Chapter 23

July 13, 2017 (Thursday)

Dear Ms. Diary,

The alarm rang too early. I could have used another hour’s sleep but turned it off and made sure my bedmates were getting up, stating loudly, “Shower time.”

As neither of them looked all that awake, I pulled the sheet down. They just huddled together. So, I had to bring out the big guns. I reached my hands between the respective legs of each and diddled them.

“Arrr. Don’t get me going,” complained Rhee.

As they continued to lie there, I licked the index fingers on each hand, getting them good and wet, then slowly inserted one in each pussy and moved them all around, then extracted them and headed for the shower. I did not wash my hair, so was nearly finished when the two of them showed up.

“I don’t like you anymore. You’re mean.”

“Ah, but you love me because I wash your back. Come on in, frowny girl.”

“Will you wash mine, too,” Heather asked as she came into the room.

“Sure.”

When we tromped downstairs in street clothes, I could smell pancakes, as could Rhee.

“Oh! Is Dad the chef?”

Rhee turned to Heather and explained, “Dad makes the best pancakes!”

As we entered the kitchen, Dad said, “Good morning to the powerhouse soccer trio. Your breakfast awaits.”

A chorus of “Hi, Dad” greeted that announcement, followed immediately by chairs scraping across the floor.

“Please notice,” Dad said, “that both maple and boysenberry syrups are available.”

“Boysenberry syrup?”

Rhee responded, “Yeah, Heather, even if you love maple, you should try the boysenberry.”

Dad had long ago made boysenberry converts out of Rhee and me, but we occasionally had maple.

Less than a minute later, Heather’s response was, “Oooh, that’s good. I don’t know if it beats maple for me, but it’s at least close.”

“You may have both,” replied Dad. “I made a lot of cakes, so don’t be shy.”

As we were finishing up, Mom entered the kitchen with a cheery, “Morning all.”

“Hi, Second Mom.”

“Hi, Mom.”

“Good morning, Sandy.”

Mom offered to clean up and, considering the time and the long drive to Sedgwick, we magnanimously allowed her to do so.

I walked up to Dad, said, “Thanks, Dad,” and kissed him on the cheek. Rhee copied me exactly, which caused Heather a bit of consternation. Though she colored a bit, she matched us.

“Wow, for thanks like that, I’ll cook for you three anytime.”

Behind us, Mom said, “Don’t you be trying to steal my man.”

She followed that by wrapping Dad up and planting a tongue-infused kiss on him. The three of us laughed, then bolted upstairs, changed into our uniforms, put our street clothes in our bags, and met Dad in the garage. The three of us played Roshambo for the front seat, Heather winning.

A bit over two hours later, we arrived at the field, not quite the first ones there. I did not see Coach, so I called out, “Stretch.”

As other teammates arrived, they joined us in the ritual. Ritual, yes, but very important, and they all knew it. As I was finishing up, I saw Coach walking up in her typical lopsided gait.

I asked, “No changes?”

She shook her head, then glanced through the team, stopping when she found who she wanted.

“Please grab Padme. I’ve had an idea, and I want to talk to you two.” When Padme and I were standing in front of her, Coach started, “I’ve got two things for you two, then I’ll talk to the team. Beth will play probably a bit more than half of the first half. You’ll replace her, Padme, playing out the half and then starting the second half. Unless the team falls apart earlier, which I do not expect, I’ll put Beth back in with the backups around the middle of the second half.

“Is that amenable to you two?”

She got two nods in reply.

“The other point is that their fullbacks are all quite good one-on-one, so I expect to see lots of crisp passing ... what did you call it, Beth?”

“Ah, Barcelona calls it ‘tiki-taka.’”

“Yeah. I want that. You up for it, Padme?”

“Sure, Coach!”

We loosened up by kicking balls around until Coach called us into a huddle of sorts.

“Sedgwick is an overall good team with a solid back line. I don’t want to see anyone on offense trying to show off by trying to beat them one-on-one. I want to see passing, tiki-taka. At least, I want to see it from the midfielders if they’re on an offensive push and definitely from the offense.

