Matthew and the Stone

by Bob Blanton

  “Well, you won’t get the pleasure much longer. The coach will pull me if I don’t pull it together.”

  “It’s not your fault. They’re cheating.”

  “It’s always the quarterback’s fault,” Tyler interrupted Matthew; then he did a double take, “What do you mean they’re cheating?”

  “They’re stealing our plays.”

  “No way, how could they?” Tyler was very interested.

  “I’m not sure, but I’ve been watching their sidelines. There’s a guy over there on a cell phone signaling in stuff to number 55.”

  “He’s probably just signaling in the defensive set from the coach. Don’t you know anything about football?”

  “No he’s not. The coach is signaling in the defensive set himself to number 50.”

  “I don’t believe you. You’re just jerking my chain.”

  “Think about it. The only thing that’s worked was the busted play. That’s because they knew were the ball was supposed to be and you ran the other way.”

  “I don’t know. What can I do about it?”

  “Easy, the next play the coach sends in call another one. Call one that will work against a defense set for the one the coach calls.”

  “The coach will kill me.”

  “Just do it once, you’ll see. Otherwise it’s your funeral.”

  “Okay, I’ll try it, but if you’re setting me up, you’re dead.”

  “The Trojans just scored again. With the score 14-3 you’d better hope it works.”

  Tyler ran over to retrieve his helmet and ran back to the sideline. He stood beside the coach to get the first play for the series.

  The Cougars took the kickoff back to their 35-yard line and Tyler ran back on the field to start the offense. Matthew had rejoined his friends in the stands.

  “What were you and Tyler talking about?” Emily asked. “I hope you weren’t teasing him.”

  “Do I look like I have a death wish? He’s steaming mad.”

  “What were you saying then?” Brianna asked.

  “Just watch,” Matthew said.

  Tyler took the handoff and faded back for a pass. He kept fading back as the Trojans came at him with a vengeance. Just before number 55 plowed into him, Tyler lofted the ball to his tight end for a screen. There was nobody for over 20 yards except Cougars as the tight end ran down the field. He managed to gain 35 yards before he was tackled.

  “He would have scored if he hadn’t run out of gas,” Brianna yelled, jumping up and down.

  “Finally,” Emily said as she clenched her fist.

  Matthew saw the coach throw his headset to the ground as the play unfolded. He seemed to cool off a little after the tight end gained 35 yards. He grabbed the receiver to tell him the next play. The receiver ran the play in to Tyler. Tyler grabbed the receiver and said something to him before he turned to the huddle.

  On the next play, Tyler took the snap. He rolled right like a sweep with the halfback trailing him. Then suddenly he pulled up and passed the ball down the sideline to a wide-open receiver. The receiver scored easily. Everyone in the stands roared, including Matthew.

  “See, I said you just had to watch,” Matthew said.

  “What did you say to him?” Emily asked.

  “I told him they were stealing our plays. He just had to change the plays up. He’s turned their cheating to our advantage.”

  “How did you know?” Emily asked.

  “I just watched what was happening. They were too prepared for our plays. Then I saw this guy talking on a cell phone. The guy next to him was sending signals to number 55.”

  “That makes sense. But you should see the coach and Tyler having it out.” Jason pointed to Tyler and the coach arguing.

  “I guess he’s not too happy about Tyler not calling the plays he sent in,” Matthew said. They could see the two in a heated discussion. Tyler pointed at Matthew and continued his argument with the coach. Jason was watching them through his binoculars.

  “It looks like the coach is calming down,” Jason said. “He’s called Timmy, the water boy, over. I’ll bet he’s going to send him up to the press box.”

  “I assume they’re going to get their signals straight,” Matthew said.

  After the Cougar kickoff, the Trojans had been struggling. Now it was third down and seven from the Trojan 40-yard line. The Cougars held, and set up to receive the Trojan punt. The coach and Tyler were looking much happier with each other. After the Cougars returned the punt to their 25-yard line, Tyler ran onto the field with the offense.

  “They’ll have to strike quickly,” Matthew said. “It won’t take them long to figure out we’re on to them.”

