Bad Shot

by Sylvia Taekema

  Cody’s mom handed Stephan a wad of tissue and listened to Jamie rant at warp speed, shaking his head and pointing to his face and his jersey. Coach Evans turned back to the bench. “Eric, Cowboy,” he shouted, “there’s not much time left. Get out there.”

  Cody took a deep breath. Darnell put the ball in to Eric from the sideline, but a Grizzlies player knocked it out of Eric’s hands and cut for the net. He went up for the lay-up, but it was just short. Darnell swallowed the ball in his iron grip before Glencoe could even think about trying for the rebound. Darnell chucked the ball up to Nick, who brought it up the right side, passed neatly to Eric and drove to the net.

  The whole Grizzlies team swarmed Nick, but he cut across the key quickly and Eric lobbed the ball right to him. Nick put up a toss, but a Grizzlies player got a fist under the ball and punched it past the net. Cody jumped to bump the ball up against the backboard, but he hit it just a little too hard. Nick, still waiting on the other side, tapped it in. The buzzer sounded for half-time.

  Every member of the Chargers team thumped Nick on the back as he came to the bench.

  “That’s the stuff,” said Coach Evans, clapping Nick on the shoulder. His eyes were gleaming and he rubbed his hands together. Then he turned and looked for Cody. “You too, Cowboy. Nice work.”

  Cody grinned. Then Nick smiled and punched Cody lightly on the arm.

  “Yeah, Wally, you almost had that one,” Nick said. Cody felt like he’d sprung a slow leak. All of Nick’s compliments had little barbs attached to them. They sounded harmless, but they stung and were hard to shake off.

  Cody grabbed a Gatorade. He walked to the end of the bench where his mom was writing on her clipboard.

  She looked up. “Tough game, huh?”

  Cody nodded.

  “What’s up?”

  “I don’t feel good. Can we go home?”

  “What’s the matter?”

  Cody shrugged.

  “We’re in the middle of something here, Cody,” said his mom. “I’ve got a job to do. You’ve got a job to do. We can’t quit now.”

  Talal ran up and grabbed the bottom of Cody’s jersey. He began to pull his friend back toward the others. “C’mon, dude. Coach is outlining the game plan for the second half. You have to come hear this.”

  Cody sighed.

  * * *

  The game stayed tight. Deep into the third quarter,

  the score was tied at 28. Talal had snuck one in right

  at the start of the half. Nick had nailed a beauty and Jamie buried two free throws.

  But then it was like the Grizzlies suddenly woke up hungry from a long winter sleep. They scored four unanswered baskets and sunk one of two foul shots. Some of the Chargers looked a little shell shocked, but Coach Evans didn’t call anyone up to sub in. He didn’t even glance down the bench. Cody didn’t care. The thump of the ball was making his head hurt.

  Jamie tried a fast break down the right side. But he got slowed down by Glencoe’s guard and then got called for a double dribble. Goliath made another steal and tried to put up a shot, but it bounced off the rim and Dan smothered the ball before Goliath could try a second time. Dan passed the ball ahead. Elbows jogged up just in time to knock it out on Chatham’s end. Jamie put the ball in to Raj. Raj, surrounded by Grizzlies, had trouble clearing the ball from his own end. Desperate, he lobbed it high. Darnell scooped it up and tossed it to Nick, who took it up the sideline and made a quick turn into the centre. Darnell blocked anyone hoping to follow. Cody watched as Nick went up for the shot with his trademark spin. Nick released the ball in a perfect arc and sank the basket, putting the Chargers back in the lead.

  We can always count on Nick, thought Cody, always. Nick had all the cool moves. He had all those trophies. No wonder he didn’t want to play with anyone who wasn’t as good as he was.

  The Chargers team caught a wave of energy. The crowd felt it too. Everybody was shouting and

  clapping. They were cheering, up on their feet, but then suddenly, Nick wasn’t. As he came down from a jump, he landed a bit sideways and his ankle couldn’t hold him. Spin-man was down.

  The whistle blew and Coach Evans was on the court in an instant. He and Darnell helped Nick over to the bench. Cody’s mom, ready with an ice pack, told Nick to hold it tight against his ankle. He looked pale and was breathing hard, his jaw locked in a tight grimace.

