Chapter 9

The first day of school found Jake at new student orientation. He was one of about 300 incoming tenth graders. About fifteen lines were formed behind desks displaying one or more letters of the alphabet. Jake was slowly moving to the front of the T-U-V line. A few of his prospective classmates made eye contact and Jake gave them a little wave. He would have to make sure his sisters got the word out about his amnesia. He was not looking forward to explaining his memory loss to however many friends and acquaintances he might run into. Jake finally made it to the front of the line and picked up his class schedule and a map.

Next, he made his way to the football sign-up table. For positions desired, he listed tight end and line backer. He went to each of his abbreviated classes and picked up his books. He could live with his class load. He was not in advanced placement classes but he was not in anything remedial either. He figured he would let his schoolwork decide his place for him.

At a quarter past two, he hoofed it over to the gym for the first football meeting. The three coaches passed out practice schedules and equipment requirements. The head coach, Brian Nelson, explained that their first game was in two weeks so tryouts and practices would be long and brutal. Cuts would be made daily and the final tryout would be Saturday. The roster of players who made the team would be posted next Monday morning. Everyone had four days to prove themselves. The John F. Kennedy High School Panthers were not a football powerhouse but had won five games the year before and had a large contingent of retuning starters for this year. Their first game would be on Friday night, seventeen days from now.

Brian Nelson was a former Marine and University of Florida football player. Coach Nelson was big, fit, and a no-nonsense leader. He believed that character was as important as skill. He was Jake’s kind of guy. Nelson was starting his third year at Kennedy where he also served as the men’s physical education teacher. He was well respected by the students and faculty and, being single, was considered the faculty hunk. The improvement in the football program during his short tenure had expectations high for the coming season. Jake liked him immediately.

Angie was waiting for him after practice. Jake was casually talking to a couple of his fellow hopefuls when she called him. He excused himself and headed towards the Falcon. Angie looked good and Jake was not the only one who noticed. He received some good-natured ribbing tinged with envy. Angie gave him a dazzling smile and a hug. He heard a few groans behind him as he jumped into the car and headed out. Angie blushed when Jake told her how good she looked and how his teammate had verified his opinion.

Wednesday was the first full day of school. Jake thought he was going to enjoy most of his classes. For the most part his teachers seemed conscientious and capable. His English teacher especially struck him as noteworthy. She was in her early thirties and, although probably attractive, her conservative dress and hairstyle made her appear stern and severe. Nevertheless, she was passionate about her subject and to Jake her passion was infectious. Her name was Mrs. Greer. Jake resolved to get to know her better.

Football practice was all that Coach Nelson promised. After warming up, the players were divided into backs and linemen. The first order of business was wind sprints. Ten players at a time were lined up on the 40-yard line. A coach in the end zone blew a whistle and the group sprinted towards him. He took the name of the winner of each sprint then the players did a lap and rejoined the group at midfield. Groups of ten were mixed after each sprint and they did it again. Jake was mildly surprised that he was the fastest of the linemen. He knew he could run for distance but he did not know he could run for speed. After all, his only competition had been Angie and he could barely keep ahead of her. She was going to be a very pleasant surprise for the track coach.

After wind sprints had everyone huffing and puffing, conditioning drills began. Coach Nelson’s military background became apparent from the exercises he used. Eight count pushups, mountain climbers, bent leg sit-ups, and the rest of the daily dozen were gone through until five or six guys just quit. Finally satisfied that anyone who was going to quit already had, coach divided the team into offense and defense. Agility drills were the next order of business. The assistant coaches were making notes on clipboards and constantly asking players their names while writing furiously. They stopped asking Jake his name after a couple of times and began calling on him to repeat some of the drills.

The torture continued for another hour then they were assembled on the quarter-mile track that surrounded the field. Cloth numbers were handed out and the coaching staff plus some students each took five players and wrote down their numbers. It was similar to the procedure used for the run portion of the military physical fitness test. Coach explained that the players should set a pace that would allow them to run as far as they could. They had to make sure the person who had their number recorded each lap they completed. When they could run no further they would take a seat in the bleachers until everyone finished.

When everyone was set, a whistle blew and they were off. Jake set a nice moderate pace for himself that put him in the middle of the pack. Some of the more fit guys took off like jack rabbits but Jake was in it for the long haul. After a half-mile, the fast starters were falling back into the pack and runners started dropping out at the fourth lap. By the two-mile mark, the group had shrunk by half and Jake and a familiar looking black kid were out front. The two ran silently, matching each other stride for stride. After four miles only a handful of runners were left and coach blew his whistle. The black guy looked at Jake, grinned, and then took of sprinting. Jake tore out after him. They finished the lap with Jake two steps behind and fell into the grass beside the track. Gasping for breath Jake held out his hand:

“Jake Turner.” He introduced himself.

The other runner shook the offered hand, “Ray...” he started.

“Robinson?” Jake finished for him.

The coached walked by and told them good job as they joined the team in the bleachers. Coach had a meeting with his lap counters and moved in front of the assembled players.

“If I call your name please report to Coach Davis.” He said, pointing to one of his assistants.

The people who did not finish two miles trudged to coach Davis to get the bad news. Coach Nelson told the players remaining they had done a good job and real practice would start tomorrow. He had effectively weed out a third of the hopefuls in one day. Jake was impressed by the coached organizational skills. He headed to the showers with Ray to fill in the curious young man in on how he knew his name.

