Chapter 40: On a Roll

Sunday, October 10, 1982

We both did our best not to yawn our way through church, and I think we mostly succeeded. We didn’t do as well in Study Group, though I think we were productive.

Both of us opted for an early bedtime. This was an exam week. Not the worst one, but still. We needed to be awake and alert.

Monday, October 11, 1982

Jessica caught up to me in between two classes and I handed over a little package of bear spray, which vanished into her purse. She promised to read the directions, practice, and keep it handy.

I’d done my best, for now. I was pretty sure the bear we knew of would call first ... but there were plenty of potential bears around for someone like Jessica.

After school, Angie and I drove to the Stop-N-Go, where I placed my first sports bet in quite a while. This one didn’t count as ‘major’ to me, but I admit I was jaded by the amounts of money we had now.

But I knew this one. I hadn’t known I’d know it, but I did. St. Louis versus - wait for it - Milwaukee. Milwaukee, in Wisconsin. Where Mom had grown up. Near where Uncle Ryan lived. Uncle Ryan, who was a life-long Brewers (and Packers) fan. This one stood out.

Like a while back, I bet $10,000 with Gerry and $5,000 each with two other bookies. The odds weren’t terrific, but I’d make about $24,000 on the game. Not bad for very little work.

Gerry was happy, I was happy, and Angie was happy.

Tuesday, October 12, 1982

Connie made a cake for Jimmy’s birthday, so we celebrated and sang and shook hands or hugged him. His actual birthday was the 15th, and I got the impression there would be a more significant celebration (an actual date, someplace nice) on Friday, but they shared a nap today, and I imagine that might have been a nice celebration, too. Or some well-needed rest, it being test week.

Wednesday, October 13, 1982

Angie and I swung by Rico’s after school, and I pitched sponsorship. Rico — yes, there was an actual Rico — hesitated until I explained his only commitment would be some free breakfast tacos, and in return we’d be advertising him to Memorial students. The idea of getting more gringos to come in was very hard to pass up. Located where he was — a rather dumpy strip center hiding behind a McDonald’s — he was convenient to Memorial, but very few students would venture in. Maybe we could help change that a bit.

He decided it was a good idea and signed up. Cash would never have happened, but tacos? The dollar value of a bunch of tacos — even with the number of mouths we had to feed — was fairly low, and it had the added benefit of getting his tacos into the hands of potential customers. Win-win!

Angie and I got on our phones around seven and I dialed.

“Hello?”

“Candice!”

“Candice!” Angie echoed.

“Steve! Angie! I was just thinking about you. And that I might need to send out a search party!”

“Sorry,” I said. “Things are busy again.”

“They’re always busy. I heard you ran into some acquaintances of mine, too.”

“Yeah. Brenda and Natalie.”

“They’re pretty cool. They said you were, too, but I already knew that.”

“I missed out,” Angie said. “The tournaments are making us split up ‘cuz we’re too good.”

Candice chuckled, then stopped. “Wait. You’re serious?”

“I am! Steve and crew went to Bryan, while the rest of us went to Kingwood. This weekend I’m going to Galveston.”

“And I’m going to Westchester.”

“Galveston is the winner there.”

“Nah,” I said. “They’ll just be stuck in the high school.”

“In that case, it’s all the same, I guess.”

“Yeah,” Angie said, chuckling. “We’ll have to take a better Galveston trip sometime or other. Steve and I have souvenirs from there, from when I moved down here.”

“Cool,” Candice said. “Anything else new?”

“We’re doing the play ‘Harvey’,” I said. “It’ll be in November. The second weekend ... um, the 12th, 13th, and 14th. The first weekend we’re going to Atlanta for a Debate tournament.”

“Wow! Atlanta! That sounds cool!”

“It’ll be tough,” Angie said. “But we can handle tough. And it’ll be a nice trip.”

“I’ll get tickets for the show. With Sherry, and the parents. Both sets.”

“Nice!”

“Are you playing the main guy, Steve?”

“No. Noooo. No time for that, and I wouldn’t be a great Elwood. I’ll be playing the orderly at the sanitarium.”

“All my orderlies were women,” Candice said. “Of course. They were nice, though.”

“Um...” Angie said.

“No, don’t worry. This won’t be bad memories. I never saw six-foot-tall rabbits, after all, and ... by the time I was in that setting, it was already ... you know ... things were improving.”

“Okay,” Angie said.

“Hey, I’m glad you’re looking out for me, but I’m mostly just me now. Almost no bad thoughts. I can’t say none. I mean, you know that. When you say none you’re asking for trouble. But, few, and they’re not a problem.”

“Yay!” Angie said.

“I agree - yay!” I said.

“So ... catch me up.”

We both did, at least on the stuff we could share. Tournaments, classes, friends. Not Sam, nor Paige, nor Sue. We did touch lightly on Impostor Syndrome, and it felt like Candice might have a touch herself. Which, of course, is why we mentioned it.

After a while, Candice said, “I have to run. Test tomorrow. Call soon, okay?”

“We’ll do our best,” Angie said.

“Yeah. It’s still busy, but we need to stay in touch.”

“We do,” Candice said. “I love you guys. We need to go out to dinner, sometime, too.”