“Back line and midfielders, remember our speed demons on the front line. Front line, Lissa brought an idea to me, and I like it. Her idea should work if the ball is being brought up by either wing or the sweeper – Beth and Padme will both get stints there. That is, not by Rhee. Lissa thinks we can use Rhee to suck in their back line, allowing the play-side wing to cross behind Rhee to the center. That also assumes whomever has brought the ball up gets it to Rhee somewhere near the top of the box but near post longitude. Everyone in this league knows about Rhee, so I expect their defense to expect her to shoot and thus collapse on her. Another possible advantage to having Rhee give instead of shoot is that if we’ve pulled it on them a couple of times, she may be able to fake it.”

I looked at Rhee, who was grinning, and responded, “Oh, yeah. That sounds like a possibility. How ‘bout if Mia or Heather shout a code word if they’re going to do that, something innocuous, but not anything that might be misheard as something real?”

“Ah,” said Coach. “That would be good for two reasons, the first is obvious. The second is that the defense may realize we’re calling a play, giving Rhee even more of a chance to fake it. Excellent. However, don’t do it just to do it. That means, Mia and Heather, that you’ll have to recognize when it’s a good chance. If midfielders are clogging up the box, that’s probably not a good time.

“Beth, Padme, to set this up best, you’ll probably have to go play-side of the box, ostensibly to provide an outlet for Rhee. That should keep the defense focused on players other than the play-side wing. Obviously, Heather’s speed will give her a little extra advantage, but Mia, you’re quick and sneaky, so you have your own advantages.

“Taking this one step further, my little wrinkle to Lissa’s bright idea, the off-side wing could also do this with the play-side wing. Comprende?”

I could see Mia trying to figure it out, so looked at Heather. She was nodding, but keeping her mouth shut.

“Good,” I thought. Mia’s bright enough, she’ll get there. Heather obviously knows when not to steal thunder, particularly as she is, essentially, the new kid on the block.

“Oh! I get it! So, Heather calls the play and rips past Rhee heading my way. Yeah, I can see it. I hear Heather call it or I see her doing it, then I can rip the opposite direction and if a defender goes with her, or she runs into the off-side fullback, my fullback, then I’m an outlet for her and I probably have most of the goal open to me.”

“Got it in one. Again, don’t push it. Wait for golden opportunities, which may not happen in this game. We want this to be a surprise to the defense, so it should be used sparingly. The code word is ‘pink.’”

A bit less than four minutes into the game and we were already down a goal, scored by their left wing on a streak. Gracey was beside herself.

“Hey. Don’t worry about it,” I told her. I put in a strategic pause, then said, “But don’t let it happen again,” and I grinned at her.

To everyone, I said, “Okay. Remember the kick-off play against Watermelon? Let’s try it.”

Rhee tapped the ball to me and as I was turning to pass to Rathi, I heard her yell, “Coming!” So, I gambled on the left and poked the ball off to my left (field right). As I chased after it, I felt their center forward breeze just behind me. Once past her, I turned upfield and looked for Rhee and Heather. Both were behind the midfielders, so I poked the ball long, trying to lead Heather, but not by so much that she’d have to fight for the ball. It was a bit too far and the fullback was just about there when Heather trapped it. But she faked to field right and did a 270˚ to field left and started hauling toward the right post.

As she approached the penalty box with the left fullback almost on her heels, I was surprised by Rhee calling “Pink!” I quickly figured out her thought, which was that she’d run the play in the opposite direction as designed and I just hoped Heather figured it out. It seemed to me that they could best use me pulling some defense to our left, so altered course for the left post. I was downfield and left from Heather and angling farther left as Rhee moved downfield and then started curling around right and upfield behind Heather. When Heather, who still had her fullback right behind her, was about at the top of the box, she had Mia and me to her left, Mia more upfield – closer to the goal. Their right fullback stayed home, as someone had to watch Mia and me, but the center fullback went to cut Heather off. As the center back closed on her, Heather flicked the ball with her outside right and Rhee slammed it left-footed into the close corner of the net!

As we were heading back to our end of the pitch after the celebratory scrum, I teased Rhee.

“I remember the plan for Pink, and I don’t recall you being the one to call it.” I grinned at her and Heather and continued, “You know, that might not have worked if Heather weren’t so damned bright and quick on the uptake.”