  “Well, isn’t this a pickle?” fussed Coach Evans.

  “I’m okay, I can play,” Nick insisted through clenched teeth.

  Coach Evans looked doubtful. He glanced over at Cody’s mom. From where she knelt beside the bench, she nodded toward Nick’s ankle just above the ice pack. It was already beginning to turn purple.

  Nick eyed them both. He shifted the pack and hid the bruise. “Okay, okay. Just let me sit out a few minutes then.”

  Coach Evans hesitated, glanced at the scoreboard, and sighed. “All right, Nick. Take it easy now. Take your time.” He looked around. “Cowboy, you’re in.”

  “Me?”

  “Yes, you.”

  “But I . . .”

  Coach held up one hand. “No time to talk about it. Nick’s just given us a boost. We need you to build on that. We’re going to win this game yet. Time to get out there.”

  Nick scowled. “I’ll be fine in a few minutes,” he muttered. He looked down the bench. “Somebody find me some tape.”

  Talal thumped Cody on the back.

  “Show them your stuff, Wally,” said Malik.

  “Let’s go,” called Jamie.

  Cody felt wobbly. There didn’t seem to be enough air in the gym. He heard a shout behind him. He turned to see Charlie giving him another thumbs-up.

  Coach Evans clapped Cody on the shoulder. “C’mon. I need you to be a wall out there.”

  Those were the magic words.

  17

  Dream Shot

  As soon as the referee waved him onto the floor, Cody bolted from the sideline. He stopped just short of crashing straight into Jamie, almost stomping on his toes.

  “Whoa, Wally,” said Jamie. “Back up. You need to put the ball in.”

  Cody ran back to the sideline. He shook his head to clear it. He tried to ignore the ache in his stomach. The ref tossed him the ball. It burned in his hands.

  He passed it in hard, too hard for Jamie to hang on to, and too low for the Grizzlies player to hook it. The ball went right out of bounds again and hit the far wall.

  “Ease up, Cowboy,” called Coach. “No need to turn the game into a tossed salad.”

  Cody felt like he was on fire. He had to relax. But he couldn’t. Back and forth both teams went with nothing going in. Shots went too high, bounced off the backboard, or hit the rim. Darnell had the ball. Jamie signalled for the pass, but two Glencoe players stepped in front of him. Darnell drilled it over to Cody instead. Cody reached for it, but Elbows knocked it to the floor and then sent it ahead to the tall Grizzlies forward, who faked left, dribbled right, and sank the basket. No!

  Cody grabbed the ball from the inbound pass and whizzed it over to Darnell who took a long shot.

  No good. Cody glanced at the bench. Nick was still sitting and not up at the scorers’ table, wanting to be let back in the game. Cody still had time.

  Glencoe’s guard prepared to inbound the ball.

  Cody sized up the distance to the closest Grizzlies player. Cody bolted the same time as the ball was released and stole it mid-pass. He glanced left, then right, but couldn’t see a green Chargers jersey anywhere. The Chargers were still in defensive mode. Cody headed for the corner, then turned sharply to avoid Goliath. Elbows leaned into him just inside the key, blocking his path to the net. There was nothing else to do. Cody let go with a hook shot. The ball bumped the backboard and dropped in.

  Coach’s eyes bugged out, amazed. “Wall-y! Wall-y!” shouted his teammates
from the sideline. Jamie clapped him on the shoulder.

  Cody couldn’t believe the shot had gone in. He was so pumped, he was shaking. Breathe, he told himself, breathe. He saw Nick still on the bench, stone-faced. Izaak was up at the scorer’s table, and the ref waved him in.

  Not now, thought Cody. Not yet! But it wasn’t Cody who was being pulled from the court.

  “Raj,” called Coach Evans. “Come take a breather. This game’s tighter than the kernels on a corn cob.”

  The Grizzlies were coming back now. Cody vowed they wouldn’t get past him. He backed up three steps and stood his ground. The guy facing him was a high dribbler. Cody reached in and knocked the ball away. In a flash, he was on it, but there was Elbows grabbing for it at the same time. Cody felt like he’d slipped inside a bubble, and suddenly he realized why. This was the moment in his dream, the moment he scored that unbelievable basket.

