Chapter 16

The November air was brisk and cold but it could have been worse if the trees surrounding the park didn't break the winds above to a gentle breeze. Susan's husband, Frank, met them at the park after calling from work and saying he would meet them there. He was a tall man at 6'3" with a steady gaze, chestnut hair, and soft hazel eyes. The other neighbors, mostly Elizabeth and Susan's old friends from high school were there. One of them that really got Sean's attention was Steve, Elizabeth's high school sweet heart. Elizabeth did whatever she could to keep those two apart for fear of the stories they might swap. He seemed like a nice guy with an easy smile and wavy blonde hair, he was the high school star quarter back and hadn't lost his touch to age. But there seemed to be something about him that left Sean on edge when they first greeted one another. Sean always trusted his instincts and would be wary around Steve.

The teams were chosen with Sean on one side with Elizabeth's family and Steve and his old high school football buddies on the other. Henry turned out to be a military history buff and football tactics were right up his alley. Sean was asked what positions he played, wide receiver or running back. They made him receiver and gave him a simple play to run.

The teams lined up at the scrimmage and Sean loped easily back and forth across the lines to see who was covering him. It was Steve, of course. The ball was snapped and Sean shot down the field like a racehorse out of the stocks. Steve didn't expect someone of Sean's height to be so fast and tried to catch up. Sean watched over his shoulder and watched the ball launched into the air in his direction. It was a perfect throw and Sean caught it with ease, he could hear Elizabeth cheering him on. Steve came out of nowhere, a burst of speed that caught Sean by surprise and was about to sack him. Sean's mind fired in the long practiced discipline of years of martial arts and he bounded straight up and beyond Steve's flying tackle. The leap became a forward somersault and left Steve eating grass and Sean continued to blaze down the field for a touch down. Sean spiked the ball and watched Elizabeth go wild with proud glee.

Sean walked back to Steve to help him up. The other man only looked at the proffered help and got up on his own efforts, leaving Sean standing there foolishly. "That couldn't have been legal, no score."

"What?" Sean's team exclaimed in surprise.

"No way are acrobatic flips legal. They aren't in the rule book."

He's going to be one of those, Sean thought. "Nor is there anything in the rules against it. My knees didn't touch turf, the touchdown should stand."

Steve sneered at him. "I played football, I know the rules. That isn't legal."

"We all know the rules, Steve," Henry argued. "The touchdown should count."

They argued for a few minutes until the women stepped in and judged the touchdown to be good; if anything, because it was an impressive feat. The men weren't going to argue the point against the women once they set their minds to it collectively, especially after they readied a frosty gaze that would have frozen the nearby trees. The game continued with Sean's team in the lead. All afternoon Steve hounded Sean when he was on the defensive and Sean made a point to leave him alone when he was on the offense. They called for one last play as the sun began its descent with the score tied at twenty-eight each. Sean's team had possession of the ball with only ten yards to go and one down left.

"Alright, Sean," Henry said as they huddled together and discussed tactics. "You've served us pretty well as a receiver, one short pass and we win this."

"No go, Henry," Sean said. "Steve's been eyeing me all game and knows we're going for a pass. Let me play quarterback." That got everyone's attention. "I told you I play running back and receiver. They don't know that. I can't throw for the life of me but they don't know that either. Let's bluff them. I fake a hand off to Frank here like we're going for a running play and then I make a sprint for the N-zone. They'll be too baffled by me not running for a pass to know what to do. Most likely Steve will stick to my butt like white on rice so Frank will play escort. I'll follow in his wake while the rest of you get behind for a lateral if it comes to that. What do you think?"

"It just might work," Henry said. "Alright, let's do it. Huu-ah!"

"HUU-AH!"

They fanned out across the field and Sean watched the look of bafflement spread amongst Steve's ranks as Sean took the quarterback position. Sean spouted some nonsense calls and then called the hike. The ball snapped right into Sean's hands and he immediately faked a pass to Frank who barreled across the field, Sean close on his heels. Almost everyone fell for the ruse, except for Steve of course. Sean was expecting as much as he called out the feint to his team. Both teams converged on Sean, Steve at the forefront. Everyone was too tight for a lateral as Sean watched Steve plow towards him, his weight shifted higher in case Sean tried flipping out of the way again. Again, Sean's reflexes moved in rapid-fire mode and without a second thought he reversed direction towards the stampede, spun, and sidestepped around Steve. Sean reversed again in the right direction and rolled over Steve's back. The move slowed him and Steve enough for the remaining crowd to catch up and tackle them both.