The Sacred Acre

by Mark Tabb

  Ed dropped by that evening to check on what was coming out of every sprinkler head and to make sure that the generator running the whole system was still up and running. He felt like he had turned back the clock to the days when he had to manually move the irrigation pipes from one end of the field to the other.

  Sometime around 10:00, Ed climbed back up the stairs to his apartment. Jan was already asleep. Ed sat down in the living room and turned on the television to check the score of the Yankee-Red Sox game. Ed loved the Yankees; he had his entire life. After less than a half inning he fell asleep in front of the TV. Sometime during the top half of the ninth inning he woke up and went to bed.

  Long before the first light peeked through the windows of the small apartment over True Value Hardware, the alarm went off. Ed stumbled over to his dresser, dug out his clothes for the day, and headed for the shower. Today would be a rerun of the day before, as would the next day, and the next and the next. This would prove to be a very long, yet very fast, summer.

  CHAPTER 9

  HALFTIME

  Good things happen to good people.

  ED THOMAS

  ED LOOKED AT HIS WATCH AND THEN CROSSED HIS ARMS AND tapped his foot. “Leave it to Todd to be late for his own wedding.”

  “Oh, Ed,” Jan said. “He’s not late for his wedding. This is only the rehearsal. It’s not a big deal.”

  Ed looked at his watch again. “You know how I can’t stand starting late. When I do something, we start on time, and we end on time. But how can we start on time without a groom?”

  “It’s OK, Ed. Relax,” Jan said.

  Ed looked up at her and paused for a moment. Relaxing had become a foreign concept to both of them in the eight weeks since the tornado. He gave Jan his little half-smile smirk. “I don’t know if I remember how.”

  That struck Jan as funny. “Well, then, it’s about time you get back in practice. This weekend is going to be wonderful. Let’s enjoy it.”

  Ed knew Jan was right. This was going to be his first and only break of the summer, and he needed to enjoy it. With only seven weeks left to get the field ready for the first home game, there was only one thing that could get him to walk away from work for the next few days. Actually, there were two, but both focused on his sons. One was Todd’s wedding; the other was a trip to New York City with Aaron. Ed had always talked about going to a game at Yankee Stadium. So when a reporter from New York told Ed she could get him a couple of tickets, Jan talked him into going with Aaron. She said the trip would be a birthday present from her, so there was no reason for him not to go. The Yankees were building a brand-new ballpark next door to “The House That Ruth Built,” which meant that this summer was their last opportunity to go to a game there.

  “You’re right,” Ed said. “It is going to be a great weekend. And if Todd would ever get here, we could get started.”

  Jan rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Oh, Ed.” In truth, she needed a reminder on how to relax as much as her husband did. Back in May, she couldn’t think about anything else besides the wedding. She had three dresses hanging in her closet that she had ordered online as possibilities to wear for the wedding. Ellie and Candice were supposed to help her choose which one to keep, and she planned on returning the other two. Unfortunately, the tornado carried away all three, which meant Jan had to go buy a fourth dress in between shopping for plumbing fixtures for their house.

  Besides shopping for her dress, she had not had time to help Candice with anything wedding related. But now that the big day had finally arrived, Jan made up her mind to think about nothing else except enjoying the Todd and Candice celebration. The town, the house, the football field—all of it could take care of itself for a few days. This mid-July weekend was a time for family, and nothing but family. Jan and Ed both desperately needed it.

  Around 5:45 p.m., Todd and the groomsmen walked into the foyer of the church. “Hey, look who decided to show up for his own wedding rehearsal,” Ed said. “Glad you could join us, Todd.”

  “Sorry we’re late. It took a little longer to get eighteen holes in than we thought.”

  “Hmm, your buddies must have been letting you win to keep you out there that long,” Ed said.

  “Ha. Let me win nothing. I was on fire out there. Too bad you weren’t there, old man, or I would have shown you a thing or two about golf.”

  Ed broke out into a huge grin. “You just keep telling yourself that, pal. You just keep telling yourself that.”

