm. My grandmother saw me and made me promise to stop by before I went home.

“You don’t visit,” Grandma Dawson complained.

“What is it with women today? They all want a piece of me.”

“Better than the alternative.”

She was right about that. She took me into the house where Yelena, Yuri’s grandmother, was cooking dinner. I sent a text to my dad to let him know I was having dinner here. He sent one back wanting to know if they could come too.

“Dad wants to join us for dinner.”

“We have plenty. I just go kill another goat,” Yelena said and began to sharpen a knife.

“Is she serious?” I asked my grandma.

“No, she’s teasing you. Tell your dad to come.”

Having a family dinner at my grandma’s was nice. Duke came with and had to check out the farm to make sure everything was the same as it was when he was here last. Coby and Little David were with my parents so that Peggy could have a night off. There were no worries they wouldn’t get a lot of attention with two grandmothers spoiling them.

Wednesday September 21
Brook and Cassidy were still going to the dojo, so I planned an afternoon with Tim and Wolf. One of Wolf’s neighbors needed a hand with a project, and he and Tim had volunteered to help. I came home to find my mom in the kitchen. Peggy had school late on Wednesday, so the boys were in daycare. I’d let Duke out so he could patrol the backyard.

“Slow day?” I asked as I made myself a sandwich.

“No, I have something for you,” she said, handing me an envelope.

I looked inside, and there was a check for five hundred dollars made out to my personal company.

“What’s that for?” I asked.

“I closed on that house you shot the pictures and video of. It had your name in the credits. Word spread that David A. Dawson, actor-slash-model-slash-photographer, had done it, and I had realtors clamoring to show it. I told the homeowners, and they insisted on paying you.”

“Cool,” was my naïve response.

“I just got a new listing, and they want you to do the photos and the video.”

I gave her a look that let her know I wasn’t excited about it.

“Before you throw a hissy fit, this home is listed for $1.5 million. If it sells for full price, my side of the commission is $45,000. I’ll make twice that if I find the buyer.”

In our area, the realtor association held a breakfast each year and recognized anyone that made over a million dollars in sales. Mom had told me that the majority of realtors didn’t sell that much. She’d brought home a plaque every year she’d been in the business, even the year she’d had cancer and hadn’t sold anything for nearly half the year. I knew this was a big deal for her, and the right thing to do was to be supportive.

“Of course I’ll help. When do they want the pictures taken?” I asked.

“How about now?” she answered, and wouldn’t look me in the eyes.

I chuckled and shook my head as I knew there had to be more.

“What else is going on?” I asked.

“I need you to get them to clean the place and declutter.”

Decluttering was basically picking up and packing away anything that didn’t need to be left out. Mom always said that if you were moving, you might as well start packing. She also wanted them to pack up any personal items like a wall of family pictures. Her reasoning was that people needed to see themselves living in the home, not to be reminded that it was someone else’s. I had no idea if that helped, but she was the expert.

I called Wolf and bailed on them. They gave me some grief, but they understood when I told them my mom needed help with work.

We drove to a neighborhood that had newer, upscale homes. The listing was down the street from where Pam had lived. The owners were a couple with two boys who were under ten. I think my mom set me up because they were huge fans. I was a little surprised they’d seen Star Academy since it was rated PG-13 for violence.

I walked through the house, pointing out what needed to be picked up based on what Mom had shared with me. Most of it was toys, clothes and the like. Mom told me later that the kitchen and laundry room had been cleaned since she was there earlier this afternoon.

I used the boys as my assistants, and we quickly were ready to shoot the house. I found that big open floor plans were much easier to shoot than a smaller ranch home. I talked their dad into taking them to get some ice cream so I could shoot the video.

Mom’s camera on her phone shot a good video. She explained that doing it this way felt more realistic than shooting it with a higher-end video camera. I shot one with my camera, which had a video option. I wanted to compare them in class tomorrow. Mom needed the video to get the listing on her website and put onto the MLS so other realtors would be able to see it. The MLS then would send it out to the world, and it would be on all the real estate websites by morning.

