Chapter 14

“WAY TO GO, DUDE,” Les said when he caught up with Dennis in the hall on Tuesday.

“I didn’t do anything,” Dennis said, trying to fend him off.

“Oh, man, we know you didn’t do it yourself. You’re too smart for that. I just want to know how you manage it. There are plenty of other crap artists around school who need to go. I’m ready to go anytime you are. I want to join your army and take out the bitches.”

“Les, it isn’t as simple as that. My dad got killed.”

“Yeah. Too bad. My old man says he wasn’t Superman and only Superman can stop a speeding bullet. We watched Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice last night. We need a Justice League in Bartley. You can’t just stand alone. So, remember, I’ve got your back. We’ll rain justice down on the criminals in this school. Maybe in the whole town and the whole state. Yeah, we’ll show them what’s right and what’s wrong.”

“I guess I need to watch that movie so I understand what you’re talking about,” Dennis said. “Um ... I need to get to class.”

“Yeah. Tyranny of the educational system. They have no appreciation for the smart kids. See you later, Superman.”

Dennis considered himself lucky to not be in any of the same classes with Les Steinman.

“Hello, Mrs. Enders. Thank you for seeing me,” Ardith said.

“It’s unusual to have a teacher visit in the middle of a school day,” Dot said. “I hope it’s not another problem. I’m really too tired to deal with any more. Is Dennis okay?”

“Yes. Very okay. He’s doing wonderful work managing the track team and working with us as a trainer. I was delegated to visit you by the other coaches and by the senior class. I want you to know that I personally had nothing to do with this proposal.”

“That sounds ominous, Ardith.”

“I just didn’t want you to think I was sticking my nose into other people’s business. I think you and Mr. Enders made it very clear last fall that I wasn’t welcome to do that. And I warned my colleagues and students that their suggestion might not be welcome,” Ardith said.

“Well, I suppose I should hear their suggestion,” Dot said. She poured them each a cup of coffee and they sat at the kitchen table.

“Each year, the senior class takes on a project that is supposed to be their contribution to the school, the town, and society in general. They have an unusual proposal for this year’s project. Over the course of this year, Dennis has shown a good bit of heroism, both working with the teams and independently. The senior class was directly affected when he rescued Carol Reston. They also consider his father’s sacrifice in stopping Lee Smith and Tom Perkins to have had a significant impact on their class. So, they want to do something for Dennis as a thank you and as their senior project.”

“I’m sure just being kind to him is more than enough. Dennis went through nine years of school without friends and I’m not sure what has happened this year to change that,” Dot said. “Did you know that the entire Angelines Basketball Team is actually his girlfriend? Not just friends. I don’t know how they manage it, but without them, we would have been lost over the past few months.”

“The Angelines, in fact, are a part of the instigators for the senior class project. So, I should just get to it. A select group has studied Dennis’s eye condition—theoretically, mind you. They do not have access to his medical records. Most of their information has been gleaned from their personal relationship with Dennis. They consulted with an eye surgeon to find out what could be done to improve his eyesight, or at the very least, to get him lighter-weight and more fashionable glasses or even contact lenses. The surgeon ruled out Lasik as likely to help. He said that with the case as it was presented to him, he would assume there was an internal flaw in Dennis’s eyes. It could be as simple as cataracts, but that would have been detected and dealt with long ago. The other likely scenario, according to the doctor, is a chorioretinal fold. Depending on the diagnosis, it is possible that such a problem could be surgically corrected. I can’t go into any more depth than that because I’m not an eye doctor and I didn’t do this research. The senior biology class took the project on and have launched a rather extensive study of the subject, including interviews with this surgeon. The class wants to offer to pay for the diagnosis and surgery if it can be done, as well as providing transportation and home assistance as needed.”

“I’ve heard some of these terms from doctors in the past and they seemed to be consistent with what you’ve heard. When we investigated this—well, Dennis was quite small when we finally realized he couldn’t see well—the doctors described a procedure that was prohibitively expensive. We have minimal health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. I don’t see how the senior class could possibly afford to fund the procedure,” Dot said. “It’s a lovely gesture, but...”

