Chapter 4

I got up before everyone else did, making breakfast like I used to do. Toby came out of his room. “Can I help with anything, Dad ... Cal ... I mean...”

“Whatever you feel like calling me, Toby, is fine with me.”

“Thanks, Dad. You ... feel more like a Dad to me than a brother, if that makes sense. I’ve...” He paused, then started again. “Grandpa has been talking to me a little more than he usually does. Mostly, before, it was just to keep me out of trouble, because he knows I’m different. I know you know about that. My old Dad did, too. He didn’t like it, didn’t want me.”

I turned, got down on one knee so I was his height, and held my arms out for him. He came running over to me, giving me a big hug. “Toby ... and Tobias ... you’re family to me. Family is the most important thing in the whole world to me. It’s how I was raised. You always take care of your family.”

I could hear him sniffling a little, trying not to cry because he wanted to be grown up. I picked him up, set him up on the counter. “It’s okay, little man. I still cry when I’m sad and happy, both. It’s not a problem. Anyone that tells you it is, they’re not right.”

“Thank you, Dad. With Stephen leaving again, I have to be the man of the family, until he gets home. But I’m only nine. Grandpa says I need to be strong, but it’s tough.”

“I understand. I think Tobias knows a bit more about me than he’s told you, so you can still be a little kid a while longer. We’ll be going to a different part of the country. You’ll have a lot of people to play with, and not just the security guards. We’ll have to have those, too, of course. But I think I can be the man for all our families.”

He grinned. “That’d be great. I want to grow up and be a football player like Stephen and you. Maybe you can teach me how to throw and catch before too long.”

“That’d be fine by me, little man.” I started to say something else, then watched while it looked like Toby was listening again.

When he was done listening, he said, “Mom’s coming now, so you can get ready for school. Grandpa said to tell you that the gold helps, but a couple inches of lead would be even better. The other seven that are like these will be difficult for you to get; they won’t be available for a couple of years. But you need all thirteen. I don’t know what he means by that, but he wanted me to let you know about it, now.”

“Thank you, Tobias, and thank you, Toby.” I glanced over to where Jennifer was walking out, still in her robe and nightclothes. “Hey, sweetie. Toby has been out here talking with me, while I was fixing breakfast. I’ve made pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon for everyone. The coffee is ready, too.”

“Bless you, my love. I think the last few days have been almost a blur for me.”

I helped Toby down, and he ran over to give his mom a hug and kiss. “Hey, Mom. Dad said he wants me! I’m a part of the family! I like him, I like him a lot. I have to thank Eve for sharing him with you.”

She smiled. “I did that, already. Cal’s a good man, isn’t he?”

I got ready for school with a smile on my face.

It lasted through the first three classes at high school, and through lunch. It was strange, eating lunch in the cafeteria again. The tables were still arranged for us. My ladies still had seats for them across from me. The team was both excited and nervous. Tonight would be our chance to play in the post-season. Tonight was also the last game for the JV. They didn’t have a tournament. Technically, this was the first tournament game for the Varsity, but with the short football season we had anyway, it was still Friday night football for the JV.

Joaquin was in my Chemistry class. “My parents were so weird when they finally got home last night from your place. What the heck happened to them? And Grandma Sophia? I’ve never seen her like that.”

“How much do you know about your mother and grandmother?”

“You mean that Grandma is a witch, and my Mom has second sight? I know that. No, it’s that they were both ... I don’t know, so taken with something they’d seen last night that they both stayed up half the night talking about it. I know, because I woke up in the middle of the night, and they were still discussing it. But when they realized I was up, they shut up about it.”

“You haven’t been out since we got home Monday evening, have you?” He shook his head. “We have the game tonight. Are you going?”

“Of course. The whole family is, including Grandma.”

“Jennifer Patrick had a health issue, breast cancer, actually. I ... used an experimental treatment on her. Don’t be too shocked when you meet her tonight. I’m certain that’s what they were talking about.”

The teacher came in then. “Sorry I’m late. We had a faculty meeting for those of us who teach preliminary classes that ran long.” In behind the teacher walked Dean Dawson and my three youngest girls. “This will be slightly ... okay, highly ... unusual, but we’re starting these three young ladies today. Ladies, if you’d take seats over there.”

