Game (8 page)

I watched Tomas play. He and Ruffy were both working deep, changing the game, making Powell play in unfamiliar territory. I thought about the X that Fletch had made on the floor. For the first time Tomas was leading the scoring.

We got into the last quarter, and Sky fouled out
with four minutes to play and us behind by five. House looked at the bench and called Needham's number.

“No, man!” Ernie got into House's face. “Bring Drew in! I don't want to lose this game!”

“Don't tell me how to run this team!” House pushed Ernie away.

Fletch stepped between House and Ernie and whispered something in House's ear.

Whatever Fletch said pissed House off, because he gave him the hardest look I had ever seen.

House didn't say anything. He pointed to me and made a thumbing motion to the floor.

Fletch came over to me. “Don't disappoint yourself, Drew,” he said.

I checked the time. Four minutes and two seconds. I knew I had to bust it big-time.

One of their men was on the foul line for a one-and-one. He made both shots, which put them up seven. I brought the ball down with Ernie and watched Ruffy come out for the high pick. He wanted me to go around Frankie. I faked left and ducked in toward the pick. Somehow Frankie got past Ruffy and was on my case when I hit the paint.
Their center was already sliding over when I went up. Their big man wasn't that good, but he got all ball and slapped my shot away. The ref blew the whistle and signaled foul.

Their coach jumped up but it didn't do any good. I still got the shots and made them both. Back down to five.

They tried slowing the game, but we pressed them and got a close-guarding call and possession. Ernie threw up a three that banged off the rim, and Ruffy got the bound and threw it to Tomas. Tomas looked around and threw the ball out, almost giving it back, and we set up again.

This time Ernie cut across the middle, passed to Tomas, who handed it off to Ruffy, who made the layup.

They made a deuce on a short jumper and we cut it to three again on a long pass to Ernie from Ruffy when the guy guarding him fell asleep or something.

With a minute and five seconds left, Frankie brought the ball down again and passed it to Donald. Donald cut across the top of the key and got past Ernie, but Ruffy cracked him in his ribs with a
righteous elbow. He doubled up for a moment and then told Ruffy what he was going to do to him after the game. That was a joke, because nobody messed with Ruffy without a piece.

Donald missed the first half of the one-and-one and I copped the bound. We flew downcourt and I found myself one-on-one with Donald. I gave him a head fake to the left, then went to the left and almost by him when he hit me. The ball rolled off my fingertips, against the backboard, rolled on the rim, and fell through.

I was standing on the foul line when I realized that the ref hadn't called a foul.

We were still trailing by one and they had the ball. Frankie held one finger up. I glanced at the clock and saw there was too much time to hold the ball for one shot, so I figured it must be a play. They were spreading the floor, and we were playing tight around the key. I motioned for the guys to go out after the ball. We didn't want to give them a last shot if they were up, and we didn't want to give up a late three, either.

Ernie went after Frankie big-time, slapping at the ball with one hand while putting his hand on
Frankie's butt with the other. That messes with a lot of guys, but Frankie didn't give up the ball, so I left my man and double-teamed him.

Frankie passed the ball behind his back, through me and Ernie, to their center. Donald had slipped around me and could have cut for the deuce, but instead of that he tried to mess with Ruffy, I guess because Ruffy had fouled him before. I caught up with Donald just as their center threw up a sky hook from the foul line. I blocked Donald out and he went over my back, but the ball still came to me.

I passed it out to Ernie and we were heading downcourt. Ruffy got the ball at the foul line, faked a move, and spotted Abdul picking off Tomas's man. Ruffy passed the ball in, and Donald went toward the board. What happened was that Donald didn't think he could stop the shot but he was blocking out for the board. The only thing was that Tomas didn't shoot the ball.

“Shoot!” Ernie shouted.

Tomas froze, looking around. I got to him and snatched the ball from his hand and went up, releasing the ball just as the buzzer sounded. The game was over. I turned as I came down and saw
the referee signaling that the basket counted. We had won.

