Chapter 64: Monday, Oct. 15

Who needs an alarm clock when you have a Marie?

“Come on, Daddy, it’s almost 6, time to get up,” she insisted as she tugged on my arm to get me out of bed.

From her expression, it was not her first attempt to rouse me. Like it was my fault for being a sound sleeper or something.

I sat up groggily as the sound of rain hitting the roof seeped into my brain and eased a foot over the edge of the mattress searching for a floor. I was sure there had to be one down there somewhere.

With one foot on a solid surface, I slowly got the other one to follow. It still took a few seconds for my brain to realize the next step in the process was to actually stand up. That was followed by staggering to the bathroom and splashing some cold water on my face.

I figured I could get away without showering. However bad I may smell right now was nothing compared to what I’d smell like after practice. I just needed to figure out where I could bathe at that time. It would be nice if I could do so at the college facility. Otherwise, I’d have to wait until I got to the agency.

That made me think about what I should wear for the day. I returned to the front room and grabbed my phone to check the weather. It was 44 degrees and raining hard. Neither situation was supposed to change all day long.

That pretty much eliminated shorts and demanded I at least wear the fleece again. I really needed to get some more outerwear. Maybe I could convince Marie to do a little shopping this evening if Armand let me go early enough.

I grabbed a pair of khakis and a T-shirt, which I didn’t expect to wear for more than an hour or two at a time until this evening. Once dressed, I stepped to the little dining nook where Marie had a plate of fruit with a muffin and a couple of strips of bacon waiting for me. And a glass of pineapple juice.

“Thank you, baby,” I said as I took my seat and tucked in.

It didn’t take long to consume the food. I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed at being less than full when I finished, but I reminded myself it was for the best. I really didn’t want to puke during practice.

“We should get going,” I said as I took my dishes to the sink. “The trainer will want to check my shoulder and it won’t hurt to be a little early.”

“Then you should probably put some shoes on,” she said, taking one last sip of her coffee. “I need to get my purse and things from my room. I’ll meet you at my car.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said, grabbing a smooch.

Marie bustled off to get her stuff and I went up front to finish dressing. We timed it almost perfectly to where we didn’t get too wet before we were safely inside her little Honda.

Marie pulled into the senior lot about 6:30 and I raced inside to get changed. Dressed in compression shorts, workout shorts and UnderArmour top, I headed to the training room to give Doc a chance to poke and prod. He figured my arm wouldn’t fall off as long as I was careful, but ordered me to stay with the harness. I got the feeling it would be a permanent part of my gear.

At 7 on the dot, Coach Bennett swept through shouting to get our lazy butts into the weightroom. We were burnin’ daylight.

The upper-body workout went quickly. I think part of the reason was the way Marvin Johnson, all decked out in coaching clothes, glowered at us silently from the side. I may have mentioned the guy is quite intimidating. It was like he couldn’t believe what a weak little bunch of pissants we were.

I definitely fit that description as I struggled a little with the bench press because of my shoulder, but taking 10 pounds off the bar made things go much easier. At this point in the season, it was more about maintaining our condition than adding muscle mass.

Once that was out of the way, it was to the team room to review Friday’s film and get started on the game plan, which Morgan was distributing to each position group. I didn’t have much to do in the receivers portion. Coach Ramirez’s only comment to me in the special teams segment was I damn well better have scored if was going to pull a stunt like that.

At 8:15, Coach Tucker came through blowing his whistle and telling us it was time to load up. We were to get taped right now, dress in pants and cleats and carry our shoulder pads and helmets. Buses would pull out ASAP, definitely before 8:45. We would be on the field at 10 o’clock and finish by noon. We had to be out of there by 12:30 so the regular tenants could take over.

As we headed back to the locker room to get ready, Coach grabbed me by the arm.

“Your little friend is waiting up front with Morgan,” he said. “You carry your gear with you. Jed will make sure to bring it back. Take your laundry bag and get everything prepped for him.”

“Yes, sir,” I said, hurrying off to get it done before he could ask me about Saturday night.

I got taped, dressed and gathered everything I’d need, including the clothes I’d worn this morning, then headed up front to collect Marie. She and Morgan had apparently spent the time discussing my wardrobe, but things wouldn’t get started on that front until after I got measured.

Morgan assured me Marie knew where we were going and how to get there, then ordered me to get my ass in gear. We were burnin’ daylight.

I followed the little waif through the rain to her car, stowed my gear in the back and hopped into the passenger seat before I drowned. With no further ado, she pulled out as my teammates began loading onto yellow dogs.

“You’re going to need a shower before we get to the agency,” Marie sniffed as we exited the parking lot. “I bet those buses are going to be quite fragrant on the way back.”

