Mayhem in a PillChapter 58 Hiccups are Unexpected
- 3 years ago
- 17
- 0
Juanita didn’t exactly know what to do to get Tim ready for his first game. Her initial feelings were to make a good solid breakfast, for him to have enough energy for the game. Raymond came in for his cup of coffee and was able to confirm what she was thinking, but she was making too much food.
“Honey, what are you doing? Pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, cinnamon rolls. Good God, dear, we’ll never be able to finish all this off,” Raymond was rubbing her shoulders from behind her, softly, knowing she was just a worried mother.
“Believe me, babe. He will be fine. You saw the scrimmage, just like I did. You know I was a little worried as well, but did it look like he was in danger of being hurt at all?”
“No. But like you said that was just a glorified practice, with coaches on the field pointing out mistakes to their players. This is the first time he’s playing in a real game and well ... okay, I will admit it. I’m worried about my baby.”
Raymond turned her around to face her, he hugged her, gave her a sweet kiss on the cheek and a ‘Don’t worry’ look she was easily able to understand. He then started sipping coffee from his favorite ‘Greatest Dad in the World’ mug.
“Seriously, Raymond, what if he gets hurt? What if some kid decides he is tired of losing and tries to hurt my baby. I don’t know if I would be able to stay out if it at that point, Raymond. I’ll being yanking the other kids off my baby, and throwing them into the stands.”
Raymond couldn’t help it! Coffee shot out of his mouth and nose, straight into the kitchen sink along with a strange guttural combination of laughter and a coughing fit. Now Juanita was fixated on her husband as she helped him try to get his breath back.
“Honey, are you okay? What happened?”
Each time he got some semblance of his breath back, he would imagine seeing his wife flinging high school boys, in full football regalia, several feet in the air to get to her baby. The thought was threatening to make him pass out from laughter and lack of breath at the same time.
“Good God, I would pay a lot of money to see that!”
She slapped him on the shoulder but couldn’t help smiling.
Carmen quickly pulled her small “TR sister” t-shirt over head, she called out to her parents at the kitchen sink, “Mom what was that noise?” she said as came into the kitchen, obviously worried from the loud coughing and laughing combination. It’s not something you’re ready to hear at eight-thirty in the morning. She then saw her father still coughing and also laughing at the same time over the sink.
“Is Dad okay?”
“Yes, dear. Daddy is okay. He just had coffee come out of his nose. You remember when you did that with milk that one time? Well, the coffee was hot and he’s just cleaning out his nose now.”
From the sink, Raymond offered up a different explanation. “Yes, pumpkin, I’ll be fine. Just like Mama said, I had some coffee come out of my nose. Mommy said something very funny, and it caught me off guard.” In between his explanations, he was also still laughing. Now Carmen was smiling and satisfied with both explanations.
“What did Mommy say that made you shoot coffee out your nose, Daddy?”
“Well, Mommy said she was worried about Tim’s first football game, today. She’s scared he could get hurt. So she said that if anyone would hurt Tim in the game, she might have to run on the field and start throwing the other team all over the football field, to make sure they don’t do it again.” He was now able to breathe and every few seconds he still giggled a little bit. “Daddy just pictured Mommy throwing around all the other high school football boys all over the place, and Daddy thought it was very funny.”
“Oh, okay. I can see it would be funny.” She started giggling but abruptly stopped. “But if one of those guys did hurt my brother, Mommy would have to get past me to get to the first guy who hurt my big brother.” It was matter-of-fact like and she just then continued forward gathering up a plate and fork to serve herself some food for breakfast. “Wow, Mommy! Are you gonna cook like this for every game? You’re gonna get Tim all fat, again.” She laughed at her own joke then set her food down. “I’ll go wake up Tim.”
Tim was already up, and was also a little nervous. He wasn’t worried about being hurt. He knew he had the nanites taking care of him. He was worried about making a mistake, and disappointing his teammates and coaches. He knew everyone had worked hard over the summer and over the past week to get ready for their first game against Earl Warren High School.
He heard a ruckus in the kitchen, but with his improved hearing he knew what was going on, and knew the situation was fine. That was when he realized that yes, he had heard the entire conversation going on in the kitchen ... through the closed door, and over the radio he liked to have playing while he slept, and on the other side of the house.
“What the hell was that?”
