* * *
What started out as an awkward car ride to Baltimore got better as the city came into view. It was fun to send off the team—there was a huge crowd at the school and it was obvious Coach and the team appreciated it. I completely understood Cathy and her mom's awkwardness and Jason's mom was just being careful about what she said. Truth is, they were treating me like an emotional China doll.
We parked not far from the Inner Harbor and made the short walk to the stadium. It was cold for mid November and the wind whipping through the stadium made it worse for everyone, except me of course.
"Are you sure you're not cold?" Jason's mom said. "I have another blanket."
"Thank you, but I'm fine." I looked over at Cathy who was shivering already.
"Here you go." Jason's mom tossed the blanket up to Cathy—the moms were sitting in front of Cathy and I. "I wonder when they'll start?"
"The other game was over almost twenty minutes ago." Cathy's mom said.
According to the large video screen, all of the various Maryland division state finals were being played in the stadium, today.
Cathy leaned over to me. "Shouldn't you be down on the field so you can do that touch the players helmets thing?"
"Coach said they don't allow spectators on the field." I shrugged. "It's not that big a deal."
"If you say so." Cathy didn't sound convinced at all. "Oh look, here they come." She pointed toward the tunnel on our side of the end zone.
"They must be so excited to play in a professional stadium." I said.
"There he is!" Jason's mom said, standing to wave at Jason. "And there's Alex." She looked down the row and waved to Alex's mom and dad who responded with a thumbs up.
When I looked over, Cathy was shaking her head. "What's wrong?"
"They're wrong—they're not in the right place to play."
"By 'place' you mean mentally? How do you—" I remembered her mental perception gift. "Is it my fault—because Jason isn't starting?"
"No, no I don't think so. They seem overwhelmed." She crossed her fingers. "Lets hope I'm wrong."
We won the coin toss, but Coach deferred to the second half. I knew it was because Jason would be in the game by then. I also knew Coach thought we might be behind. We kicked off and the coverage team held them inside their own fifteen yard line. We gave up a few first downs, but the defense held and forced a punt.
Alex muffed the punt and by the time he got the ball under control, he was tackled inside our ten yard line. The offense took the field without Jason.
"Who's the quarterback?" I asked Cathy.
"Brett." I think.
"Brett Conner." Mrs. Hall said.
Brett had trouble with the first snap and got tackled at the four yard line. He managed the next one, but by the time he handed it off, Matt was gang tackled at the two making it third and eighteen. When they lined up to run the third down play, Jason started running up the sidelines toward the Coach yelling, "Time out! Time out!"
Coach got the side official's attention and called a timeout. He and Jason talked for a moment and then Jason trotted out on the field with the water girls. All the Warrior fans stood and cheered.
Brett started for the sidelines, but Jason stopped him.
"I thought you said—" Cathy started.
"Wait." I cut her off as I strained to hear what they were saying over the crowd.
Finally, Coach walked out to the two boys and patted them both on the back. Jason bumped fists with Brett and returned to the sideline with Coach. The crowd quieted.
"What just happened?" Cathy said.
I tapped Jason's mom on the shoulder to make sure she could hear what I said to Cathy. "Jason just went out to calm Brett down and tell him what the play was. He explained it in every detail including what to watch for from the defense."
"How—" Jason's mom stopped and looked back with a proud smile. "That sounds like something he would do."
I smiled back. "Classic teammate, Jason." I said.
At the snap of the ball, Brett rolled to the right with Matt in front of him for protection in case he optioned to run. Alex came across the field at the twenty yard line, wide open. Brett hit him with a wobbly pass for the first down. We all stood and cheered.
Jason's mom looked back at me. "Did you see how high Jason jumped?"
I nodded. I didn't need to say anything, her proud face said it all.
Jason's unselfish act really seemed to help Brett and he did a good job from that point on. The game was scoreless at the end of the first quarter. Halfway through the second quarter—still with no score—I realized our defense was on the field most of the time. Ultimately that would be a bad thing—they would wear down physically.
Jason was pacing although I doubted he realized it. He only glanced up at us once, but I couldn't read his expression though I knew he was worried—anxious. If they lost, he would blame himself even though it was my fault. Suddenly, everyone stood as Matt dove in front of a pass to intercept it. The pass bounced off his shoulder pads, up into the air, then off one of their receivers and into the hands of another one of their players. He sprinted down the sideline and scored. The point after was good, we trailed 0-7.
While the team lined up to receive the kickoff, Jason went behind the bench and started throwing, but our offense took the field without him. Even so, Jason kept throwing. It was obvious by the snap in his arm that he was angry—that was my fault. I felt like I knew Coach—like Jason always said, 'he was one of the good guys', but would he lose his chance at a state championship, Jason's, the team's, all on my account? I felt the eyes of the Warrior fans bearing down on me—they were right, Coach was right, this was my fault.
I didn't see the rest of the second quarter. I glanced up at the scoreboard as the first half came to an end. We were trailing 0-10. Jason's mom startled me as she patted my knee—she'd slid around to face me. Cathy and her mom were gone.
"They went for hot chocolate." Jason's mom said. "Would you like some?"
I glanced up at her and saw the empathy in her face.
"This isn't your fault, Izzy."
"Yes it is, all of it." I muttered.
She forced a smile. "I don't know exactly what all Jason did to save you, although I have a pretty good idea what he did to himself. I could have stopped him—I probably should have, it was dangerous, but I didn't." She patted my knee again. "Do you know why?"