“Yeah, I know, but I also know that Heather is ‘damned bright and quick on the uptake.’” Rhee then put Heather in a headlock and tousled her hair, saying, “Girl, that flick was PURR-FECT; right on my foot. I would have benched myself had I missed that.”

The quick up-and-down for Sedgwick’s morale took the wind out of their sails and we cruised to a 12-2 win. First Mia, then Heather scored on Pink and that had the effect of loosening the D on Rhee, and a successful defense does not give Rhee Devlin extra space. She scored a career-high five goals, which went along with the two assists she got on Pink. Heather got her first-ever hat trick, with her first goal coming off a gorgeous stretch of tiki-taka with Rhee, Rathi, Zala, and me that lulled the defense just enough for Heather to pop free to receive a through pass from me that she bent with her outside-right into the top-right corner. Ann got a goal off a corner kick, which she blasted past the goalie from five yards outside the box. We even got two goals with the backups in for the last 12 minutes. I sent a long ball to a streaking Tonda (Rhee’s back-up) for the first and re-directed a corner kick to the top of the box where Haven (Rathi’s back-up) squeaked it past the goalie just inside the left post. The five assists I got today should increase my current four-assist lead in the category.

In the locker room, Coach ended the horseplay with her prototypical, “Gather ‘round.”

“Here’s today’s game ball. I’ve decided that since Whatshername already has, like, 42 of these, I’m going to award it to myself for having the brilliant idea to let her be a starter.”

There was much laughter.

“In reality, Rhee’s performance today was even grander than what we’ve come to expect from her, and we’ve come to expect a lot. Unless Sanderson had an equally spectacular day, Rhee’s scoring lead in the league may have stretched to double digits. That’s simply unfathomable in this league. At the risk of letting praise go to her head, though I expect Beth to help pound it back out if it does [more laughter], she’s become the dangerous striker I thought was in there somewhere. Those of you on the team two years ago know whereof I speak.”

After grinning at Rhee, Coach continued with, “I have a question for everyone. Which of her goals today showed most obviously how much she’s developed over the past three years?”

I knew, but I was sure Coach was not testing me, so stayed quiet, looking around at the faces; Rhee’s was pink. Heather raised her hand [her confidence level has greatly increased of late]; Coach arched her eyebrows at her.

“The first one, where she called a play we didn’t have.”

“Why did you pick that one?”

Heather answered a bit stiltedly, but looking right at Coach, “Because it showed that she had absorbed the idea behind Pink and could transfer that idea to situations for which Pink was not specifically designed.”

“Got it in one. For all of you: Be honest, who else of your teammates do you think could have come up with that alteration on the fly?”

Rhee called out, “Beth.”

I called out, “Lissa.”

Coach waited a few moments and asked, “Anyone else? Don’t be shy.”

Lissa, who had not missed a practice or a game since she’d injured her ankle but hadn’t practiced or played, spoke up.

“Heather certainly figured out what Rhee intended without missing a beat. By the way, Heather, your flick on that play was beautiful.”

[Repeat after ... Ah, you know the story too well.]

“Yes. Yes, it was,” agreed Coach. “It was timed perfectly and right on the money, both in placement and relative to Rhee’s stride.”

“Team, I’m very proud of all of you. Rhee’s accomplishments today demand the game ball, but I want each of you to take a figurative piece of that game ball home with you. Beth, Lissa, and I have thrown many new wrinkles, strategies, and tactics at you in the past few weeks, and you’ve risen to the challenge, not only accepting the changes, but incorporating them, and performing them very well.

“I’m sure that at least some of you have noticed that the back-ups have been getting a lot of game time lately, with often wholesale replacement of lines. I particularly want the starters to notice that the backups have held their own. Today, the starting and back-up defenses gave up one goal each. It is starting to seem that we could randomly pick the starters out of a hat. Yes, I’m joking, but only partly. We’ve all seen how radically we’ve changed the offense in the past few weeks, and it’s obviously working quite well; we haven’t had a close game since the draw with GV. I’ve been pondering this thought for a bit, and we may be making further changes. If I make significant changes, I’ll endeavor to get lots of game time for those starters who are moving to the next level after this year, that is, Ann and Brianna.

