by Tim Tingle
Panthers, Panthers! Go! Go! Go!
With everybody stretched from one end of the court to the other, Tigerman threw a long pass. For an easy bucket. Yeah. Easy if Darrell couldn’t jump through the roof. He did, swatted the ball to midcourt, where I caught it on the run and launched another three.
Nothing but net.
This was a miracle times ten, and by halftime we had a fifteen-point lead.
“Everybody feeling good?” Coach asked at the half. The manager passed out water bottles, and we nodded “you betchas” and gulped it down. “I know the shots are falling, and everything is going our way. But don’t think this game is over,” he said.
“We’re in good shape, and I’m proud of you men for keeping up the pace. But with this highspeed tempo, fatigue will set in. Anybody’s lungs burning?” he asked.
No one wanted to be the first to admit what we all felt. “Free pizza to the first Panther to tell the truth,” Coach said. “Anybody’s lungs burning?”
Seventeen hands shot up.
We all had a good laugh. Coach sure knows what he’s doing. Choctaw laughter one more time.
“You’ll be fine with a little burning in the lungs,” he said. “But don’t let it get the best of you. When your legs stop running and you can’t jump like before, wave to me and take a break.”
CHAPTER 6
DAA, First Meeting
At the start of the second half, Coach pulled Lloyd and me aside. “Let’s see what you two can do. You’ll both be starting.” He then spoke to the team as we tightened our circle around him. “No letting up,” Coach said. “The shots were falling for us in the first half, but this game is not over yet. They’ll expect us to try to slow things down, to take it easy and keep our lead.” He knelt and motioned for us to come closer. “I want you boys to play as fast and tough as if you are down by fifteen points. Understand?”
“Yes sir, Coach,” we all said, nodding and feeling fired up and ready to play. Our home crowd was ready, too. We gave ’em a show for the first two quarters, and they wanted more.
Panthers, Panthers! Go! Go! Go!
Johnny got the opening tip to Lloyd, who tossed the ball to Darrell streaking down the sideline. Darrell lobbed the ball to the basket, and Jimmy caught it with one hand and laid it in.
Panthers 40–Tigers 23.
As play continued, Lloyd and I let the big men take most of the shots. By the halfway point in the third period, we were up by twenty, and Coach whistled for a time-out.
“Nice job, boys,” he said, as we joined him on the bench. “Let’s see what our second team can do. Get after ’em, boys. Play good defense, run the ball, and hit the boards.”
I found a seat on the far end of the bench, away from Johnny and Lloyd, my best-friend teammates. I took a swig of water, and for the first time all day, removed my mask.
My game-day, gotta-focus mask.
I searched the stands for Mom and Dad. And yes, my girlfriend, Faye. Faye was currently dealing with the bullying from Heather, a mean classmate. “Wow!” I whispered. I was so proud of my folks. Faye was sitting between them, Dad on one side, Mom on the other.
Faye held her box of hot buttered popcorn in her lap, and Mom and Dad helped themselves. They cheered and laughed and talked like they’d known each other for years.
Let’s see Heather smack her fist into the popcorn now, I thought. Yeah, not gonna happen.
Speaking of Heather, I scanned the bleachers, but saw no sign of her. “Hey, you too good to sit with your buds?” Johnny asked, walking by on his way to the water bottles.
“No, John-boy, I just needed some privacy,” I said. “It’s a Choctaw thing. We’re quiet people, you know.”
“Uh-huh,” Johnny said, “unless you’re awake. But maybe I can help you.”
“Help me what?”
“She’s sitting in the top row, behind us. Surrounded by her group of Giggle Girls.”
My first impulse was to jerk my head around, but I caught myself.
“How’d you know I was looking for her?”
“It’s a Cherokee thing,” Johnny said. “We read minds.”
“Uh-huh. Except when you’re awake.”
He laughed and took a seat beside me.
“I thought she’d be banned from the games, for a while at least,” I said. “For fighting with Faye and wrestling with the cops.”
“Wouldn’t surprise me if she snuck in,” Johnny said.
