Jack didn't believe the weather report he watched a few hours ago. The snow had not stopped overnight and it was still coming down as he gazed out the bus window and wondered how he and Ox would handle the half mile walk in the snow to Coach Roderick's house. He was also hoping he would catch a glimpse of familiarity and figure out how close they would be to Amanda's house. He didn't expect Ox to understand how he felt about Amanda, but the more he thought about her the more his confidence rose.
Ox nudged Jack's arm and the boys stood up to get off at the next stop. The bus driver peered in his large rear view mirror to see that the boys wanted off. He called back to them.
"You boys want to get off at Elm or Walnut?"
Jack looked down at the map and the bus directions Coach Roderick had given them. He saw that the bus directions said to get off on the Elm stop, but then noticed that on the map he could possibly save himself some walking time if he let the bus take him up a couple extra blocks to Walnut Street.
"Walnut will work."
"You got it."
The bus driver continued to plow through the white mess of a road and pulled off to the corner of Walnut Street and let the boys out.
Jack was hit with an awful gust of wind and snow as he stepped off the bus. Ox had practically pulled his hat over his eyes and zipped up his jacket to his nose. He could've passed for an Eskimo. The boys crossed the street and followed the directions to Coach Roderick's house. They slipped and slid the whole way there, but made it before they were completely frozen.
When they got to the house Jack was surprised by the size of the house. It was much larger than Amanda's house and yet somehow it looked more plain and boring than Amanda's. Off to the side of the house, Jack could see that the house was built on a hill and that the house extended across a good portion of the lot it sat on. Jack and Ox hurried up to the door and rang the bell, they waited several minutes before they heard footsteps come to the door.
As the door slowly opened a tall dark woman in a pink silk bath robe with sleepy green eyes opened the door. Jack thought she looked like a famous actress who had her picture taken at precisely the wrong time. Ox tilted his head as if he were almost repulsed by the woman.
"Can I help you?"
"We're here for Coach Roderick's practice."
The woman turned around and yelled up the stair case adjacent to the front door.
"Manley...your boys are here!"
The woman turned her back to Jack and Ox and walked off into the massive house. Jack took off his jacket and shut the front door. When he peeled off enough layers to look at his watch he realized he and Ox were a half hour early to practice.
"Ox...we're early."
"Dat cool...maybe Coach give us a tour?"
"I think we better just take off our wet clothes and wait."
"Aight."
Jack and Ox waited for about ten minutes before Coach Roderick came down the stairs. He was dressed in a warm up suit and had tennis shoes on. Ironically, this was the first time Jack had seen him in something other than his security uniform or a polo shirt, slacks, and loafers.
"How are you gentlemen?...besides early?"
"Fine coach."
"I be good."
"Do you plan on practicing with us Ox or are you just here to watch?"
"I run wit da team yesterday...I's thinkin' bout playin'."
"Great...if you go down to the very bottom of the stairs you'll find our practice area. Why don't you go down and get familiar with it...oh yeah...you might need this to find the light switches."
Coach Roderick tossed them a small flashlight and the boys ventured off down the dark winding staircase. Jack couldn't tell where the staircases lead to, but the further down the stair case they descended the darker it got. It didn't take long for Jack to turn on the flashlight. After several turns and more steps than Jack thought should be on a staircase in a house the staircase ended. The floor they were standing on felt like an exercise surface. Jack started pointing the flashlight in different directions. At first it looked like all he could see were some treadmills and exercise bikes, and then he saw a weight set. He started to worry that practice was going to be spent exercising in Coach Roderick's basement. Suddenly, as if it appeared out of thin air a long row of light switches appeared on the wall in front of Jack. The switches were all turned off. Jack quickly turned them on thinking that the exercise room was about to come to life. As expected, the room was illuminated with weight machines, cardiovascular exercise equipment, and other equipment you might find in a fitness center, but as Jack turned around he saw thick glass wall that climbed most of the way up the stair case. Behind the glass was beyond anything Jack expected. It was a full length, regulation basketball court with glass backboards and break away rims. Jack's jaw felt like it was going to drop.
"Dat be tight!"
"Did you know he had this in his house?"
"Naw...I aint callin' him crazy no mo'."
"Let's go warm up!"
Jack and Ox went through a glass door and started stretching out and getting used to the feel of the court.
"How do you think he afforded this?"
"He play pro."
"I guess I better figure out how to make it pro...this is nice!"
"You ain't goin' pro less you get some hops."
