Chapter 25

Coach didn’t mince any words. “Gentlemen, I do not want any of the bullshit that went down in this town yesterday to affect your game play. People are responsible for what they end up doing in life. I know you all know someone who was affected by this. I want to make sure you all have your heads on straight. What happened was not a game, not a harmless prank. I know you’ve all played some grab-ass, done some necking, or other simple stuff. Some of you...” He looked at me. “ ... very plainly have open sexual relationships, with girls your own age, and even a bit older.”

That got a little chuckle. It was a bit of an open secret that Margie was pregnant, but wasn’t being discussed. Coach went on. “I’m not going to beat a dead horse here. I’m damned glad that none of you were involved. Just don’t let what you’re going to hear about our town on the news color your judgment or make you do something stupid. Think before you act. All right, enough on that.”

“First. Not everyone was on the bus to hear what I said. It applies to both the JV and the Varsity. Gentlemen, you played a hell of a game Friday night. JV, I’m not even going to bother reviewing the tape with you. Keep playing like you are, you’ll finish up undefeated, and ready to take your places on the Varsity team next year. I want you to think about one very important thing. You’ve beaten every team you’ve played. And you do NOT have Cal on your team. You’ve done yourselves proud, and we should be back to back state champions next year if you play as well then as you are now.”

That led them to cheer, and for us on the Varsity to give them a big round of applause. The cheerleaders made some extra noise, too.

“Varsity. Some of you may have noted that the Derby coach and I know each other. I knew that this would be a clean, and a good game. It was just that. Even more so, I know damned good and well that at least some of you got some phone calls Sunday. Let’s do it this way. Who on the Varsity squad did NOT get at least one phone call from a college on Sunday, stand up.”

There were four guys that stood up. “Thank you. Although I’m not exactly sure WHY two of you didn’t. I’ll make sure that all four of you get extra playing time in the next two weeks, to make sure you’re noticed.”

“Coach, we have an unlisted phone number. It’s listed as private on the school records.” Two of the other players standing nodded as well. The other player said, “Um, we were out of town all day, visiting relatives in Wichita. We left Saturday, didn’t get home until late Sunday night.”

Coach Thompson nodded. “You may get other contacts this week. They can send you something in the mail, too. Good. In case you’re wondering, that means that at least 30 of you DID get contacted. That’s an incredible percentage, for any high school team. In case you’re wondering the chances are normally about 7% of getting to play in college. Phrasing it politely, at best, 3 of you should get to play in college, and only 1 of you should get to play in at a Division 1 school. That I suspect all of you will be recruited ... unbelievable. But there’s a flip side to this.”

“FOLLOW THE NCAA RULES!” He yelled that out. “If you got contacted by a team yesterday, and they try to contact you again before next Sunday, don’t go, wow, that’s neat. Let me or Coach Myers know, immediately. They can get in a lot of trouble, and so can YOU! Now, since 30 of you DID get contacted, I want you all to stand.”

“Now, did anyone only get contacted by only one school?” No one moved. “Two?” Nothing. “Okay, three.” Five guys raised their hands. He nodded. “Thank you, be seated. Please note that for all five of you, I will see about more playing time these next two weeks. “Four?” Nothing. “Five?” Nothing. “Six?” Ten of the guys raised their hands. “Very good, gentlemen. That makes me proud. We’ll need to sit down and talk with you, on a personal basis, over the next week. Be seated. Seven?” Nothing. “Eight?” Six guys raised their hands. “Same thing, schedule a time with Coach Myers or I. Nine?” Two more hands. Coach smiled. “You know the drill. Ten?”

He looked surprised. “Really? Seven of you were contacted by more than ten schools, on the opening day? Very good. Fifteen or less? Twenty or less? Mister Kingman, how many?”

“Eighteen, Coach. All Division 1 schools.”

“Mister Elliot?”

“Same, Coach.”

Andy spoke up, “Same, Coach.”

“That leaves four. Mister Farmer, how many?”

“Twenty-six, Coach, twenty-four Division 1, two others.”

“Mister Blackman?”

“Twenty-four, Coach. All Division 1.”

“Mister Davis?”

“Forty-one, Coach. Thirty-six Division 1, five others. I’m not sure why so many.”

