Hometown Favorite: A Novel (46 page)

"Rosella, have you got my mother's engagement ring?" he
asked.

"It never leaves my side," she said, opening her purse and
retrieving it from a zippered side pocket. She placed it in his
hand, and Dewayne turned her hand over and slipped the ring
onto her finger.

"I pledge to you before God and Jesus and all the angels
and my mama and these precious children I will remain true to you till my last day on this earth. Somehow, we'll start over.
Somehow, we'll go on. And we'll do it together."

They held on to each other as though they were the last two
people on earth, a new Adam and a new Eve, fresh from the
Tree of Knowledge, made stronger through weakness, covered
in mercy's clothes, and facing together a new threshold.

Rosella carried the picnic basket into the vacant bleachers and
sat down to watch Jake put Dewayne through his morning paces
of stretching, passing drills, and wind sprints, and this after an
hour of strength and conditioning in the Springdale Tigers' weight
room. Jake had worked out a training schedule with the new head
coach of the Tigers that would not conflict with the team's use of
the weight room or field. While the team was in classes all the
facilities were available. Since Dewayne had not made public his
intentions about his future, they wanted to keep away from any
media attention, and the high school provided safe sanctuary.
There was no reason to build expectation only to crash in disappointment. He had endured enough public humiliation without
the media reporting on the failures to bounce back. It would be
better to discover what he could do without national scrutiny.

Dr. Macy had made it clear it would take years before the
medical profession would pronounce Dewayne cancer free,
but in the meantime, the focus was to overcome the physical
limitations of getting back into shape. Once Dewayne and Rosella returned from Los Angeles with the Caldwell blessing of
support for any direction they chose to take, Dewayne called
Coach Gyra for his approval. He told Dewayne his locker was
empty and waiting, but the team doctors would make the final
decision as to whether or not he could go back onto the field.
Dewayne only wanted the chance to earn his place on the team, and Gyra promised to give him every opportunity. The next
day the retraining of Dewayne Jobe began.

Rosella recognized the swagger of the tall African-American
man coming onto the field, wearing sunglasses and cap, and
approaching from out of the sun as Jake threw Dewayne some
short route passes. Jake did not have the arm to go much beyond
twenty-five yards, and Dewayne had not yet built the stamina
to venture much farther.

Rosella almost blurted out his name but covered her mouth
to allow whatever would happen to happen. Here was pro football's leading passer just five games into the season walking
toward his old high school coach. When Jake released his last
pass, Sly stepped beside him and whispered for him to tell
Dewayne to go for it.

"Go straight for the end zone. I think I've got the arm today,"
Jake shouted.

The look of shock on Jake's face made Rosella wonder how
he'd even managed to speak.

Dewayne released Jake's last pass while still jogging, and
without looking back or questioning Jake's command, his legs
kicked in and he started running full bore for the end zone.
The feeling was so exhilarating he did not care if Jake might
have overstated the potency of his arm. He was enjoying the
speed too much to care. Over the last weeks, his body had been
steadily building in strength, weight, dexterity, and agility, and
the thrill of traveling at such velocity was pure pleasure. He
had wondered if he ever might feel this sensation again.

Had not a faint familiar voice cried out for him to lookback,
the ball probably would have hit him in the head. For a moment,
he had been absorbed in the act of running, forgetting there had
been an original purpose for the sprint, and as he turned his head and raised his arms, the ball spiraled into his hands with
a force that carried him into the end zone and an impact with
the ground that took his breath away. He bounced for several
yards across the grass, and when he came to a stop, he raised
the ball in his hand to show he retained possession.

No way could Jake Hopper have thrown that pass unless
supported by gale force winds. The second the ball had touched
his hands he recognized the passer. No one had ever thrown
to him with such power and accuracy. Sly never cut him any
slack because he never doubted him, and this was Sly's way of
testing him. If he could catch a Sly Adams' pass, then maybe
there was hope for getting back into the game.

He lay on the ground, taking time to regain his breath. He
knew he had overexerted, but the feat was well worth it. He
was not completely ready for this burst of energy, but perhaps
just this once his body might not punish him for his eagerness.
A hand came into view and knocked the ball out of his grasp,
then seized his fingers and lifted him to his feet.

"Show-off," Sly said, and then he ran his hands up Dewayne's
arms and over his shoulders, kneading the muscles. The examination continued. He cuffed Dewayne's chest, poked his sides,
and did a quick, light jab to his abdomen. He slapped his thighs,
ran a finger down each calf, and squeezed his ankles.

"You trade in your Heisman for a policeman's badge?" Dewayne asked.

"No mush, my man. You got no mush" Sly rose from his
pat down. "You are a walking miracle"

"I've added over forty pounds since you last saw me," Dewayne said.

"Yeah, about that last time ... , Sly started, but Dewayne
cut him off at the knees.

"When you scrambled out my door chasing Rosella, I knew
then I hated you."

