Chapter 8: At the Drug Store

For the next three days, I biked over to the Wilkinson house and took Davey and Kip to the park to work on their soccer skills. Every day, they came tumbling out of the house to meet me. Then, the two of them ran nonstop until I brought them back home an hour later. Lori Wilkinson always invited me in afterwards to have some lemonade, and we sat at her kitchen table while the boys ran upstairs to clean up after soccer.

Each time I took them out, I could see improvement in their skills. They still had the attention span of young boys, but they both loved to play soccer, and they loved kicking the ball to each other. By the third day, we were playing a game I called Heads-Up. The three of us were in a moving, revolving triangle, each about twenty feet from each other. We were constantly passing three soccer balls, first clockwise, and then counterclockwise. The exercise kept them moving (which they were prone to do anyway), and it helped to develop their passing and trapping skills using both feet. By the end of the day, they were both passing equally well with both the insides and outsides of their left and right feet, an accomplishment that not many kids their age could claim. It would give them a distinct advantage in their games very shortly.

The three of us dribbled our soccer balls back to the house from the park. One of my rules for the boys was that they couldn't pick up and carry a soccer ball. They had to dribble it wherever they went, except for crossing a street. They were running ahead of me, then turning and dribbling back to circle behind me before racing ahead again, using both feet to keep the ball moving. They were both anxious to show their mom what they had been learning, and I was very pleased with the way they had taken to the game with such enthusiasm. When we got to their front lawn, they both left their soccer balls on the grass as they raced each other, both trying to be the first to tell Lori about their progress.

"Mom! Mom! Come out and see!"

"Come out, Mom, and we'll show you what Sean's been teaching us!"

They were shouting and jumping as they hit the front door. In just a few seconds, each had one of Lori's hands and were both pulling her out the door.

"Watch this, Mom!" shouted Davey. "Kip, go over there, and I'll pass it to you!"

Kip ran across the yard, and Davey kicked a pass to him with his right foot, and took off running at a right angle. Kip neatly stopped the pass, turned and led Davey with a pass off his left foot. As soon as the ball left his foot, Kip started running back to where Davey had been, ready to receive the ball back from his brother. They wove in and out of each other's passing lanes for a few minutes, all the time shouting out directions to each other, proud to show off for their mother. Lori stood on the front steps, watching her boys with a big smile.

She clapped her hands as she said, "That's great, guys. I am really impressed!"

She turned to me and said, "You've done a truly amazing job with these ruffians, Sean. I can't thank you enough."

"Aw, shucks, ma'am," I said in my best Southern drawl. "It twern't nothin'."

"Well, come on in, then, sheriff, and pull up a barstool while I serve you up some sarsaparilla," she countered as she opened the door and led us into the house.

The boys ran and jumped up the stairs to get cleaned up while Lori and I went into the kitchen for some lemonade. She set out a plate of cookies and filled four glasses with ice, and poured freshly made lemonade into two of them. She handed me a glass, and tipped hers toward mine in a silent toast before taking a sip. She sat down next to me at the table.

"Do you have a girlfriend, Sean?" she asked after a moment.

"Ummm... no, not really," I replied.

"I guess you know Molly O'Toole, don't you," she said almost to herself.

"Yes, I know her and her twin brother. She was telling me that she baby-sits for you sometimes."

"The boys just love her," she said. "She doesn't seem to mind at all when they get rambunctious on her. She handles them beautifully."

"I know I've mentioned it before, Lori, but it's really true. Davey and Kip are really good kids. There's no reason not to like them."

She sighed and said, "I know, but I worry anyway." She reached for her purse on the counter and opened it. "Oh, no, I'm sorry, Sean. I forgot to stop at the bank to get some money. Can you stop by later tonight? Or do you have plans?"

My only plan was to see if Kayla could get away to fool around. I figured I could stop by here first, so I said, "Sure, I can stop by. Or, if you want, you can just pay me tomorrow."

"Are you sure that's okay, Sean? I'd be just as happy if I could pay you tonight."

"No, tomorrow's fine," I said. I got up to go. "But thanks, I appreciate it. I'll see you tomorrow, Lori."

"Sean! Hey, Sean, wait up!" Josh O'Toole was jogging across the park toward me as I rode by.

I stopped and waited for him to catch up. "Hey, Josh, what's up?"

"Not much," he said, trying to catch his breath. "I was thinking about going over to Lehigh Drugs. Come on along with me, won't you?"