On the way home, I wanted to talk to my mom about doing this in the future.

“You didn’t really need me to shoot the pictures, did you?” I asked.

“No, but they wanted the prestige of you doing it. I’ll have Megan send them signed publicity shots tomorrow. The boys will love it,” she explained.

“Okay, two things. First, I understand why you wanted me today. That is a nice listing. If you could give me a little more lead time, I would appreciate it.”

“I know, and I’m sorry for the short notice.”

“Mom, if you need me, I’ll help you out. Second is, I don’t really need the money. Could you have them write checks to one of the charities instead? That way they get to write it off their taxes, and I have another reason to do it.”

“That makes perfect sense.”

“I’d bet that they might be willing to cut even bigger checks and you can advertise that a portion of the sale is going to charity. It might not sell the home, but it might get some foot traffic through the house,” I said.

Brook and Cassidy showed up for dinner. Peggy looked wiped out, so I told her I would take care of the boys tonight.

“Do you plan to drive to Michigan and Ohio State after the game Friday?” Brook asked while we were eating.

“This is an unofficial visit, so we have to pay for transportation,” Dad said. “Yes, we plan to drive.”

“You do realize that it’s over five hours to Michigan and then four hours to Ohio State? From Ohio State, it’s another five hours of driving to get back here. Do you really want to be in a car for fourteen to fifteen hours?” Brook asked.

I looked at Dad and then Mom. She gave me a little smirk. Mom was the only smart one. We might not get to Michigan until three in the morning if our game went long.

“Tell me you have a solution to our dilemma,” I said to Brook.

“The flight training school trains pilots of all abilities. They told me that if you would agree to use the flights as training, they would just make you pay for fuel, airport fees, room, and board. Roy said he would also like to get tickets to the game.”

Roy Tyro was her instructor at Lincoln Flight School.

“I thought they didn’t allow passengers on training flights,” I said.

“This would be for a pilot who’s doing some continuing education. He already has his license,” Brook said, and then leaned forward as if to share a secret. “I think it’s Roy and a buddy who just want to go flying. They get you to pay for it, and they get to see a football game.”

I had an evil thought.

“Ty plans to go to Michigan this weekend. He was talking smack about them flying him in while we have to drive. Keep this a secret. I want to see the look on his face when we beat them there.”

“Brook and I want to go too,” Cassidy blurted.

“Slow your roll. I had plans to convince him later,” Brook told her.

“I could just threaten to hurt him. That way you wouldn’t have to use your ... ah ... you know,” Cassidy faltered.

Before my mom could get involved, I caved.

“Absolutely you two can come. While you’re at it, you might want to invite Tami and Sarah. I don’t want to hear Tim and Wolf complaining all weekend that I have my girlfriend with me and they don’t.”

“How big is this plane?” Dad asked.

“I don’t know. Why?” Brook asked.

“I know that David’s uncle and brother might want to go. I also know that Wolf’s uncle was interested in going on a trip,” Dad said.

“You’re in charge of setting it up,” I told Dad.

I knew he would make sure that everyone paid for their own hotel rooms, food, and tickets to the game. He would call Caryn, and she would get Megan to do the legwork. Megan might miss a half hour of her favorite soap opera.

“Oh, and make sure no one tells Wolf or Tim. I don’t need them blabbing to Ty,” I said.

I did learn one lesson: I should have played hard to get. Once I caved, Brook had to ‘go home to study for a test.’

Thursday September 22
I found Tracy talking to Ms. Saunders when I walked into my photography class. I gave her a curious look, but she ignored me. My classmates were clustered around one of the computers, acting like they were working on something, so I joined them.

“What’s she doing here?” Marshal asked.

He was the most outgoing of my classmates. It had taken them a little while to warm up to me. I understood them since I’d been a nerd in middle school. If the starting quarterback had been in my class in those days, I would have been a little leery of him. I think that when I didn’t bug them to help me or look down on them, they’d finally accepted I was okay. I also made a point to let them know I had a better GPA than they did. That held some serious street cred in the nerd world.

