Skip to main content

Chapter 6: Safety




      "Eee," squeaks Blaine following a forearm to the throat after the referee blows his whistle signalling the play is over.

The Dunellen cornerback who had been charging in from the backside of the passing play just grins and jogs back to the defensive huddle at the Destroyer five yard line.

"Thirty three," mumbles Blaine to himself as he stomps into the Crusader huddle.

     "Alright, let's run a fake dive and pop pass over the middle," calls the Bound Brook quarterback on third down with five yards to go for a touchdown.

"Thirty three," growls Blaine leaning forward into a three point stance behind the quarterback with one hand planted on the ground.


___________


     "Blaine, I have to talk to you," whispered Karma leaning into his shoulder beside his school locker. "It'll be off the record this time."

"What's up Little Charch?" he smiled, hooking her arm and leading her to the back door of the auditorium stage.

They glanced both ways and ducked into the dark backstage when they thought nobody was looking.

     "My Mom was working at the hospital last night ," she gasped, both eyes moistening as he leaned down to hear. "That kid from Harrison died."

"Nah, he just broke some ribs," Blaine scowled, standing up straight and pulling back from her. "It's part of the fucking game."

"One pierced his lung and it collapsed," she sobbed, reaching up to touch his shoulders. "Both lungs filled with fluid and they couldn't save him."

"Jeez Karma," he softened, pulling her into his chest as tears streamed down her cheeks.


__________


      With the snap of the ball Blaine bursts forward pretending to take the ball and smacks into a defensive lineman. He turns to see his quarterback leap and toss a soft pass over the linemen's heads and straight into the arms of number thirty-three in the middle of the end zone.

"Thirty three!" he screams with a grin, roving toward the guy with the ball who's trying to run out of the end zone.

Blaine shoves aside a would-be Dunellen blocker, squares up at the goal line by widening his stance and leaning onto the balls of his feet, and then launches into number thirty three, forcing him up, back, and into the ground. He reaches for the downed player's face mask, but instead pulls back and offers a hand to help him up.

"Safety," calls the referee placing palms together in an overhead prayer. "Two points for the visitors."




Box Score


1Q
2Q
3Q
4Q
Total
Crusaders (5-0-1)
0
2
12
6
20
Dunellen (3-3)
6
0
0
0
6


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chapter 1: Unnecessary Roughness

        “Hey Bleeds, did you hear that somebody saw Mickie in Charchie’s car last night?” taunts Joe Fassanello leaning over the back of the green plastic seat.   “Fuck that, we’ve got our first game to play,” growls Blaine Reed, the linebacker, fullback, and reluctant team captain of the Bound Brook High School football team. “I’ve got to focus on beating Bernardsville and so should you, asshole. We’ll be there in twenty minutes.”   “Yeah, yeah, Bernards schmernards, let’s have some fun for our senior year,” laughs the compact noseguard as he slides back down into the bench seat of the yellow Romano’s school bus heading up interstate 287 into the Watchung Mountains.          Try as he might to focus before the game, a familiar fury was growing inside Blaine, this time fueled by the suspicion that his girlfriend was cheating on him. Bleeds wasn't just a portmanteau nickname and it certainly wasn’t a nod to the Cru...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chapter 9: Thirteenth Man

       "Alright men!" shouts Coach Righetti as the Crusaders bunch up to exit the Somerville locker room on a rainy Thanksgiving morning. "They're bigger, faster, and more talented than us, but we have one important thing that they don't." This final game of the season is the oldest rivalry in central New Jersey, dating back to 1910. The winner often takes home top ranking for Somerset County, and even a losing season is considered a success with a turkey day victory. In this unexpected undefeated year, Bound Brook is also looking at landing their first Group 1 state championship.      Lurking beneath this competitive match up is a racial divide that no one talks about but everyone feels. Somerville is an integrated town with a large and vibrant Black community. Bound Brook is segregated with the few African American families residing in South Bound Brook across dual barriers of railroad tracks and the Raritan River.  ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chapter 2: Blitz

     “Come on Blaine, do it for me!” pleads the one BBHS cheerleader he did not want to hear anything from on the cinder track behind the home team bench. “Bleeds, how can you ignore that?” asks Fas, turning to gape at the pompom-laden sophomore bouncing with encouragement for her guy. “Time to turn this game around,” he growls, hands on hips while watching the kickoff to start the second half with his team way behind the Brearley Bears by a score of 21-0.      Blaine had spent the week after the Bernards loss, which is what he considered a tie, blaming himself and steadfastly avoiding Mickie. He'd skipped the Saturday night party at Zab’s, made sure he'd gotten to school right as classes started, stayed away from the hallway where her locker was, ducked out the side door to eat lunch alone in his father’s sky blue Chevrolet Impala, and skipped last period study hall to go to LaMonte Field for practice.   “Blaine, it’s some chick c...
Post a Comment
Read more