People started mumbling and I held up a hand. “Stay with me now. We all know that should put us out of business, and maybe it will. But you know I won’t go down without a fight, and I know you won’t either. I’m looking at every angle to see what we can do, and, hear me now, that does not include more layoffs. Now, hang on! I’m not saying we’ll still be open in ninety days, but if we are, it’ll be with everybody I’m looking at right now. Either we all make this happen, or it’s over for everybody.
“Some of you may not be able to live that way, and if you feel you have to move on and find something solid, no offense taken. But if I sell this place and split the profits, it’ll be with everyone who stayed to the end. Do I want to sell? No! Am I looking at adding product? Yes. Do I have a clue what’s gonna happen? No.
“I’ll promise you this. You’ll know within twenty-four hours of anything happening. My top priority is taking care of the people who have taken care of this business, and that’s you. Yeah, I could sell it and close it and wish you the best. But you know me better’n that. If anybody benefits from what’s happening, we all do. Fair enough?”
They applauded.
“Questions?”
“Would you send manufacturing overseas?”
“I won’t deny considering every option, but I’ll tell you this: If it comes to that, somebody’s gonna pay through the nose, and you’re all gonna get a piece of it.”
“We trust you, Mr. Sawyer!”
“Yeah!”
“Yeah!”
“All right,” I said. “I appreciate that, and I’m asking you to stick with me. Squelch rumors. Don’t believe what you read in the paper. And don’t believe anything about American Leather unless you hear it from me. Okay? You know, Gideon went to war against an army of thousands with just three hundred men, because they were the only ones with the guts to fight and win.”
“Yeah!”
“And let me tell you a brief story about the Southern Longleaf Pine. You know, that majestic tree—”
“Hey, boss! You ain’t the only one what played for Buster Schuler!”
“Then you know this a good one! Now, shut up and listen!”
• • •
Bev got a kick hearing me recount that meeting. And course she was more eager than ever to get back to work and help. But she was being told she needed several more weeks of bed rest. I spent most of my mornings with her, through lunch, then worked with accountants, bankers, consultants, efficiency experts, and suitors—a fancy name for the vultures that start circling a dying business. Mr. Seals and his International whatever were history. We weren’t big enough for em now that Dixie had left us. Didn’t break my heart. I just hated to see the sea of money rolling out with not much to show for it.
Helena Schuler finally started getting out of the rehab center once in a while, and where did she wanna go? Straight to Bev’s. And she wouldn’t be driven there by anybody but Rachel, who had finally got her license but was technically too young to be responsible for her. That meant I had to be along, which I didn’t mind, cause it gave me another reason to go to Bev’s.
Problem was, it was always ladies’ day when Helena was there, cause that meant Kim came too. They would shoo me out and gather in Bev’s bedroom or around her easy chair and do whatever it is women do when men aren’t around. Plotting something if you ask me, but I was accused by more’n one of em of being sexist when I suggested that. So I shut up.
Rachel kept trying to reach out, as she called it, to Elvis. One of her schemes was to fix him a lunch every day. I said, “He can come over and make himself a lunch from my groceries, but you’re not gonna be preparing a meal for him every day and call me sexist.” Fortunate for me, the other ladies agreed. That was another thing I learned about being in love with a woman who knows my daughter and my coach’s wife and whose best friend kicked me in the seat till my eyes opened up: a man has no secrets. They all know about my every thought and decision, and they all got opinions. Mercy.
Before you know it, they all know Elvis’s history and they’re weighing in on that. It’s all Coach and I can do to keep the boy focused on his school work, cause he ain’t gonna be going to college for the academics, if you know what I mean. Anyway, all he wants to do is carry the football, and the way he practices and lifts and trains and, best of all, plays, there’s nothing we want more than to let him have at it.
The kids stay motivated, and Buster’s at his best and getting better as his wife’s doing more than giving him the time of day. Four weeks and four games later, Bev’s serious about coming back to work, at least part-time. Everybody, even Coach, knows we’re seeing each other, and the football team’s got the whole town talking. Heck, the whole state. Seriously. Even the kicked-off kids are coming back to watch.
We win four straight conference games to go 6-1 in our league (7-2 overall) and two teams knock off Dickinson for us, so we’re in the play-offs. Elvis is setting offensive records people haven’t even dreamed about, and we’re getting talked about on TV again.
Bev tells me she’d like to come to our first play-off game. It’s gonna be at Beach, and course I’ve told her what their smart aleck coach said to Buster after they whipped our cans in the opener.
“Are you sure it’s all right?” I say. “You supposed to be out? It could be cold and I don’t think their stands are any softer’n ours.”
“It’s a Saturday afternoon game, Cal,” she says. “And Kim and Rachel will watch out for me.”
“How about Miz Schuler?”
“That’s not gonna happen. Don’t think we haven’t suggested it. I think it’s a miracle she even cares what happens with his team. And I sure wouldn’t want to be reminded of what she saw twelve years ago.”
I nodded. “Looky there,” I say, pointing at the TV. It was a reporter strolling our end zone again.
