OFFENSIVE PLAY CALLING
The Young Thundercats, often referred to as the Thundercubs, started the season strong. They were only a few games into the season but hadn’t lost yet. The receiving corps had a variety of weapons such as the towering twins Eric and Josh Wildman. They stood at almost the same height as Ryan and Riley. The opposing coaches at every game demanded to see their birth certificates to prove if they were really third graders. The biggest offensive weapon was the quarterback, Will Thoreau. He had an arm that could send the ball flying deep. It was because of this ability that the coaches had to change their game plan and incorporate more passing plays which included shotgun formations. That was unheard of at the youth level.
Thoreau got set under center as he eyed the defense and decided to change his cadence.
“Is he calling an audible?” Keith asked.
That was something else that third graders did not do. He tapped the center who immediately snapped the ball and Thoreau took off between the right guard and center, running all the way for a the endzone. Keith threw his fists in the air with an ecstatic laugh.
“Let’s bring it in,” Keith said to end the day’s practice. The players gathered in a circle to cry out their standard chant of “Thundercats HO!” Keith stood in the center as the players surrounded him. The other coaches took their positions on the outer rim of the crowd. However, before Keith could initiate the chant, another coach called out to him and nodded in the direction of an approaching parent. Keith’s face dropped as he made his way through the crowd. Some of the coaches followed him but the twins and Harry stayed back as if they were a last line of defense.
“Who is that?” Ryan asked.
“It’s Mack’s father. He’s not supposed to be anywhere near his son. We’ve spotted him at games but he keeps to himself and disappears without a problem so we let it go.”
“Why isn’t he allowed near his son?”
“Mack’s mother filed a restraining order against him for domestic violence toward her and Mack.”
“Whatever happened to the old days of public beatings of people who abused their families?” Riley asked.
“No shit.”
The three of them watched on as Mack’s father argued with the coaches about something they couldn’t hear. Without warning, the father burst through the group of coaches in a dead sprint for the players. The players were strong and shrugged off hard hits on the field but this time they cried out and cowered as the real danger rapidly approached them. The twins stood their ground in front of the kids while Harry took off toward the father. As if they were playing their own game of football, Harry crashed into the guy before slamming him to the ground.
The cops arrived shortly later and took Mack’s father away in handcuffs. The coach came back over to the players and tried to resume where he left off but the atmosphere had changed and the players weren’t paying attention anymore. He couldn’t blame them and just dismissed them.
Ryan picked up one of the balls that was left on the field. The youth balls were much easier to grip in an adult’s hands.
“Can you get it in the back of Keith’s truck?” Harry asked.
“Dunno. Maybe.” Ryan launched the ball into the air but he too much of an arch on it so it was going to fall short. A player spotted it and ran for it.
“I GOT IT.” He held out his hands in a way that he was not going to catch the ball even if it was lightly tossed to him. The ball smacked the kid in the face and laid him out. While he cried and clutched his face, the twins and Harry failed to contain their laughter.
After signing for the package, Ryan inspected it suspiciously. “I don’t recall ordering anything,” He was a little heavy but not back-breaking. It wasn’t in the typical postal service box so that eliminated his mother from a possible sender. Then he saw the name of Welker Cullen Publishing.
“What’s in the box?” Jeremy asked.
“Porn,” Ryan said without missing a beat. He said it in such a way that made Jeremy believe him. He walked into his room with Riley following him
“Wait, you guys are gonna watch porn together?”
“Isn’t that what brothers and sisters in Appalachia do? Riley asked.
“I can’t tell if you’re joking or actually being serious.” Riley shrugged with sly grin before disappearing around the corner. She walked into the room just as her brother was opening the box.
“Is that what I think it is?”
“Depends on what you think it is.” He pulled out a paperback book. She smiled when she saw the title.
“Yep, that’s what I thought it was.” She picked up the book and gave it an approving inspection. “A pretty generic cover of using Picard, Riker, and the Enterprise.”
“Yes, but it works as it’s those two who are at odds with each other,” Ryan said. “I just took elements from Insurrection, changed up a few things, and was able to use my ideas of the crew being divided on the issue at hand. I would have rather used Insurrection as the title but I think Kizuna works just as well as it means bonds in Japanese. I mean, ultimately, it’s the bonds of the crew that allows them to come together and solve the problem.”
“Which is?” Riley asked.
“Read it and find out,” he said tossing her a copy. “I got a few free copies of it.”
“Who are you giving them to?”
“You and mom get one and of course, I’ll keep one for myself.
“Anyone else?”
“No, I don’t plan on telling the others about this because I don’t want them asking me to put them in the story. Hell, the character based on me only makes brief appearances in the story when the main characters are in engineering. I might base background characters off them but that is probably as far as it goes. I just hope there will come a time when I can write books that focus solely on my own characters and not the already existing ones.”
Jeremy looked up as the twins emerge from the room. “Done already?”
“We’ll wait til later,” Riley said opening the Burger King bag. “Right now, I’m hungry.” After taking a few bites of her burger, she surfed through the channels to see what was on. The newscasters were talking about an overcrowded ferry capsizing and killing more than a thousand people. She continued flipping through the channels. She stopped on a soap opera called Passions. “This is still on? I haven’t watched this in a while. Maybe the summer before our senior year was the last time, I actually watched an episode.”
“You like soap operas?”
“Never got into soap operas,” Ryan said. “There’s something about the camera they use that feels weird. It looks different than other shows.”
“I liked watching Days of our Lives with Grandma but I don’t really remember much about the show. I think it was just watching something with her is why I think I liked it. Or it could be nostalgia talking. However, I liked Passions as it had a different spin on soaps by having supernatural elements to it instead of it only being about people cheating on and staring at one another. But I haven’t watched it in so long that I don’t know what is going on.”
“Think TRL is still on?”
“I doubt they’re playing any videos we’d recognize. Getting home to watch who was the new number-one video was exciting for some reason. Somehow the Backstreet Boys or N’Sync often took number one.”
“Britney would get it sometimes but was usually in the top five. Although, there were some videos I couldn’t understand that would be in the top five such as that one retarded video– the hell is it called– ah Fatboy Slim’s Praise You. I will never understand why that was popular.”
“You and me both. I can at least understand the boy bands but some others were terrible.”
“What the hell?”
Riley looked up from her food to see her brother heading for the door. She looked out the window to see a police cruiser. Ryan opened the door as one of the two cops approached. The name Withers was on his name tag.
“Are you Ryan Tereshchenko?”
“Yeah. What can I do for you?”
“Do you know a Vince Thompson?”
“You mean the one that shot up my high school?”
“His father.”
“I know who he is. Why?”
“His property was vandalized back in December and he says it was you.”
“Back in December? Hell, it’s almost a year later. Why are you just now asking about it?”
“He just recently said he believed it to be you. Do you know why?”
“No, not...wait. I might.” He turned to his sister who had just stood up from her chair. “Hey, the two-year anniversary is next month.” She nodded and Ryan turned back to the cops. “My sister and I are essentially the reason his son is dead.”
“I’m the one that shot Vince with his own gun that day.”
“And you’re Riley Tereshchenko?”
Riley nodded. “That’s me.”
“Your name was brought up too.”
“Not surprised. Sounds like he still blames us for what happened.”
The officer jotted some notes down in his notepad. “The timing can’t be a coincidence. I wouldn’t worry about anything happening. If he does start to harass you personally then don’t hesitate to call us.”
The cops left after leaving a card with the twins. As soon as the cops were gone, Jeremy burst out laughing.