“I’m sure Faye has already caught sight of her,” I said. “But Faye looks happy where she is.”
“Have you seen the security guards?” Johnny asked.
“No. Why?”
“You know they always have two at the games. They’re big fans. They love coming.”
“I see one,” I said, pointing to the door leading to the concession stand.
“Promise me you won’t look if I tell you where the other one is?”
“Are you joking, Johnny?” I asked.
“Nope, not joking.”
“Hoke then, I promise.”
“Lloyd’s dad is sitting on the far end of the gym, four rows up, near the outside door. A security guard is right next to him. They entered through that door, almost like he’s a criminal in leg-irons.”
“Lloyd seems hoke,” I said. “Is his mother here?”
“She’s sitting behind his dad. Pretty strange, if you ask me.”
The horn sounded, ending the third quarter and bringing us back to reality. Coach Robison substituted second and third teamers for the remainder of the game. The Tigers made a slight comeback, but came no closer than twelve points.
Final: Panthers 64–Tigers 47.
“No pizza tonight, boys,” Coach Robison announced in the dressing room. “Not on a school night. Go home and get some rest. Next game’s not till Friday.”
We made our way to the parking lot, and Lloyd caught up with Johnny and me. “Can you guys give me a ride home?” he asked.
“Sure thing,” Johnny said. “You don’t have to ask.”
Lloyd didn’t reply, but we knew he had something to say. He waited till we climbed in the car and the doors were closed.
“I’m still cool with my old friends,” he said. “But I can’t talk about Dad. Not with them. Their parents know mine, and the gossip would be all over town.”
“Hey, we’re with you, Lloyd,” I said. “Johnny was my only friend when it came to Dad. For the longest time.”
“They oughta have a group called DAA,” Johnny said. “Kinda like AA, Alcoholics Anonymous.”
“Hoke, I’m game.”
“Yeah, let’s hear it,” said Lloyd.
“DAA?” said Johnny. “How about: Dad’s An Alcoholic?”
“Hoke, so that’s what we’re doing tonight,” Lloyd said. “We’re having our first DAA meeting.”
We rode in silence till we turned down Lloyd’s street.
“I’m scared,” said Lloyd. “Dad’s moving around the house, banging walls with his fist. He yanked a picture down last night and smashed it, sent glass flying everywhere.”
“How’s your mom?” I asked.
“She’s mostly staying away, coming up with every excuse she can think of. Looks like she’s gone,” he said as we approached his house. “No car in the driveway.”
“Lloyd,” I said, “it’s time. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did.”
Johnny understood. He drove by Lloyd’s house and headed to mine.
“So I’m spending the night underground,” said Lloyd. “Kinda what I was hoping for.”
CHAPTER 7
Alone in a Crowd
“You want some company?” I asked Lloyd as I pulled the door over our heads.
“Sure, as long as you don’t spend the night. I need some time alone.”
Johnny nudged me in the ribs. I knew where he was going. “Yeah,” Johnny said, “kid members of Dad’s An Alcoholic need that alone time. It’s hard to be sad and depressed when you’re surrounded by friends!”
> “Hey, shut up!” Lloyd said, but he was already laughing.
“So what’s up with Heather?” I asked. “She was at the game.”
“Oh, you won’t believe this,” Lloyd said. “She is allowed back at school, allowed to attend the games, but only if she agrees to staying after school an hour a day. For a month!”
“Like detention hall?” I asked.
“A little more than that. She has agreed to be tutored. So she has to do her homework and actually learn something.”
“In school?” Johnny said. “She’s trying to learn in school? Who came up with that idea?”
“Probably the counselor. Who knows?”
“And who’s gonna be her tutor? Man, that’s one job I wouldn’t want,” Johnny said. “You’d have to wear a bulletproof vest.”
“Not necessary,” said a voice from above. “We had our first session today.”
“I’m not believing this,” I said, pulling the door aside. There she stood, Mystery Lady Faye.
“So you are Heather’s tutor?” Johnny asked.
“That is correct.”