“Part of the deal,” I said. “If you want to be any good, you’ve got to put in the work. A few busloads of sweaty teenage boys is just the price we have to pay.”

“Ummm, sweaty teenage boys,” Marie moaned as she steered toward the freeway.

“Behave,” I commanded her.

“Yes, Daddy,” she giggled, “but a girl can dream, can’t she?”

This morning had been the first time I’d ever ridden with Marie driving. The trip to school had gone well enough during early morning traffic. I didn’t realize until now that she was something of a speed demon, flooring it to get through a couple of traffic lights, then acting like she was driving at Daytona once we hit the freeway. The black SUV behind us had trouble keeping up.

My knuckles were just a bit white by the time we took the exit for the university. I wasn’t going to have any trouble getting my heart rate up during practice.

Marie went directly to the indoor facility parking lot. I’d never been here, but the place was easy enough to find. Just look for the structure that looked like a giant bouncy house. It helped that it was right next to the university’s stadium, which I had been to before to watch games with Dad.

We stayed in the car out of the rain until the buses pulled in behind us a little after 9:30. Then it was hurry up and get inside. It was time to go to work.

The offensive game plan included more of the power sets we’d shown briefly against the Bears. I was surprised when Coach Sullivan had me take a few snaps at quarterback to show Reggie how to execute the two-back zone read again. It worked a lot better when Reggie took over, especially the one time the defense crashed from both sides and caused him to keep up the middle.

I repeated the process when Mario and Javi directed the offense. I think I took as many snaps as either of them, but I wasn’t running the plays at full speed.

The rest of our game plan wasn’t much different from what we’d been doing all season. I rotated in at U and V in short-yardage packages, but didn’t seriously expect to do more on Friday than serve as a messenger carrying in plays.

I did return to my spot on the kickoff return and fielded more punts. It was a little weird trying to pick up the flight of the ball against the inflatable roof of the facility. It made me wonder how guys who played in the old Metrodome in Minnesota handled it. At least we didn’t have to worry about this roof caving in because of excessive snowfall.

We actually finished up a little after 11:30 as the coaches constantly hounded us to pick up the pace. The downside of that was it gave Coach Tucker a few minutes to accost me and Marshawn after we ran gassers and huddled.

“What happened Saturday night?” he demanded as the rest of the guys stripped off their shoulder pads in preparation for the return trip.

I explained about inviting Marshawn along on my date with Morgan and his inviting Shavon Murphy. Neither of us were aware of any trouble until the maitre d’ informed us. The confrontation outside was our first contact with the three hoodlums.

“The security people my grandfather hired had things under control, then the idiot pulled his stunt,” I said. “I was on the ground before a shot was fired.”

“Those bodyguards had the dude down and us covered before he even had the gun out,” Marshawn said. “I was surprised he didn’t shoot himself. Just happened to get his homie in the butt.”

“There have been enough situations with young ladies from other schools,” Coach said. “You might want to consider putting your amorous activities on hold until after the end of the season.”

Yeah, like I had any choice in the matter.

“No problem, Coach,” Marshawn grinned. “I won’t be seein’ that girl again. She was just a golddigger. Miss Carla told me yesterday at church that I’d be better off without her.”

“At least the security people seem to know their business,” Coach muttered. “It makes me feel better knowing Stephanie is protected when she visits your cousin, Robinson. They’re becoming quite good friends.”

There wasn’t much I could say to that. At least Stephanie wasn’t still chasing after me. I think. I hadn’t really had much contact with her since our “date.”

“You’d better get changed,” Coach informed me. “The university’s locker room is right next door. If you hurry, you can get a shower.”

“Yes, sir,” I said.

Marie and Morgan stood off to the side, my submissive bitch holding my change of clothes and laundry bag.

“Thank you, baby,” I said as I collected my things and hurried next door.

The university’s locker room wasn’t much different than ours at the fieldhouse, just bigger and spiffier. I found a spot where I could put everything and began stripping. The compression shorts, socks and UnderArmour top went into the bag, the pads and shoulder harness went into the helmet and everything, including cleats and gloves, was arranged for easy carrying.

“Can I help you?” a voice called out as I sat down at a locker that had a shark and cut off my tape.

“I hope so,” I said. “I’m with the high school team that practiced here this morning, but I’ve got an appointment to get to and won’t be traveling back with them. I was hoping to get a quick shower before I left.”

“Through there,” a guy who was dressed like a football coach said, pointing at a portal off to the side. “I watched you fellas a little bit. You look like you’ve got some talent on your team. What position do you play?”

“Allegedly slot receiver, but I mostly just play special teams,” I said. “I hold for kicks and field punts, but I’m just supposed to call for a fair catch every time.”

“And do you?” he asked with a hint of a smirk.