“I don’t know, but I think we’re about to find out,” I said as Ms. Saunders stood up and looked back at us.

“As you know, David has been shooting some video for his mom’s real estate business. He’s offered to help Tracy shoot a series of shorts called Dessert First. The concept is similar to something you’d see on the Food Network where a chef from a local restaurant would make their signature dessert,” Ms. Saunders explained.

“What would we need David for?” Tracy asked, to be smart.

“You need me to make you look good and to eat desserts,” I shot back.

Ms. Saunders sat the four of us down, and we strategized our first episode. The plan was to shoot it next week. I told them we could do it at my restaurant, but it had to be during times when we weren’t busy. I didn’t want to disrupt anything.

This week we were playing Lakeview, and they hadn’t won a game yet. I think everyone expected us to win big. After practice, Coach Mason and Coach Hope pulled me into one of the conference rooms. I expected them to go over something in practice that we needed to work on. What I found were two concerned men.

“What happened last weekend?” Coach Mason asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time. Part of my responsibility is to make sure you guys are dialed in mentally, not just physically. I’m letting you down this week. I’ve not done a good job in making sure that we’re emotionally prepared to play Lakeview. In today’s practice, it was evident that you’re not fully engaged, and it’s rubbing off on your teammates,” Coach Mason shared.

“Cassidy told me about your altercation while at Oklahoma and how you’ve stopped going to the dojo. We’re just worried that you’re losing focus,” Coach Hope said.

My first reaction was to be pissed. No one had worked harder than I had over the past three years.

“Did I not do what you asked for in practice?”

“Like I said, I don’t think the issue is physical. I think you might be buying into the narrative that Lakeview will be an easy win and that you can mentally take some time off from the game. If I were being honest with you, you’ve been phoning it in this week. We wanted to sit down with you and see what we can do to help you regain your focus,” Coach Mason said.

I looked at both men, and they seemed to have my best interest at heart.

“I had a fellow recruit’s father attack me over the weekend. You know how Cassidy trains me,” I said to Coach Hope.

“I do.”

Coach Mason looked confused.

“Cassidy has taught me to not hold back when my safety or the safety of others is in question. The man who attacked me was no joke. If he’d won the fight, I would have been hurt. I reacted as I’d been trained and put him down hard. My final blow could have killed him.”

“In the grand scheme of things, football doesn’t seem quite as important, does it?” Coach Mason asked.

“No, I guess not,” I admitted.

“Do you want us to play Trent this week?” Coach Hope asked.

That caught my full attention. Both coaches saw it, too.

“I think David can get it together for the game. I’m right about that, aren’t I?” Coach Mason asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Go home and get your head on straight. We need you focused,” Coach Mason said.

As I headed home, I was thankful they’d talked to me about it. I didn’t know I’d not been giving my all in practice until they pointed it out. I appreciated that they had approached me like this instead of yelling at me.

Friday September 23
This game could be summed up in the first play. I’d lined up in the shotgun and saw that Lakeview had pulled their safeties forward into the box to stop the run. Coach Mason had called a quick trap play up the middle, which was now doomed to fail. I scrambled to change the play.

“Orange! ORANGE!” I screamed, holding up both hands to indicate a change in the play.

Johan snapped the ball high and to the right of me. Caught completely off guard, I was lucky to even touch the ball. It bounced up as I turned to track it down. I collided with Ty, and we went down in a heap. Our offensive line wasn’t ready for the premature snap, and Lakeview’s defenders rushed to recover the fumble. My dojo training kicked in, and I popped up and launched myself at the rolling ball. I got a hand on it, then was buried in defenders. I used my ‘Hulk’ strength to rip the ball out of one of their linebackers’ grasp. We ended up losing thirteen yards on the play but avoided the fumble.

That set the tone for the rest of the game. Coaches Mason and Hope’s prediction that I, and by extension the team, had lost focus, was especially apparent in the younger guys. Roc, Phil, and Yuri had all been benched. If it hadn’t been for Ty’s running, we would have been completely out of this game.