“What do you mean?” The omnipresent closed captioning from the nanites wrote across his line of sight.
“I just realized I could hear the whole conversation between my parents, in the kitchen, without being anywhere near them. Is something wrong in my coding or what?”
“There is nothing wrong in your ‘coding, ‘ as you put it. We have simply turned on your advanced hearing, to show you how well it could work for you. You have not been testing out the wide range of skills you now possess. We understand your main goal to this point, since our integration, has been football and your schooling. But there are several other things your body is now capable of doing, that you have not yet discovered. We are rather anxious to see how well our work functions.”
“Okay, I can understand you want to test out the limits of our new abilities but I think we should put a pause on that until I have time to fully test them all out with you. I’m thinking after football season when I can use the after school time I generally use for practice to work with you guys on these new abilities. What do you think of that idea?”
After a moment, which struck Tim as a little different, considering how the nanites generally answered questions very quickly. “That plan has merit, and it would allow for longer training times after this season of football has completed. Yes. An excellent plan, sir. We concur. Shall we reduce the hearing to just normal, or maybe a little above normal?”
Tim could swear he could almost see the nanites smiling when they suggested learning a little of the higher quality hearing still on, as a taste of what may come. He smiled as well and replied, “Sure.”
“All approved. ;-)” A brief pause. “End of message.”
Tim almost laughed out loud when he saw the small emoticon on the peripheral of his eyesight. But just then, his sister knocked on his door and told him breakfast was ready.
Tim picked up his over-sized backpack he used to hold his clothes, but decided to just go ahead and wear a simple t-shirt and blue jeans combination. After all, he was not going to a major football game. It’s just the first game of the season for the freshman football team. He might go to Sombrero Rosa after the game, and meet up with friends there; or just decide to come home and rest, after the game.
“Plans are up in the air until we know the outcome of the game,” he said to himself.
He opened the door and turned off the lights to the room and knocked over his little sister who was still waiting in the hallway. “Oops, sorry! I didn’t see you there. Are you okay?” He kneeled down to look her in the eyes.
“Tim. Are you going to get hurt? I don’t want you to get hurt. If you get hurt, I’ll never watch football again!” She was working herself up for a major crying fit, and Tim knew he had to nip this in the bud.
“No!”
“Whadda ya mean, ‘no’?” Her tears were affecting her speech, and wiping at her tears with her arms wasn’t helping much either. “You don’t know if someone wants to try to hurt you in a game. If they really do then there is nothing you can do to stop it.”
“Yes, there is,” Tim said.
“What?”
“I’ll stop him, and then after I stopped him, I’ll give him to you and Mom! Then you guys can fight over who gets to hurt him first.”
Tim gave his sister a big hug, and a kiss on the forehead. She always loved that from the men the men in her life, the brother she was close to idolizing and her father whom she idolized from long ago. Tim picked his now giggling sister up like a rag doll, turned her upside down, and then put her on his shoulder. He made quick work of the short walk to the kitchen, and the breakfast he had been smelling from his room for the last few minutes.
“Oh, wow, Mom cooked a lot today, huh? Did you get your food already, little one?”
“Uh huh.” She was still rubbing the tears from her face.
Tim reached for the paper towel roll next to the kitchen sink and he ripped a sheet off and handed it to his sister. “Here, clean your face and blow your nose to get rid of boogers.” After a strong nose blow from up above his head, she crumbled up the paper towel sheet, he reached over to the kitchen trash can and she dropped the trash right in. Tim covered up his mouth to put a false echo in his voice like an announcer at a basketball game as he said, “Yes. Yes. Yes. The Spurs win the game on a last second two pointer from Carmen Murphy!”
She was now full on laughing, and she signaled she was ready to come down from his shoulders. He gave her another hug and set her in her chair, right in front of her breakfast.
She whispered in his ear, “Win and don’t get hurt, so I don’t have to get in trouble for fighting.”
He looked her in the eyes and said, “Okay.”
Normally, Tim’s mother Juanita would taxi the children to wherever they needed to go. But after preparing a large enough breakfast to feed the family many times over, she deemed herself not yet ready to face the public without her face on. From experience, Tim knew that meant his mother was a good thirty minutes away from being able to leave the house. Attempting to rush her along was an exercise in futility, so his father smiled and grabbed the keys to his car and nodded at his son.
