Leverage (43 page)

I jam my hands into my coat pockets, wish I'd spoken sooner, but know that at the time it felt impossible, felt like speaking was a death sentence.

“Danny.” Coach Nelson steps closer and puts his arm around my neck, headlocking me in a hug. “What you did tonight, what you faced down in that locker room, took more courage than most people ever muster. Being a hero usually isn't much fun. It's terrifying, most of the time, right up until the point you make it out safe. It's being scared to do the right thing and doing it anyway. You remember that next time you're frightened.”

Coach Nelson lets me out of the headlock and I step back, embarrassed but not really minding the hug. “Now I need you to do one more thing,” Coach says, and this time he grabs Bruce's neck and pulls him closer so the three of us make our own little huddle. “I need you both to come back to the gym—no more missing practice. You lead by example. Face whatever demons you've got about coming into that place and start working hard again.”

Coach reaches up and grabs my neck, bending down so he can look both of us in the eye.

“Deal?” Coach asks. I glance at Bruce, who nods his head.

“Deal,” Bruce says.

“Deal,” I agree.

T
here's less than two minutes to play and we're up by ten points when Warner takes the snap and feeds me the ball. I follow my lead blocker in the line, Ben Yallese, substituting for Jankowski, and he smashes open a nice hole for me. Eight yards later, I've punched through the end zone with my legs charging hard. The referee's whistle tells me what I already know. Touchdown. My knee still pinches, but adrenaline's great for dulling the pain.

I toss the ball to the ref and let my teammates jump on me in celebration. When they finish and jog off the field, I have the end zone to myself for only a moment before we need to kick the extra point. Now's my chance.

I lift my arms up in preparation.

K
urt Brodsky scores a last touchdown to ice the game and the stands erupt as his teammates rush him in hugs and helmet slaps. As the team jogs back toward their sideline, though, Kurt stays in the back of the end zone. He raises both hands high up in the air, pauses, then lowers his arms as if prepping and ... and ... flings himself backward while his legs power his big body up and over. Kurt Brodsky, in full helmet and pads, does a supremely ugly-beautiful back handspring that barely gets him around to his feet again. Awful landing aside, the handspring is still pretty cool. The stadium explodes all over again as the stunt is lovingly captured by Tina in slow motion up on the Jumbotron. He still needs to keep his elbows locked when he throws the trick, but I'll make sure to remind him sometime before the championship game.

“He made it!” I whisper.

“
We
made it!” a boy's voice, no longer mine, corrects me before vanishing forever.

F
ortunately for me, manuscripts still get plucked from slush piles by dedicated agents and acquired by great editors.
Leverage
was one such manuscript. To all aspiring writers out there I offer this small bit of advice: Be tenacious! Never give up! Keep the faith! This book's journey began with the wonderful Catherine Drayton of InkWell Management taking a chance on my manuscript. It continued with that great editor I referenced, Julie Strauss-Gabel, acquiring and further shaping the story. Along the way,
Leverage
received wonderful support from Patricia Burke at InkWell Management and a very real vote of confidence from two fine gentlemen, Stanley Jaffe and Dan Rissner. A big “Thanks” goes to the hardworking staff at Penguin/Dutton for helping make
Leverage
even better than I thought possible. Everyone else that I mention here has either supported, inspired, encouraged, or influenced me while I pursued the hard work of writing to get published: Mom & Dad Cohen (this goes without saying, but I'm saying it anyway), Karen Gayle (ditto), Barbara Cohen, Mohammed Naseehu Ali, Charise Hayman, Melannie Gayle, Denise Pinkley, Nathan Trice, the Gayle family, the Colonnese family, the Burch family, David Brind, Kent Frankstone, Michael Jones, Suzanne Lampl, Gary Laurie, Ben Speaker, and Stephen (Mr.) Schwandt.