“Lloyd, did you know about this?” I asked.
Lloyd just shrugged.
“Ahem,” Faye said, clearing her throat. “I brought a bucket of chicken and a bag of fries. Anybody hungry?”
“Mystery Lady comes through again!” said Johnny, helping Faye into the hole.
Lloyd pulled his shirt over his head and stammered. “So much for privacy.”
Suddenly the patio light came on. “You guys better not be drinking down there!” Dad yelled, stepping out the back door.
“Dad, you know better than that.”
“Oh. Hoke, but just in case you’re thirsty,” he said, “I brought the ice chest. Root beer, grape soda, Doctor my Pepper.”
Dad left the ice chest under the tree. “Be safe and be nice to each other,” he said, waving goodbye. He turned off the light, and I’m sure he and Mom had a good laugh.
We grabbed chicken legs and thighs and wings and chewed and chomped. After my third swig of root beer, I had to ask.
“So what’s up with this tutoring?”
“There was a note on the bulletin board in the library,” Faye said. “It asked for a volunteer tutor for a month, an hour after school every day. You had to have a good grade point average.”
“And you’re doing this for free?” Johnny asked.
“No. They offered free tickets to all sporting events and school performances, plays, and concerts. So I jumped at it.”
“And you knew you’d be tutoring Heather?” I asked.
“No way she knew that, right Faye?” Lloyd asked.
“Let’s just say I was a little taken aback.”
“Man, I wish I had a movie of that first session,” Johnny said. “How’d it go?”
“Weird at first,” Faye said. “The counselor was waiting in the library with Heather. They were sitting at a table by the window.”
“Heather didn’t know you were her tutor, did she?” asked Lloyd.
“Nope. It was a big surprise for us both.”
Faye took a bite of a crispy chicken wing and kept us waiting.
“You’re gonna make us ask, aren’t you?” I said.
“Ask what?”
“What happened?” we all shouted in unison.
“Wasn’t pretty,” Faye said. “Since I’m new at school, the counselor didn’t recognize me. I saw Heather before she saw me, so I walked over to the table. They were looking out the window. I was my usual shy self. I quietly sat down.”
“Uh-oh,” I said.
“Heather turned around and did her screeching thing, so loud everybody in the library heard her. The librarian came running from around the desk. Kids dropped their books and stared.”
“What did she say?”
“‘Get out of here before I rip your hair out!’ That’s the one I remember.”
“Did you leave?” asked Lloyd.
“No, I did not. I was hired to tutor a student in need. And that is what I did. The counselor told Heather that if she didn’t control herself, she would be transferred to another school.”
“I know what that means,” Johnny said.
“We all do,” Lloyd added. “Troubled youth campus. First stop on your way to jail.”
“When she calmed down, I told her this wasn’t easy for me either. She laughed when I told her I had no idea she was the girl I’d be tutoring.”
“I can just hear her now,” Johnny said. “Something like, ‘You’d be wetting your diaper if you knew you had to put up with me, little Fayby baby.’ Am I close?”
“Not bad,” said Faye. “You’d make a pretty-good Heather.”
“But you survived, sounds like,” I said.
“Yes, and believe it or not, I don’t think she’ll be giving me a hard time in the hallways.”
“So you connected,” said Lloyd. “Wow. How did you do it?”
“The counselor did me a big favor. I started out with a simple writing lesson. I had Heather write a short paragraph about the coolest thing she ever saw at school.”
“You were asking for trouble, did you know that?” Lloyd asked.
“Yes, but it seemed better than avoiding it. So Heather wrote about yanking my hair in the library and how cool she felt doing it. I thought she might, so I was ready.”
“What did you do?” Lloyd asked.
“Nothing. I read it and glanced up at her, with a hint of a smile. But when the counselor read it, she was mad. She slapped the paper on the table and told Heather to apologize to me.
“So I gave Heather this little head bob, rolling my eyes at the counselor. At first I thought Heather was gonna sock me. Then she realized I was making fun of the counselor, not her. Heather loved it.”