“I’m gonna go drop Tim off at the locker room, I’ll be back!” he yelled at his wife. After a muffled approval from the parents’ bedroom, the Murphy men were off to Roosevelt High.
The ride to Roosevelt was quiet as both men were caught up in their own thoughts. Tim was going over the game plan for the defense, and Raymond was daydreaming about how well his son was going to play in the upcoming game.
Pulling up to the parking lot outside the locker room, Raymond stopped his son before he stepped out of the SUV. “Tim, hang on a second will ya.”
“Sure, Dad. What’s up?”
“I just wanted to tell you to try your best and be there for your teammates. Don’t try to do everything yourself. Make sure you remember the other guys on the defense. I know you have all kinds of talent, and that talent is going to open up all kinds of opportunities for you. But don’t forget your teammates. Most of them will be working just as hard as you. Maybe even harder.”
“What do you mean, they might be working even harder than me. I’m not slacking off, and I even do my extra weightlifting when I get home after practice.”
“Oh, I know all that, Tim. And I’m proud of you for working so hard. But remember, with everything coming so easy for you, others will have to work that much harder just to stay up to potentially reach their highest level, which I’m sorry to say is going to be their absolute highest level. Their highest level will be your basic level. They’ll need to do that just so they don’t get lost in the wake of the wave you’re gonna make. Don’t forget about your teammates. You’ll understand more when you get a lot better and they just can’t keep up. Just don’t forget your teammates.”
“Okay, Dad. I’ll remember but I’ll also do my best to win the game.”
“Oh, without a doubt.” Raymond offered his hand for a shake. Tim pushed it out of the way and lunged at his dad pulling him in for a strong hug. “Ooof.” The grunt from his father made Tim realize he might have been hugging his dad a little too strongly.
“Sorry about that, Dad. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” He leaned forward for another hug. When they finished, Raymond looked his son in the eyes and said, “One more thing, Tim. Have some fun winning out there, will ya!”
“Definitely!”
Tim grabbed his bag from the floorboard of the SUV and darted towards the locker room.
Players continued their new tradition of stepping onto the carpet then saluting the “Rough Rider Country” sign along the long wall of the locker area, only after they were ready to leave all other distractions from their lives aside, to concentrate on football. Tim was like many of the other players and spent a few minutes once he arrived greeting his new friends and checking if they were prepared to go onto the field, and do the best they possibly could for the team. The news story from the night before was heavy on everyone’s thoughts, and some of the guys who showed up extra early said they saw all the coaches, that morning.
Johnnie Boynes was standing with a group of other players all looking over the sports page with the top story about what happened to the varsity during their blowout loss. “Says here some of those Warren assholes were saying a bunch of shit at our guys calling them niggers and wetbacks and stupid shit like that. Now I know you guys have played before and sometimes emotions get going but there are limits and what I want to know is if it’s true they were saying shit to us, then why didn’t our guys fight back?” The grunts of approval from the collected players showed the group considered it a valid question.
Tim joined along aide the group and looked over Johnnie’s shoulder getting a quick look at the newspaper. “What’s up, guys?”
“Tim, did you read what they wrote about the Varsity game in the paper, this morning?”
“Why would I want to relive that loss? That was hard enough to watch from the stands.”
“Dude, read this.” Johnnie scooted back to let Tim in around the newspaper. Of course with his speed reading, he had read the entire page with the glance over the shoulder but he went through the motions to look like he was reading the whole story.
“Have any of the coaches said anything about this? I don’t remember hearing any nonsense like that last night at the game? Did you hear anything, Johnnie?
“Nah. You know me, man, I would have said something.” Johnnie smiled his nuclear smile and continued. “Dude, I would have pulled a Master Chief up on that field if I’d heard anything like that! Their would be severed heads rolling down the field as I slew a path of gore and violence through those so called warriors. I would have fought my way through each one, until I’d be standing face to face with the head coach where I would just point at him, the chunks of skin, bone and blood dripping off my clothes would paint a pretty picture of death as it collected at his feet. He would then fall to his knees begging for his life, and I would turn around, drop my jeans and tell him to kiss my ass.”
The laughs from the group were growing with the inclusion of others in the locker room.
