I motioned for Mike to come forward. The guys gave him hard looks, but no one said anything. I had a bad feeling we wouldn’t make it through the season before something happened.
◊◊◊
Right before football practice, my phone rang.
“This is David,” I said.
“Hey, David,” Devin Range said. “I hear you received your skydiving license.”
Brook and I had completed our required twenty-five jumps. It had become much more fun towards the end when they allowed us to do solo jumps. And there were other parts of the training that were fun. You had to learn to handle different scenarios. An example was what you did if your main chute failed. We also did a low-altitude jump that was a rush. When the ground is that close, as you hurtle towards earth, it seems like it takes forever for your chute to deploy.
Brook had done some Internet searches and found two adventures we were going to try. The first was a wingsuit. You looked like a flying squirrel. She’d shown me some spectacular videos of people BASE jumping. Brook had me half-talked into flying to one of the locations to experience the thrill of screaming down the side of a mountain. I finally talked her into trying it out of a plane first. Even I wasn’t crazy enough to try it for the first time off the edge of a mountain.
The second was skysurfing. This was like snowboarding but in free fall. The videos looked like a total blast. I imagined doing almost everything I did on the Jet Water Board. It had the added bonus of not being tied to the Jet Ski. Of the two, I thought I would enjoy skysurfing more. The deciding factor was that I could do it right here.
“I did. When do you want to test out your new toy?” I asked, referring to the wingboard he’d had developed.
“We want to come and film you on it next week. Are you free next weekend?” Devin asked.
I pulled out my tablet and saw something new on my calendar. It said ‘Boys’ Weekend—Turkey Season Opens.’
“I have something you and Lou might want to do with me on Saturday. It’s the opening of Turkey Shotgun Season. My uncle has a farm where we can go hunt.”
“That would work. We’ll film you on the wingboard Saturday afternoon and Sunday,” Devin said.
“I have a friend who took the skydiving classes with me. She’d love to try your new toy. Want me to ask her along?” I asked.
“Sure. It might be good to show a girl using it.”
“Also, do you have wingsuits and sky surfboards?” I asked.
I might as well get Devin to buy the equipment. He would let me have it after the shoot.
“As a matter of fact, Lou was talking to me about us selling those. I’ll see if he can get them together,” he said, sounding excited. “Be sure to get your friend under contract, and have her email Sandy with her sizes.”
As soon as we hung up, I called Kendal. She said she’d take care of it. She informed me my dad had signed the contract with IDC–Public Relations. Kendal told me she would let IDC know about the photo shoot. I made a mental note to remember that I’d have to keep them in the loop.
◊◊◊
It felt good to be back in a helmet and pads, running our offense. I’d spent a productive time preparing for Springfield’s tricky defense. Coach Mason had worked with Coach Diamond to come up with a game plan we thought had a chance to outfox them.
Coach Mason wasn’t a fan of the triple option but didn’t want to change the offense this late in the season. He did move the two halfbacks three yards further out from the tackles into more of a traditional slotback formation. This helped to spread out the defense. The way we had been lining up allowed them to bunch up the middle easily by putting eight men in the box. This meant that it was easier for the defense to guard against our run game. With our slotbacks moved further out, they would be forced to cover more of the field.
During practice, it became apparent that the new formation was working because Coach Zoon’s boys were having a hell of a time stopping us. Jake and Ed, our slotbacks, had a much easier time of it. They were both dangerous in the open space, especially if a linebacker had to cover them. When we added Ty to the mix, we were unstoppable. The key would be that our offensive line absolutely had to hold up against Springfield. If the line gave me enough time, I could get the football to our speed guys, and we would be able to defeat Springfield’s superior defensive schemes.
This approach was very much from the old Oakland Raider playbook. They believed in stretching the field with speed and forcing defensive backs to have to make plays. This put tremendous pressure on the defense because instead of a brawl, where you had to fight your way through multiple opponents, you isolated one or two defensive players. They had to be able to defend against your best athletes. It only took a slight mistake to suddenly allow a big play. Coach Mason was a big believer in the 20-plus-yard plays stat. The team with more of those plays usually won.
The key to this working was me. I had the arm strength and accuracy to be able to throw the long ball. Usually, that would be enough, but with Springfield, I had to be careful. It would be a game of cat-and-mouse. I just needed to be aware, so I didn’t get turned into the mouse.
◊◊◊
I’d decided to bypass the dojo this week. Actually, Coach Hope had ordered it. He didn’t want to take a chance with my concussion.
Tami had also sent me information on the recovery process. There had been an animal study where they had given rats concussions. One set of rats received a mild concussion daily for a month. After the month, it showed that those rats had noticeable brain damage. Another group received a mild concussion once a week. What they found was initially up to ten percent of the neural synapses either had degraded or were interrupted. After three days, the pathways would heal back to normal function. The conclusion was that even mild cases of concussion had to be given time to mend. Tami added that she felt further studies would show that was why football players had problems over time. Repeated daily head trauma in practice and games had a cumulative effect because the brain didn’t have time to recuperate.
Of course, she sent the information to both Coach Hope and my mom. I saw the logic in the study results, and that was why I hadn’t fought the trainers on getting back onto the field too soon. The whole experience had scared me a little bit.
What I did after practice instead was more fun than letting Cassidy kick my butt. I gathered the team and cheerleaders together, minus Jim and Mona, before everyone took off.
“It looks like everyone’s here,” Wolf said.
“I’ve gathered you all here to participate in my diabolical plan,” I started, rubbing my hands together. “Homecoming is tomorrow, and we need to decide who’ll be King and Queen."
Kim jumped up, sauntered up to me, and grinned. I guess my expression gave away my thoughts at that moment because everyone started to laugh. I held up my hand.
“Okay, new plan,” I said as Tracy did the same little walk.
I looked between the two of them and must have had a brain freeze. Either that or Mr. Happy seized control of the body.
“Hang on. I might have a new plan,” I confessed.
“I think our fearless leader is worthless,” Wolf announced.
“I want to hear this new plan of his,” Yuri said.
“Everyone vote for Jim. The girls can fight it out,” I said.
Mona would have to win on her own merits. Kim and Tracy gave the guys their best sexy looks. I had a feeling Mona was in trouble.
◊◊◊
Halle went home with me for dinner. I’d put a stew in the Crock-Pot this morning because it was the perfect meal for when it started to cool off. When I got home, Dad had arrived first and was making drop biscuits.
“Devin Range and one of his employees will be joining us to go hunting this weekend,” I said.
“You aren’t going to kill Bambi, are you?” Halle asked as she wrinkled her nose.