Chapter 20: Skip and Theo

I picked up the phone and dialed the number on the slip of paper. An unfamiliar female voice at the other end answered after three rings.

"Hello? This is Sean Porter. I got a message to call this number when I got home."

"Just a minute, Sean," the voice said. There was a thump as the phone was set down on the other end.

"Hello, Sean?"

"This is Sean. Who is this?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's Coach Neville, Sean. I've been on the phone with so many people tonight, I forget who I've talked to and who I haven't."

"That's okay, Coach." I was puzzled. Why is Coach Neville trying to contact me this late on a Saturday night? "What's up?"

"Sean, this is very hard." He paused for a moment. His voice sounded gravelly. "There's been a terrible car accident. Skip and Theo..." He paused again, perhaps to collect himself. My own heart was beating like a triphammer, and my palms were suddenly sweaty. "Skip and Theo were on their way to pick up their dates earlier tonight, when they got into an accident. Another car was involved; Theo's car got pushed off the road and into a tree..." His voice was rising in pitch, his emotions raw. He stopped to take a deep breath. "Sean, Skip was killed instantly, and Theo is in very serious condition at the hospital."

"What?" My knees gave out, and I hit the floor with a thump. "What did you say, Coach?"

"Skip is dead, son, and Theo is very badly hurt. I'm trying to contact everybody on the team to let them know. I've talked to almost everyone by now. I've been over to the hospital to meet with Theo's family, and Skip's parents were there, also. It's all so unreal. I don't think anyone realizes quite yet what's happened. Anyway, I've already talked to the principal at school, and he is arranging to have counselors available to anybody on Monday morning. I would like you to get to school early on Monday if you can, and we'll meet as a team, varsity and junior varsity, in the locker room for a few minutes before school starts."

"Okay, Coach. Is there anything else I can do?"

"Not right now, Sean. Just pray, pray for Skip's family, pray for Theo and his family. I'll be at the hospital as much as I can tomorrow."

"I'll be there, too, as early as I can."

"Thanks, Sean. It's going to be a very sad week next week, I'm afraid." With that, he hung up the phone. I sat on the floor, the dead receiver forgotten in my hand, until the dial tone brought me back to the here and now. I struggled to my feet, hanging up the telephone, and turned to see my mother and father, and my brother Mike, all looking at me, concern on their faces.

"We heard sirens earlier tonight. Is this something connected to them?" My mom stood up and came over to wrap me in her arms.

I nodded, not sure if I could speak quite yet. My eyes were burning, and my vision was blurred.

I sniffled a couple of times, and got myself under control. I let them know what had happened, and about Coach's plan to meet early on Monday morning. We sat up together, the four of us, for about an hour, talking about the accident and how much our town was going to be affected by the tragic news.

Finally, exhaustion set in, and I slowly found my way to my room and shut the door. I needed a shower. I was hoping the hot water would wash away the last hour, clean it up and present it again with better news. I spent about twenty minutes standing there, just letting the scalding water rush over me. The water started cooling as the water heater ran out, so I finally turned the water off and stepped out to dry off. I flopped into bed, the lights off, but it was many hours before I finally drifted off into a troubled sleep.

I was feeling pretty awful when I got up in the morning. My sleep was fitful and restless. I couldn't remember any of my dreams but they left a bad aftertaste, a lingering sour discomfort. I wanted more than anything to cancel soccer practice with Coach Bill's team, but since I didn't have any of their phone numbers, I steeled myself to go and do the best I could. I called Molly as early as I dared, but their house was already up and aware of the bad news. Heather and Evan had heard about it almost immediately. The two seniors ended up at the hospital, where they stayed until the nursing staff finally kicked them, and about half the rest of the senior class, out. She had come home shortly after I had dropped Molly off and awakened the family to give them the news.

Molly said she would call Tessa, and the two of them would meet me at the park. My brother Mike dropped me off at the park with my gear about fifteen minutes early, saying he would pick me up after practice.

The girls got there a few minutes later. While we were waiting for the team to show up, Coach Bill explained to us the drills he wanted to work on today. It was hard to pay attention to him, as distracted as the three of us were on that Sunday morning.