“Bullshit. You know why. And if you don’t, we’ll be playing a tape in just a minute that’ll explain to all of you why you’re so incredibly lucky this year.” Terry sat down, leaving me the only one standing.

“I’m shocked, shocked, I tell you, to find that the best football player in the country is still standing.” That made everyone laugh. “Don’t keep us in suspense, Mister Lewis.”

“When we took the phone off the hook, it was ... as Margie said ... ridiculous. I hadn’t even realized that there were a hundred ten Division 1 schools in the country.”

That actually got a round of applause from everyone, which surprised me. I looked around at them with a puzzled look on my face. Coach let it go on for a minute, then held his hands up. “Mister Lewis, you looked puzzled as to why your teammates would applaud you. The reason is quite simple. Being teammates works both ways. Not only did, and do, you look incredible out on the field, but by not being selfish, you’ve allowed everyone ELSE to shine as well. I’m going to make a guess that even for the five of you that only had three contacts, at least one of those schools was Division 1. There’s normally a few good high school players every year. There’s never been an entire team.”

That got another round of cheers from both the squads. The cheerleaders took to the aisles, doing a couple of routines. Coach let that go on for a bit, because it was good for our morale. “All right, sit down, let’s get down to the serious business. Some people leaked to the media at least part of what was going to happen in advance at halftime. If you’ve managed to hide under a rock, or really don’t care that much about publicity like Cal...” That got a laugh from all around. “ ... then you probably haven’t seen the weekend news or, the miracle of miracles, this.”

The screen lit up. “Thanks, Jim. This is rather unprecedented for us, here at ABC’s Wide World of Sports. There are so many things that happen in sports that for us to discuss what many would consider just a high school football team three times within a month might seem unreal. Not, perhaps, as unreal as what happened in Wichita, Kansas, on Friday night.”

The scene playing was of the last play before halftime. “The Derby Panthers, the best Kansas high school team for the last four years in a row, played the Hutchinson Salthawks, led by Coach Jim Thompson and quarterback Cal Lewis. This was the last play before halftime. Derby had just scored, and Hutchinson was on it’s own thirty yard line. With only five seconds left, most teams would be happy to go into the locker room, knowing they were only three points down, and getting the ball to start the second half. Instead, we saw a quarterback keep the ball, then gracefully dance his way past everyone else, for a seventy yard run. In and of itself, an athletic display most professional players would be hard pressed to match. During halftime, though...”

It then cut to John Carlin mentioning our donation to Toys for Tots, then introducing the Koch brothers. Charlie made his announcement about the Salthawks, then he introduced the Marines, and his donation to them. The screen showed General Davis thanking him and everyone for their generosity. It then cut to me, with my helmet off, introducing SJ, with the General saluting SJ first, with Keith Jackson saying in voice-over that I was the one that started this as a way to say thank you to the Corps for taking care of SJ. The view then cut to Bill, his comments, ending with his donation of seven hundred fifty thousand dollars.

The screen showed some more of our game in the background, while Keith Jackson spoke. “In the stands, watching this game, were several college coaches and scouts. I got to speak with two of them after the game. Pat Jones, football coach at Oklahoma State University, said that from a player perspective, Cal Lewis is the best football player in the nation, high school, college, or professional, right now. Ken Hartfield, coach at Arkansas, said he’d take the whole Hutchinson team as one, if they’d come be Razorbacks. I also got to speak with General Davis, Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps.”

“General Davis, it appears that the Marine Corps Toys for Tots program is getting a lot of help early this year.”

“Yes, Keith, and we have a sixteen-year-old to thank for it. The corporation that you heard mentioned is he and those young ladies that were out there. They’re all his girlfriends, if you can believe that.” The General had a sly grin on his face. “That boy is already a mover and a shaker.”

It cut back to Keith Jackson. “According to NFL rules, they cannot recruit someone to play professionally until they’ve been out of high school for three years. I’ve had two professional teams already tell me that they’re counting the days down now, so they can make offers to Lewis and possibly other members of his team, when they’re eligible. In the meantime, we’ll continue to watch, and if the Salthawks make it to the state championship, we want to be there, to bring you the thrill of victory. For Wide World of Sports, I’m Keith Jackson.”

