Chapter 3

Roger and Wendy had never seen so many people in one place before. Miranda told them that some of the college stadiums were even larger holding over 100,000 fans.

They were seated in the players section. Most there were wives or girlfriends of a player, in a few cases sometimes both, so Roger and the three lifeguards were out of place being the only males there. In a few minutes that was not a problem since many of the other girls had brought friends and the men were being welcomed. M gave Rory a look that clearly showed her displeasure. Rory moved a bit closer to her and had a sheepish look on his face. Roger and the other two lifeguards had no such a reminder and soon found they quickly made a number of new friends.

One of the other women came up to M and Wendy and introduced herself, saying she had seen them at the team party. M and Wendy introduced themselves as Mark's sister and fiancée. M took Rory's hand but did not introduce him, yet.

Seattle took the field to loud cheers. Each starter was introduced. As a player was named, one could hear a shout, scream and loud clapping from a wife or girlfriend. When Mark was announced Wendy went wild, so loud that M covered her ears as she dragged the big girl down. The other girls started clapping and joined in for Mark.

The game started. It was not an auspicious beginning. Mark got to think of the synthetic turf as his new best friend. By halftime, the score was Green Bay 20. Seattle 0. Mark had completed 2 passes, both resulted in fumbles. He had been sacked five times.

Wendy was beside herself. She left her seat and followed the team towards the lockers. Stadium guards at first just stared at her, then decided to stop her. The three big 'minders' merely shook their heads 'no' and Wendy marched in un restrained.

To say her presence caused a stir was like saying Mt. St. Helen shook the ground. Every mouth dropped open. It was not just her looks, it was the look on her face and the fire in her eyes that did it. All eyes were on her now. The head coach had his mouth open but nothing came out.

Her words were simple. "Were you not supposed to even try to move ahead? I may not know a lot about American Football, but in Canada we have this thing called a 'Team', the lads even try to win. You clods just stand around and watch them drive my Mark into the ground. I just do not understand why! If you don't want to be here just go home. Mark can stand there and let them keep hitting him, or you clods can join in and help put him out of his misery quicker. Maybe put a big target on him saying, 'hit me'. Hell, give me a uniform too, I probably can do a better job catching the ball than you can."

There was silence. Mark came up to her, held her in his arms and kissed her, then walked back out. The owner had come in while this was going on. He was a man of few words. "Those who just are going to stand there, get the Hell out of here, we can forfeit this debacle and maybe sign some cheerleaders to play next week. They will play a lot better than you do." He left. The head coach tried to stop him. He stopped and said, "Your fired, get out of here. I'll see if the trainer can snap the ball to the Quarterback, maybe Mark's girlfriend can catch the ball after-all."