  “Yeah, right,” Todd said. “So did I miss anything?”

  “We went ahead and had the whole thing without you. Found Candice a groom who can tell time,” Ed said.

  “That’s a good one, Dad.” Todd and Ed always bantered back and forth whenever they got together, especially on the golf course. Just because Todd was getting married, Ed didn’t see any reason to hold back on this day.

  “Thanks. By the way,” Ed said, “did you talk to Candice about postponing the honeymoon so that you can come to New York with me and Aaron?”

  “Have you lost your mind, Dad?”

  “Oh, come on, she’ll understand.”

  “I think you’ve been working out in the sun too long.” Ed and Todd were still ribbing each other when Candice walked in from the church auditorium. “Are we ready?” she said.

  Ed and Todd looked at one another. “Sure,” Todd said. “Sorry I’m late, babe.”

  “No big deal,” Candice said. “We needed to work on the music anyway.”

  Todd took Candice by the hand and walked off toward the rest of the waiting wedding party. Ed went over and put his arm around Jan. “Todd hit the jackpot when he found her,” Jan said.

  “You better believe it,” Ed said. Ed knew Candice was someone special not long after she and Todd started dating. At the time, Todd was Ed’s quarterbacks coach, a position he had held for five years, going back to his junior year at Wartburg College. However, once he started dating Candice, Todd came to his father and said, “Dad, I need to step away from coaching for a while.” When Ed asked why, Todd said, “You know, I have a new job, and I really need to get established there. And I met this girl …” He didn’t have to say anything more. Ed told Todd that he understood. Later, Ed confided to a friend that he had never been prouder of Todd than in that moment. “It took quite a man to stand up to his father like that,” Ed said.

  The day of the wedding started off hot and sticky, a classic Iowa July day. The air conditioner in the front room of Ed and Jan’s shotgun apartment had little effect in the back, where their bedroom was. “I’m glad we’re going to get away from here, if only for one night,” Jan said.

  Ed walked out of the bathroom. “Yeah.” He paused and a look came over his face that Jan recognized.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “I’m having second thoughts about going to New York. I have so much work that has to get done.”

  “It will be here when you get back. Go. You and Aaron will have a great time.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” Ed said with a tone that made it clear he was far from convinced.

  Ed and Jan arrived at the church two hours before the start of the wedding. Unlike the night before, Todd was already there, along with Candice, her parents, and the rest of the wedding party. The photographer had already started lining people up for pictures. “Glad you finally decided to show up,” Todd said to his father.

  Ed quickly looked at his watch. “Whaddya talkin’ about? We’re early.”

  “Is that what you call it?”

  Ed shook his head. “Hey,” he said changing the subject, “did you talk Candice into postponing the honeymoon so you could go to New York with me and Aaron?”

  Candice rolled her eyes.

  “Yeah, Dad, that’s going to happen. Do you think I’m nuts, or what?”

  “Just thought I’d check one last time,” Ed said.

  He and Jan sat down on one of the pews and waited to be called up front by the photographer. A f
ew minutes after they arrived, Aaron and Ellie and their three sons came in. The two oldest boys, Owen and Gavin, had on tuxedoes, although neither appeared to enjoy being dressed up. As soon as the boys saw Ed and Jan, they raced over and jumped up on them. Ed beamed. “Where’s the birthday boy?” he asked.

  “Right here,” Ellie said, trying to hold on to a squirming one-year-old boy.

  “This is quite a fuss for your birthday, isn’t it, pal,” Ed said to Trevan as the boy leaned over and held out his arms toward his grandfather. Later, at the reception, Todd and Candice would bring out a birthday cake for Trevan and lead the guests in singing “Happy Birthday” to him.

  In the midst of all the prewedding photo taking and last-minute preparations, Ed walked over to Todd and put his arm around his shoulder. “I just want to tell you how proud I am of you, Todd. I really am.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” Todd said. He saw tears streaming down Ed’s face, which made Todd tear up as well. “Now don’t you lose it on me, Dad, or I’ll never hold it together.” They both laughed.