At halftime, the score was tied at 0–0. There was a reason Lakeview hadn’t won a game to this point. In the third quarter, Ty broke a long run to put us up 6–0. Roc committed a personal foul after the score to push the extra point back 15 yards. Derek Hofmann, our kicker, pushed it wide right. That missed extra point allowed Lakeview a chance to climb back into the game.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, we were driving the ball. Ty was gaining three to four yards a play, so we had abandoned the passing game. Coach Mason saw what I saw: they were ripe for us to use our play-action passing game. He called a quick slant for Wolf.

“Blue! Set! Hut, HUT!”

On the snap, Lakeview ran a run blitz. I faked the handoff to Ty, and he was met in the hole by half their team. Wolf gave a halfhearted attempt to block one of their linebackers and then sprinted up the field. Their safeties had moved forward to support the run, so Wolf was behind them when I threw the pass. The ball went through his hands and bounced off his helmet back towards the line of scrimmage. One of their safeties turned around, and the ball fell into his hands. They now had first down on our 42 yard line.

On the ensuing play, they ran a simple dive play, something we’d been stopping for little or no gain all day. I think Tim assumed it would be routine as he closed in to make the tackle. I didn’t see exactly what happened, because their center snuck out and blocked me, but the next thing I knew their tailback was running free. I got on my horse, ran him down and tackled him at the goal line, but they ruled it a touchdown. After the extra point, we were trailing 7–6.

We traded possessions with not much happening for either team. With a little over four minutes left in the game, we got the ball back. Coach Hope got in my face before I went out.

“Focus! Get them to focus! If I see one more pass dropped or someone jumps offside, you will wish you were never born come Monday. Do I make myself clear?!”

“Yes, sir,” I said, and ran out to the huddle.

I looked around, and no one was looking back at me.

“Look, there’s enough blame to go around. We can worry about that Monday. What we need to do is win this. I am not losing this game! Are we all on the same page?” I asked.

I heard grumblings and halfhearted yeses. I got pissed.

“Enough of this bullshit! Are we on the same page?” I asked again.

“Yes, sir!” they barked back.

I heard a whistle and looked at the referee.

“Delay of game. Five yard penalty, still first down,” he announced.

I saw Coach Hope grab Trent and start to talk to him. Fuck it.

“On me,” I told them, and we went to the line of scrimmage.

What I just told them was I’d be calling the plays at the line and that we were running the hurry-up offense. I saw that Lakeview was in a prevent defense. I personally felt that was a big mistake because there was too much time on the clock and we could still run the ball.

“Blue One! BLUE ONE!” I yelled as I moved under center.

Bert and Ty lined up in the ‘I’ formation behind me. On the snap, I turned and handed the ball to Bert as he ran right up the middle. Johan, Bryan, and Brock fired off the ball and gave him a good running lane. He made a nice eight yard gain. On second and third downs we ran Ty into the teeth of their defense and were robbed when they marked the ball short, making it fourth and inches.

Coach Hope called timeout. I trotted over to the sideline.

“I think we should punt it,” Coach Hope said.

“No, give me the ball. Give me a chance to fix this,” I begged.

“If we punt, they’ll just run the clock out. If we don’t score on this drive, the game is over,” Coach Mason added.

“If we can’t pick up an inch, we deserve to lose,” I said.

“Goal line power dive,” Coach Hope called.

Lakeview saw we had put two linemen in the backfield with Ty at tailback. They countered by inserting six linemen and five linebackers.

“Down!”

Wolf went into motion. The plan was to have him help block up the center. I saw his linebacker follow him and had a crazy idea.

“Set! Hut, HUT!”

The fans were all on their feet, screaming. As I got the ball, there was a tremendous crack of pads as both teams collided. Ty’s eyes got big when I put my hand in his stomach without the ball. I trusted my team to get one inch, but this was on me. I carried out the fake handoff and then stood for a two count before I curled around the outside. I had held my fake a moment too long because the defensive end had figured out what I was up to.

