“Take it strong, Jaylen,” Walt said. “Throw it down, big man. Throw it down once for me.”
“I can’t dunk, coach,” Jaylen said as he was running back on defense.
“Then finish strong and fluid, Jaylen,” Walt called after him. “Stay loose. This is basketball. This is poetry. This is a dance. You should be dancing up and down the floor.”
Jaylen nodded and picked up his man on defense. The other team set a series of off-ball screens and then their point guard drove to the hoop. He attacked the right side and attempted a floater but Jaylen had cycled over to help and swatted the shot out of bounds.
“Yes, Jaylen!” Walt shouted. “That is leadership. That is courage. That is basketball. That is poetry. This is what I am talking about.”
When the scrimmage was over Walt gathered the players together and ran over the coming week’s schedule. They would have strength and conditioning every day and another open gym that Sunday.
“We are improving,” Walt said. “We’re getting better every day, but we’ve got to play with confidence. ‘He who hesitates is lost.’ Who said that? That was Pete Harrison, one of the greatest basketball coaches in the history of California. Perhaps one of the greatest coaches in the history of Western civilization. I had the privilege of going to his big man camp when I was younger. A wonderful, wonderful man. You know what else he said? ‘Balance is the building block of good basketball.’ We’ve got to stay grounded, we’ve got to stay composed. Run our offense, get our looks. The shots will drop. That’s straight out of the mouth of the great Pete Harrison. Being with Pete on the court was like walking through Yosemite with John Muir, like traveling the Missouri River with Sacagawea, like hanging out on the beach with Eddie Aikau. Are you picking up what I’m putting down? Okay, bring it in. ‘Seals’ on three. One, two, three: Seals! See you tomorrow.”
The team dispersed throughout the gym, looking a little dazed. Uffa and Berg stood up from the bleachers and headed over to Walt. They said hello and introduced themselves as Demeter’s friends.
“Demeter!” he said. “An angel. An angel of mercy.”
“How’s it going?”
“I’m wonderful. What did you say your name was? Uffa? What an interesting name. Things are wonderful, Uffa. Nothing I’d rather be doing. I’m coaching basketball. I’m healthy. I can think. I can write. I can move. I can ride my bike. I can dream. I’ve got it all.”
“You guys have a good team this year?”
“We’ve got some players. We’ve got some players. They need to get hip to certain fundamental things, but the passion is there. The creativity is there. The celebration, the dance, the vision. These things are there and growing stronger every day.” Walt grinned. “Anyway, what can I do for you?” he said.
“We were wondering if you could help us book the Oysters stadium for a concert,” Uffa said.
“A concert? Oh man, it’s been so long since we’ve had a good show around here. We used to have great music here all the time. Gosh, I’d love to have a show over there. You want to do it on a weekend?”
“Yes.”
“On a weekend the fee would be five hundred dollars for the entire day.”
“Is there anyway you could bump that down?” Berg asked. “We both work as boatbuilders and we’re very poor.”
“With Alejandro?”
“Yes.”
“Ale! What a man. A good great man. Tell him I say hello. I’ll look into knocking down the price. You know, it’s a concert, and we need concerts here, and now I know that you guys are with Ale… I’ll look into it. I’ll definitely look into it.”
“Thanks, Walt.”
They exited the gym through the swinging doors and Walt knelt down to unlock his yellow bicycle. “You guys coming to the Dance Palace banquet next week?” he asked. “They’re honoring the Sharkman.”
“Not sure yet,” Uffa said.
“Well, get your tickets soon. I hear it’s going to sell out. They’re going to have a live band. There’s going to be an art exhibit, too. Jim Herald is showing fifty years of his bobcat photography.”
“Sounds cool,” Uffa said.
“Not to be missed, guys. Not to be missed.”
“Okay, Walt,” they said.
“Take it easy,” Walt called, and then he hopped on his bike and rode off into the evening.
CHAPTER 24
SHARKMAN CRIED WHEN HE was honored at the Dance Palace event. He gave a brief speech, in which he thanked all of the elasmobranchologists who came before him and paved the way for his own work. He was wearing a dress shirt and khakis and a pair of polarized sunglasses hung around his neck. Many things in the town were up for debate, but Sharkman’s work, it seemed, was universally respected. Everyone from Daryl Shapton to Sharon Lopez to Uffa wanted to shake his hand. There were rumors swirling that he was going to enter the race for District Assemblyman. Uffa believed he would win if he did.
“He appeals to so many different demographics,” he explained.
After the award ceremony, there was a raffle. Among the things raffled off were casks of wine from the Shapton Ranch, a three-course meal at Gary’s Oysters, and an introductory package at the Korvers’ Pilates studio. One of the better prizes was a dory that Alejandro had built. Freddie Moltisanti came away with it.
The money from the raffle would be donated to the Talinas Humane Society and, at the end of the night, Tom Nunes, the organization’s director, got up and gave a speech thanking everyone for their contributions. He also let them know about the ongoing animal registration project that the organization was working on.
“We ‘re looking to register animals in the event of a disaster,” he said. “We are talking about large animals here, horses or other companion animals. I had a call last week from a woman asking about the tule elk out by Dillon Ranch. This is not for tule elk. We cannot register elk.”
During dinner, Walt approached their table and told Uffa and Berg that he could knock down the price of the stadium. As long as they cleaned up everything afterwards, he was willing to rent it to them for a hundred dollars. He felt the town wasn’t doing enough to help support its young people, and he wanted to do what he could. After he told them this, he stuck around for a few more minutes to speak to Demeter.
“I’ve gotta get you and your mom to come do some Pilates with the team,” Walt said.
“Oh yeah,” Demeter said. “It would be great for their balance.”
“I saw that film you acted in with little Petey Johnson,” he said. “What a heartrending tale. I felt the emotion, the hurt, the hope to keep the relationship together, despite your character’s lack of interest in the Pepper Kings’ music. When I saw your mother the other day I told her, I said, ‘Demeter’s going to be a star.’”
“I don’t really want to be a star,” Demeter said. “I just want to act and make enough money to survive.”
“You’re going to be a star,” Walt said. “I’m sure of it. Get ready to be a star.”
A few days after the Dance Palace event, Berg went out on a Horse Island charter with Garrett and Woody. Woody had picked up most of Berg’s shifts by that point. Berg rarely went out on the boat anymore and it was even rarer that he went out with Woody. Berg was still considered a second mate, like Woody, and he was usually paired with someone who was considered a first mate: Simon or Shawnecee, for example. But on occasion they assigned Berg to a charter as a first mate, and that was the case today. He was proud of this, proud of how much he’d learned from Alejandro and Uffa and all of the Fernwood people. He had known nothing when he got there and now he was a first mate.
The client that day was a wealthy man from Denmark named Rasmus. He came with his wife, his thirteen-year-old daughter, and the daughter’s best friend. They were on vacation, staying at a bed and breakfast in Five Brooks for the weekend. On the trip over to Horse Island, the two girls posed on the bow, taking selfies and posting them online. Their internet identities and their real lives appeared to have meshed: everything they did was captured for social media and, in many cases, done for the sole purpose of being represented on social media.