“Except for one in our last game,” I admitted. “Coach Tucker wasn’t real happy with me. Our special teams coach said it was a good thing I scored.”

“I saw that on the highlight show,” the guy said. “Caused a bit of a kerfuffle, didn’t ya?”

“Our opponents were trying to pick fights all night,” I said. “I just showed them what would happen if they didn’t behave themselves.”

“Well, ya dang sure wouldn’t get away with that at this level,” he said, the smirk in full force now.

“Sir, I have no chance, hope or intention of even thinking of playing at this level,” I grinned. “Anybody who’d recruit me should be in another line of work.”

“So, which of those boys should we recruit?” he asked.

“Our middle linebacker, Marshawn Taylor, is probably our best pure talent,” I said. “Our quarterback, Reggie Terrell, is athletic enough for this level, but you’d probably put him at a different position. Maybe receiver or safety. A couple of our other guys have some pretty good skills, I just don’t know if they’re at the level you’re looking for.”

“I’ll have to watch a little closer if y’all come back tomorrow,” he said. “You’d better hurry up and shower. Our guys will be here in a few minutes. There’s a rack of towels right inside the shower room. Hamper’s right next to it. Good talkin’ to ya.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said. “And if we come back tomorrow, I’ll probably need to come in here again if that’s all right.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” he said.

I spent just enough time in the shower to get wet enough to soap up and rinse off. I did rub the soap over my head in an effort to make things a little cleaner for the stylist at the agency, but was out of there before any college players arrived.

However, I wasn’t out of there before Marvin Johnson came looking for me.

“That boy in here?” the security man’s voice boomed from the far side of the locker room.

“He’s in the shower,” replied the fellow to whom I’d spoken. “I told him to hurry. He should be about done.”

“Knowin’ that boy, I’m surprised he didn’t wind up in your cheerleaders’ shower room,” Mr. Johnson growled. “With the cheerleaders.”

Now that would have been an experience I definitely would have found enjoyable, I thought as I hurried to finish up. Unless it was with male cheerleaders.

“Nah, our cheerleader facility is on the other side of campus,” the guy from the university said. “Our administration didn’t want to take any chances during the free love movement in the ‘60s.”

I dressed quickly, grabbed all my stuff and returned to the indoor facility to hand things off to Jed.

“Took ya long enough,” my buddy said. “We’re ready to go.”

In fact, the only other people from our program still in the building were the trainers and managers, who were packing up the small amount of gear they’d brought along.

“One of the college coaches got to talking to me,” I said. “Wanted to know which of our guys they should recruit.”

“You’d better have put in a plug for me,” Jed growled.

“You mean our undersized center who needs to put on 30 pounds without losing any speed?” I smirked.

“I oughta let ya take your stuff back yourself,” he snapped. “And I only need to gain 20 pounds now.”

“And still be able to outrun me,” I snarked.

“Like that’ll be a problem,” Jed shot back, grabbing at my gear. “Gimme yer shit. It’s time for ya to go play dressup, Barbie.”

“I’m a Ken,” I responded. “They wouldn’t let me out here if I was a Barbie.”

“Git!” he commanded. “Marie’s waitin’ on ya.”

“Yes, sir,” I laughed, heading toward the exit while I was still in one piece.

Marie was waiting for me with the engine running. It was just now coming up on noon, so we had a little time to grab a bite. And I was definitely ready for some food.

Marie took me to a little taco shop just off campus. There was a pretty good crowd of college kids and university staff, but the folks running the joint were slapping tacos together at an incredible rate. We got two orders of street tacos and drinks. I think I ate more of Marie’s order than she did, but we finished up in plenty of time to get to the agency.

“Don’t be offended if they tell you to go shower again,” she said as we pulled up to the agency. “I don’t know what kind of soap you used, but it smells like industrial cleaner.”

“How about I just go shower now and meet up with you?” I asked.

“Not a bad idea,” she said. “You get going. I’ll meet you inside.”

I headed in and raced through my second shower in less than an hour. The body wash and shampoo the agency stocked was definitely more flowery than the soap in the university locker room. I probably smelled more like a perfume counter than industrial cleaner now.

I’d just shut the water off and grabbed a towel when I heard a phone ring from the direction of the entrance.

“Hey, Mystery, how’re things in Cali?” I heard Zander Caufield say. “Let me get to a more private spot so I can talk.”

I just stayed there in the shower, not wanting to have another confrontation with Zander. Especially while I was naked.

“So, what time does your flight arrive?” I heard him ask. “Sounds good. I can come get you at the airport if we finish up early enough. Otherwise, I’ll just meet you at Le Cage.”

He used the French pronunciation, like from the movie “Le Cage aux Folles.” If I remembered correctly, the place he was referencing was a gay club.