  “I’ll do my best,” Ed said as he slapped Todd on the back.

  The two of them managed to hold it together throughout the service, although Todd nearly lost it when his father hugged him and told him he loved him after Todd escorted Jan in. Later Ed read 1 John 4:7 – 12 as part of the ceremony. After he finished, he and Jan sat on the front pew, one grandson between them and another next to Jan. They teared up when Todd and Candice exchanged vows and applauded when the pastor pronounced them husband and wife. Jan was thrilled to have another girl in the family, although Ed informed Candice at the reception, “We expect grandsons.” He was only half kidding.

  Todd and Candice arranged to hold the reception in a ballroom connected to a hotel in Waterloo. The two of them asked Ed to give the opening prayer. Before he prayed, Ed looked over at Todd and Candice and said, “I don’t have a lot of fatherly advice to give except for this. Always, always put God first in your relationship. And after that, make sure you put one another and your family ahead of anyone, or anyone else besides God.” All his life, Todd had heard his father say the same thing. However, on this day, sitting with his new bride in front of all their friends and family, his dad’s words struck him like they never had before.

  Sometime around 9:30 the next evening, Ed’s phone rang. “Dad, we have a problem,” Aaron said. “The airline just called. Our flight out of Cedar Rapids has been canceled. They had some kind of problem with the plane. However, they can get us on a flight out of Moline, but it leaves really early.” “How early?” Ed asked.

  “You’re probably going to have to leave Parkersburg around 1:30 for us to get there on time.” “1:30 a.m.?”

  “Yep.”

  “Not a problem. I’ll let the other guys know, and we’ll pick you up around 2:15.”

  True to his word, Ed and a friend pulled into Aaron’s driveway in La Porte City right on time. Thunderstorms rolled through the area when they arrived at Quad City International Airport in Moline, Illinois, two and a half hours later. A small tornado hit the area right after their flight took off. Theirs was one of the last flights out before the airport shut down because of the weather. After a layover in Chicago, they arrived at La Guardia Airport in New York early in the afternoon.

  Ed and Aaron and the two friends who made the trip with them took a cab to their midtown Manhattan hotel. Watching the city pass outside the window, Ed said, “Wow, I don’t know why people want to live like this.”

  “What do you mean, Dad?”

  “All crammed together with all this traffic. It’s not me.” “So I guess that means we don’t have to worry about you moving here anytime soon, then?” Aaron said. “Uh, no.”

  They checked into the hotel and had just enough time to grab something to eat before it was time to go to the ballpark. Ed wanted to get there early enough to see the monuments in the outfield at Yankee Stadium and to just take in “The House That Ruth Built.” Instead of paying for a cab to make the long drive to the Bronx, they walked over to Grand Central Station and took the subway. Crowds pressed into the subway car. Ed looked over at Aaron and mouthed, “I hate this.”

  Aaron just shook his head and smiled. Once Ed was able to work his way closer to Aaron, he said, “If I had to do this to get to work every day, I wouldn’t work, or maybe I would live in my office.”

  “It’s not that bad,” Aaron said. “I wouldn’t want to do this every day, but it’s not a big deal for this one time. At least now you can say you’ve experienced a New York subway.”

  “I guess,” Ed said.

  Aaron sensed that something more than the crowded subway car was bothering his father. “What’s wrong, Dad?” “I’m feeling a little guilty about taking off like this.”

  “Why?”

  “There’s just so much work to be done, and we don’t have much time to finish it.”

  “You know, Dad, the work will still be there when you get back. How many years have you been talking about going to a game at Yankee Stadium? When are we ever going to get a chance to do something like this again?”

  “You’re right. But still …”

  “Don’t worry about it. Let’s have fun.”

  “All right.”