Joaquin turned to me. “Seriously? My little sister?”

I nodded. “That may have been another reason for the discussion.”

“¡Madre de Dios!”

The teacher said, “Gentlemen, is there a problem?”

“Sorry, no. Dora is my little sister, is all.”

“Ah, good. That means I only have to warn the rest of you. Our new students are 16. That means off limits to the rest of you, due to their ages. No jokes, or other nasty comments. Am I clear?”

The class said yes. “Very good. Now, let’s get on with this discussion on distillation.”

The Dean showed back up right at the end of the class, to escort the girls to their next class. I’m not sure why, since I could have done that. They were in my Physics class. I sensed a bit of method to his madness.

The girls were looking cute in their blue and gold Hutchinson High sweaters, taking seats along one side of the room together, away from where I was sitting. It didn’t do me much good, as the Dean walked to the front where the teacher was looking at the slightly larger class.

Dawson said, “I won’t take up much of your time, I know this is Friday and there are an assortment of topics you need to cover and discuss here in Physics. We’ve been blessed with three more Hutchinson High School students, who are starting rather late in the year, due to exceptional circumstances. Please treat them with all respect. Ladies, I’ll see you at the end of class, to escort you to your next class.” He walked out.

The teacher said, “Okay, folks. We ... and by that, I mean we instructors ... were told that these ladies would be joining us. We were also told to make sure you all know that they’re only 16 years old, which means the only one in this room that could legally date them is Mister Lewis. Since we’re all well aware that he has several girlfriends already, I think that means everyone be polite and respectful, including you, Mister Lewis.” The instructor had a grin on his face when he said that.

“But sir, I’m always polite and respectful, unless I’m throwing one of them around in our swimming pool. These three ladies are some of my girlfriends. I suspect Dean Dawson put them in all five of my classes, so that I can help them with their homework if they need it.”

“Okay, fine.” He shook his head. “Since we’ve been discussing force vectors and stress, and there happens to be a very large and very new wind turbine just south of town ... who other than Mister Lewis can tell me what stresses that it has to deal with?”

Everyone in class was quiet, so Beth held up her hand. “Miss, you’ll find that we’re a little less formal here. If you have an answer, go ahead.”

“Of course. That’s why we’re here, to learn about college classes. The wind turbine first and foremost experiences the downward pull of gravity. Failure to deal with that would have catastrophic results. This particular tower is not the permanent one, so there are guy wires to deal with the additional forces put onto it due the varying nature of the wind. The permanent, 300 foot tower, will be on a larger, thicker concrete base, capable of supporting the turbine without failure, in up to a lower end F5 tornado. In addition, the actual rotation of the planet puts side stress on the tower, as there is a heavy load 200 feet in the air. There are also the angular forces of the blades themselves as they rotate. Lastly, the actual stresses of the elements; whether it would be a lightning strike, or the intense summer heat. I don’t think I missed any.”

“Well, that pretty much covered Physics 1 and 2, regarding that. I might add winter, as an additional elemental stress, with ice,” he said.

“Oh, for this, that’s irrelevant. The blades have already been coated with Ice-X, and a coating of that will be placed on the turbine housing itself when it’s lowered for the transfer to the new tower.”

He looked at Beth, then at me, then back at her. “I’m going to regret not asking this, so I will. What is Ice-X?”

“There’s a new chemical plant being built on the east side of town, for manufacturing it. It’s a patented coating that will last five years. During that time, once the temperature reaches that of freezing, water and water vapor will not stick to it, thus the blades will not have any ice build-up on them and will continue to operate during the coldest and dampest of winter weather.”

One of the other students said, “What about the bearings? Won’t the grease in them gel up if it gets down to negative thirty or so?”

Beth shrugged. “What grease? The turbine uses magnetic bearings for all rotational surfaces. There are no conventional bearings in it.”

Another student asked, “Magnetic bearings?”

“Application of generated magnetic fields. With no physical contact between the two opposing surfaces, there is no actual wear and tear, or degradation due to use. These turbines will also be manufactured in a facility east of town.”

