Chapter 116: Bit by Bit

Saturday, April 21, 1984

We were up and going by eight. I got a ‘Happy Birthday’ from Gene just after waking up, which I appreciated.

When I opened the door, I got nearly bowled over by a very enthusiastic Jasmine, who gave me an emphatic kiss, then grinned and said, “Happy Birthday!”

“Thanks, honey,” I said.

Angie was next. Just a hug, but an enthusiastic hug. Then Paige, who had a kiss to go with her hug. And then Jess, who also had a kiss — one that would have ignited a thousand rumors if it had happened at Memorial.

By the time I’d gotten on the bus, I’d gotten a dozen more birthday kisses. Everyone wanted to get in on the fun! Well, not everyone, but the rest had plenty of time.

Even Meg and Steffie got in on the fun, though theirs were on my cheek. Inwardly, I was both laughing and shaking my head. A high school teacher kissing a student, even on the cheek? That would’ve been potentially career-ending in the 2010s.

State provided breakfast again today. This time, they had considerably more fruit options than yesterday. Someone must have complained.

I mixed fruit with protein and mostly skipped the carbs. I could absolutely afford the carbs, but I knew they were a trap even now, and that would only get worse. Oh, I wasn’t planning to go low-carb, but moderation in all things definitely including being careful with carbs.

I’d also have to be careful with my knowledge about carbs. Not many people in 1984 (maybe no one?) knew that cooling many starches (including pasta, rice, oats, and potatoes) after cooking, then reheating them, made a huge difference in how the body processed them. It seemed like magic, but the science was clear, and we’d take advantage of it.

I just wasn’t going to publish any papers on it!

The order of events was weird, in some ways. I think they felt like they might as well feed everyone whether or not they broke, given that they’d disrupted Easter weekend. That was just a guess, though.

In any case, octofinals pairings went up at ten. In their penultimate time doing this (even if we made Nationals, I thought things would be very different there), Paige and Cammie went off and checked the postings.

Paige got to go first this time.

“Okay! Needless to say, we have a bunch of people that broke!”

A round of applause went up for that.

“Shush! Everyone knew that was going to happen!”

She got a bit of laughter for that.

“In Duo ... how many times have I said this? Not enough, apparently. Everyone!”

Kelly and Breanna looked stunned, then hugged each other, after which a bunch of other people (including me) hugged them. Breaking at State was a big deal for them! They had three more years, and were definitely part of our hope for the future.

“Just so you know,” Paige said, “You’re not the only freshmen who broke.”

That got everyone chuckling. Kelly and Breanna blushed a bit, but it was good-natured.

“Good!” Kelly said. “Then we’ll have company next year! No one who breaks gets to drop out!”

That meant it had to be a Debater; our only other Drama freshman hadn’t come to State with us.

“On to Humorous, where we have: me! Also Jas, Angie, Lexi, Jess, Brad, Sierra, and Gordon.”

That was nearly everyone we’d brought in Humorous. Carole was out, but she still had Duo, of course. I think only Sara was fully out, her competitive career at Memorial ended. She was but the first of many over this day, of course.

“And, finally, in Dramatic, we have: me! Also Jas, Angie, Sheila, Jess, Lexi, Sandy, and James.”

That meant Sierra was out in Dramatic — but still going in Humorous, of course.

Another round of applause — and some quick hugs for Sara — and then Cammie took over.

“On the Debate side, I’ll do CX first. Steve and me, along with Angie and Gene, Amit and Sue, Anne and Megan, and Natasha and Penny!”

Which meant Linda and Darla and Crystal and Bree were out. Linda and Darla had Extemp, at least for the moment. Crystal and Bree were done, but might come back stronger next year. I hoped so, anyway. And there was another freshman, Penny!

“In LD, we’ve got Jaya, Eric, Janice, Lori, and Paul.”

Paul was yet another freshman. Danny was out, though, and so was Kenny.

“Finally, in Extemp: me, Amit, Steve, Sue, Angie, Darla, Megan, and Stacey.”

So Darla made it, but Linda was out.

There were hugs all around. No one cried, no one looked devastated. Everyone who didn’t advance looked fine, if perhaps disappointed.

Meg got up and said, “We are all so very, very proud of you! Those of you who are new won’t understand just how much this means. We brought so many people to State this year, and we’re going to keep right on doing it! Thank all of you for your hard work, patience, and commitment.”