“We do!” Angie said.

“Looking forward to it,” I said.

We hung up, and then Angie came over.

“Glad she’s doing well,” she said.

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure she’s not shading the truth. And it sounds like Sherry and her are pretty ... settled.”

“Which is really good. I wonder if they’ll last?”

“Who knows? But it’s what she needs right now, and I like Sherry,” I said.

“No surprise there!”

“Not that way!”

“I know, but I couldn’t resist.”

“Of course you couldn’t.”

She giggled. “Okay. Homework.”

“Homework. I agree.”

Friday, October 15, 1982

The third tournament of the year was here. The rest of the team had an hour and a half drive to Galveston, while we’d be traveling all of four and a half miles to Westchester, one of our sister schools.

Janet and Lizzie were skipping this one — not from any desire to slack off, but because Lizzie’s aunt was visiting and had chosen the wrong weekend to do so. At least it wasn’t when we’d be at Emory, because she’d have simply had to do without Lizzie. Most likely Janet would be over at Lizzie’s house, too. I was fairly certain that the Vintons knew the score and that Janet was likely going to be in the picture for a long time.

In a last-minute switch, Angie and Gene took Janet and Lizzie’s place. That made a fair bit of sense to me. Most likely that made us the favorite, though I didn’t know which other schools would be attending. Meg would be busy helping out in their ‘tab room,’ and probably knew more about that, but wasn’t telling us.

We left about the time the pep rally was getting going in the auditorium. The football team was headed to ... Westchester. Well, to the district stadium, anyway. I guess the debaters at both our schools were missing this game.

The game should be a bit easier than last week. We were the clear favorite. Only Alief Elsik, next week, and maybe Spring Branch, the weekend we were at Emory, should be tests.

After our short drive, we settled into Westchester’s cafeteria. Looking around, I saw some vaguely familiar faces, but no one all that noteworthy. ‘We’, this time, was Cammie and me, Angie and Gene, Callie and Kenzie, Bree, Linda, Darla, Brad, Jasmine, Paige, and Carole. Mikayla and Caitlyn had also had conflicts (and, no, I don’t think it was each other).

A lot of us were taking breaks or trying something different. I wasn’t doing Extemp, nor was Angie, nor Amit. That’d let Jasmine, Paige, and Carole take a shot at it. Some of the Drama kids were varying what they did, but it was harder for them. They couldn’t just memorize a new piece in a couple of weeks and have any quality.

Cammie and I would run our backup case, just to dust it off and see how it went. We were working on a second backup case as well. Never hurts to have a few arrows in one’s quiver, and I didn’t think there would be a lot of spies here breathlessly reporting on the weird new case we were running.

Day one went about as planned. It felt strange just going to Humorous and not Extemp, but it wasn’t bad. Jasmine and I got a bit more time to hang out, and it was just better having Angie there, too.

On the other hand, I found I was missing Janet and Lizzie even more than I’d expected. It was a somewhat unwanted preview of next year. They’d gone from minor idols of mine to real friends. I’d missed them only a bit when they graduated the first go-around, but this time? It’d be a real hole.

But, then, we had so many kids that hadn’t been there the first go-round, and that would go a long way to making next year still a bunch of good friends. A real team, not just a collection of individuals doing the same activities.

Whether Westchester had learned from us, or Meg was just giving them a lot of help, they ran nearly on time. We were out of the building by ten-fifteen and heading home.

After a bit, Angie said, “I could take a nap while you two slipped inside for a bit.”

“So, you’d take a nap while we took a nap,” Jasmine said, giggling a bit.

“Yeah. That,” Angie said, grinning.

“Nah. I mean, of course that sounds good, but ... nah. Sleep. Competition tomorrow.”

“Not cum-petition tonight?” Angie said.

“Consider yourself pinched, Miss Cunning Linguist,” Jasmine said.

“Yes, Ma’am! I’m also a Master Debater.”

Jasmine groaned. “Another pinch.”

“So noted!”

Both of them lost it at that point. Not that I was keeping much of a straight face, either.

Angie and I got home around eleven.

“This is refreshingly early,” she said.

“Yeah.”

“I’m still going right to bed.”

“Me, too, sis. I can use the sleep, and Sunday will be busy.”

“I’m looking forward to it, considering.”

“Me, too. We need a catch-up day with Jane.”

“After that bit about Janet, yeah, I’d say so.”

I nodded. “That was ... stunning. Funny how you can know something — have it right there, in front of your face — and still miss it.”

“Like us both being ... well. You know.”

“Like that, yeah. We both had clues, and ... whoosh.”

“Right over our heads.” She gave me a kiss. “Night! See you in the morning!”

“See you then, sis!”

Saturday, October 16, 1982

We arrived at Westchester around eight. We’d picked up a goodly number of tacos along the way, which were rapidly devoured.

Meg came out and talked to us while we were eating.

“Okay, everyone. I can’t tell you how you’re doing. But I can tell you to keep it up. So, keep it up!”

“Thanks, Meg!” we all said.

Linda had gotten word about the game. Memorial 44, Westchester 15. A very strange score. Westchester had managed five field goals, and Memorial had gotten a late safety, then run the free kick back for the last touchdown. Cal was the hero on the safety.