“Lana [Svetlana; Ann’s backup] and Marli, we’ve talked about this before, but I want to stress it again. Please watch what Ann and Brianna do, when and how. Watch how they react to the other team’s offense and try to figure out why they do things a certain way. Lana, Ann provides a great example of how to play center fullback; she’s the best I’ve had in 15 years of coaching, most of it at this level.

“This team is the best I’ve had in 15 years of coaching. Please don’t let that go to your head. Your play all year has been above what I expected, and, in the past month, well above what I expected at the beginning of the season. Everyone is contributing, everyone is learning. We now have the great problem of trying to figure out who to start and how long the starters play, as there seems little difference between the options at any given position. Look what Tonda did today. She looked like Rhee. Well, a darker, ganglier Rhee.”

There was much laughter.

“If it weren’t for Rhee’s performance, the game ball probably would have gone to Heather, who got ‘only’ a hat trick, the slacker.”

Laughter and chuckles followed.

“You see my problem. A lot of you earned starting positions early this season, but we’ve now seen what Padme and Heather can do. How do I give Padme lots of playing time if it means benching Beth? Anyway, while I don’t know, yet, how I’ll work more playing time in for the back-ups, I will be doing it. I hope the current starters understand that it will help the whole team if we know the game-time capabilities of all team members and get them game experience. At this point, I expect to play the starters a lot against GV next week. Well, at least long enough to see if GV is up to playing us close despite our recent changes. Don’t let up against GV, but I think we might just put a world of hurt on them.”

That last was met with a roar of agreement.

“A few more attagirls. To Mia and Heather each for calling Pink and executing it very well. To Beth, both for calling for a repeat of The Thing of Beauty at just the right time and for realizing quickly that she had to call an audible on it when she was about to pass to Rathi, and another to Rathi for letting Beth know she had to call that audible. To Beth, Zala, Rathi, and Rhee for that lovely bit of tiki-taka that led to Heather’s first goal and to Heather for picking just the right moment to break upfield to score that goal. By the way, that shot was very pretty. To all six fullbacks for a game superbly played. That is a good team we just demolished, and a lot of the reason behind that demolition was the tight D that did not let their O get organized. I lost track of the number of times that one fullback or another poked the ball away from them to put the kibosh on yet another of their offensive surges. To all six halfbacks for dominating play in the middle of the field, which let those lazy, good-for-nothing fullbacks lounge around adding to their tans.”

There was much laughing.

“Last, but assuredly not least by any stretch of the imagination, to both goalies for directing the fullbacks in the fullest potential of sun angles and tanning requirements.”

Pandemonium.

Coach let it go for a few seconds, then called for quiet.

“If this keeps up, we may eliminate the goalie position as superfluous. But, seriously, Marli, that was a great decision to beat their streaker to the over-the-top pass outside the box. You acted before I could call out to you to do that, so, attagirl.”

“Now, hit the showers. You guys stink. Olfactorily, that is.”

Rhee, Heather, and I found Dad waiting just outside the locker room; we sounded a chorus of “Hi, Dad.”

“I’m going to have to stop coming to your games.”

I think our faces all fell, but then Dad grinned.

“Yes. I think the other dads are getting jealous, as my three daughters are hogging the glory.”

We did not plan it, but the three of us wrapped him up and, one by one, kissed his cheeks.

“By my estimation, you three scored eight goals and got at least nine assists. It could have been ten, but I don’t know how official scorers score assists on that ... what did you call it, Beth, ticky-tacky?”

I chuckled and corrected him.

“Yes, that’s what I said, ‘ticky-tacky. But, really, how do they score assists in situations like that?”

“There’s only one given, the one that directly provides the pass to the scorer, despite in some situations, multiple passes being critical to the goal. Obviously, on that play, the entire set of tiki-taka was critical to setting up the situation to allow Heather’s goal.”

“Okay. Come on. We can discuss this more comfortably in the AC in the car on the way home. Do you want to stop for lunch? My treat.”