  “I want the ball,” breathed Cody. He shut his eyes, gritted his teeth, and wrestled the ball away before

  the referee could call a jump. He could feel the

  energy of the ball in his hands as he streaked down the court. It was time for his own cool moves. Everything compressed into slow motion — one boy, one ball, one chance. Cody could feel the sweat on his forehead and his heart pumping. He could hear the roar of the crowd calling his name as he went up, up, up for the shot. No one got in his way. He twisted, spun, reached and pitched a perfect toss into the basket. Swish.

  He didn’t even need the backboard. Yes!

  Cody floated back down to the gym floor, grinning widely. But the silence did not give way to cheers. There were no shouts, no high-fives, no back thumping from his teammates. He glanced at the scoreboard. Tied? Why had they given the points to the Grizzlies?

  Unless . . . oh no! Cody had scored on the wrong end.

  He couldn’t believe it. The wrong end! How could that happen? In the battle for the ball with Elbow-man he must have got himself turned around. His dream moment had turned into a nightmare.

  Coach Evans called a time out. All Cody’s energy drained away in a second. He was the Wall? He would help them win this game? He’d failed them all. The crowd had been shouting his name all right — telling him to go the other way! He slumped down on the court.

  He wanted to disappear, have the wood floor swallow him whole. Nearby, Nick was grinning.

  Coach Evans pasted on a tight smile and made a joke about it being kind of Cody to want to help the other team. No one laughed.

  “C’mon,” said the coach. He cuffed Cody on the shoulder. “There’s no need to go bananas. It happens.

  Everyone just take a deep breath now. It was an

  incredible shot!”

  He asked Cody to go back out and put one just like it in on the other end, but Cody refused.

  He knew what the coach wanted him to do, get back on the horse and all that stuff. But this cowboy wasn’t interested. His riding days were over. He was

  packing up the saddle and hanging up his spurs. Cody shook his head, bit his lip and stared hard straight ahead.

  “I’m ready,” crowed Nick, getting up off the bench. He put weight on his ankle like nothing had

  happened. He pulled his sock up over the tape and tousled Cody’s hair like he was a toddler. “Guess I just have to do everything myself.” Nick rolled his eyes dramatically and flashed his teammates a wide smile. “Take a break for a bit, Mr. Big Shot,” he said to Cody, tossing the ice pack into Cody’s lap. Nick took his place on the court. Coach Evans didn’t stop him.

  When they shifted into the final quarter, Cody wasn’t even looking to sub back in.

  18

  Permission Denied

  Cody no longer cared about what was going on in the gym around him, not the clock, not the scoreboard, not the ref’s whistle. It took everything he had to keep from walking out the door. He was going to stay where he was until the game ended, but then he was through with basketball. He was done, finished. It wasn’t fun anymore and he wasn’t any good at it. He would start a hoops-free life.

  Cody stared at the floor and slowly, slowly a wave of relief began to wash over him. His breathing slowed down and became more even. He began to think of all the other things he’d have time for now that he wouldn’t have basketball anymore. He could spend more time with his friends, go to the library with Talal and help Charlie with the worm farm. Maybe he could spend a little more time on his homework. His mom would like that, and his teachers would love it. And didn’t the school have a chess club? Maybe he could join that. He didn’t know how to play chess, but that didn’t matter. He clearly didn’t know how to play

  basketball either and they’d still let him on the team.

  How could Cody have made such a mistake? Nick never made mistakes. Neither did Darnell or Jamie. Malik wasn’t their strongest shooter but he at least knew which basket to aim at. None of the Grizzlies were having troubling figuring that out either. Cody was just no baller. Cody being on the team must have been linked all along to Coach Evans getting Cody’s mom to be assistant coach.

  Cody shook his head. His thoughts were interrupted when he was jostled on all sides by a bunch of sweaty, panting guys in green. Excellent, the game was over and he could finally make his exit. He stood, glanced up at the board and groaned. The score was 45–44, for Glencoe. Eleven seconds left on the clock and the Chargers were down by one. Coach Evans had called another time out.

  “Okay,” Coach whispered excitedly. “Huddle up, everybody. You too, Cowboy. Hustle. We’ve got a chance, but somebody’s got to put a shot in.” He looked around the circle, his eyes resting briefly on each of his players.