The applause and cheers lasted quite a while this time. This time the cheerleaders came down front, leading everyone on several cheers. Coach let them continue for about five minutes, then just had them sit down on the stage.

“All right, that’s enough. Mister Lewis, I know you have something to say.”

I stood, then got up on stage. “Thanks, Coach. Some of you heard me talking to Coach when I got on the bus Friday after the game; others of you heard me talking at lunch. Just to clarify, for everyone here. I have a responsibility to the team as your quarterback. I think all of you know, or know of, Elroy Bannister, and at least some of what he’s done for Hutchinson, Reno County, and all of Kansas. We’d been trying to keep it quiet, but after the game, and especially after this weekend, it’s time for it to be made public. You’re my brothers in here, all of you.” I turned to the cheerleaders. “Well, not you, we’ll consider you my sisters, okay?”

Ginny Whiteland, who had broken up with her boyfriend on the basketball team a month ago and hadn’t dated anyone else since, said, “Hey, can I be more than a sister to you?”

Most of the guys laughed at that.

“Thank you, Ginny, for the kind offer. But I’ve got five girls in the house right now.”

“Okay. Larry Bear, I know you don’t have a girlfriend. You do, now. I can’t let Cal be the only one to slap you on the butt.”

The laughter from that comment went on for a bit, with Coach blowing his whistle after a minute. “Thank you for your attempt to keep morale up, Ginny. But Mister Lewis does have some things to say.”

“Thanks, Coach. As I was saying, it’s time to make things public. Elroy has decided that it’s time he retired. He’s passed control of all his investments, all his plans, all his hopes, and all his dreams, for Hutchinson on to someone else. Me. That means I don’t just have a responsibility to you all, to be your leader. That means, at least the way I’m taking it, that I have a responsibility to your parents, your families, and everyone else that lives here. Coach Thompson asked me on Friday what new plan I’ve come up with. I was telling him the truth, when I said I am adding 3,000 or more jobs to Reno County, enlarging the airport, and making US 50 four lanes all the way to I-135.”

“As part of that responsibility to everyone, I will not be playing football this Friday night, and it’s entirely possible I won’t be able to play next Friday, either. Not because I don’t care about winning those games; but because making sure that you have a better future for yourselves and your kids, and for everyone in the city and county, is a tiny bit more important than beating the Cougars or the Colts. Quite frankly, if you can’t beat them without me being there, maybe you don’t deserve those calls you’ve gotten, because we all know how bad they are.” There was just a little bit of grumbling when I said I wasn’t going to play, but also some angry shouts accepting my challenge.

“Good. You’re fired up. Keep it that way. Take my challenge of excellence onto the field. I’m going to be back for certain when we play Manhattan. But here’s where I’d like to see you shine. I don’t WANT to have to play that night. I don’t WANT to have to bail you out. I want YOU to PROVE to the rest of the state that it’s not because I’m out there. It’s NOT because I’m a superstar. It’s because YOU have the HEART to win, with or without me. That way, next year, we’ll KEEP the state championship trophy HERE!”

They were fired up now, the cheerleaders hopped up and did some routines as well. After a couple of minutes, Terry stood up, yelling at everyone to settle down. They quickly did.

“Listen up! I told Cal something at lunch. We all knew there was a lot of gold got put into the bank by Elizabeth Watson’s dad. All Cal has done today is confirm the rumors that have gone around. He’s got a lot of money. Big freaking whoop. Who cares about that? Was it his money that has made our Junior Varsity team as good as it is, or was it his leadership, his willingness to practice with them? Was it his money that has made us what we are now, the best team in the state, or was it his desire to be a part of our family, OUR team? We all know he’s not from here. But he’s as much of a Salthawk as any of us are. And being a part of our family ... being the LEADER of our family ... means that sometimes he’s got to do other things. That means it’s up to us to keep doing what we do, even when he’s not here. I think we can do that. I think it’s the least we can do. It better not be the ONLY thing we do.”

Both teams stood up and applauded him, then made even more noise when he hopped up on stage with me. I felt good about what was going on with the school.

That evening, a very tired Elroy stopped by our house. “Margie, do you have anything that’s reasonably alcoholic that I can have?”

“Yes, but you’re not driving yourself home if you do.”