  The first play from scrimmage was a handoff to the running back, who ran right into number 55.

  “Hey, what’s going on,” Jason said. “That was a two-yard loss.”

  “I bet the coach is leading them on,” Matthew said. “He wants them to believe that their system is still working. That’s pretty smart.”

  The Cougars set up for the next play. Tyler took the snap and handed to the halfback. When the halfback got to the line of scrimmage, he turned and tossed the ball back to Tyler.

  “All right, the old flea-flicker,” Jason yelled. Tyler faded back and threw the ball down the sideline. The receiver had gotten behind the Trojan defense. He caught the ball and raced down the sideline all alone. He slowed down as he approached the end zone and just waltzed in.

  “Yes!” Brianna and Emily screamed together. They were both clenching their fists.

  “Look at that,” Jason said pointing to the other sideline. “The Trojan coach was screaming at number 55.”

  “I assume he’s a little upset with the defense on that last play,” Matthew said. “I’m sure the rest of the game is going to be played straight up.”

  “Too bad,” Brianna said, “We should have milked it longer.”

  “I think the coach is happy with a three-point lead and a fair game ahead,” Emily said. “He’s not one to take unfair advantage.”

  “It’s almost halftime,” Matthew said. “Does anyone want something from the concession stand? It’ll be mobbed in a few minutes.”

  Jason and Matthew took the orders from the rest and made the trip to the concession stand to get refreshments.

  The Cougars won the game 31 to 21. Tyler had another great game with four touchdown passes. On Friday in school he walked by Matthew and said, “Thanks.” He barely looked at Matthew and just walked on without saying anything else. Matthew scratched his head wondering what would be next between Tyler and him.

  Dog Fight

  It was 8:30 Saturday morning. Matthew’s mother was yelling up the stairs at him.

  “Matt, do you have Jessie ready? We need to get going.”

  “We’re coming,” Matthew shouted down the stairs. “What’s the rush?”

  “We’re supposed to meet Uncle George and Aunt Jane for lunch. It’s a long drive to Newport Beach.”

  Matthew carried Jessica down the stairs. “We can take the toll road,” he said. “It should only take 1½ hours to get there. Why can’t they come down to see us?”

  “They just got into LA last night so they didn’t feel up to driving down today. Besides, they don’t like to drive.” She walked over to the bottom of the stairs to grab Jessica. “You know they live in Boston and never drive anywhere,” she said.

  “So why didn’t they just fly to San Diego?” Matthew asked, wondering why it was always so difficult when they tried to visit Aunt Jane and Uncle George.

  “George is going to a medical conference in Newport next week. They came out early so we could visit,” his mother said. “They want to take us to see the Queen Mary and the Long Beach Aquarium.”

  “Oh yeah, what kind of conference is it again?”

  “It’s on geriatrics. Since his patients are starting to really age, George wants to keep up on the latest issues; besides it makes the vacation tax deductible.”

  “You
sure it’s not because he’s getting older? I’m sure he needs to figure out how to treat himself and Aunt Jane.”

  “Be nice, 58 is not old.” She pushed Matthew toward garage. “Now go and get into the car.”

  As they opened the door to the garage, they heard screams coming from the street. The garage door muffled the screams, but even so they were loud. “What’s going on, it’s a little early for that kind of racket?” his mother asked as she pushed the button to open the garage door.

  “It’s probably the Layman twins; they’re always screaming and hollering about something.”

  Screams of “Not my baby, God not my baby,” came through the crack forming at the bottom of the garage door.

  “That’s Mrs. Maier,” Mrs. Brandt gasped. “Something must really be wrong.”

  “Ari probably fell off of his bike. She’s always so excitable.”

  Matthew ducked down into a low sideways limbo to get under the slowly rising garage door. As he looked out to the street, he saw two pit bulls fighting over something. Mrs. Maier was screaming and her 70-year-old mother was hitting one of the dogs with a broom while cursing at it in Yiddish. It took a second for Matthew to realize that the dogs were fighting over Ari. One dog had him by his bicycle helmet and the other was pulling on his foot. Matthew started toward the fracas, but then quickly retreated back into the garage. He rushed over to the tool rack; grabbed his large wooden staff and then ran back under the door and across the street.

