My Friend Carl

4 Repeating The Horror

Chapter 4

Repeating the Horror

Bobby – 1st Grade

Bobby assumed he had misplaced his mind. On two other periods in his life the same lady visited him. The first episode happened the night before he started school. She appeared and said, "School is fun, you will love it." Kindergarten was not part of his system. First grade was the introduction to education, and he grinned. The teacher kept looking at him. His smirk was different than other kids in first grade.

10th Grade

The second incident was in his freshman year. The captain of the football team was moving to St. Louis with his family. He was the best passer and receiver among the thirteen players' team. The second best was Bobby. His delivery missed the target tens times out of ten. Receiving was a little better, one out of thirty, but he grinned. Carl joined the team later. Leadership skills did not exist. Without their quarterback they had one junior, seven sophomores and four freshmen.

They were a class B size school with less than seventy-five students in high school. Basketball had fifteen players - four of whom played both sports. Bobby was one of those four.

Coach Stanford informed the team Bobby was the new captain and quarterback. A glance toward the window saw the pale face of Mae Sua. She assured him he was ready for the task. She glowed, and he laughed. The coach and team scrutinized him. He propelled his shoulders tall and straight. The rest of the team followed.

He experienced the stir of a hundred nails in his gut. Belches gushed forth and foul tastes secreted into his mouth with each burp. The team members eyes averted his facial features as he frowned.

For four nights Mae Sua assured him all would be great. The team was fortunate. The first team they played had fifteen players on their squad. Boyd Central won 7 to 6. The team became heroes of the county. The only game they won his freshman year was the first game. The win exceeded the previous five years.

Working on his Daddy's ranch year-round kept him in shape. The second half of his freshman year Coach Stanford scrounged six worn out practice balls, an old tire, a box of golf tees and 12 feet of rope which he gave Bobby. The golf tees marked the spot where passes or kicks landed.

He said, "Bobby Boy take the rope, tie one end of it around the tire and place the other end over a tree limb. Raise it until the bottom of the tire is eight feet above the ground. Pass the ball through the tire."

Bobby yelled, "Yes sir, Coach!"

The commonwealth refused to let football teams, practice, from January to August. Coaches abandoned teaching and football practice the next eight months according to state rules. Unorganized and unsupervised touch football would not be against the regulations. Thus, Bobby initially practiced by himself. He threw the football through the tire until he could hit the twenty yard mark on half the passes.

Bobby practiced passing the football through the middle of the tire at thirty feet and then fifteen yards until he could hit the goal one hundred times in a row. Then he moved back to twenty yards and repeated until nine out of ten passes hit the mark.

Bobby invited Billy and Bradley, Betzy's brothers, to the ranch. The three practiced until they gained confidence in precision passing and receiving. The three of them maintained efficiency in hurling the ball - Bobby at ninety percent, Billy at sixty and Bradley at forty.

The next day Betzy came to watch. Bradley growled at his sister and scrunched his eyebrows. Four more team members joined in the play. Billy said, "We suck at kicking the ball."

Bobby said, "Who wants to practice kicking?" Johnny, the upcoming senior, and Bradley raised their hands.

Betzy watched them. After each missed the tire a dozen times, and landed twenty feet away, Betzy said with a muffled snarl, "Bradley and Johnny, allow me to explain how to kick the ball. There are four things you must do. We do it in soccer during gym, and when we kick to a person the way our uncle taught us."

Her brother Bradley roared, "Demonstrate it."

"I will, for Bobby and the rest of the team. Brad hold the ball facing the top in the direction opposite of the target leaning about 15 degrees."

"This way?" Bradley held the football as Betsy instructed. Johnny kicked it and directed the ball to the center of the tire. Bradley's eyes bulged.

"Next, kick the ball slightly below the center. Follow through extending your toes toward the goal." Bradley watched her flex it across the middle of the tire.

Bradley and Johnny frowned and said, "Okay."

She blasted the football through the tire fifty yards. Four boys gawked at her as their jaws plummeted.

Bradley extended an arm upward, balled his fist and jerked his elbow into his belly and bellowed, "Yes."

She said, "A drop kick is similar. You must follow through while pointing your toes toward the mark." After a few times they grasped the correct direction and power required to achieve their target.

Johnny wandered next to Bradley and smiled.

Thanks to one little girl half their size they became a winning team. Their legs became stronger, and endurance increased. Determination and motivation were powerful.

Carl's Dad dropped him off in the summer at Bobby's house. He asked, "Mr. Davis would your son let my son practice with him? We moved in the area three weeks ago. He believes football might be a useful choice." Mr. Davis said, "It is up to Bobby."

A week before school started, Bobby twisted his foot. A 'charlie horse' afflicted his right leg. Carl came over and touched his leg. A shock like static electricity surged through him. The pain vanished. Bobby jumped up and down. He gazed at Carl and said, "Thank you. How did you mend my leg?"

"My Daddy taught me."

Life was ideal. The biggest test was ahead. Will they improve their game?