The Chargers were heading off the floor, fists pumping, when I felt something grab my arm. I was off-balance as I was spun around.

“What did you do that for!” It was Tomas.

I had never seen Tomas mad before, but I didn't care if he was mad or not. I was being cool when I turned away again, and he was being very uncool when he spun me around again.

“I asked you a question!” he yelled into my face. “When I ask you a question, you answer me!”

“Later for you, fool!”

Tomas started toward me again, and Ruffy grabbed him around the waist, lifted him off the ground, and slammed him to the gym floor. He started to get up and Abdul pushed him down again and told him to chill before he got killed.

By this time Fletch and Mr. Barker, who had been at the game, had rushed over and were pushing us toward the locker room.

“C'mon, guys! C'mon!” Mr. Barker was big and strong. “Everybody cool down.”

I didn't know what was bugging Tomas. We had
won. House came over and knelt next to him on the floor. He looked all right to me, and I started toward the locker room.

“What's his problem?” Ruffy asked.

I shrugged. Tomas seemed to be tripping, but I didn't know why.

In the shower it was the old team, joking around and talking through the game. Sky found out he had five assists and was making sure that everybody knew that.

“That's how Telfair got to the NBA,” he said. “He made all those assists in the All-Star Game. You remember that from the DVD?”

House had made sure everybody on the team had the DVD and knew how a street dude from Brooklyn had made it to the NBA by hard work.

Tomas didn't shower; neither did Colin. They were waiting in House's office while the team got dressed. House called me and Ruffy in and told us to sit down. Mr. Barker was there too, leaning against the wall, looking good in his gray silk suit and yellow tie.

“I'm thinking of suspending both of you for the last games,” House said. “I think you're trying to
start racial discord on this team.”

“Yeah, I am,” I said. “That's why I ran up behind him and spun him around and yelled in his face. Or was that him putting his hands on me?”

“Why did you take the ball from me?” Tomas said.

“Because I don't like guys from Prague,” I said.

“And I don't like guys from Africa,” Tomas came back. “You think you got all the moves and you're the only one who can play basketball. But your moves don't make you the man. I can play as well as you can. I see you and I'm not impressed.”

“Yeah, and you're all-world, huh?”

“I think everybody should apologize to everybody else and start enjoying the win,” Mr. Barker said. “So why don't you guys just shake hands and move on?”

“I don't tolerate fighting on my team,” House said. “I haven't decided what I'm going to do about this, and I'm the one running this team.”

“
We
haven't decided yet,” Mr. Barker said, putting the emphasis on
we
. “And I'm the one running this school. Right now we're all going home, or at least we're going to leave the building.”

House wasn't happy with that, but we all left.

It was cold as me and Ruffy made our way down into the valley. I thanked him for getting my back.

“I needed to slam somebody anyway,” he said. “Something to talk about instead of Tony.”

“How's he doing?” I asked.

A skinny dude with crack-shiny eyes stopped us, let us glimpse a watch, and shoved it back into his pocket. “You need a Rolex?” he asked, looking around. “Fifty dollars.”

“Where am I going to get fifty dollars?” Ruffy asked.

“Ten dollars because you look like a right-on brother,” Shiny Eyes said.

“I ain't got it, my man.” Ruffy held his hands up as we walked by.

“Poor-ass punks!”

“So what you think about Tomas?” I asked as we crossed the street.

“He might have to get his butt kicked to realize this is our hood and not his,” Ruffy said. “When people get stuff handed to them too easy, they think they deserved it.”

I hadn't thought of it that way. Tomas probably figured he was just supposed to get to Baldwin and take over the team.

I got home and Jocelyn was standing on a chair in the kitchen running her mouth. Mom signaled for me to sit down. I didn't want to, but I did want to hear what Jocelyn was up on the chair for.

“…So, my loyal subjects, I have had to make a difficult and painful decision. Now many of you might wonder why a perfect person like me has to make hard decisions….”

“Jocelyn, say what you have to say, please,” Mom said.