A girl snorted. “Seriously? What else is going up over there, then?”

“A Research and Development park for Microsoft, a factory to manufacture computer networking gear for Cisco, expansion of the airport, four laning of the highway out to the interstate, and approximately 4,000 single and multi-family residential units.”

The girl shook her head. “There’s no way you know all that stuff.”

“Of course there is. I’m Elizabeth Watson, this is Dora Menendez, and this is Eve Patrick. In addition to Cal Lewis and Margaret Miller, we are the CEDEM Financial Group. Now, do you like your crow flavored with barbecue sauce, or would you prefer to eat it raw?”

“Thank you, Miss Watson. That was ... an elegant answer to everything.” The girl that had been put down just sat there, steaming. I recognized her as one of the girls that had tried to proposition me. Fortunately, the side discussion regarding vectors meant that we didn’t get back onto the discussion of the Messenger, for which I was thankful.

At the end of class, the three of my girls left with the Dean, while I was stopped by the girl that had argued with Beth. “Cal, I don’t know what you see in that beanpole.”

“You’re probably right, you wouldn’t. Tell me, what did you get on your SAT and ACT exam? I’m sure you took at least one of them before enrolling here.”

“I took the SAT. I got 1060 on it.”

“The lowest score that any of those girls got on the SAT was 1590. The lowest ACT score that any of them got was 35.5. Physical beauty can and does fade over time; look at what happens to all those Hollywood stars, with their surgeries and failing attempts to stay looking young and beautiful. Intelligence doesn’t fade; it only grows over time. You don’t build lasting relationships with someone based upon how they look. That will guarantee its failure. You build lasting relations with people you can continue to have intelligent conversations with, year after year after year.”

“And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have one more class to attend today, before we go win our next football game.”

One of the other girls in class chased me down. “Is that how you really feel, Cal?”

“It’s reality, Ramona. How often have I been wrong in class? I’m not wrong, now. Look at who you’re dating. If you want someone that you’ll realize in a few years that you have nothing in common with, and you’ll regret being stuck with him, because at that point, you may have a couple of his children running around, look at him that way. If you want someone that’s smart, and has proven he can hold his own ... drive to Manhattan tonight, and watch the game. I’ll introduce you.”

I left her standing, and snuck into Physiology class a couple of minutes late. That’s the class that I should have skipped. There was a lively discussion already going on about how the Messenger had blatantly stated that he was human, simply from another planet, and yet had abilities that humans here didn’t have. That ended up lasting the entire period.

The girls walked with me, as they were parked by my truck. “I thought you weren’t starting over here until Monday.”

“That’s when it’ll be full time, mi amor. Today was just the introduction to campus. Because you can take a full curriculum without attending eight straight hours per day, we’ll almost be mirroring your schedule. You’ve done a good job with us. We tested out of nearly as many classes as you.”

“The way you phrase that ... you’re not upset with me, are you?”

Eve shook her head. “No. Not in the least. We’re going to be more capable of learning when we’re at Stanford than we expected to be. It’s our job to be the best we can be, to help you. We all three know the ultimate goal. We support it, 100%. Now, before you waste any more time talking with us, get your butt home, get changed, and get back to school. You have to ride the bus for two hours. So do we, but it’s not going to be the same bus.”

“That’ll work. Unrelated, did you see Ramona in Physics?”

“Is that the bitch that almost got to find out how well I can hit?”

“No, she’s the one with the auburn hair, was wearing...”

Beth said, “The white blouse, blue jeans, and had the mauve colored coat. She’s sort of cute. Were you thinking of recruiting her with us?”

“Uh, no. She heard my discussion with the bitch about intelligence versus pure looks. She’ll be driving to Manhattan tonight, if I don’t miss my guess. That’s why I wondered if you saw her. Eve, maybe if you see her in the stands tonight, you could introduce her to your brother.”

She nodded. “I’ll ... we’ll ... keep our eyes out for her. Now, get home!”

I went home and grabbed a quick bite to eat. When I came out of the house, both of the large buses were out, as was one of the small ones. “How many people are you transporting to Manhattan tonight?”