“He’s supposed to be here today, but I haven’t seen him yet,” Zander said. “I heard Armand say he was supposed to come in after football practice. I still can’t believe that bitch is trying to pass as straight, let alone a jock.”

That gave me pause. I was pretty sure he was talking about me.

“No, he doesn’t suspect a thing,” Zander said. “He doesn’t have a clue I’m the one who came up with the Lela angle, like that little slut would even look twice at a bumpkin like him. We’ll have the rest of the week to set something up for you. How about I get him in a clench in the changing area so you can snap a picture? ‘Gary Goes Gay’ would make a helluva headline!”

OK, that settled it. Zander was the one who’d set the paparazzi on me. It was all I could do not to step out and strangle the little bitch. I still needed to figure out who he was talking to.

“I’m still trying to convince my new boyfriend to let me come out to the coast,” Zander said. “I think he’s weakening. He seems to like the idea of me getting on that show. You can help me, can’t you? I’d eat your loo-co-nigh-co from here to Hollywood for a shot at that, you little Greek freak.”

My blood froze as I realized who he was speaking to. He didn’t say Mystery, he said Mr. E. E for Eliopoulos. Rage built within me as I considered ways to take both of them down. That abandoned silage pit in Buchanan County might just be getting a couple of visitors if I had my way.

“OK, see ya tonight,” Zander said. “I’ve got to get back to work.”

I waited until he left the room to exit the shower and dressed quickly. All kinds of ideas were running through my mind about how to deal with this. But first, I needed to check in with Marie. I had to go through a round of measurements, hair and makeup before I spent the rest of the day playing Ken doll.

“Where’ve you been?” Marie demanded when I caught up to her. “We’ve been waiting.”

“Just wanted to make sure I didn’t smell like industrial cleaner,” I smiled as I slipped into a makeup chair.

The stylist decided I should get measured first, forcing me to get out of the chair and follow one of the wardrobe ladies behind a screen, where I was ordered to strip naked just like I had in Malibu. At least this gal didn’t have a lit cigarette in her mouth as she ran the tape up my inseam.

Marie stood by dutifully writing down all the numbers. It seemed I’d increased noticeably in almost every category, especially neck, chest and thighs. Arms and legs were a little longer, prompting the lady to stand me against the wall to get my height.

I was officially a 6-footer! Actually, 6-0.125. I wouldn’t be lying on my driver’s license now.

The bathroom scales she had me step on showed I was 182 pounds. I was pretty sure that would change with my next meal. Or trip to the bathroom. I guess it would all even out. At least I’d gained back the weight I lost during two-a-days plus a little extra.

Once my new dimensions were tabulated, the wardrobe lady hustled off to make sure they had the things I was supposed to wear today in my size as Marie made a copy so we could get started on updating my personal wardrobe. I was directed back to a makeup chair where a hairstylist considered what to do with my hair. It was finally long enough to make a comb necessary again. Since this shoot covered spring/summer clothing, it made sense to keep it relatively short.

That cowlick, though ... I was going to be doused with more goop in an effort to keep it under control.

Marie was quite helpful in explaining that I needed it blocked in back, not tapered, and that I parted it on the left side. I really didn’t care. That’s just the way I’d always worn it. I think it was because that’s the way the barbers at the shop Dad took me to when I was little always did it. At least I didn’t have to sit on a board across the armrests anymore.

After that was done, the makeup artist took over and got me pretty for the camera. The guy did have to make a smart comment about the weird tanlines on my face caused by the facemask on my football helmet. At least they were faint and would fade quickly as we got later into the fall. I was again advised to use a tanning bed. Maybe after football season. Right now, I barely had enough time for the things I was doing.

I was finally sent to wardrobe, where I was handed a stack of tennis shorts and tops along with a pair of white socks and tennis shoes. The photographer I’d be working with came over to pick the first color combination he wanted and we arranged things in some kind of order. I’d be wearing several tops with a couple of pairs of shorts, but there were some things that even I could tell would clash horribly.

I went to get dressed in the first outfit and headed over to where the photographer stood me in front of a plain white backdrop. An assistant handed me a tennis racket and I was instructed to swing at imaginary balls. I was actually handed a ball to toss like I was serving, but was under orders to not even think about hitting it. I’d race back and forth about 20 feet or so, acting like I was hitting backhands and forehands.

I was just glad I was coordinated enough to make it look believable. I doubt I could take a game off a real tennis player. Heck, my little cousin Kirsten could probably double-bagel me and she hadn’t even started taking lessons at the club yet.

Then I’d change shirts right there, drawing some appraising looks from other models — male and female — and do it all over again. I was starting to work up a sweat before I was sent to put on a different color of shorts.