“All right, all right! Enough chit chat, ladies! You’ve got a game to get ready for, or did ya’ll forget?” Coach Barrett was smiling from his seat on the coach’s bench right in front of the coaches office. He had heard the entire conversation.
“Hey, Coach, what happened last night? I mean besides the loss,” Tim asked the coach who was watching the players salute the wall one by one. He sipped his coffee.
“Truthfully, I don’t know. I was up in the press box helping the offense. Hopefully, Coach Fontana will talk to you guys before your game. Now, go on. You need to be ready to cause some mayhem this afternoon.”
The mood of the players in the locker area was strange, and Tim had a hard time pinning down what the problem might be. He finally realized that many of his teammates were nervous and anxious for their first real high school football game. Many hushed discussions in the room were guys complaining about not getting enough sleep the night before. Another section of the team were still discussing the alleged racial slurs from last night’s game, but they had seen a story on the local TV news. But there was one prevalent feeling throughout the freshman team. They were all convinced that they were not going to lose their game like the varsity had. They were confident they could do better.
Hanging from hooks under the shelves for their helmets, were their white home jerseys. He reached for his and smiled seeing the 99 in red lettering with blue border on both sides. Tim felt 99 was a good number and was happy with it.
He pulled out his phone and texted his dad, “Look out for number 99, today. Think he’ll have a good game.”
A few minutes later he got back, “Good. I’ll tell the girlz. Good luck!” and put his phone up where his helmet was.
Hidden under his helmet was a box that fell to the floor along with a post it note that obviously was attached to the box, but fluttered to the floor. Tim caught the floating post it note from Coach Barrett, which instructed him to attach the eye shield under his face mask bars, as added protection for the game. He picked up the box off the floor and looked up at other players noticing some attaching the eye shields as well, and figured the coach was giving some guys a little extra protection since the guys with the new equipment were some of the better players on the team. A quick look under Johnnie Boynes’ football helmet and he saw another eye shield for his friend.
Eventually the rest of the team reported for the first game of the season, and no one was late. Tim took that as a good sign that his friends were ready for their first game.
Tim had to admit to himself that he was nervous. But when he thought about it, he’d been more nervous before the scrimmage, than he was at that moment. He had never played a single play of football, in pads, in his life before the scrimmage. Now he knew that either hitting someone else, or being hit, was not going to injure him. A person’s natural inclination is to avoid being hit, but Tim realized right away during the scrimmage that he would much rather hit someone else, than be hit! Now he was sitting on the blue carpet, leaning up against the wall and going over his defensive assignments in his mind for the umpteenth time.
Just sitting in the locker room, there was little to no noise. Nearly no one was talking, and if they were, it was in hushed whispers. His friends were all in the same general area, and Johnnie Boynes was quite relaxed. At least it seemed that way with his light snoring.
“All right then, men! On me, on me!” Coach Barrett and Coach Alvarez made their way to the white board in the center of the main wall. All the team quickly made their way over to the white board, and took a knee on the carpet. “Okay men. We all know what we have to do today. We have practiced and we have drilled. Now go out there and do you best.”
“Sorry to interrupt, Coach; but I was wondering if I could talk to the boys for a moment, if you don’t mind?” Coach Fontana said.
Coach Barrett waved his assent, and took a couple of steps back. He leaned slightly against the wall as he listened to Coach Fontana’s speech.
“Men, how many of you were at the varsity game last night?” A few hands went up including Tim and his friends who had gone together. “And how many of you have seen the news reports about what happened during the game?” All their hands went up.
Coach Fontana concluded with, “But, right now, the freshman need to go out and show the Warren Warriors that they may have defeated the varsity last night on the field, but they have not defeated the Roosevelt Rough Riders!”
Frank Robinson stepped up and the others in the locker room could feel his emotions ramping up. “Your varsity brothers failed to get a win last night! Your junior varsity brother failed to get a win the night before! But we know that newest guys in our family, the freshmen, will get the win for our school! The future of Roosevelt football is bright, and today you’re going to show it to those lucky people who have come here to help cheer you guys on to a victory. Are you going to let them leave disappointed, like your brothers did this week?”
“No!” The yell was loud, simple and direct.
“Well, then, let’s go and show them what the future of Roosevelt football is, starting right now!“ Coach Barrett yelled as he ran out of the locker room, with the team following quickly behind him.