  “I think Cody should shoot.”

  Cody had been sure that things could not get any worse than they were at that moment. But when

  he heard those words come out of his mom’s mouth, he knew it wasn’t true. Cody shot a look in her direction, ready to fire daggers at her. Even she was treating Cody like a joke. But he saw she had her clipboard pressed to her chest and her lips were puckered the way they did when she was thinking her way through something. She was not even being his mom at the moment, he realized. She was being the assistant coach.

  “Everyone else is tired,” she went on. “I think it’s too much to ask of Nick right now. Plus I think they’ll be watching for either him or Jamie. We need to catch them off guard. I think Cody could put it in.”

  Cody glanced over at Coach Evans. He was staring at Cody, eyebrows raised. “Well, Cowboy, it sounds like you have a job to do. Ready?”

  “Me?” No way! This is nuts, Cody thought. He should have left at half-time. Cody began to shake

  his head no when he got the feeling someone else was

  staring at him. Izaak had his hands on his knees and was looking at the floor. Dan and Eric were both looking at the clock. Jamie had his eyes closed and was taking deep breaths. Talal was tying his ridiculous shoes. Cody slowly scanned the circle until his eyes locked onto

  another pair. Darnell. Darnell? Since when did Darnell have anything to say?

  “You did it before,” Darnell said evenly. “You could do it again.”

  Again? Oh yes, he could do it again. He could mess things up any day of the week. Cody looked away, but he knew Darnell was still staring at him. And then Cody became aware of something else. Nick was

  staring at Darnell. He wasn’t smiling. In fact, he looked almost . . . angry?

  Something began to stir inside of Cody. It began mixing, turning, churning with his desire to run from the room and made him feel weird inside. His mom thought he could sink the winning basket? Coach Evans was willing to let him try? Darnell “D-man” Davies was backing him? What was going on? What was he going to do? He felt like he might just throw up right there.

  Cody sat heavily on the bench. The game was on the line. Should he sit tight or take the risk? He felt hot and he couldn’t see straight. No, t
here was no way he could do this. One of the others could make the play. But something tugged at the corner of his brain. It was Yeo-Jin’s reminder that there was an answer to

  every problem.

  What was it Coach had said earlier, before this game even got going? Nothing can bother you without your permission? Yeah, that was it. Nothing could bother him without his permission. Well then, no go, permission denied. He’d made a mistake. So what? He was a good basketball player. His mom knew it, his coach knew it, his teammates knew it, he knew it. Who cared if Nick didn’t believe it? It was time the Grizzlies knew it. This was no time to be timid, no time to go nuts. He had no more time to look at all the angles. There weren’t any. He knew what he had to do. The raft was in the water. It was time to put his paddle in. This was his team. Cody looked up just as the ref blew his whistle to signal the end of the time out.

  “Okay. Let’s do it,” Cody said.

  Coach Evans didn’t have to scratch out the play on his board. It was simple. Darnell would pass the ball in to Cody. Cody would put it through the mesh. There was no time for anything else. Cody waited at the

  sideline, ready to sub in at the ref’s nod.

  As the Chargers walked onto the court, Darnell tilted his head very slightly in the direction of the

  basket closest to them. “We’re going for that one,” he coughed.

  “Right.”

  “Take your best shot.”

  Cody still felt like he was going to throw up.

  19

  Big Shot

  Eleven seconds was lots of time. Cody positioned himself at the top of the key and watched as the Grizzlies team headed toward the spot just left of the basket where Nick waited. They thought the ball was going to Spin-man.

  It was a good guess. And it was exactly what Cody needed

  them to think.

  Darnell had the ball at the sideline. The ref blew his whistle, signalling Darnell to put the ball into play. The pass was good and hard. It stung Cody’s hands as he caught it. Setting his lips in a firm line, Cody tried to shut out everything else. He had the ball. He had the right basket. He took two steps and went up for the shot. Up, up and then, just before Cody could release the ball, a tan Grizzlies jersey blurred in front of him. Something hard and sharp drove straight into his face. Cody had no doubt that the number on that shirt was 24. Elbow-man had struck again.