"I deserved to be hated"

"You still deserve to be hated."

"You'll get no argument," Sly said, the absence of cockiness
obvious to Dewayne. "Jake called and chewed me out"

"He's gotten a lot grumpier since he quit drinking," Dewayne
said.

"So I'm down here to help out;" Sly said. "It's my bye week"

"Then throw me some balls and stay away from my wife,"
Dewayne said and trotted back toward Jake.

Sly stayed in a hotel for the next seven days. Before and after
Dewayne's strength and conditioning time, Sly was on the
field, the two old friends running passing routes Jake had
drawn up. Passes were accurate, catches made, but there was
no small talk, no playful banter, no teasing. It was all business, and no invitations were issued to socialize at the end of
each day. Sly and Dewayne treated each other like strangers,
Sly unable to apologize for fear of seeming phony, Dewayne
fearful of hearing an apology and having to accept it. Rosella
was wise enough to stay out of the untouchable barrier they
had erected. She felt responsible in part just by her mere existence, and she never broached the subject when Dewayne
and Jake came home for dinner each afternoon after practice.
On the final day, Jake at last plowed a hole through the line
they had drawn.

"So how long are you going to punish your friend?" he asked
Dewayne.

"I deserve it, Jake," Sly said, opening the sack and dropping
in a pile of footballs one at a time.

"See? You heard him," Dewayne said, spiraling a football at
Sly with a fierce underhand pitch. "He deserves it."

"I call it cruel and unusual," Jake said. "You're on my field. I
never would have let you get away with it back in the day."

Sly and Dewayne hung their heads, all the better to take
the scolding.

"So have we got us a Mexican standoff or what?"

"That day in the hospital, I thought I was looking at the worst
of you," Sly began, raising his head to get into Dewayne's sight
line, but his friend would have none of it. "Come to find out I
was revealing the worst of myself. I didn't stick by you in your
hour of need. I would have tried to hustle Rosella if she'd let
me. I tell anyone who listens what a jerk I think you are, and
then I crawl in a hole too ashamed to come see you when the
truth comes out. Jake's the reason I'm here"

"Yeah, he saved my life too," Dewayne said, the frown on
his lips weakening.

"You boys have been caught in my sinister web," Jake said.
"You're my sons and I love you. Kiss and make up. We all know
life's too short."

Dewayne tossed the ball he was holding into the open sack,
and Sly let go of the corners. Their hands were empty.

I can't hold a grudge anymore," Dewayne said. "It's too
hard."

I The muscles in
can't bear the thought of your hatred."
Sly's face began to tremble, his tough countenance crumbling.
"I'm sorry, my brother. I'm so sorry." Dewayne took Sly into
his arms, and their combined bitter weeping echoed off the
stadium bleachers.

With all his medical records in tow and after one last checkup
with Dr. Macy, Dewayne and Rosella moved back to Houston
and bought a three-bedroom condominium in a gated community on the opposite side of the city from where they had
once lived. With the help of Detective Hathaway and his connection at the Treasury Department, cyberspace had opened
up, and their fortunes restored. Dewayne and Rosella were still
unsure if they could live in that city again and did not want to
make a huge investment in a home. What they were sure of
was Jake's place in this new family.

"It's time to hand you off to the experts," Jake said. "I'd be
in the way."

"I need you in my way for a lifetime," Dewayne said.

"Rosella is all you need"

"Jake, you're family. I've lost enough family. I don't want to
lose any more.'

Jake still wanted to protest until Dewayne pulled out the
blue teddy bear. "You think I'd leave this behind? How could
I leave you behind? You're the only connection to my history,
you and Sly. I don't leave that behind"

Jake blinked first, so they closed the two houses and left
the keys with a property management service that would care for the homes in their absence. They would make a decision
about the properties once they knew what the remainder of
this football season would mean to their futures.

The team doctors put Dewayne through another round of
examinations before they allowed him to go onto the practice
field. He also had to face the media attention his return brought
to the Stars. Avoidance was impossible.

"I just want to contribute to the team's success;' he told the
reporters assembled in the pressroom at the practice facility
on his first day back. "I appreciate Coach Gyra's confidence in
giving me a second chance"

The team accepted Dewayne back into their ranks like little
brothers welcoming home the big brother after a long absence. When Gyra announced the team doctors had cleared
Dewayne for practice, there was spontaneous applause in the
locker room.

Dewayne did no showboating during the first week. All he
wanted to prove to everyone, and most of all to himself, was
that he could just hold his own. He wanted to earn everyone's
trust. He wanted everyone to know his body was functional,
and they could count on him to do his job if called upon. The
first couple of games Dewayne dressed out but did not play.
They were road games so he did not have to face the Stars fans
until the third game, but like the response he received in the
locker room from his teammates, when his jersey was spotted
by a group of fans close to the bench, they began a rowdy chant
of "D-man" that was soon echoing throughout the stadium.