“Sounds reasonable to me. At this point, I’d settle for sleeping on your couch tonight. Bless you, child.” He took a very long sip of the whiskey she’d poured. “Ah, that’s good. I think I’ve seen enough today that when this shit is done with, I’m going to find someplace warm, with girls in bikinis, that I can sit and stare at, to take my mind off things.”

Beth said, “So, you want to go out to the pool area, and let us parade around for you?”

He chuckled. “No, Elizabeth. I think I may hang my shingle up and move to Florida. I’ve seen evil in my life before, don’t think I haven’t. But our own town.” He sighed, then continued. “And it’s not going to get any better tomorrow. We’re having an FBI team come in, because these bastards crossed state lines.”

“Too bad there’s not a US District Judge around that they might report to,” I said.

“I wish. Earl’s got to watch things, since it’s public knowledge he and I know each other. He’ll be involved as much as he can, but there’s too much at stake here. Girls, I know you’ve given your statements to the state troopers, you may have to give them to the FBI again. The Baptist Convention is up in arms, because the police have seized the Church building itself. Turns out at least two of the rooms in the church building were used by them, and there’s evidence everywhere. They even did a film in the sanctuary, on the altar itself.”

Eve shook her head. “That’s so incredibly sick.”

“Elroy, is there anything you can do, or we can do, to help Tina Starkey? Bill was pretty upset today. She was taken to a foster home,” I said.

“For good reason, unfortunately. She’s not old enough to be in the house by herself. I think she’ll be back in school tomorrow. But ... damn. Her parents will never get out of jail. There was enough evidence in the house, and ... while they didn’t molest her, there were pictures of her that were found. From when she was younger, And I refuse to say anything further, because I wish I hadn’t had to see them myself.”

Margie looked at me. “Cal, neither you, nor the messenger, can get involved in this, at least not in the way you’re thinking right now.”

“Unfortunately, I agree. That doesn’t mean we can’t make sure their victims are helped. In fact, I insist on that. Whether it’s psychological help, or whatever we can do, then we’re going to do it,” I declared.

Marcia shook her head, a sad smile on her face. “The king is dead. Long live the king.” At everyone’s look at her, she said, “Oh, I don’t mean that literally. More along the lines of how Hugh Holmes felt about Delano. It was his town. I’m not from here, but I see how Elroy feels about this place. I’ve talked to enough people in just the short time I’ve been here to know what you are. You’re the king of Reno County. You’d already decided to pass things on to Cal, and done a good job of it. But now this has come to the surface. You didn’t know it was going on, in your town. So, while you were going to stick around and help, maybe be the trusted advisor ... your soul is now sick. You’ll see this through to the end, because your people deserve that. But you’re done, otherwise.”

“Thing is, that’s okay. You had to do this, alone. Cal doesn’t. He has us, he knows he has us, and...” She reached out and put her hand on Elroy’s. “ ... he knows that our children are, or will be, his. His legacy, your legacy, will continue. His words just now, they weren’t idle comment. He’s accepted the responsibility. He told both football teams today that you’d passed things to him, and that he wasn’t just their quarterback any longer, he had a responsibility to everyone ... their parents, and that making sure that they have a better future is more important than playing football.”

Elroy got that glint in his eye, and some of the fire back in his belly. “Well, I may just have to forego that trip to Florida and settle for the beautiful girls here for a while, then. Someone that can sling that much bullshit around without a manure spreader is truly worthy of my assistance. I thank you for the drink, but I won’t need any more tonight. Nor do I need help making it back to my home. Thank you, and have a good evening.”

Once he was out the door, my girls broke out laughing. “Very nice kick in the ass,” Beth said. “Elroy needed that.”

I leaned back in my chair. “You know, I’m thinking a major distraction that gets a LOT of public attention would probably keep our problems off the front pages. And it’d be something that I should do anyway. I need to leave by 8 pm, so in ten minutes. This’ll be interesting; I’m going to have to fly the other way. That’ll put me there at 11 am local time.”

“Please don’t bring back any kimchi. Give us a kiss, and have fun,” Margie said.