“I have passed the test for Stuyvesant High School and now must decide if I am to remain at Baldwin—”

I put my hands out and Jocelyn slapped me five. Stuyvesant was big-time to math and science nuts, and Jocelyn had wanted to go there ever since she was in the fifth grade, so I knew what “painful” answer she was going to come up with.

Mom listened to the whole speech, smiling and nodding her head just the way Jocelyn knew she would. Later, when Jocelyn came banging on my
door—like I knew she would—I asked her to spare me the dramatics.

Jocelyn said, “As I was saying to Mae Jamison the other day—you know me and her are like this?”

“You and the first black woman astronaut? I should have known it.”

“Yeah, anyway, I was telling Mae that I was ready to take my place in the space program. And I'm starting at Stuyvesant.”

“Why don't you launch yourself from your room?” I asked.

She gave me a wink as she left. The girl was okay.

 

It was almost ten o'clock when Mom opened the door and told me that there was a phone call for me.

“It's that boy who came here that day,” she said.

When I got to the phone, I heard Tomas and somebody, probably his mother, talking in some foreign language. I listened for a while but I couldn't understand anything, so I said hello.

“Hello, this is Tomas Dvorski,” he said.

“Tell him you're sorry,” I heard his mother say in the background.

“Why you take the ball from me?” he asked.

“Time was running out,” I said. “Why didn't you shoot the ball?”

“I was waiting for the last second,” Tomas said. “Then you took the ball.”

“Hey, we won,” I said.

“You don't do that again or I won't play with you,” he said.

“Say you're sorry!” came again in the background.

“Don't play,” I said. “I don't care.” Then I hung up.

“What was that all about?” Mom asked.

“Nothing,” I said.

Tomas had me pissed. Anytime anybody gets really mad at me, it makes me really mad at them, too. In a way I could dig where he was coming from, because I did take the ball from him. But I didn't think he was waiting for the last minute. His inside game wasn't all that hot, so his shot wasn't going to be a sure thing and he had to know it. The dude just froze. Still, he wanted the chance and I knew where that was coming from. He was talking from his gut, and I was down with that.

Lying across my bed, I was thinking about Tomas's mother telling him to apologize. He was
mad at me because he thought I was dissing his game, and I was mad at House because I thought he was dissing my game. Something had gone down between Fletch and House during the game, and they were dealing with each other. It was like everybody had their own thing going and it all mattered big-time but it was all different.

If Tomas had taken the ball from me, I might have punched his lights out. Maybe I shouldn't have taken the ball. But then, maybe, we wouldn't have copped the W.

The next day in school there was some back-and-forth about how Ruffy had put Tomas on the ground, but I stayed away from it. I was trying to be cool. Like my man Othello, I was trying to be bigger than the small stuff.

The second period ended and I was going toward the media center when I saw Tomas in the hallway. He stopped and glared at me as I came near him. I guessed that was supposed to mean something. I stopped a few feet from him and glared back.

“I'm getting tired of you,” he said.

“If you got something you need to say with your hands,” I said, “speak up or get out my face.”

I think he was measuring me, wondering if he could take me. I had an answer for him if he had the nerve to put the question out there. Hell, no.

He walked away, but he was ready. He wasn't backing down, just not dishing in school.

 

Practice. House was cutting daggers at me like he wanted to do me some serious harm. We didn't have any drills, just worked on getting the ball inbounds and ran a few plays off the high pick with Ruffy and Abdul taking turns at center. I wondered if House was going to start Abdul. Abdul was okay, but he wasn't big enough to play center, and he wasn't as good as Ruffy anyway.

Fletch came over to me at the end of practice. When House saw him start to talk to me, he called him. Fletch said he'd see him in a minute.

“Now!” House shot back.

Fletch turned his back to House and put his arm around me. “Don't let what's happening off the court get on the court and mess with your game,” he said.

“Whatever.”

“And I said the same thing to Tomas,” he said. Then he walked away.