"Because you prayed?"
"Not exactly. Yes, I prayed every night. I prayed for your safe return. I prayed for Jason's health, for him to make the right decision, but not once did I pray for him to win or even play this game."
"Why? Isn't that what you want—for him to be happy?" I pointed down from where we were sitting. "Those scouts are his future and he hasn't even taken the field because of me."
She looked down to where I gestured and then back at me. "Football isn't his future, you are."
"I doubt it, if I make him lose everything he's worked so hard for."
"You are what he's worked so hard for, don't you see that? I've never seen him work so hard, so strongly, so devotedly as he has worked for you, the two of you."
"Izzy!" Cathy yelled from the bottom of our section. She waved for me to come when I looked up. Mrs. Hall was halfway up the aisle with two cups of steaming coffee.
"Love is being there for each other, no matter what life throws at you, but I don't have to tell you that, I see the way the two of you look at one another." Jason's mom said.
"Here we go." Mrs. Hall said as she got to Jason's mom's row. She looked at me. "Oh now don't fret, hon. Cathy has a surprise—go on."
"Thank you Mrs. Whitaker, I hope you're right."
Cathy's mom spoke as I started down the aisle. "What on earth was that all about? The two of you looked so serious."
"She's worried about Jason." his mom said.
"After all she's been though, she's something special."
"That she is."
Cathy led me o
ver to the tunnel where the team went into the locker room and then pushed our way though the crowd of kids to the railing.
"What are we doing?" I asked.
"You have to do your hand thing with them—trust me, they need it." Cathy's eyes brightened. "Here they come! Quick, lean over the rail."
Jason, Alex and Matt appeared just inside the tunnel.
"Up here! Up here!" Cathy yelled.
I stooped down, and extended my hand through the railing as far as I could. The boy's faces lit up and the entire team started taking off their helmets.
"What's going on?" Coach's voice boomed as he pushed through the team to the front of the line, but his scowl vanished when he saw me and Cathy. "Well," he said to the team, "don't just stand there."
Jason led them past me, helmet held over his head so with a little jump, it touched my hand. "I love you." I called after him.
"Jeez." Matt said as he slapped his helmet against my hand.
One-by-one the entire team ran by, touching their helmet to my outstretched hand.
"Come on." Cathy said as the last one past. "Lets get back to our seats."
We raced up the steps—human speed—and got to our seats as our opponents kicked off to start the second half.
Alex caught the ball on a dead run and made it all the way to their forty-five yard line thanks to a key block. The offense took the field quickly. Jason was with them, but didn't lineup at the quarterback position. The defense was hardly set when Brett took the snap. He faked a running play to the inside as Jason peeled back from the line of scrimmage. Once he was behind Brett, Brett threw him the ball. Jason took one step and launched a rocket down the field. The excitement in the stands erupted as we all spotted Alex running down the sideline, wide open. He caught the ball in stride and cruised into the end zone untouched.
I tapped Jason's mom on the shoulder and then pointed toward the scouts. "Look, look, they're writing in their little binders."
"Didn't anyone tell you? My son has an angel on his shoulder." She winked.
We all jumped up and cheered.
"Look." Cathy's mom said, pointing toward the original line of scrimmage as Jason and Brett slapped five and then jogged over to the sideline.
Coach met them with a huge bear hug. You could feel the electricity on the sideline, they were back—Jason led them back.
"Told you." Cathy said.
Our defense held their offense to a three and out after the kickoff. It looked like they intentionally punted the ball away from Alex, but it went out of bounds at midfield. Jason led us down the field in six plays, passing, handing it off and running when necessary. Jason ran the ball in for the go ahead touchdown. The opposing team looked shell-shocked. The rest of the third quarter looked like an exhibition as Jason led the team to three more touchdowns—the scouts were on at least their second page now.
In the fourth quarter Jason and Brett shared time at quarterback and Brett did much better. With the pressure off, he looked really good—not my Jason good, but really good. I was so happy for Coach, it looked like he would have a quarterback to help defend his state title.
"Five, four, three, two, one!" We all counted down the seconds to the end of the game.
Cathy and I hugged, then I gave Jason's mom a careful hug. Before I noticed, Cathy's mom grabbed my hands to pull me down for a hug.
"Gracious, you're freezing." she said as I pulled my hands back. "Let Izzy have the blanket." she said to Cathy.
Cathy winked and handed me the blanket.
"Thanks." I winked back.
"Oh look." Cathy's mom said, pointing down to the railing at the edge of the field.
Several scouts were crowded around Jason and several others were talking to Alex and Matt. Jason's mom and I exchanged a smile.
"We shouldn't?" she said.
"He's earned this." I replied.
She nodded. "Yes, yes he has."
"Well come on," Cathy's mom said, "we don't have all day if we're going to get back before the bus."
"We don't have to hurry on my account." Jason's mom said.
"Oh yes we do. Big things happening back at the school." Cathy's mom hurried us out of our seats and down the bleachers.
I caught Jason's eye just long enough to throw him a kiss before Cathy's mom swept us into the tunnel. As it was, we beat most of the traffic out of the city. We stopped at the first rest stop along Route 70. Cathy and Jason's mom's switched places before we left, Jason's mom was driving so Cathy's mom could use the phone. From what we could hear of her end of the conversations, half of Boonsboro was going to be at the school.