"I've got the distant dagger...you can crash the inside all you want."
"You wanna go one on one country boy?"
"Let's do it!"
Jack and Ox jumped up and got right into a one on one game. Jack was much quicker than he used to be and Ox was still recovering from his injury, but from the outside of the glass they looked like a couple of kids playing a pick-up game in the street. Jack had shot four three pointers over Ox and Ox had scored four lay-ups when the rest of the team started arriving. They ended their impromptu game and started stretching with the rest of the team.
Halfway through stretching Coach Roderick came onto the court. He walked around with a near smile on his face. All members of his team had made it to practice and looked to be in good spirits as they warmed up. At the end of warm ups the team broke into their drills. The team looked like they were running the drills with more enthusiasm than usual. Coach Roderick called them to half court when the drills ended.
"Welcome to my home court gentlemen and lady."
Coach Roderick nodded to Jocelyn.
"I want you to know that you're the first team to visit my home court. This court is where I practice. I have never had anyone play on it except me. Some cultures and people have temples or synagogues where they meditate and worship. I have this court. Please respect it as a special place for me. We are going to try something different today. I want to scrimmage. As you can tell my court has a clock and buzzers. I will referee the game and Keevan and Jack will captain each team. I don't believe in picking teams like they do in the school yard, so I'm picking the teams. Keevan will play with Ox, Jocelyn, and Leon. Jack will play with David, Arturo, and Cisco. I know it's four on four, but we're going full court and I'm calling fouls, but there are no foul shots. Let's go!"
Coach Roderick passed a ball to Jack.
"You get the ball first."
Jack was a little worried about the scrimmage. Coach had never made practices competitive before and this seemed a bit awkward. Jack took the ball out of bounds at half court and inbounded the ball to David. David passed the ball back to Jack. Before Jack knew what to do with the ball Keevan had stolen it out from under him and scored a lay-up. Jack smiled as Keevan hollered after scoring. David inbounded the ball to Cisco who quickly brought the ball up the court. Jack felt more comfortable if he wasn't dribbling the ball. Cisco passed the ball down to Arturo who was being double teamed by Ox and Jocelyn. Jocelyn pried the ball loose from Arturo and Leon picked up the ball and passed it down court to Keevan. Leon's pass was short and intercepted by Jack. Jack raced the ball
up to the three point line and nailed a basket. Jack mimicked Keevan's holler and Keevan laughed out loud.
Coach Roderick allowed the scrimmage to go on for nearly thirty minutes. Keevan was by far the fastest player on the court and dominated his team's possessions with driving lay-ups and easy passes to Ox who looked solid back on the court. Arturo guarded him pretty well, but it was evident that Ox was slowly working his way back into things. Jack on the other had his team run a slow paced offense. Cisco controlled the ball fairly well and Keevan wouldn't leave Jack alone on defense. Cisco, David, and Arturo worked a pretty good pick and roll game and Jack got involved when he could shake Keevan. Even though the court has a scoreboard, score was not being kept. When the scrimmage came to a close both teams were winded. Coach Roderick called them together.
"Take a knee...that's some good work out there. You all can probably tell that Keevan is an exceptional player. You might have also noticed that Jack knows how to adjust the team out on the court to penetrate a tough defense and lead by working hard. I didn't know you could handle the ball so well Cisco!"
The players chuckled.
"I think we'll try to find you some playing time these last two games. Nice job for your first time back Ox."
The players started clapping and giving words of encouragement to Ox.
"It's good to see that you are still a premiere defender David. Arturo...you looked solid down low today and Jocelyn is learning how to compliment you on the post. And Leon...Leon, Leon. You run like crazy, but we've got to work on passing and ball handling. After we take a break I want David to work with Leon...focus on defense and passing the ball. I'm going to work with Ox, Arturo, and Jocelyn. Keevan is going to teach Jack and Cisco how to drive the ball down the lane. Any questions?...Great, there should be some Gatorade and snacks in the fridge by the exercise room."
The team raced to the refrigerator. After the break the team broke into smaller groups and practiced what Coach Roderick had asked. Jack could sense that the team was pushing themselves beyond what they would normally do. They were building on the foundation that Coach Roderick had taught them. What was more remarkable was that they were having fun at practice and the fun continued for three more hours. At the end of practice Coach Roderick said that if school was cancelled the next day they would hold practice at his house again. The team was beyond excited and Jack secretly wished that practice could be at Coach Roderick's every day.