July 14, 2017 (Friday)

Dear Ms. Diary,

The team was upbeat and rowdy at practice today, and that fact enabled me to learn another lesson from Coach. [I’ve lost track of the number I’ve learned from her that translate to various team situations, not just those in sports.] Coach had praised us yesterday, and we let it go to our heads. We caught the back side of Coach’s tongue twice, then she stopped practice and made all of us run extra laps. All except Lissa, for whom today’s practice was her first since the injury. I believe she wouldn’t have deserved it even if it weren’t her first practice back, as she’s been quieter and more reserved since the injury. I am fairly certain that she sees being replaced at the starting right wing and that we probably will not change to a four-member front line.

After that, the team settled and put in extra effort, and Coach worked us hard, and beyond usual quitting time. Once we were flagging, she called us in and had us sit. She looked at each of us in turn, no expression on her face.

“That was the worst start of practice I’ve ever seen out of this team. Don’t ever do that again. If you don’t want to work, then you need not show up for games.” She looked around us rather severely, then stated, “First off on the news front is that Lissa came to me before practice and suggested benching her in favor of Heather. She reasoned that she’s not the natural right wing that Heather has shown herself to be and that any other solution that gets Lissa a starting job has either Beth or Rhee sitting. She doesn’t want that. I applaud Lissa’s self-sacrifice for the team. For the rest of the season, I’ll have her helping me with substitutions when Beth is on the field. Lissa has shown a real knack for offense evolutions and knowing personnel abilities, so I’d like her to have some marshaling duties. So, once I’m sure her ankle is 100%, I’ll be trying her out as Beth’s backup at sweeper. Padme will be Heather’s backup if Lissa works out as a sweeper, which I think she will.

“I leave for Cleveland this afternoon and won’t be back until Monday evening, so Beth will run practice Monday, with the help of Ann and Lissa.” Coach then turned to me, saying, “Beth, don’t let them get out of hand. Keep them focused.”

She then looked over the whole team.

“Anyone who gives Beth – or Ann or Lissa – trouble while I am gone will not play on Tuesday. Period. Now, how many of you could make an extra practice on either Saturday or Sunday?”

Rhee called out, “Sunday would be better for Gracey, Beth, Heather, and me.”

Coach looked slightly annoyed, then her face cleared as she said, “I guess I should check with my Assistant Coach before asking such questions. Who could make a practice on Sunday? Raise your hands.”

At least a dozen of them waved in the air, including mine, of course.

“Okay, those of you who are unsure, see what you can do about making it. It would be best if the whole team could be there, but we ... well, Beth, can work around it. Beth, I want you to run a full-team scrimmage on Monday and get as close to that as you can on Sunday – same start time, by the way. However, I want you to mix and match starters and back-ups. I also want you to give Ann some significant time at center half. Figure out what to do with Rathi or whomever when Ann’s at center half. Other than suggesting that you give Gracey some time at center fullback, I trust you to assign positions as you see fit.”

Coach returned her focus to the whole team, looking us over as she is wont to do, then added, “Against Central on Tuesday, we’ll probably run the usual starters. However, unless they fall apart, I’ll be pulling starters early, as I think Central has little chance to beat us, or even stay close. That is unless the team that started practice today shows up on Tuesday. You’re a very good team, but when you lose focus, you lose whatever it is that makes this team good. Now, get out of my sight and have some fun.”

As we were standing up, Coach motioned me to join her; the rest of the team gave us space.

“I’m sorry you had to run extra, as you weren’t a problem. In that situation, though, it’s better to drive the lesson home to everyone.”

“No problem, Coach. I understand that. I’ve also filed it away.”

“Good. I want you to work them hard while I’m gone, as I want the lesson about today to stick. Personally, and please don’t pass this on, not even to your gang, I think if we can continue to play at this level, we’ll probably get far at State. I suspect we won’t get past Centerville, but who knows? However, I’m beginning to have high hopes for next year’s team, so long as we get most of the girls back and they continue to work hard and learn. Do I understand correctly that Heather has been spending a lot of time with you and Rhee?”