Everyone began yelling and screaming and there were even a few laughs. But everyone put their helmets on and ran to the field on the other side of the school. They ran behind the school, actually on the service road where delivery trucks unloaded their supplies.
When they turned, beyond the last delivery bay, and straightened out for a side entrance to the football field, it was a sight to see. Surrounding the field was the Roosevelt track. The track served as a natural barrier to separate the fans from the teams. Also on the track was something Tim was not expecting to see. The freshman football team had their own cheerleaders, but Tim didn’t recognize any of those girls, and he thought he had met all of the female population of Roosevelt, since they all seemed to want to come up and introduce themselves whenever he was walking through the halls toward his next class.
Before they jogged toward their sidelines, Coach Alvarez collected everyone in a huddle around him. “Can you all hear me?” The ‘yes’ was loud. “You’ve heard from Coach Barrett how he wants you to play, you’ve heard from Coach Fontana about how and why the varsity played the way they played last night! Now I want you to hear from me how I want you to play,” he paused for effect. “Don’t forget to win!”
The yell was loud and long a virtual chorus of “HA-OOH’s” one after the other but heard in the back with a lone but almost just as loud “YEAAAAAAAH, BOYEEEEEE!”
The team jogged toward the near side of the field and lined up to begin their normal exercises to warm up for a practice, however this was for the game. Extra precision was called for, featuring even lines, proper stretches and no horseplay. The team automatically knew this to be true.
Tim, like many others while waiting in the locker room, was already stretching and working up a good sweat to get the blood flowing. So these calisthenics in front of the crowd were unnecessary, but Tim felt it was a final motivational tool. Do everything right, or everyone Monday morning will know you screwed up.
During the jumping jacks, Tim spotted his mom first, and his sister sitting right next to her near the center of the stands. But he didn’t see his dad. But after finishing the last of the jumping jacks, he saw his dad walking back to the stands overloaded with food from the concession stand. Tim smiled at the thought of hearing about those details tonight as to why his dad was forced to go alone to get food for everyone.
“Damn, man,” Frank Robinson fumed as he slammed his right hand and forearm on the roof of the Ford Explorer. “Why the fuck did you do that, man?” Tim was about to slide into the passenger seat but stopped himself and stood back up to look at the driver and captain of the defensive side of the school’s varsity football team. “What are you talking about? I got a map to the real party right here,” Tim answered, a bit confused by his friends’ change in attitude. “Dude, never. Never. Never....
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His smile was wide as he made his way down the hall to his room. He heard his mother showering and going through her processes for bed. His dad just gave a halfhearted hello as he walked past their bedroom door. His dad was busy watching TV. Tim turned on the overhead light as he entered his room and immediately closed and locked the door. He quickly blew a kiss to Cindy on the wall, sat down at the desk, and was taking off his shoes when his mom knocked. Tim unlocked the door. “Hey, I...
I didn't stay long at the party ― it was their party, not mine ― and hiked back up to the flying bridge. I sat there for a while and burned one while thoughts flew through my head. What had I gotten myself in for? Was it more than a little flirting? (Okay, I knew it was more than just flirting, but how much more?) The only thing I knew for sure was that I didn't want it to stop no matter where it led. The weather guessers were right about the front coming in, for once. By 0100 it was...
Top came back a little over an hour later grinning like a mad fiend at the same time Weird surfaced from his daze. "The East Bay warehouses," Top announced triumphantly. "That checks," Weird nodded. "The first tracker on her limo stopped transmitting about midnight, just about the time she was supposed to have left the party. The second one didn't stop until they got right here." He placed his finger on a map of the Bay area. It was an area just west of East Bay. At one time there...
We couldn't tell how closely they had been watching Tink's house or even if they were so we didn't head straight there. I'm sure it would have been safe enough but I didn't want to take even the small chance of getting into a firefight. Besides I had no desire to see Cynthia right then and Tink didn't want to go back home just yet. Tink did call her to briefly say she was okay and would be home soon. Luckily I had to only hear half of that conversation. "I'm fine, Mom," Tink said...
- Daniel- Okay, I knew the Xanadu was big but until you look down at it from a few thousand meters you can't really know just how fucking big it really is! Sure I know the specs and you can look them up yourself if you want to: 1,450 meters in length, 524 meters wide, displaces about 180,000 tonnes and carries up to 20,000 passengers with a crew of almost 3,000. That's not a ship, it's a small floating island! We got a good look at it as we flew out to meet it on the shuttle. Of course...