I gave my ladies all a kiss, then got changed. I went outside via the garage back door again. I was glad it was night already. I checked to make sure where the roving security guards were, waiting a couple of minutes until they were no longer near. I took off straight up this time, just because I didn’t have as much time on the other end as I wanted.

It didn’t take me long to get into sunlight again, which is when I started heading west while still climbing to a hundred miles. I had begun accelerating when I hit 50 miles up, so I was already massively supersonic at 100. It was less than 7,000 miles. I decided that my first stop was going to be in Beijing. May as well cut the strings before destroying the puppet.

I landed on the roof of a statue just west of where the central Communist government met. It was in the middle of a huge square, with people walking all over the place, on all sides of the monument. I listened to them talk, making sure I could understand them. That would have caused a problem if I’d had to speak a different language, but I was good. I decided that simply walking would be the best way to get into the building. I quickly dropped from the peak, stopping about 10 feet in the air.

The motion of my moving caught the eyes of a lot of people. I heard some screaming, some yelling, and several soldiers came running out. “Hello, people of the Middle Kingdom. I apologize for not coming to see you earlier. Stop the fighting, destroy the drugs, live in peace!” I was ‘walking’ on air towards the government building, my voice booming out.

One of the soldiers yelled out, “Who are you? Come down here, NOW!”

“People of the Middle Kingdom, I am the Messenger from Above! Stop the fighting, live in Peace!” I lowered my voice. “Be at ease. I am here simply to deliver a message. You will escort me now to Li Xiannian and the rest now.”

“No! You will...” He screamed when I swooped down and picked him up into the air with me. Two of the other soldiers started shooting their rifles at me. I quickly used my heat vision to melt the barrels on them. They dropped them quickly.

“That’s not friendly at all. You could have hurt this man. Who are you?”

“I am Zheng Kang. You are ... you do not exist! We have been told...”

“Come with me, my young friend. It appears that there is a misunderstanding.” I hurried towards the building entrance, still several feet off the ground. Since I wasn’t planning on replacing the government here, I simply burst through the doors, flew by the guards, and entered the Great Hall of the People. More than 2,000 men were inside, at desks, discussing things.

“What is the meaning of this? Get out of here!”

“The meaning of this is simple. I am the Messenger from Above, and I am delivering a message to you. Would you like to simply hear that message, or would you prefer to have me deliver it to you as I did to the government of Pakistan?”

“You are a tool of the western...” He quit talking when I picked him up by the hair, and flew to the ceiling, 30 feet up.

“SHUT UP! You do NOT get any say in this. I WILL deliver my message. Whether you listen to it or not is up to you. You have free will, after all. But so do I.” I opened my hand, letting the man fall to the floor. I didn’t stop him, so while he didn’t die, several bones in his legs were broken.

“Do I have your attention now? I am not a figment of anyone’s imagination. I am not a tool of any government on this planet. I am here to pass my message on to you. Should you decide not to heed it, then the consequences will be upon you. You will cease fighting, you will destroy the drugs that destroy people’s lives, and you will live in peace. It’s a simple message.”

A different man yelled, “What happens if we don’t? We are the Middle Kingdom, the oldest civilization! You have no right to dictate to us what we do or don’t do!”

“Actually, I do have that right. Deal with your own country. Destroy the drugs that destroy yourselves. Peacefully trade with others. Fail to do so, and you will be destroyed. I will be visiting your puppet when I leave here. Your ... war ... by proxy, between the sovereign nations of North and South Korea is at an end. As is North Korea. Take it as a lesson. I can destroy the tomb of Mao, just as easily as I destroyed the tomb of Lenin. Learn from it.”

“WAIT!” An elderly man rose from his seat near the front. “I do not doubt, now, that you are what we have heard reported you are. You speak our language with an accent that shows you are not native, but you understand it, just as I heard about your Russian, Hebrew, and Arabic.” He sighed. “I cannot change the way the wind blows the reed, but I can build a wall to prevent the wind from reaching it.”

“However, the bird that flies over the wall can still dine upon the flower. I prefer to not speak in parables, which I know is how your culture does things. Your people can date their civilization back 4,000 of your years. An impressive feat, for this planet. Not so impressive when measured against others, though. My last assignment, the main people of that planet measured ten times that, more than 40,000 years, as civilized. I didn’t have a lot to do there, and I was happy with that.”