When I nodded, she continued, “Well, whatever you’re doing, please keep doing it. Her confidence level has increased by an order of magnitude and her play shows it. I think she’s the piece we were missing. Rhee is still our star, but Heather’s speed and shooting skill, and the way those two are working together – I’m particularly thinking of that ‘reverse Pink’ yesterday – have taken and will take a lot of defensive pressure off Rhee, which only gives her more opportunities. So, I want you to keep them paired in practice, as I want them to learn each other inside out. I also want you to pair them with a variety of left wings and sweepers. Get Lissa up to speed at sweeper, or, as much as you can in two days. You might also try Padme at left wing.

“I’ll stop with the suggestions there, as I don’t want to hamper your ingenuity and flexibility with a checklist of pairings I want you to test. Just do what you think might work. As I said before, work them hard, and if you must work them beyond our usual quitting time, do so with whomever can stay late. As far as I know, and I checked this morning, no one else has a call for the field until 2:00 on Monday. I’ll let you know about the field on Sunday as soon as I can; probably by text.

“Lastly, I suspect that you’ll be sitting a bunch on Tuesday. However, I want you to drive the offense to go full bore from the start. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if we had five goals before we hit the 20-minute mark. While I don’t want to run up the score against lesser teams, we’re now in the stretch run and I want to get our offense ticking as well as possible. I also want the backups to get as much game time as we can manage, and I want them to get goals to reinforce the confidence that simply getting more playing time will engender. When you’re sitting, I want you completely running substitutions.”

I nodded.

“All right. Thanks. Now, take your friends home and have fun.”

The first thing I did after Coach kicked us loose was collar Gracey and Liya; Liya had come with Gracey to practice, as our sleepover started after practice. Rhee and Heather ambled over, too.

“Hey, if we’re going to practice on Sunday, could you two stay the whole weekend? That way, Gracey’s mom wouldn’t have to make two trips this way this weekend.”

Gracey elevated her eyebrows at Liya, who answered, “Umm, I don’t know. What do you think? If your mom will let you, mine will almost certainly be fine with it. You know as well as I do that my mom likes the ‘positive influence that Beth’s family provides’ me’ [air quotes].”

Gracey smiled, then pulled her phone out of her bag and called her mom.

“Hi, Mom. Yeah, we’re done and about to head to Beth’s. However, Coach has called an extra practice for Sunday, so we were wondering if we could stay here both days this weekend. It would save you two trips over here. Well, one, anyway.”

She listened for a bit, her face falling a little, then asked, “Well, what if we could get a ride from Beth’s parents?”

She listened briefly, then seemed to interrupt her mom.

“Mom, you know they’re usually fine with it. But Beth will find out and I’ll get back to you after we get to her house. If we get everything lined up, may we stay?”

Her face cleared at her mom’s response.

“Yeah, we’ll clear it with Liya’s mom before we finalize anything. Thanks, Mom.”

As Liya pulled out her phone, I interrupted.

“Let’s go to the house and deal with details there.”

She responded by changing the subject.

“What about Heather? Doesn’t she have to get permission?”

“The rest of her family are going out of town this weekend, so Heather was staying here all weekend anyway.”

“Cool.”

The five of us were loud and boisterous on the way home, particularly when Liya and Heather got into another faux put-down contest. Those two are peas from the same pod, though from opposite ends of the pod in some respects. Riotous laughter accompanied us through my front door. Once we were inside and the jocularity had declined, I captured everyone’s attention.

“Though our sleepovers usually officially start at 2:00, I’d like to request a motion from the floor to start this sleepover now.”

“So moved,” answered both Rhee and Liya.

“Second,” shouted Gracey.

“Discussion,” I asked.

All shook their heads, even Heather, who was grinning to beat the band at our fake formality concerning sleepovers.

“As there is no discussion, I bring the motion to a vote. All in favor?”

A resounding crash of loud “Yes” and “Yeah” responses followed.

“Opposed?”

Silence.

“The motion passes unanimously. The July sleepover starts immediately.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a motion by Rhee, so turned to look at her. She was pulling her shirt off, as we had planned. Though I was surprised by Heather’s quick response [she hadn’t been involved in the quick planning process last night via text], I really should not have been. By the time Rhee had her bra unhooked, Heather’s shirt was up over her head and coming off her arms.

“What are you guys doing,” asked Liya.

I was in the process of removing my shirt, I had it off my torso, but still not off my head, so I did not answer, but Gracey did.