-Sumalee- I was happier than I probably should have been when Daniel walked into my lounge again the next day and sat down at the bar. I could not tell you exactly why I was happy he had returned but I was. I mean ... looking at him through unbiased eyes he is not particularly handsome, other than in an everyman, rugged sort of way. But he was nice and listened, laughed at my silly jokes and seemed to be enjoying talking to me for a reason other than just a ploy to separate me from my...
-Sumalee- It was still dark when I woke up that first night although I could see a little in the dimness from the small amount of moonlight shining in through the window. I rubbed my cheek on the warm surface I was sprawled on and smiled when I was rewarded by the scratchy roughness of Daniel's chest hairs. I hadn't moved a centimeter from where I had fallen asleep and neither had he. I was still face down on his chest as he lay on his back. He was not snoring but I could hear and feel the...
-Mr. Black- "Do you have the vest made up?" Black asked as Green frowned at him. "Yeah, sort of," Green replied. Before Black could ask the obvious question he continued. "The gel is setting up and will be ready at the same time everything else is. It'll go off; no problem. No, the problem is the detonator; actually the remote activator for the detonator. This wasn't exactly in the mission plans so we didn't bring that kind of equipment with us. I was able to adapt an old raghead...
-Sumalee- To say it had been an interesting evening would be an understatement. The relationship Daniel has with his team would make for a lifetime study by any clinical psychologist. We met two more of them that night: the brothers Stanley and Samuel. Their reaction to Lidia and myself was fascinating. It was almost like they had known us as long as Michelle, Brian and Nathan; almost like they had shared memories. As I said, fascinating, exciting and just a little intimidating. Not that...
A Man of Wealth and Taste Raymond Murphy had trouble keeping the smile off his face. His son Tim was going on and on about how cool it was being on the sidelines for the varsity football win against the Clark Cougars. The first half of football featured an unsure Roosevelt team going up against a Clark team who, though good, was not up to their usual standards and was going to have a down year. Roosevelt was not expected to make the playoffs. “I’m telling you, Dad, Frank Robinson looked...
Leonard Huffnagle was having a lot of trouble looking for dirt on Tim Murphy from San Antonio Roosevelt High School. The only tangible thing he was able to confirm was that Tim had gifted the Trojan iPad, given by Coach Andrew Thomas of IMG Academy, to his little sister, Carmen. IMG was known for recruiting the best high school football players from across the country and giving them highly specialized coaching to better prepare them for college football. Kids graduating from IMG often...
Rodney Valentine’s throat was sore from his screaming. His knuckles were scratched and bruised from pounding on that poor, unsuspecting asshole who didn’t know any better. Rodney was especially pissed because no one could figure out why he was so pissed off in the first place. Valentine and his posse of teammates arrived at the house party a little bit later than everyone else, as usual. It was an unwritten rule that the host of the party would have the game highlights from that weekend’s...
Tim, Troy, Rob, Frank, and Jeff were quiet most of the way on the drive to the address included with their multi-colored cards found in their lockers after the beating the Rough Riders had given to the Johnson Jaguars. The five young men crammed into Jeff’s GTO were mostly quiet, daydreaming about the story Troy had told them. “I think I know what this is. You guys feel like having an experience?” Troy asked with a strange, tilted smile. “My dad told me a story that he said I could never...
A Messy Situation Once Tim Murphy closed his bedroom door and turned on the bedroom lamp, he blew a quick kiss to his one-and-only Cindy, taped up on the wall, and collapsed on the bed with the biggest smile of his life. Tim was quietly reliving what had happened to him after the game. When he laughed to himself, he realized he didn’t even think about the game when the great time he had that night ran through his mind. The quiet knock on the bedroom door alerted him to the here and now. The...
Tim Murphy and the nanites in his body had already written the two reports – one for his English class and the other for his US History class. It was just a matter of typing and formatting the report in the proper sets. All in all, the two assignments only took a few minutes to type, save, and email to their respective teachers. When he sent his English paper, he had a flash of remembrance of his short relationship with his English teacher, Julianne Holmes, considered one of the hot teachers...