The graphic shows Athens City ranked in the top twenty in the state, and the reporter is saying, “Do not adjust your TV. The half-strength, high-scoring Athens City Crusaders are defying all odds by striking down one Goliath after another. Two months ago we reported that after twelve losing seasons the football world had given up on Athens City. Well, don’t tell Coach Buster Schuler and his miracle squad of just fifteen players. In their final season of play, the Crusaders have their eyes set on the state championship. And like we said, when a legend comes out of retirement, you’d better take notice, Alabama.”
They show clips of our team winning here and there, us charging out onto the field, Buster walking taller, shoulders back, chest out, determined look on his face. Man, he looked like he believed we could beat anybody.
The reporter continues, “People in every corner of Alabama are asking one question: can lightning keep striking Athens City? Everywhere they go, stands are full, people are signing petitions to keep the doomed school alive, and kids are asking the players for autographs.”
It was true. It was all we could do to keep our kids’ minds on the games what with the TV cameras, out-of-town newspaper reporters, and all the talk about the school. They interviewed Fred Kennedy on TV and he just smiled real nervous and said, “We’re grateful the team is doing well and giving us something to remember about Athens City. The closing of the school is, sadly, a done deal. I’m not a popular guy, appearing to ignore hundreds of names on petitions, but this is not about money anymore. We’re not going to accept the Jack Schuler Scholarship money, and even if we did and it was ten times what we know it to be, Athens City High is history at the end of this school year.”
• • •
Seemed like most of the time we were home, Elvis Jackson was there. It was clear nothing was going on between him and Rachel. They didn’t so much as stand close to each other in public. For sure he wasn’t gonna pass up the free lunches, even if I still insisted he make em himself. It was just them studying, him doing his laundry, and him fixing a lunch, every time I turned around.
One night after he left, I asked Rachel, “You all right with me a
nd Bev?”
“Are you kidding? I love her, Daddy.”
39
Our little band of Gideonites showed up at Beach Saturday, November 10, and I swear there are as many Athens City fans as Bearcat fans for the first round of the play-offs. Biggest kick for me was Kim and Rachel bringing Bev. She looked a little tentative, but she also looked as happy to be there as I was.
Buster gathers the team around after we’re all warmed up, and he tells em what the other coach said to him after they beat up on us at our place, opening night. “I told him we were gonna eat their guys with a spoon in the play-offs. And here we are boys. I wanna eat guts, not crow.”
That psyched the kids up, but when they ran onto the field, I said, “Coach, you remember what he said back?”
“Course I do.”
“He was right, you know.”
“What’re you saying, Sawyer?”
“You’re not gonna do it with a Stone Age offense.”
He smiled. “Don’t tempt me. I might whip these guys with the wishbone.”
“Don’t you dare.”
He didn’t, but he sure got excited. He was running up and down the field, keeping pace with Brian and Elvis and Yash. How these kids stayed strong, playing both ways all those weeks, I’ll never know. That day we grabbed the early lead and kept pulling away. It was sweet.
I was proud of Coach after the game. Their coach shook his hand, giving Buster a look that said he knew he deserved a tongue-lashing. But Coach just said, “Your boys played hard and you coached a good game. Good luck to ya.”
Tired as she was, Bev hosted one of her ladies’ bashes that night. So I had Coach over to our place, and Elvis showed up to do his laundry. “No date, no parties, no movie with the guys?” Coach said.
Elvis shook his head.
“You don’t hang with anybody, do you?”
“Too much on my mind. Just want to pass history and stay eligible.”
“What do you hear from Jenny?”
“She only wants me to write. No calling anymore. I couldn’t stand hearing her cry anyway. She just kept saying that I promised. I don’t know how many ways to apologize. There’s nothing I can do now. I swore I’d get up to see her when school’s out, but she doesn’t believe me, and why should she?”
“So, you’ll surprise her.”
“If I can stand it. She’ll hang on and never let me out of her sight. She said two kids got adopted last month, but both of them were about five, and she didn’t even get interviewed.”
“You know, Jackson,” I said, “we all care about her.”
“Lot of good that does her.”
“The women that Rachel is with tonight—”
“Pray for her, yeah, I know. They’ve got a picture of her on the wall, the whole bit. It’s made a big difference, hasn’t it?”
“I wouldn’t underestimate God.”
“Too late,” Elvis said.
• • •
The next Saturday we really shocked the state by winning our sectional. It was our eighth straight win and seventh on the road, but I was worried. I should be more than satisfied to have got this far, but for the first time since we started winning, it looked to be taking a toll. Our guys looked tired. I know they’re teens, and I know they’re resilient, but we were way past where we deserved to be, now one of the last eight teams in the state, and I’m finding myself more worried about how they’re gonna deal with disappointment than with trying to stay on track and win it all.
The quarterfinals were set for Friday night, November 23, another road game. Bev had been back to work for a week by then, and it seemed most of our time was spent squelching rumors about the company. We were both happy to confirm the rumors about us. Everybody wanted to know when the big day was, but I hadn’t even asked her yet.