Steffie followed her, saying, “All that goes for me, too! My favorite part of this is watching Memorial meld into one team, where we all know each other and support each other. You’re an amazing bunch, one and all!”

Everyone clapped, of course.

After that, the rest of us spent a few minutes talking, but were quickly back to being all business. We had rounds to go to!

Extemp in elims is still just Extemp. Unless the topic is outstanding in some way, it’s just another round. I found myself talking quite a bit about Konstantin Chernenko. In another life, and much past 1984, he’d been just the butt of a number of jokes, but right now he was serious business. I knew that he probably wouldn’t be serious business for all that long, though — I just couldn’t share it with any but a select few.

It was perhaps a sign that we didn’t recognize our octofinals opponents. We had Linda Firth and Ken Bailey from San Antonio Churchill. They were joking about debating in their calculus classroom, and what their calculus teacher was going to say about this on Monday.

One thing that I was pretty sure she was not going to say was ‘Congratulations!’ This wasn’t an easy round, but it wasn’t that difficult. Judges can be unpredictable, but I was very confident that we’d make it to quarters. Cammie’s body language said the same.

That confirmed that we were probably on the high end of the bracket. Heck, we might be at the top. They’d never tell us, but it wasn’t an unreasonable guess.

One of the little ironies of State is that the actual waiting time during breaks gets shorter and shorter, but it feels ever longer.

In this case, there was a good reason for it: lunch. The crowd had thinned out slightly, though it was still fairly sizable. This time they’d brought in tacos. I didn’t recognize the name of the taqueria, but they were quite good. They had chicken fajita, beef fajita, al pastor, and vegetarian options. I tried the first three, splitting them with Jas. We picked up an extra al pastor and split that, too.

As good as Rico was (and he was good!), this place had the edge. Of course, San Antonio was known for very good Mexican food, while Houston had more of a Tex-Mex flavor to it, all things considered.

At least they’d catered in fairly authentic Mexican food. It’d have been a shame to bring all these kids here and just feed them something they could get at home, wherever home was.

I’d called home before having my tacos so that Mom and Dad could wish me a happy birthday on my birthday. They insisted on singing to me over the phone. The whole thing was touching, particularly because I’m pretty sure I didn’t call home when I was at this same tournament in my first life. Nor had anyone made a big deal out of my birthday that time.

We had a fifteen-minute wait after we’d finished eating. That gave everyone time to hit the restrooms, I think. Fortunate!

When we saw them coming out with the posting sheets, Cammie and Paige scooted off and got what we’d all been waiting for.

Cammie led off, saying, “CX first. Steve and me, along with Amit and Sue and Anne and Megan!”

That meant Gene, Natasha, and Penny were done with State.

It also meant Memorial had three out of the top eight teams in Texas. That really wasn’t bad. Not at all!

“In LD, we’ve got Jaya, Eric, and Lori.”

Janice and Paul were out, and Janice was done for good. And, as with CX, we had three of the top eight LDers in Texas.

“And, finally, Extemp: me, Amit, Steve, and Sue.”

We’d gotten hammered in Extemp! Angie, Darla, Megan, and Stacey were done. That ended Darla, Megan, and Stacey’s tournament. Angie still had Humorous, at least for now.

Paige replaced Cammie, and said, “Okay, so. In Duo we do not have everyone. We do still have Carole and Jasmine, Sheila and Lexi, Ben and Penny, and Bob and Danny.”

That meant Kelly and Breanna’s Cinderella run was over, but they’d be back.

“In Humorous, we have me, Jas, Angie, Lexi, and Jess.”

Brad, Sierra, and Gordon were out, alas.

“And, in Dramatic, we have me, Jas, Sheila, Jess, and Sandy.”

Lexi was out, and James was done. Sandy was a pleasant surprise, though.

Again, there were plenty of hugs, and a few kisses. No one was out of sorts; those who were done were supporting those who were still competing.

The shock for Quarters was that Dave and Adam were out. They’d lost to Charles and Larry. Of the two, I really felt that Dave and Adam were the stronger team, but once you’re in elims, any given round is any given round.

We didn’t have to face Charles and Larry, but Amit and Sue did. That was certain to be a good round. We gave them all of the information we could, but tried to keep them from getting too nervous, too.

I pushed all that aside and focused on Extemp. The competition was obviously brutal, given how many we’d lost, and I wanted to just focus and do my best.

I wasn’t going to win. Amit, hopefully, would. That was his goal every bit as much as CX was ours.