I planted my foot and ran to the outside. He did exactly what he was trained to do, which was to force me inside of him. If I tried to make it to the edge, he would drop me for a loss. The Lakeview crowd erupted when they saw me in trouble. The mistake a lot of runners make is to try to make something out of nothing. It’s usually much better to stick your nose towards the goal line than to do something fancy. I lowered my shoulders and drove my legs towards the first down marker. Their defensive end tackled me, but I’d been working out since I started playing ball. I carried him past the line for the first down.

I could see Coach Mason about lose his mind. I agreed with him; that wasn’t the best idea I’d ever had. I quickly got everyone lined up. We steadily gained yardage, eating up the clock. With just under two minutes to go, I hit Kelly on a crossing pass over the center, and he broke free. He got the ball down to the 9 yard line. The cowbells could probably be heard back home.

I called a two-man option with Ty and me as we lined up in the shotgun.

“Down! Set! Hut, HUT!”

We worked our way to the right of the line, and I made my read. I tossed Ty the ball, and he cut upfield as I was tackled. He shrugged off a corner and cut inside where one of their linebackers tried to wrap him up. Ty was a man possessed. He fought for extra yardage, and I thought he might score. Then he was crushed by another linebacker. I saw the ball come loose and bounce into the end zone. One of Lakeview’s defensive backs scooped it up and ran it out of the end zone.

I popped up to stop him from running it back for the score. I don’t think the poor kid saw me. I hit him harder than I’d ever hit anyone. I think all the negative feelings I’d been dealing with all week came to a head. The Lakeview fans who’d just been screaming for a victory went quiet as he dropped the ball. Ed had been chasing him, and he grabbed it. I watched as he ran it in for the score. There was stunned silence for a moment, and then our fans cheered when they figured out we’d just taken the lead.

I looked toward our bench, and there was a flag on the ground. I felt my heart get stuck in my throat for fear it was on us. The line judge indicated it was offsides on Lakeview and that the score counted. This time when we received an unsportsmanlike penalty for excessive celebration, I don’t think the coaches cared.

Derek shanked another extra point, and we now had a 12-7 lead. Ed intercepted a long pass to end the game. He was given the game ball for scoring the winning touchdown and the game-ending interception. It was nice to see he was playing much better than he had last year.

After the game, I was summoned to meet the press. I took a quick shower and then found Coach Hope with Ed. As soon as we sat down, Jeff Delahey asked us a question.

“What went wrong today?”

Coach Hope started to answer, but I cut him off.

“This was on the team. Lakeview was a trap game. We didn’t give them the respect they deserved, and they showed today that they’re better than their record. It was obvious some of our younger guys, especially, didn’t take Lakeview as seriously as they should have. The coaching staff did everything they could to get us to focus. They even sat me down and called me out about my lack of concentration during this week’s practices,” I admitted.

“What’s your take on this?” Jeff asked Coach Hope.

“We, meaning the coaching staff, were worried. This is the type of game teams lose. I’m still not sure how we won the game. I’ll have to watch the film to figure out what happened. All I know is if it hadn’t been for Ed Pine, we would’ve lost today.”

I slipped out because we had to get to the airport. I was happy to see Ed was getting the attention he deserved for saving us.

When we arrived at the airport, Brook took charge. She went in and found Roy, our flight instructor. He took Brook and Cassidy out to help him with his preflight checklist. Cathryn, his wife, was his copilot. She helped us get all our gear stored.

We were flying in a Cessna Caravan, which sat 11 passengers. It had four rows with one seat on each side and an aisle down the middle, and then a bench seat in the back for three more passengers. Brook and Cassidy claimed the front two seats so that Roy could talk to them while he flew. Dad and I grabbed the bench seat in the back. Tim and Wolf were happy that Tami and Sarah were joining us.

I loved that we didn’t have to go through security and then sit and wait for a flight. As soon as they were done with the checklist, we were taxiing down the runway and soon wheels-up. The Cessna Caravan was a single turboprop. It was louder than a commercial flight, but I would put up with that for the convenience.

I put in my earbuds and closed my eyes. About twenty minutes into the flight, I felt someone touch my arm. I opened my eyes and found Tami smiling at me. She pointed at my earbuds, so I pulled one out in order to hear her.