  The door had now risen high enough for Mrs. Brandt to see. “Matthew, be careful!” she yelled as she watched her son rush over to the fighting dogs.

  Matthew grabbed the staff with his right hand about halfway up the 6-foot pole and his left hand on the butt end of it. As he drew into range of the dogs, he decided to aim for the dog that had ahold of Ari’s foot first, since he was hurting the boy. Ari’s bicycle helmet was protecting him from the other dog for now. Matthew planted his left foot in front of the dog, swinging the staff in an arc with his arms straight. He twisted his body as he shifted his weight forward. The staff whooshed through the air as Matthew brought it to a stop just below his left knee. The end of the staff struck the dog square in the head with a loud crack. The dog dropped straight down to the ground releasing Ari’s foot.

  Free of having to fight against the first dog, the second dog started dragging Ari by the helmet across the street. Matthew executed two quick crossover steps, sliding his right foot in front of his left to get within range of the dog. He executed the same move again. The staff whooshed through the air stopping with a loud crack as it struck the second dog on the head. The dog dropped, releasing Ari.

  Mrs. Maier rushed to her baby, gathering him up in her arms, sobbing. Ari had been screaming but now as he nestled to his mother he switched to a mournful sob.

  As Matthew stepped back to survey the scene, it was almost comical if it weren’t for the wounds on Ari. There was Jennifer’s mom in her flannel PJ’s and Mrs. Layman in her flowered muumuu and bunny slippers.

  Mrs. Maier’s mother walked over to Matthew. “Good boy,” she said in a heavy accent. She pulled Matthew to her to hug him. “Good boy,” she said as tears welled up in her eyes.

  “Jennifer, run and get my bag,” Jennifer’s mom said as she squatted down beside Mrs. Maier and started to examine Ari’s wounds. “He’ll be okay, Rachel. Don’t worry; Jennifer called 911 so an ambulance should be here soon.”

  Two police cars rounded the corner and came to a stop in front of everyone just as Jennifer returned with the bag. An officer got out of each car. The first one walked straight over to where Ari was lying. “Who called 911,” he demanded, “and what’s going on here?”

  Jennifer had just gotten back with her mother’s bag. “I called. Those two dogs got out and attacked little Ari. Then Matt came running over with his stick and knocked them out.”

  The second police officer, a woman, was examining the dogs. “Bill, both these dogs are dead. It looks like their skulls are split wide open.”

  “Where did the dogs come from?” the first officer asked.

  “From Mr. Farley’s yard over there,” Jennifer said turning and pointing across the circle at an open gate.

  The first officer nodded at the second, and she headed over to the gate.

  “Where is this Mr. Farley?” Officer Bill asked. “Is he home?”

  “He’s playing golf,” Mrs. Layman said. “He had a 7:00 tee time; he’ll probably be back around noon.”

  “Now let me get this down,” Officer Bill said, turning to Jennifer. “Did you see the whole thing?”

  “Yes,” Jennifer went on. “I was on my telephone kind of keeping an eye on the kids while they were playing.”

  “And your name is?”

  “Jennifer Reeves, I live over there and sometimes I baby sit for Ari.”

  “Go on,” the officer started writing in his note pad again. “Tell me exactly what you saw.”

  “Well” Jennifer started, “like I was saying, I was over there on my phone. The Layman twins were racing each other on their bikes and Ari was trying to keep up; of course he couldn’t with his training wheels and all. They were having a good time making the usual racket when all of the sudden the two dogs came racing out of Mr. Farley’s gate.”

  “Did you see them come out of the gate?”

  “Not really, but they were coming from over there.”

  “Go on.”

  “Anyway, they both hit Ari from the side knocking him off his bike,” Jennifer said. “He got up and tried to run, but they circled back and grabbed him just as he got to the grass. That’s when I called 911.”

  “That’s good. Now how did they attack the boy?”

  “One dog grabbed him by his bicycle helmet. The other grabbed his leg.” Jennifer turned to her mother, “Is Ari going to be okay?”