“‘Oh, I’m so sorry to hurt your little feelings,’ Heather said. That was her apology to me. We both had to laugh. Heather and me, not the counselor. So then the counselor left us alone. She just said, ‘Let me know if she gives you any trouble.’”
“Sounds like you didn’t impress the counselor,” Johnny said.
“I spoke to her later. She’s cool. Heather rewrote her paper, and she’s making a story out of it.”
“What was her favorite time in school?” Lloyd asked.
“Heather’s favorite time in school? She wrote half a page about how she watched you work hard every day till you finally became a basketball star. That’s what her story is about, Lloyd.”
“Yeah! Panthers, Panthers! Go! Go! Go!” Johnny and I cheered so loud, Dad turned on the patio light.
“Any more of that and I’m turning on the water sprinkler!” he hollered.
“Dad, we don’t have a water sprinkler,” I reminded him.
He didn’t answer, just flipped off the light. Dad was so cool. I laughed and said, “What am I gonna do with a dad like that?”
“Count your lucky stars,” Lloyd said.
I slapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, Lloyd, you’re surrounded by friends, don’t forget it.”
Two minutes later, Lloyd needed us more than ever. The trouble started with a blaring car horn, loud enough to wake up the whole neighborhood. The noise came from our driveway, but I knew it wasn’t Dad. Whoever was doing it kept their hand on the horn without stopping.
BEEEEEEEEP!
“That’s my dad,” said Lloyd, shouting over the screaming horn. “That’s his truck horn. It has to be him!”
CHAPTER 8
Underground Meeting of the Minds
Lights came on up and down the street. Johnny stood up and flung the door aside. I looked at Faye, and we both had the same thought.
Lloyd is in danger.
“Do something,” she said, gripping my hand. “Now!”
Lloyd was already climbing out of the hole. I grabbed his pants leg and pulled him back. He plopped down hard against the dirt wall.
“Lloyd, wait. Just a minute. Please,” I said. I stood up and leaned close to Johnny’s ear. �
��Hey, we gotta close the door. Now! Lloyd’s dad can’t know where he is. He can’t know about our hiding place.”
“You’re right,” Johnny said. “Time for us to disappear.” He sat down with his back against the wall and slid the door over our heads.
“You don’t understand my dad,” Lloyd said. He tried standing up, but I held him by the shoulders.
“Lloyd,” I whispered, “there’s no time for you to freak out. Leave that to the grown-ups. We’re here for you, and you’re safe. As long as your dad doesn’t know where you are.”
Lloyd was shaking. I tugged on him till he sat down.
“My dad was the same way. Think about it. That’s why the hole is here in the first place. I had to get away from him. He was breaking things, throwing stuff all over the house.”
He buried his face in his hands. “Does it ever end?”
“Yes, and my dad and Coach Robison will do everything they can to help.”
“They can’t come to my house. They can’t be there when I really need them.”
Johnny and I just looked at each other. We knew he was right.
Faye had been silent from the time Mr. Blanton arrived. She finally spoke, and her voice seemed to calm the air.
“Hey Bobby,” she said, “how about you and Lloyd take me and Heather on a double date? Maybe take in a movie, have a hamburger at the old place you boys keep talking about. I’m new in town, you know. I’d like to know the history of the place.”
I looked at Faye. I shrugged my shoulders and opened my palms to her, as if to say, Are you totally crazy or have you been sleeping for the past five minutes?
“Nice going, Faye,” Johnny said. “Way to make a Cherokee feel unwanted and out of place.”
I gave Johnny my best are you crazy too look.
What happened next let me know I was without a doubt the only sane person in the underground hole in my backyard—the hole I dug to get away from my dad who drank too much. Yeah. The teenager who lived all summer in a hole in his backyard—he’s the sane one!
So what happened next, you’re wanting to know?
Lloyd started laughing. I didn’t want to stop him, so I yanked my shirt off and stuffed it in the pipe. Soon we were all laughing. We laughed and slapped each other on the shoulders, even Faye! We stopped laughing and caught our breath, but that didn’t last long.