“Now, as with so many of your nations, I have to treat you as spoiled children. I am not of your culture, I am of my own. I do not have to respect you; I merely have to make sure that you conform to three very simple rules. I prefer to not interfere, but I will.”

“Very well. I am Li Xiannian. Will you kill our people, then, when you destroy the tomb of the great Mao?”

I flew down to him, picking him up as well. I flew out with both of them, stopping at the monument in the middle that I’d originally landed on. I set them both down, then flew into the mausoleum, grabbing Mao’s body from the cooler it was kept in, and coming back out within a couple of seconds. “A compromise. I will not kill your people unless I have to. This ... however ... watch, and learn.” I flew up to the top of the monument. I used my free hand to quickly chisel some of the block away from the top, so that it was a spike. I then impaled the corpse on the spike.

Going back to the bottom, I said, “This is a monument to those who died, making your country what it is today. A failure. So, too, is Mao. A failure. His body, and this monument, are offensive to civilization. Learn from this, and learn my mercy from this.” I cut the bottom of it off, destroying the base by smashing it into dust. The upper portion, I got underneath, picking it up. I rose into the air, holding what must have been at least 30 tons of block. “Tell your people to watch Pyongyang.”

I took off flying east. It was easy to do so. I climbed until I was more than 10 miles up. Jets scrambled, trying to keep up with me, but failed to do so. Others came from the east, trying to intercept me, even going so far as to fire missiles at me. The problem was that their missiles only had a range of a few miles, and I was higher than they could reach. It took me 20 minutes to get above Pyongyang. I stopped, made sure exactly where it would fall, then dropped the monument.

The Taedong River runs through the middle of Pyongyang, with three islands in it. The northernmost island has two tunnels that link both sides. The monument landed right between them, in the middle of the island. From a bomb perspective, it was actually rather small, just barely over one ton of TNT. From a damage perspective, the thing sent shockwaves that destroyed both tunnels, and created a crater slightly more than 50 yards in diameter. I had followed the monument down, and upon its impact, I then destroyed the rest of the bridges crossing the Taedong.

I flew over to the recently completed Arch of Triumph, destroying it in seconds. I flew from there to the Swedish Embassy, landing just inside the fence. There were Swiss Guards on duty, paying close attention, as the sound of the monument hitting had made a very loud noise.

“Good afternoon, gentlemen. I simply need to pass along a message, please. Is the Ambassador available, so that I may tell him something, quite publicly, and safely as far as he is concerned?”

“Shit, you’re that ... messenger, aren’t you? You’re not going to hurt him or us, are you?”

“I have no reason to do so. I simply need to make sure that my message gets delivered to those who need to hear it. If you’d be so kind ... I can even meet him here, easily, if he can be here within a couple of minutes.” The guard got on the phone. Barely a minute later, a man came running out of the front.

“I am Lars Berquist, the Ambassador. Are you here to destroy my embassy?”

“On the contrary, Ambassador Berquist. I am here so that you can pass a message along to those nations who need to hear it. First, I visited Beijing before coming here, to Pyongyang. The loud blast you just heard was made by the Monument to Martyrs that was in Beijing. It was accompanied by the body of Mao. There are, as of now, no bridges or tunnels linking both sides of Pyongyang. If you would please call the American military in South Korea, I am preparing to destroy the North Korean military presence on the border. This is NOT so they can invade, but rather, to end this war. I’ve already told Li Xiannian this. Make sure he tells the truth. Have a nice day, Ambassador.”

I took off, then headed north, first. I flew to Sinuiju, destroying the bridges that crossed the Yalu. I then flew northeast. The Sup’ung Dam had been attacked during the Korean War several times, to destroy the hydroelectric plant located there. I destroyed the whole thing, dam and all. I knew that would cause flooding downstream, but it was more important to me to make a lesson of North Korea.

I then flew south, to the border. I’d heard stories about their tunnels, so I was watching for them. Once I got within five miles of the border, I slowed, using my vision to see as far through the rock as I could. It was completely ridiculous, how many they had. I flew from east to west first, seeing what I was going to have to do. I quickly flew back to Panmunjom, landing on the South Korean side. Two tall US Army Military Policemen were standing on duty outside a decent sized building.