The Word

Chapter 6

When I get home from lunch with Dal I realize it's almost 10:00. Groaning, I take my heels and clothes off and flop onto my bed. It's been a long day and I have more to do tomorrow. I sit up quickly and groan again. I almost forgot about the date with Zion tomorrow. Dragging myself to the bathroom, I brush my teeth and take a shower before heading downstairs. Unlike earlier, it seems that everyone is in here.

"Be for real," Dad says laughing. I cringe outwardly and inwardly as I plop down on the couch to catch the conversation.
"You know I'd embarrass you in a game of basketball. Look at me. I'm still young and limber plus I'm athletic. You, on the other hand, have bones that crack when you bend down," Lylin says smoothly. This boy is a trip. I chuckle as Dad looks offended by the mere suggestion that his aging affected his game.

"Boy, I was running the basketball courts before you were even thought of. Matter fact, you wanna take this outside?" He says, dead serious now.

Mom cackles at this and watches in amusement.
"You know what? I wanna see this play out," she says simply," You accept the challenge, son?"

"What?" He says, clearly less confident now. I cackle now. My dad may be older but he definitely still has it. He stands at about 6"0 and has the arms of a guy who's in the gym every week (which he is). He still has a little dad gut, but by no means is he incapable of playing a game against my brother. He smiles and his eyes wrinkle around the corners. I call them happy wrinkles because they only crease when he smiles. His eyes are deep brown like mine and he has a wide nose. He has full two-toned lips and the brightest smile I've ever seen. People tell me I look just like him all the time.

"Now wait a minute, son, you sound a lil scared there. Where that confidence from a few minutes ago went?" My dad says tauntingly. I laugh again as I see Lylin contemplating his options. He knows that if he passes on this game he won't hear the end of it for a very long time, but he also knows that he has nearly no chance on the court with my dad. In his silence, mom speaks up.

"I mean me, personally, I wouldn't go for that. I'd have to show him what's up on the court immediately but that's just me," she says, clearly instigating. This makes me burst into laughter, prompting a punch in the shoulder from Lylin.

"Aye, while you hitting me you need to be hitting that court. You was talking all that trash and now look at you...scared," I say, egging him on. I see his face change as he grimly realizes there's no way he's getting out of this now.

"Fine, but we're only going up to 10," he grumbles as everyone else laughs in amusement. I love times like this. We have a small family but we make the most of it. I think we're the only family on the block who'd play a competitive game of basketball at 11:00 at night. I smile a bit as we all head outside.

"All right, so here's how it goes. I'm gonna do a coin toss and let whoever wins the toss get the ball first. Now choose your sides," Mom says in a dramatic announcer voice.

"Heads", my dad says as Lin says tails simultaneously.

"Ma, can I do the toss?", I ask smiling slyly as my brother rolls his eyes. She hands me the coin and I flip it. I think heads over and over as I watch it turn in the air and slap it onto the back of my hand. I grin widely and Lylin groans, already knowing the result.

"Heads," I say as take the basketball from the court and hand it to my Dad, looking smugly at Lylin as I make my way back to the sidelines. He rolls his eyes a second time and prepares to guard Dad. I love my brother, but he's not winning this game.

Dad dribbles the ball in front of Lylin for a second before he breaks off to the right. He tries moving fast so Lylin will delay, but he isn't fast enough and eventually he's lost the ball. Lylin swipes it quickly and goes for a shot. He makes it and turns around slowly, one corner of his mouth upturned like "yeah I did that".