“Deal.”
We had a nice dinner, and when we were done, we went to the school board meeting.
THE MEETING ENDED UP being in the auditorium. Over three hundred students and parents showed up. Mrs. Sullivan, the president of the booster club, asked to speak first.
“I don’t want to steal the thunder from Mr. Dole and Mr. Dawson, but I want to congratulate them, and Coach Hope, on improving athletics at Lincoln High. I’ve had several parents tell me what an improvement they are seeing in their kids, both academically and physically. I also love the emphasis that’s being given to find scholarships for the kids that want a college education.
“I want the school board to know that the booster club is 100% behind their efforts. I urge you to listen to what they have to say and support them, too.”
The crowd was obviously behind her. Then it was Tom and Dad’s turn and they did a PowerPoint presentation. It started off showing what was possible. Wesleyan was featured prominently; their facilities were second to none. Then Tom and Dad laid out the vision of making Lincoln High a force to be reckoned with, athletically and academically. They covered all our hopes and dreams, and then Tom showed the crowd and the board how they could do it.
What surprised the board was our request. We didn’t ask for funds, but instead, we asked for matching funds. I’d written a nice-sized check that I wanted to remain anonymous. I was surprised when Tom’s firm and the Sullivan car dealership both matched me. The caveat was that the school board had to allow us to make donations explicitly earmarked for facility improvements.
The donations were in no way able to cover everything on our wish list. But it was a start. The highest priorities on the list were new weight and locker rooms. The old equipment and lockers were going to the local YMCA. Work could begin as soon as school was out.
Mrs. Sullivan also planned to have a big fundraiser for the Fourth of July weekend. She wanted to do a ‘Taste of Lincoln High’ booth/tent/food court and get the local restaurants involved. There would also be a concert and a carnival. This woman planned big! After upgrading the weight and locker rooms, they wanted to build a field house like Wesleyan had. That would give us a year-round place to practice and work out, regardless of the weather.
Tuesday March 18
COACH HOPE CALLED ME into his office at lunchtime. He had a room full of boxes. I read a label, and it was addressed to me in care of Lincoln High.
“What is all this?” Coach Hope asked.
I gave him a sheepish grin. I’d been keeping this a secret. One of the boxes had a big shipping envelope taped to it. I noticed the boxes were all numbered. I opened the envelope, and the paperwork inside told what was in each box. I found the one I was looking for and handed it to Coach Hope.
He gave me a curious look, then got out his pocketknife and cut the box open. It was t-shirts for all the coaches. The logos that Stacy had designed were great. I dug through until I found his t-shirt. On the back, it had his name, and on the front, it had the elite dog logo and under that was the word ‘Coach.’
The blue camouflage looked much better than Sandy Range had described. Alan had given her a list of all the participants in the program. He even gave her a list of everyone currently involved in a sport. Everyone would get a t-shirt.
“Coach, do you think we can get these distributed today?”
“Sure. What did you have in mind?”
“Could we get everyone to wear them tomorrow? We have a game, and I want us to start showing some school spirit.”
His comments about the letterman’s jackets still bothered me. We needed a cultural change on how people felt about Lincoln High.
“Great idea, who can we get to help?”
I gave him the packing list.
“These are broken down by team. So you could give that to their coaches, and have them hand the shirts out. Also, Cassidy could take care of the after-school crowd that isn’t currently in a sport. That way no one person would have to give all them out.”
The task suddenly didn’t look so daunting. There was a box marked for me. I grabbed it and opened it. Range Sports had sent their prototype new sweats and sweatshirts. There was reflective tape on the arms so I would be more visible when running. Sandy and I had talked before the first of the year about how to improve the sweats. I couldn’t wait to try them out.
AT BASEBALL PRACTICE, Coach Haskins handed out our new t-shirts. Everyone was excited about wearing them tomorrow. He then surprised me: there were two more boxes. These held new baseball uniforms. Our school colors are orange and blue. There were both home and away uniforms. The home ones were white with orange numbers with blue trim. The away uniforms were blue with white numbers with orange trim. The logo was our bulldog mascot chewing on a baseball.
There was an extra hat for everyone. Devin had told Sandy to add them because he knew we’d want to wear them outside of the games. They were the same camouflage design as the t-shirts. We all put our hats on for practice.
They let me throw for batting practice today. My goal wasn’t to throw hard or try to strike anyone out, it was more just to get the repetitions in. Like anything else, you have to put the effort in to get the results.
AFTER PRACTICE, EVE took me home with her. They were having a small party with the family to celebrate the release of her single; at least, that’s what she told me. When we pulled up to their farm, there was hardly anywhere to park. There was a big tent where everyone seemed to be. She led me into the house. Angel was there with my cowboy clothes that I was ordered to go change into.
“Eve, darling, what’s going on?”
She smiled at me.
“You love me. Just go with the flow tonight, for me.”
I went and changed. Angel came in while I dressed and handed me talking points. I’d had enough with the mystery.
“Tell me what’s going on,” I ordered Angel.
“You’re going to escort Eve in. We’ve invited several labels here to showcase her talent. What we did in Nashville was practice a few songs. Eve is going to sing. Then afterward there’ll be a press conference. You’ll be a part of it because the song was based on you. There may be some questions they’ll want to ask you.”
My first instinct was to head for the hills. Tami said my first instinct was always wrong. I think she also said boys were always wrong. So I thought about what my second instinct was. It was to head for the hills. I was ready bolt when Eve came in and grabbed me. I guess it was too late to make a run for it.
We could hear a band playing. Angel had a headset on, and she told them we were ready. We went around the back of the tent where there was a back entrance to the stage. A DJ from one of the local country stations was acting as the MC. The song ended, and the DJ was praising the band. Then he introduced Eve.
“I know you’ve been waiting for a very special lady to arrive. She has been a fixture at local talent shows for years. Today she released her first single on iTunes. I was given the honor of playing it first on my morning show. Please give a warm welcome to Eve Holliday!”
She pulled me out on stage with her. I could feel she was nervous, so I squeezed her hand to let her know I supported her. There must have been a hundred people in the audience. I suddenly didn’t feel out of place in my cowboy gear: the place was full of people dressed like me. Eve released my hand and went to the mic.