I worried about her strength, wondering if maybe she should be working only half days for a while. She worried about my stress. I tried to tell her I could handle it.
What could I do but weigh every option? “Right now it looks like we sell lock, stock, and barrel to some broker on the last day of the year and split the profits with the employees.”
“You’re gonna go down as the most generous man Alabama’s ever seen,” she said.
“That’s my goal, all right.”
She laughed. “I know you just wanna stay in business.”
“I’m so tempted to try the ball glove thing.”
“Does it make sense, Cal?”
“Course not. It would take the rest of our reserves. We’d go belly up anyway, then there’s nothing for anybody.”
She sat wearily, looking into my eyes. “I’ve loved you for ten years, Calvin. But never more than now.”
I like to talk, but I’d learned to just shut up and kiss her when she said something like that. “There is something I need to tell you,” she said. We’d had so much fun the last few weeks, I could tell when she was serious.
“I’m listening,” I said.
She held my hand in both of hers, and I could see the pulse in her neck. “I didn’t tell you everything that went wrong at the hospital.”
My brain almost shut down. If she was gonna tell me she was still sick, or worse, that she was gonna—but she must’ve seen the fear in my eyes. “I’m okay,” she said. “But there was some permanent damage done too.”
I wouldn’t have even been able to ask her what. I loved her so much by now I couldn’t bear to hear she’d been hurt any more. “Permanent?” I mouthed, but no sound came out.
“I don’t like talking about this stuff either, Calvin,” she said. “Plain as I can say it, when the doctors perforated my colon, my abdomen was filled with stuff, you know, that neither of us wants to talk about.”
“Yeah, awright, I get the picture.”
“Well, there was some scarring of the fallopian tubes.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You know what I’m saying?”
“I think. I mean, I know what those are, but no. What’re you saying?”
“The lab report called it ‘scarring/destruction.’”
“Of your, um—”
“My reproductive organs,” she whispered.
I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to tell her it was all right cause no matter what happened with us I didn’t count on having another baby in the house. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thanked God I kept my mouth shut. It was all over her face how hard this was on her. She told me, “I’m not saying starting a family was something I still hoped to do anyway. It’s risky at my age and you and I would have to work through the whole idea, you having almost raised a daughter already.”
I nodded.
“But I sure would’ve liked to have had the choice.”
“Course,” I said, holding her.
“A few years ago I pretty much resigned myself to never being a mother,” she said. “I figured my time was past. But there’s something about knowing it’s not even an option anymore. I love kids so much.”
“I know,” I said.
“Anyway, I would’ve felt dishonest not telling you, Cal. I didn’t want to misrepresent damaged goods.”
I pulled her closer. “Don’t ever say that again, Bev. Please. I would never think of you that way.”
• • •
Bev, the other two women, and Rachel had started taking turns writing to Jennifer Lucas. Elvis told Rachel he appreciated it, but he was still worried folks were gonna figure out where he was by the return addresses.
He oughtn’t to’ve worried though. He was looking for help with the little one and he’d mostly quit contacting her for all the grief and guilt it raised in him.
• • •
People say a couple in love ought not to try to work together, but that didn’t prove true with Bev and me. We’d been working side by side for so long, it only seemed natural. Course I was more attentive than I used to be. Other words, according to Kim, I finally had a clue. Bev was more than my assistant now. She was beco
ming a partner. I knew she had my best interest at heart, and so I included her in all the discussions and decisions. She liked to kid me that if I’d done that all along, we wouldn’t be in the mess we were in now. She was probably closer to the truth than she knew.
One night before Thanksgiving we were sitting on the couch in my living room, and Rachel was in the kitchen, doing her homework and waiting for Elvis to come and do his laundry and lunch thing. I said, “Bev, you know the history of this knee, don’t ya?”
She said, “If I say yes, will you spare me the story?”
“I think you’re up to speed on it.”
“Whew!” she said, hugging me.
Nothing an old jock’d rather discuss than his career-ending injuries. “I just wanted you to know when the time comes why I don’t get on my knees.”
“When the time comes for what?”
“C’mon, Bev. This is hard enough for an oblivious kind of guy.”
“Can’t you bring knee pads or a cushion or something?”
“What’re you, serious?” I said.
“I just want to be sure you’ve planned ahead, thought it through.”
“Me?” I said. “Have you?”
“Only for ten years or so.”
“So you’re primed,” I said. “You’re ready.”
“Say I’m ripe and you’ll be sitting here alone.”
“I’d just like a hedge against rejection.”
“Like I’m prepared to reject you,” she said.
“You know I want all your tomorrows.”
She pulled back to get a better look at me. “That wasn’t bad,” she said. “Really, coming from you, bad knees and everything, that was all right.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, but don’t stop now, cowboy.”
“Hm?”
“Bring it on home.”
“I’m asking,” I said.
“Preach it.”
“Bev, I love you with everything that’s in me, and I mean it. I can’t even imagine living without you anymore.”
“And so?”
“And so I want you to be my wife.”
Hometown Legend Page 22