  “I think so,” Mrs. Reeves said as she continued to clean the wounds.

  “Then what happened?” the officer turned the page of his notebook.

  “Mrs. Maier’s mother came running over with her broom,” Jennifer said, “she’d been sweeping the sidewalk when it happened. She started yelling at the dogs in Yiddish and hitting one of them with the broom.”

  The officer looked at Mrs. Maier with a puzzled look.

  “And?”

  “The broom didn’t have any effect. The dogs kept pulling at poor Ari and growling. It was horrible, I felt so helpless.” Tears were welling up in her eyes as she remembered the horror of the attack. “That’s when Matt came running over and whack, whack it was over.”

  Finally, an ambulance came wailing down the street. Jennifer’s mom got up and motioned them to back up to where Ari was. She turned to the officer. “We need to get the boy to the hospital,” she said. “The wounds need thorough cleaning and I’ll have to get an x-ray of the leg; it might be broken.”

  “That’s fine, just let us know which hospital.”

  “And Mrs. Maier needs to come with us. Can you get her statement later?”

  “No problem, Mrs. …uh?”

  “Dr. Reeves, I’m Jennifer’s mom,” she said. “I’m going with them also. Jennifer can give you our phone number if you need to talk to me, although I didn’t see anything.”

  “That’s fine, you take care of the boy, we’ll get in touch,” the second officer said as she helped Mrs. Maier into the ambulance after Ari.

  Mrs. Reeves stood up and closed her bag. “Jennifer, tell your dad I’ll be at Scripps Memorial in Encinitas with Ari and Rachel.”

  “Okay.”

  The woman officer came back from across the street. “The latch on the gate has been pulled free. The post is rotten and the screws just came out. I’ll go take some pictures for documentation.” She went to the car, grabbed a camera and headed back to the gate.

  “All right, young man, let’s hear your story,” the officer turned to Matthew.

  “Well, it was just like Jennifer said. We were getting ready to go to Newport Beach when we
heard the kids screaming. I thought they were just playing around; the garage door was still down so we couldn’t see,” Matthew said. “Then we heard Mrs. Maier scream so I ducked under the garage door to see what was happening.”

  The officer wrote in his notebook.

  “I saw the dogs trying to pull Ari in two. Mrs. Maier’s mother was hitting at one with the broom. I ducked back into the garage to get my staff. Then I ran across the street and took the dogs out. I really didn’t mean to kill them, but I wanted to make sure they went down.”

  “I wouldn’t worry about the dogs. How do you know how to use that staff?”

  “I take Kung Fu and it’s one of the weapons we learn. I keep it in the garage since it’s so tall.”

  “Lucky for the kid you did. Now show me exactly what you did.”

  “I’m not sure I remember exactly, but I’ll try. Do you want me to do it slow or full speed?”

  “Both.”

  “Okay,” Matthew did a slow-motion repeat of his striking the dogs. “I ran up to the first one there and executed a Chow Sot like this,” he said as he swung the staff slowly. “Then I moved over to the second dog, he was starting to drag Ari so it took a couple of steps.” Matthew did two cross steps and executed a second Chow Sot with the staff. “That’s it.”

  “Good, now do it full speed,” the officer said.

  Matthew backed up to give himself room and repeated the moves at lightning speed. The staff made a whooshing sound as it came to rest, the tip vibrating, then three quick steps and an identical swing of the staff. “It’s just like we do it in the Chow Sot Staff set. It’s automatic.”

  “Well that’s pretty impressive power you demonstrated there. Anything else?”

  “Not really, Mrs. Maier ran to grab Ari and Jennifer’s mom started checking out his wounds. Then you showed up.”

  “Okay, did anyone else see the events?” The adults all shook their heads but the Layman twins answered in unison, “We did.”

  “I’ll interview her,” the officer pointed to the twin on the right, “you take her,” he motioned the other officer to the twin on the left. “If no one else has anything to add you can go home now.” The officer took the hand of the Layman twin and walked her over to the curb where he sat her down and started taking her statement.