“I have learned to expect unusual things at Bartley High School, Mrs. Enders. Both extraordinarily bad and extraordinarily good. Class representatives have been busy. The eye surgeon they talked to is associated with the university. He has volunteered to perform the surgery pro bono. Further, the university has gotten on board with this and will provide the facilities and all other costs through the university hospital.” Ardith paused while this new information soaked in. Dot shook her head.

“Why?” she asked.

“I don’t think any of us realized what a profound impact Dennis has had on our community and our school,” Ardith said. “His girlfriends, as you rightly identified them, are also his champions and have been involved with the seniors every step of the way. If we went public with this information, I believe donations would flood us.”

“I just don’t want to build his hopes up only to have them collapse because it can’t be done,” Dot said. “Do you really think such a desperate measure would work?”

“I don’t know,” Ardith said truthfully. “I just know that I would have a difficult time of living with myself if something could be done and I kept my mouth shut to make sure his feelings weren’t hurt. Dennis has also become a dear friend and trusted trainer. His inner geekdom is physical fitness and training. He is a natural at it.”

“I think we should ask him,” Dot finally said. “I won’t prevent it if he wants to try. I so wish Will were here to advise me. He would be incredibly happy if his son could see better.”

“Remember, power out of the blocks,” Dennis said as he put an arm around Brenda and one around Judith. “You win the race in the first three steps. From there on, everyone is trying to catch you. You can do this.” The meet on Saturday was a six-way meet hosted by one of the larger Class 2A schools. Unlike basketball’s five classes, track was divided into only four classes. This was considered a trial meet for the State Qualifiers, still a month away. As such, it was a huge meet. Six schools were participating and would use timed heats to determine who ran in the final field of eight for the sprints. Similar qualifying rounds would be held for other events. The problem with a preliminary was that it didn’t necessarily produce a winner. The preliminary was timed and, in this meet, the top eight times would advance to the final heat. The runners were assigned their heat and lane by past recorded performance. None of the Bartley runners were in the first heat. Brenda and Judith would run in the second heat. Amy would be in the third heat. It was completely possible that Amy could place first in her heat and still not qualify for the final.

Dennis checked his stopwatch on the first heat and saw it was faster than anything Brenda had run yet. He didn’t pass that news on.

“Okay, babes,” he said to Brenda and Judith. “You’ve got this. Go out there and beat the pants off of them.”

“Ooh! For you? We’ll definitely get their pants off of them!” Judith giggled. The two went to the blocks and lined up in their assigned lanes. The starter gave the signal and they were off. Thirteen seconds later, Judith led the way across the finish line with Brenda hot on her heels. It was a personal best for both girls.

Amy stood beside Dennis, waiting her call to the blocks. She leaned against him. “Going to give me a pep talk, Team Manager?” she asked.

“Amy, you haven’t shown us what you’ve got yet this year. I know it’s a lot more than you’ve shown.”

“I promise I’ll show you in the locker room,” she giggled.

“I’ll look forward to that, but I want to see your speed on the track. Remember all our training. The first three steps are where you win the race. From there on out, you just keep running as fast as you can. Go get ‘em, girl.” He patted her butt as she went to take her place for the start and she turned to smirk at him.

Amy crossed the finish line with a new personal best of 13.75, winning the heat and getting her the eighth starting position. They’d need to wait until after the shuttle hurdle relay prelims and the 4x800-meter relay event. Then came the 200-meter prelims and the 100-meter hurdle prelims. Since shuttle hurdles take two lanes for each team, it had to have preliminary heats to cut the field to a maximum of four teams for the final. The shuttle hurdles are run forward and back down the track rather than continuously around it. It can be as confusing to watch as to explain. Dennis was in awe of hurdlers in general. He wondered if he could ever contribute to the training of hurdlers.