Debbie was waiting for Jake when he left the gym. She had changed into a short little sundress that showed off her buff body. She made an issue of calling for Jake by name and waving. All eyes were on him as he made his way to her car. She gave him a big hug and waved to the guys gaping at her. Once they were out of the parking lot she turned to her brother.

“We girls have cooked up a little scheme to start your high school career off with a reputation,” she said.

After dinner and a description of his day, Jake did his homework with his sisters at the dining room table (a tradition instituted by their father when they were in grammar school). Then he hit the bed, dead tired.

The following day Jake continued to familiarize himself with life as a student. He had gym for the first time but got to slide on most of the activities because of football practice. He did check out the gym and found some weight lifting equipment, a heavy punching bag, and a speed bag hidden away in a corner. His study hall was in the library and today he met the librarian for the first time. She was petite with short blonde hair. She was very prim and proper but Jake thought he saw a kindred spirit in her. Her nameplate said she was Miss Doane. He asked her about library procedures and she warmed to his interest in her domain. He saw a copy of Eric Segal’s ‘Love Story’ on the desk.

Pointing to the book he said, “If love is never saying you are sorry, why are we so often sorry we fell in love?”

She gaped at him in astonishment as he walked away. She knew what he was talking about all too well.

Football practice was grueling but productive that day. The remaining players were issued pads, helmets, and practice uniforms. After the obligatory conditioning exercises, the coach introduced them to the torture of grass drills. Grass drills involved running in place until the whistle blew as your signal to drop to the ground on your stomach. Coach would then yell a command or exercise for you to do until the whistle sounded for you to jump up and run in place again. Coach was endlessly creative in his cruelty.

Things improved when they were broken down into offensive and defensive squads. Out came the blocking sleds and tackling dummies. For the first time they were playing football. Jake worked out with both squads but his heart was on the defense. Jake asked to try out for middle linebacker and, because there was not a returning starter in the position, he was given the okay. The current focus of high school football was on the ground game, so Coach Nelson played a six man defensive line with three line-backers and two safeties. The middle linebacker’s job was to go after the ball. He had no opposing player to cover and no assigned area to patrol.

On offense, Jake practiced full speed. He hustled on every play and did not shirk his turn no matter what they were doing. He ran pass routes and caught the ball fairly well. He was no Lance Allworth, but he did not drop many. He noticed coach looking at him quizzically and wondered what his problem was. The coach motioned him to the sidelines.

Glancing at his clipboard, he put a football in Jake’s right hand and said, “Turner, throw this to the quarterback.”

Jake sailed a tight spiral to Brad Simmons who stood about thirty yards away. Jake did not understand this drill. He was not a quarterback and did not want to be one. Coach handed him another ball and Jake started to throw it.

“Throw it left-handed,” the coach said.

Jake shrugged, changed hands, and fired another spiral.

“That’s what’s been driving me crazy,” Coach said “you’re ambidextrous.”

Jake was flabbergasted.

“Yeah, I guess I am,” he said

‘That might explain some things,’ thought Jake. In his former life he was left handed, stupid young Jake must have been right handed. Jake would digest this tidbit later. He got a chance to talk with Ray Robinson and asked about his folks. Ray said that they were great and the family was buying a bigger house now that they had two incomes. Practice ended with eight laps. With a fixed distance announced Jake and Ray took off at a gallop. They lapped most of the others and Ray beat Jake to the finish line by a couple of strides. After showers, Jake walked out of the gym. He was amused that his ride today was Jody. She saw him as he walked to the car and got out. She was wearing a denim mini and a tight tee-shirt without a bra. She hurtled into his arms and stuck her tongue down his throat right in front of his teammates.

At school Friday, Jake started to get his rhythm. He received back some of his homework assignments, mostly with positive comments. He took two quizzes he felt good about, and answered some questions from Mrs. Greer about Shakespeare in a way that pleased her. At study hall, Miss Doane sought him out in the stacks, as he was looking at a book of sonnets for lit class.

“What do you know about love to be so cynical?” she asked.

“I’m not cynical,” Jake replied. “I’m a romantic. It just seems to me that most of the time love can make you feel worse than it can make you feel good. You wonder why we continue to fall in love knowing that most of the time one or both people wind up miserable.”

‘That was very insightful Jacob. As a fellow romantic with a little more experience, I can tell you that the ups and downs of love give life meaning,” she said.

“Better to have loved and lost...” Jake said.

She replied, “Exactly.”

The football team was about at it’s playing strength. Only seven more cuts were necessary to meet the 35-man roster limit. After thirty minutes of Coach Nelson’s conditioning torture, the offense and defense squared off at the 50-yard line and started learning plays. Nelson would huddle the offense and go over the play. Since most of the offense was composed of returning starters, they knew his system. The offense would walk through the play, then run it against the defense at half speed until they had it down. Jake was alternated at tight end and, to his surprise, split end. He was okay working with the offense at half speed but he wanted to be on defense for scrimmages. He asked coach about it and was told that when he learned the offense he could stay with the defense more.

His ride that day pulled up in her candy Apple Red Mustang GT right as most of the team hit the exit. Helen stepped out of her car showing a lot of leg in her tennis outfit. Her new figure was apparent in the short skirt and tight top. Hair loose and flowing across one shoulder and eyes hidden behind large sunglasses, she looked half her age. Forty pairs of eyes were riveted on her including two of the assistant coaches. She waved at Jake and he started towards her.