Mike was just finishing checking things off. He turned to me with a grin on his face. “A lot, is the easiest description. Your six, plus Toby. Emily, Harry, the Judge. Six people from Siemens. SJ and the Menendez family, including Joaquin’s date, so that’s 24 right there. Earl O’Connor, Emily’s parents, and a few other guests that have already driven over – like John Carlin and Charlie Koch, Frank Stilton, Gunny Patterson, Mike Palatki, Jim Rogers, and their wives ... and the small bus is simply full of rather heavily armed security. There may be a state legislator or two, but they’re on their own for getting there. None of the Kansas Congressional delegation will be there, thank goodness.”

I sighed. “Given what’s going on tomorrow, I can’t just say that this is a simple football game, can I?”

“Not likely, my young employer. Oh, and not only are your team buses going to have a police escort the whole way, so are your family buses, too. Welcome to the big leagues.”

“Thanks, I think. I’m heading for school, this is almost too much for me.”

He laughed, while I drove off.

I was about half tempted to simply turn the other way, because the past two months were almost overwhelming in what had happened to me. But, given the alternative ... I pulled into the school lot a few minutes later.

Our equipment bags were all loaded and ready to go, with our new uniforms. We split things up a little this trip. Instead of the JV riding on one bus and Varsity on the other, Coach Myers and both squads defense rode on one bus, while we had all of the ends, receivers, and normal ball carriers on the other with Coach Thompson. Chris, Jerry, Terry, and I were in the middle of the bus, making plans, and discussing them, moving around the bus as needed to point things out.

We also had four fan buses full. The Indians had borrowed some extra bleachers for all of our fans, once they heard about how many and who some of them would be. I did wonder where everyone on our personal buses would sit, and more importantly, how much horse trading would happen.

We arrived at their stadium at 6:20. The police escort on the interstate had let us make decent time. We unloaded and headed to the locker room set aside for us. Their coaches were standing outside, waiting for us.

“Gentlemen, welcome to Manhattan. Due to issues that you’ve had in the past, we both felt that meeting you and assuring you that we would have a clean game was both appropriate and needed. Good luck tonight, and nothing personal, but we hope that we’re the winning team.”

Coach Thompson walked up. “Coach Lane, Not that it’s not unwelcome, but what brought this on?”

One of their coaches smiled. “The minor detail that the entire board of the KSHSAA met with us about half an hour ago. Don’t get me wrong; we weren’t planning on anything anyway. But they may have put a bit of the fear of God into some of our less than stellar players, regarding how their actions tonight could affect their scholastic endeavors.”

Coach nodded. “Good luck, then, and we’ll see you on field in a bit.”

We went into the locker room and changed into our uniforms. After that, we simply waited until it was our time to take the field. Our new blue and gold helmets gleamed from the polish on them. Our leggings were sparkling white. Everyone even had new shoes for tonight. When we did run out, through the tunnel and into the stadium, the sound of our fans cheering from across the field drowned out the home team crowd.

We took our places along the sidelines. I looked across the field, which answered my question about halftime shows. Everyone was sitting together. I blinked again, at seeing three people I wasn’t expecting to see. Leon Hess, his daughter, and Lamar Hunt, just sitting on regular metal bleachers. I saw they each had a bag of popcorn, and looked like they were enjoying themselves.

The Manhattan band played the National Anthem, then the JV went out to the field for the coin toss. We won the toss, and 4 quarters of football later, won the game, 42 to 30. Both Chris and Jerry had gotten game time in, and were executing plays like we’d shown them.

There was the normal break between games, this time with nothing special, followed by our coin toss. We won, receiving the kick. We started with Terry out there, but he couldn’t get any offense generated, so with fourth and nine at our own 45, we punted. We booted it down the field, and learned really quickly why Lew Lane was considered one of the best high school coaches in the state. The only thing that saved a touchdown was our punter, knocking their returner out of bounds at our 30. Two plays later, they had a touchdown, and they made the two point conversion. So much for my desire to not play much tonight.