The week of practice started with a few announcements from Big John on Monday morning. Big John had canceled morning practice with a sign written on the giant dry erase board along the long wall in the locker room. He didn’t cancel all practice, but it would be just no helmets or pads. That meant a full hour of lifting weights rather than working out on the practice fields in full pads – a day off for sure. Before practice would have typically begun, the Roosevelt football teams met in the...
Going into downtown San Antonio for evening dinner was rare for the Murphy family. Of course, they went out to dinner occasionally but not very far from their neighborhood. Raymond had ordered the women in his life to a day of indulgence at their favorite beauty spa to get pampered and eventually have their makeup done. While the womenfolk were enjoying their day of pampering, the men folk went to fill a glaring hole in the younger Murphy man’s life: the lack of a nice suit. Tim had never...
As they did so often, the Murphy family sang along with the music on the radio. The Murphy parents both enjoyed all genres and encouraged their children to listen to all types of music. Juanita had her favorites and listened to them with the specialized music channels through the cable provider. She preferred the popular hits from the 1980s and 1990s, while Raymond also preferred that and rock music from the 1970s. The patriarch of the family steered into a parking lot nearby the...
The next day was moving day. I've heard how being out on tour with an entertainer can seem a little like riding a tornado without a safety belt but you couldn't tell that by me. I've heard how some tours play twenty cities in twenty days but that isn't how things are done in Ireland. Time seems less important and venues aren't always open when you want them to be. We were doing 25 shows in three months and that included a two-week break in the middle to "relax." Not exactly an arduous...
The next few weeks were just plain work. It probably seems like touring with a popular band would be great fun and endless adventure but mostly it was a lot like combat: endless hours of boredom interrupted by moments of shear terror. Well, terror is probably a bit of an overstatement, maybe agitation and concern would be more appropriate. Anytime the girls were heading into a large crowd there was a concern; happily we hadn't had anything like the clusterfuck we'd seen in Clonakilty but...
Feb 12, 2011 10:24 Am You were supposed to have checked out of the hotel by 11 am. The bags were packed but you had needs that must be tended to before leaving. A long flight awaited you at the airport and knowing you couldn't stand to be this horny all the way home you decided to take matters into your own hands one more time before leaving. I had been given the key to your room from the hotel manger. This was a room that was scheduled for remodeling and my contracting firm was putting in a...
A by product of time travel that no one knew about was the momentary blindness and nausea brought on from the rapid assault to your senses immediately after travel. But for some reason only on your return. When he re-materialized in the time travel chamber, Tim Murphy needed to shield his eyes from the suddenly ultra bright lights. He also needed to make a concerted effort to control his nausea. Nausea controlled and his sensitivity to light diminishing, Tim decided it was time to see how...
The drive to the hospital was uneventful and easy enough. Tim’s mother, Juanita, parked the family SUV in a General’s parking spot, right outside the front entrance to the emergency room. Tim’s father, Raymond, who was standing just inside the ER doors, knew from the frantic sound of his wife’s voice on the phone that she would not obey the parking rules and would take the first available space she found. Raymond quickly reached the SUV before Juanita could turn off the engine. He stuck his...
Summer two-a-day practices are a rite of passage for the Texas high school football player. The players arrived at their new high school, two weeks before the start of the new school year. Sure, they were only going to the football locker room, the football practice fields and also the weight room; but the psychological advantage of being able to GO to high school, earlier, was a definite positive feeling for the young soon to be high schooler. Freshmen did not have their own cars ... yet....
To say Tim was excited, would be a major understatement. “It was sooo cool, Mom,” Tim was almost jumping up and down in the front seat of the SUV while his mother was driving them home. “I was sitting there reading, and the librarian came up to me. I didn’t even hear her, as I was paying attention to what I was reading. She actually scared me when she touched my shoulder to get my attention. Standing with her was Coach Barrett, her husband. He’d come all the way to the library to just meet...
The lights turned on in the cell at half past six, every morning since Tim got back from his trip to the past. About a week after returning from the past, his nanites confirmed his hypothesis that no one he had met, yet, had any nanites of their own. Tim theorized to himself the interrogators did not have any nanite improvements since they constantly made mistakes in their questioning and also in their answers to his questions. Oh, they answered the questions as he believed they would but...
