“I was asked to work the swing shift tonight so I came home so I could make you some dinner before I had to go back.”
“What’d you make? It smells great.”
“Is that a compliment I hear coming out of you?”
“Yes Mom…I’m starved…I ran ten laps today.”
“That’s great honey…why exactly are you running?”
“There’s a basketball team at the school and I think I might try out for it.”
“Funny you should mention that…Greg…you remember Greg from Labor day?”
“You mean the guy whose house we went to?”
“Yeah…well he’s one of the big bosses at work…he asked if you might be interested in playing on his son’s team.”
“You mean his son Alan?”
“Yeah I think that’s his name.”
Jack suddenly had a fire hit his stomach and his mind didn’t have time to catch up.
“There is no way I’m playing with that jerk!”
“Wo wo wo Jack…that’s not how we talk about people who have been nice to us.”
“That kid is the biggest jerk I’ve ever met…I’m not playing with him mom!”
“Well Greg seemed to think that he could get you a scholarship to be on their team.”
“I don’t want a scholarship to play with him!”
“Well I don’t have the money to pay for you to play on another team…so if you want to play somewhere else I won’t be able to afford it!”
“Fine mom…I’ll try out for the school team.”
“What if it cost money to play?”
“I’ll help my friend Ox with some jobs and make some extra money to pay for it.”
“What kind of jobs does Ox do?”
“He takes care of lawns and cleans at the grocery store.”
“Are you sure that’s all he does?”
“I’m pretty sure mom…I’ll ask him again tomorrow when we meet up.”
“Where are you meeting up?”
“What is this? Twenty questions or something!”
“This is what you do to me all the time…I have a right to know what your up to…I’m your mother!”
“Fine mom…we shoot hoops in the alley by the school…it’s his grandma’s house or something.”
Jack suddenly felt extremely guilty for lying to his mom. He knew that the house was not Ox’s grandma’s house.
“You had better be telling me the truth Jack or I won’t let you do anything after school…by the way…how’s your homework going?”
“It’s fine…I’ve only been at school for three days…what’s with the third degree investigation?!”
“I’m worried about leaving you alone in this part of town and I want you to take school seriously…Greg thinks if you can get on his basketball team that he might be able to get you enrolled at a better school.”
“Why do you keep talking about this Greg guy?”
“He’s one of the bosses at work Jack…I think we might have made a mistake by moving to this side of town.”
“I don’t think you did…this is what we can afford mom…you said it yourself…and don’t let this Greg guy talk you into living someplace better because I’m fine here. I have a friend and I’m going to try to make the basketball team here, this is what I want.”
“It shouldn’t matter where you play Jack…the coaches in Parsons wouldn’t even let you try out.”
“That’s because I wasn’t in the seventh grade yet…you had to be a seventh grader to try out for the team. I want to try out at my school.”
“I don’t know Jack…to me it seems that it would be better if you tried out for Greg’s team.”
Jack knew his mom wouldn’t let it go. He could dig his heels in all he wanted, but he would end up in a position where he would have to try out for Greg’s team. Somehow his mom had a way of doing that to him that no one else did.
“Fine mom…tell Greg I’ll come to his tryout as long as I get to try out for the team at my school too.”
“Great Jack…thank you for understanding…I’ll let Greg know tonight. Will you be okay with the dinner I made?”
“I’ll be fine…you better get to work.”
“I’ll see you in the morning. Do your homework before you turn the TV on…okay?”
“You got it mom.”
The apartment fell silent as Jack’s mom left. Jack couldn’t believe what just happened. He desperately wanted to play for Manley Roderick, but knew if his mom found out his real reason for wanting to play at Davis she would have more incentive for him to try out with Greg’s team. At least she had agreed to let him go out for both teams. All Jack needed to do was keep running so he had a shot at making Mr. Roderick’s team and flop at Greg’s tryout. It was actually a fairly simple solution and his mom would never know the difference.
After processing what just happened Jack was ready for a hot shower, food, and mindless TV. He thought about whether he had any homework and he couldn’t recall anything his teachers assigned. He thought it was kind of odd that most of the work done at school was in the classroom and then he remembered his math teacher wanted the class to work on some problems at home. Jack hated math, but knew he better give it a shot before he turned on the TV.