Aaron was our deep man for the return, but their kicker had a long leg, so he caught it and took a knee in the end zone, for the touchback. I’d already called our first play before we took the field. We lined up, I took the snap and started back. They’d gone with a full six man rush on the first play, getting two guys into the backfield after me before our receivers could get downfield. That did mean that Bill was uncovered, though, so I gave a flip out to him, which he converted into a 15 yard gain.

We immediately went back to the line again without huddling. They rushed six again, which I was expecting now, but I’d already planned a shovel pass out to Jeff. He got 7 yards before getting tripped up. Next play, I did the same thing again, this time the other way, to Michael. He made it to midfield before going down. That had them a little confused, because they were expecting something fancy. Our first play with the new set of downs was a simple toss back to Bill, with Jeff and Michael running as lead blockers. He got 5 yards out of it. Next play, Jeff went into motion, I faked a pass to him and put the ball behind my back for Michael to take, to run the other way. That got us 15 yards.

I followed that with three short passes, just enough to get a first down at their 18 yard line. They hadn’t noticed when Terry came in, lining up like a running back, so when I handed off to him, and he ran back ten yards, that left Andy wide open for a straight toss into the end zone. I ran around the right end for our two point conversion, tying it up at 8 to 8, with 4 minutes left in the first.

This time their returner only made it to midfield before getting tackled. After that, our defense stepped up, such that it took them down to where there were only 10 seconds left when they scored. They just went for one this time, getting it. I told Aaron and Andy to take a knee immediately, so we’d at least have a couple seconds left in the quarter, and warned the guys up front about an onside kick. They kicked it normally again, and it again went into the end zone.

We went back out, this time with me lined up in the shotgun, with everyone out like they were receivers. Just before the snap, Bill stepped back and went into motion. Just as he was in front of me, Larry snapped the ball back quickly. I caught it and started running right behind Bill. They’d rushed five this time, but we’d purposely let them in, as that left our offensive line free to block behind me as they tried to catch back up.

The clock ran out while I was passing midfield, which simply meant we had a stopped clock for our extra point. They didn’t notice that I’d gone in as our holder, which meant that when they came charging around the end to block the kick, I simply picked the ball up and ran around them, making the score 16 to 15.

I heard Coach Lane hollering out to me, “Sneaky! Good job, son!” I waved back to him that I’d heard his compliment.

Coach Thompson had heard it as well. “Damn, Cal. You just got complimented by the best high school football coach in the state.”

“I thought that was you, Coach.”

“I’m realistic enough to know that if you weren’t on our team, we’d still be a losing team. You’re the real coach here, Cal. You’ve taught me just as much as you’ve taught these kids. I’m a better coach because of it, though, and I thank you for that.”

“You’re welcome. That was not my intention. You know that, right?”

He nodded. “I know when you started at school, all you had going for yourself was a lot of smarts, and an incredibly fit body. I’ve literally seen you mature more in the two months that I’ve known you than I have some kids do in four full years of high school. Thing is ... you’ve managed to pull most of these knuckle draggers with you, so this year’s football team is probably the best that this state has seen other than these boys we’re playing against in a long time. And next years is going to be just as damn good.”

While we’d been talking, we’d switched ends, kicked off, they’d taken the touchback, then moved downfield and scored again. They’d gone the safe route with the single extra point, though.

“Let’s see who can manage the clock better. It’s time for me to be out there with Aaron. Get ready to switch defenders a lot, Coach.”

Aaron and I pulled the same trick we’d done before, making sure I ran the ball back. With us making the two point conversion again, that made it 24 to 22.

They went into a clock eating ground game. Quite unintentionally, one of our guys ended up simply slipping, allowing them to score with a full minute left on the clock. Coach Lane went for two again this time, figuring that it would make a difference. That made it 24 to 30, when they kicked off to us.

While I was out there, and they purposely kicked to me, I simply took a knee. I heard Coach Lane holler out, “Oh, you’re a tricky one, aren’t you?” I took the full minute to make sure we scored as time expired, then converted for two, making it 32 to 30.