  When the four of them walked up the ramp at Yankee Stadium, Ed stopped thinking about work. “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen greener grass,” Ed said. They toured the stadium, snapped pictures of everything, and then found their seats in the right – center field stands. When the first pitch was thrown, Aaron looked over at his father. “I haven’t seen you like this in a long time,” Aaron said.

  Ed just smiled. “Thanks for making me do this,” he said. “This is great. I’m glad we got to do this together.”

  “So am I,” Aaron said.

  The subway was not quite as crowded after the game. Ed sat back and studied the subway map hanging on the train wall. A couple who was wearing Yankee gear walked up to the map and started discussing where they should get off.

  “I think I can help you,” Ed said. “Where is it you’re trying to go?”

  They told him.

  “OK, you need to take the 82nd Street stop. That will put you right there.”

  Across the aisle Aaron nearly fell over laughing. “Since when did you become such an expert on getting around New York City?”

  Ed gave him his patented half-smile smirk. “What do you want me to do? Let these poor people wander around lost in the big city?”

  “Maybe you ought to move here after all,” Aaron said. “Hmm, maybe I will,” Ed joked. “Maybe I will.”

  CHAPTER 10

  A SUMMER OF CHANGE

  You either get better or you get worse. You never stay the same.

  ED THOMAS

  IN 1975, THE ONLY THING ED KNEW ABOUT PARKERSBURG was that it needed a football coach. He accepted a job interview, but only as a backup plan. Before the interview, he went home to What Cheer to talk to his friend Tom Teeple about the place. “I’m looking for a new job and a step up. I have two interviews next week, one in Allison and one in Parkersburg,” Ed said.

  That grabbed Teep’s attention. Although he was not originally from Parkersburg, he and his wife, Sue, had lived there for a couple of years right after he graduated from barber college. “I love Parkersburg, but they don’t have much of a program,” Teep said, and then added, “and Allison has all the studs.”

  “Yep,” Ed said with a confident smile.

  “Why don’t you stay at Northeast Hamilton?” Teep asked.

  “Can’t. I already quit. I turned in my resignation as soon as I got the job interviews at Parkersburg and Allison. I’ve been at Northeast three years. I figure I’ll spend three years, maybe four, at the next place and just work my way up the ladder.”

  To Teep, it seemed clear which job Ed would take. “Allison would be a good next step.”

  “That’s what I was thinking.” Two weeks later, Teep was surprised when Ed came back to his barbershop and
announced, “Well, I took the Parkersburg job.”

  Teep couldn’t believe his ears. “What about Allison?”

  “They offered it to me,” Ed said, “but only after I’d already given a verbal commitment to Parkersburg. I wasn’t going to go back on my word. Besides, I was impressed with the community and the school administration in Parkersburg. I think it has a lot to offer.”

  “As a good next step.”

  “I think so.”

  Five years into Ed’s three-year plan, Parkersburg played for its first state championship. That made him decide to stick around a little longer. In all, he led Parkersburg to the state championship game twice, and Aplington-Parkersburg, after the two schools merged, four times, winning two titles. That level of success made Ed a hot commodity on the coaching front. A couple of years after Parkersburg played in the state championship game for the first time, Tom Teeple was working as an umpire at a baseball tournament in another town. The athletic director of the town’s high school came up to him and said, “We’re getting your football coach. I offered Ed Thomas the job as our head football coach, and he’s going to take it.”

  “Did he sign a contract yet?” was Teep’s only response.

  “Well, no,” the AD said.

  “Uh, OK,” Teep replied with a tone that said more than his words.

  The next morning, Teep got together for coffee with Ed and their usual coffee crew, which included Jim Graves, the man who coined the phrase “the Sacred Acre” while giving Ed a hard time about the amount of time he spent working on his field. The moment Ed walked in, Teep said, “So you gonna need some help moving?”

  “What are you talking about?” Ed said.

  “I was umpiring over in Independence last night, and the AD there told me you’re taking a job there. They have a pretty good program. I can see why you’re interested in it, although I think we’ve got a pretty good program right here,” Teep said.