THE GAMES OF POWER

THE GAMES OF POWER: Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5:

The weekend came, and I decided to stay home with Mom. Do some stuff around the house, laundry, dishes, etc. She just needed to take it easy.

I kept her away from her bed the best I could. I knew that the worst thing to do when you were depressed was to go to bed. You were stuck there with just you and your thoughts, and the thoughts running through Mom’s head weren’t good ones. So I tried my best. I rented movies, made lunch and dinner, even crawled into bed next to her and kept her talking about other things till she fell asleep. After all, without my father here it was my responsibility now.

I called Coach K to tell him I’d be missing Saturday practice. Told him what’s up with Mom. He said he understood, but urged me to get as much exercise in as I could. And that he wished my mother well of course. I guess I could sneak a run in or two when Mom fell asleep. A nice mile along the beach sounded nice.

I hadn’t been there since that day me and Luc caught that A-Frame. Speaking of Luc, he’d been texting me like crazy, asking if I was all right, checking on Mom, seeing if I felt like catching a wave. I really did feel like going out to the ocean. I may be doing a pretty good job keeping Mom at bay from straying too deep inside her own head, but I was practically boiling inside of mine. This is why I loved the ocean. It blocked everything out. Soothed it. There I could lose myself, and losing myself sounded like a pretty good idea to me.

But I knew I couldn’t. No matter how much the waters called for me, Mom was top priority. I’d just keep her calm at least till the weekend passed. At the very most till competition. I wasn’t really worrying about that anyway.

Sunday came, and Mom was doing a little better. She was out of her funk enough to insist on taking over the cooking. She even started to smile again. This morning before I headed out to go make a run to the store, she held out her hand and formed a sign that looked like how Spiderman shot his web stuff, except palm facing outward.

It meant “I love you.”

I smiled, happy to see the pain was subsiding, and shot the sign back to her.

Monday came, and I deciding to take off one more day for Mom, just in case. I called in sick, a lie of course, but if looked into, Coach K would cover for me. He understood that now was a sensitive time for us, and was less concerned with the money I brought my teachers by my attendance.

After Mom fell asleep, I put on my Hatteras Hurricanes pullover and walked down to the beach for a run. I didn’t see Lucas anywhere, and he didn’t answer my text, so I assumed he was either home or out for a surf south of me.

Just before I took off for my run, my cell vibrated inside my gym shorts pocket. I pulled out the buzzing device, and glanced at the picture taking over the screen. It was Coach.

“Hey Coach, what’s up?” I said, staring out at the slow moving waves.

“Jet, it’s Coach Ketty,” the man’s gruff voice filled the receiver. He always answered his phone like this. Even if you’d already addressed him.

“Yes sir?”

“I was just calling to check up on you and your Mom. How ya doin’ son?”

I stared up at the looming moon up in the dark sky. Bright and knowing. “We’re doin’ all right Coach. I think Mom’s gonna come out of it soon. She always does.”

“Well that’s good to hear. But what about you, son. Are you really handling this okay? I know competition is a hop-skip-and-a-jump away, but I just wanted to make sure you gave yourself some time to grieve.”