In the locker room, Coach just looked around. “Men, we’re not making mistakes. We’re playing some of the best football we’ve ever played. Lew Lane is doing the same thing I’m doing, switching his offensive and defensive line, to give his players a rest. They get the ball first, to start the second half. We need a turn-over. No penalties! We’re playing a clean game, but I want either a fumble ... punch that ball out ... or an interception! This is going down to the wire otherwise, and I’m too old to clench my butt that long.”

That got a laugh, which is what he intended. He looked at me. I nodded, then got up on one of the benches. “Some of you have heard their coach holler out compliments to me. Right now, he’s wishing I was playing on his team, because for damn sure they’d win the state this year. Tough shit, I’m a SALTHAWK! So are YOU! Here’s where you get to check inside your jocks and see if you’ve got some balls in there. I could play both ways. I’ve done it before. Guess what? I’m not going to. You want to win this game? You want to EARN those new jerseys, EARN those shiny helmets you’re wearing? Get your asses out there and get us a turnover at the start of the third quarter. Prove that you want to go to Emporia, and more importantly, that you DESERVE to go to Emporia, with or without me!”

When we ran back out to kick off for the third quarter, I almost felt sorry for their kick returner. He caught the ball, just like he’d done in the first quarter. He started down the field, just like he’d done in the first quarter. This time, though, he ran into Pete Rogers. Literally. Which meant that when the pile cleared, Andrew Galloway was the one with the football in his hands, on their 40 yard line. They had to help their returner off the field. He’d been knocked cold for almost a full minute, and was out for the rest of the game.

We took two minutes off the clock before we scored, and converted for two. This time, their returner only went a few yards before wisely sliding down, at their 30. We let them advance, but had them at third and long at midfield. Their quarterback had a good arm. But their receiver bobbled the ball at the goal line, hitting Chandler, which popped the ball into the air. Andy was out there again and had been covering him, and came down with it in the end zone for a touchback.

Their coach walked over to our bench, which was unheard of. The referee came running over to make sure that things were okay, because this wasn’t normal behavior. “Jim, I want to be the first to congratulate you.”

“Lew, it’s only four minutes into the third quarter. There’s a lot of football left to play.”

“Not really. You’ve got us by 10 now, and after this possession you’ll have us by either 17 or 18. I’ve been doing this for too many years to kid myself. Your team ... and more importantly, your quarterback ... are the best in the whole nation. I’m man enough to admit it. We’ll play it out, and we’ll do our best. I don’t think it’s going to be good enough.” He turned to the referee. “See, no cursing, nothing bad, just an honest comment based upon observation, and good sportsmanship.” With that, he went back to his bench.

The referee went back to the middle. I called the team, both offense and defense, to me. “Okay, who heard what was just said?” They all had. “Now, who actually believes that lying sack of shit? He came over to fuck with your heads! He wants you to slack off! That way, YOU’LL be the ones to make the mistake, and let them right back into this game! Are you going to slack off, or are we going to show the Indians on their home field that the Salthawks OWN this state?”

We’d had to burn a time-out, for me to make my speech, but it was worth it. We went back out, marched down the field in good order, with our passes and runs picking their defense apart, and scored again, easily. This time we kicked the single extra point, making it 47 to 30.

I was trotting back to our bench when their coach stepped out. “You’re going to go far in this game. I’d be mad at you if I could, because you figured me out, didn’t you?” I nodded. “Good game, son. Dammit.”

I laughed, jogging back to our bench. Coach Thompson was smiling at me. “What’d I tell you before?”

“Coach, I’m the one taking college level classes, after all. It’d be lame if I didn’t apply some of what I learned, wouldn’t it?”

I played the whole game. Their final score was 56, from trying for two twice and failing. Ours was 68, from simply running the clock out for the last three minutes of the game instead of running the score up again.

When we came out of the locker room after the game, I wasn’t too surprised by the crowd waiting for us. It didn’t look like any of our fans had left. Those that were on the fan bus, and even those that’d driven the two hours, were waiting for us. All six of my women ran up to me, to give me congratulation kisses. There were a lot of odd looks from my teammates when they saw that two of them were wearing jerseys that said Patrick-Lewis on them. One person I didn’t see was SJ. I whispered to Jennifer, “Hey, where’s your oldest son?”