A good hundred or so young men full of testosterone and desperate to show they were not afraid, were indeed afraid. Afraid of not fitting in. Afraid of being shown they were not good enough to make it on the freshman football team. Afraid they were good enough to make it on the freshman football team. Afraid of the high school girls. Afraid of the high school guys. Afraid of the work their new teachers were preparing to pile on them. Afraid they would not be able to finish the work their new...
With the day’s drama complete after finishing with their equipment, they began leaving the locker area to try and enjoy their final day of relaxation before the two-a-days started. Tim and his friends crossed a very busy Walzem Road, right in front of the high school. Walzem Road’s three lanes headed northeast and three lanes going southwest were divided by a median island running the length of the high school. Once beyond the high school, the divider island changed into a turning lane....
The tacos were just great. Tim was still not doing anything to jeopardize the loss of the twice-a-week breakfast tacos treats. George was still bringing in the savory, artery-clogging breakfast tacos from everyone's favorite family restaurant. In fact, George was now adding an extra taco, since he understood the body's instant response once it smelled one of Yolanda's tacos. Whether breakfast tacos dripping in the grease of the Mexican sausage and fluffy egg combination, or the...
First day of school for both Murphy kids saw a return of a family tradition: Mom fixed a full breakfast for everyone. Pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs, fruits and all kinds of baked goods. She generally cooks for the family, then the mothers from the neighborhood carpool come and enjoy a wonderful meal at their own pace. There were usually a few empty bottles of wine in the trash when the kids returned home from the first day of school. Rumor has it the same carpoolers also got together toward...
“Hey, Joe, what do you mean the freshmen offense knows fourteen plays already? I thought Big John only wanted the freshmen to concentrate on getting in shape, until at least the first scrimmage,” Kevin Krebsback, the JV and Varsity defensive backs coach asked, once the freshmen left the coaches office for second period. “It’s exactly what I said it was, Kevin,” Coach Alvarez said. As he sat back down at his desk, he saw he had everyone’s attention, including Coach Barrett. The freshman...
"I know you guys are keeping the pain receptors turned off during my questioning, but are there any problems with maintaining the status quo? I ask because I am starting to feel some of the pain," Tim whispered to himself while he held a pillow over his own face in a mock effort to fall asleep. "All efforts to minimize, and even counteract, the effects of the enhanced interrogation techniques are within their limits, and all nanites are performing at optimum levels. If you are, in fact,...
"So, how was the first day for you?" Tim's father, Raymond, was sitting on the desk chair while his son was finishing his first journal entry for his honors U.S. History class. "It was pretty good, Dad. You were right about the girls. Everywhere I went, I started seeing more and more girls looking at me and then looking away if I made eye contact with them. I'm not used to the attention, but so far it isn't bad." Raymond was practically bursting with pride. His son who, just a...
The newly-instituted procedure of sleep deprivation was annoying at worst because the nanites in his system could effectively turn off the pupils of Tim Murphy’s eyes and keep the lights from waking him. The same could be done for his hearing. The nanites would disable his hearing so any loud or annoying auditory stimuli would eventually be deemed ineffective. At the moment, Tim was quietly reveling in this private joke. The guards were pumping loud and annoying sounds, usually called music,...
Losing their first game of the season was bad. But when Head Varsity Coach John Fontana pulled his truck into his driveway, his wife was waiting outside for him. She had received several calls from various school officials, wanting to know what was Big John going to do about the brewing controversy. She told everyone her husband was not yet home, as he usually went to dinner with the other coaches after a big loss. When the teams won, he would tell his coaches to go home and be with their...
After informing the freshman football coaches of their opportunity to make changes to the football program, Roosevelt Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Big John Fontana decided to go watch the second half of the freshman football game. The freshmen were finishing the series against the Warren Warriors. The junior varsity started the losing streak 21-0 on Thursday evening. The varsity team followed up, getting soundly defeated, losing their game 48-0. In the coach’s eyes, though, the...
The interrogations were getting steadily worse. The large prisoner still refused to talk, and Colonel Kevin Price was losing patience quickly. Not only because he had never met a man who could withstand so much pain, but also because they could not understand how he could heal so quickly from the numerous rounds of interrogation. “Yes, sir, I still have no timetable for information from our guest,” Col. Price said to one of his many higher ups wishing bi-weekly progress reports. These men...