VIVERE
VIVERE
Chapter 7
“Xanadu on 3. 1, 2, 3.”
“XANADU!”
After a tough loss against Garfield in the SeaKing Tournament, the Xanadu boys’ basketball team has been enduring grueling practices for the past few days. With the Regionals in a week, Xanadu does not want to let a chance to make the state tournament, a feat that the school has not accomplished in over ten years, slip by. The seedings for the regionals will not be announced until after the play-in games are done, but Xanadu are expecting themselves to be at least a top 5 seed after strong performances in the regular season and the two tournaments.
“Hey, Danny! Hold up!” Coach Larson calls out from the other side of the gym. “Stop by my office before you leave today. I have something important to talk to you about.”
“Uh-oh,” Kyle nudges Danny. “You got into more trouble, didn’t you?”
“Excuse me? Who do you even think I am?” Danny retorts.
“Someone who got suspended from the team in his sophomore year for beating up the team captain. A Ron Artest wannabe that got ejected from a game in his junior year for hit-sticking a referee after he missed a foul call. Oh, and a quitter. After being stuck on the bench for the past three years because of upperclassmen and attitude problems, the dude finally gets the keys to the offense, only to throw everything away and quit the team entirely. What a waste of talent.”
“What the hell is this slander?! Who’s the guy who helped lead this team to its best season in over ten years?!”
“Chill, chill, I’m playing with you,” Kyle chuckles and pats Danny on the back. “You changed a lot, though. Ever since you came back to the team, there’s something different about you. I can’t put tongue on it. Have you started changing your underwear?”
“Man, fuck outta here!” Danny sucks his teeth and lightly shoves Kyle away.
“Yo, Cain! Get your ass over here and tell me more stories about our boy! I know you got a juicy one in stock.” Kyles waves at Cain who was walking past them.
“Huh?” Cain turns around. “What do you want?”
“Tell me some Danny stories like you always do! How about something like the time you hooked Danny up with a catfish? He tries to dedicate an entire game for an imaginary girl but ends up faceplanting on a wide-open dunk attempt instead.”
“That never happened,” Danny retorts.
“Um, I’ll pass. Maybe some other time,” Cain puts his head down and continues walking away.
“Speaking of people who changed, what happened with Cain? He’s been acting all gloomy lately that it’s killing the team vibe. I miss his old goofy ass.”
“Yeah…” Danny agreed, staring at Cain as he walked out of the gym.
Ever since that day they went to watch Cassius play, Danny has noticed that Cain has been acting odd. Instead of the high-energy individual that always messes with Danny, Cain has actively been avoiding him. Whenever Danny tried to visit Cain’s house, he would either get no answer at the door or his parents would tell Danny that “he is not feeling well.” The only time the two would be near each other was on the hardwood, but they still would not talk to each other. It was as if the person inside that body was no longer his best friend.
--
“Take a seat.”
“You need something, Coach?”
“Well, the other day I got this letter for you from the University of Idaho which reminded me of something. The season’s almost over, so I wanted to ask for an update on your future,” Coach Larsson leans forward and places his arms on the desk. “Have you decided where you’ll be playing next year?”
“Uh, no. Not yet, Coach. It’s a little overwhelming to choose from all these options.”
“Oh, I’m sure of it,” Coach lets out a hearty laugh. “Do you remember the last time the two of us talked in my office? You quit.”
“Yep, I remember that like it was yesterday,” Danny shamedly looks to the side.
“A lot has changed in the past two months, huh? Who would have thought that we’d be here now. We’re one game away from State, and it’s all thanks to you. I always knew you had potential, but I would have never imagined that you would turn out like this. Two months ago, you were a 0 star with no college offers. Now, you’re ranked top 50 in the nation. The team and I would not be in this position without you. Thank you, Danny.”
“I appreciate it and all, but isn’t it a little too early for that? We still got a couple more games left. The job’s not over yet. The job’s not…over…yet…huh” Danny stares at the ceiling lamp swaying back and forth.
“Danny? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m alright,” Danny responded. “I just remembered something.”
“What was it?”
“On that day after I left here, I met this kid who kept telling me something about ‘the job’s not done.’ He collapsed, and I took him to the hospital. When he woke up, he had amnesia. I wonder what this ‘job’ he was referring to.”
“You’re looking too deep into it,” Coach furrows his moustache. “It’s just a kid saying some stupid stuff.”
“I don’t know about that. You know like those Bible stories when an angel talks to someone and gives them commands from God? It was like that.”
“Now you’re talking nonsense,” Coach scoffs. “I always thought you had a loose screw in your head, but this is a new level coming from you.”
“Maybe I am crazy, but none of this would have happened if it wasn’t for that encounter with that kid. You should reserve a spot for him on the team when he reaches high school. He’s around 9 or 10 years old, but his basketball skills are downright scary. We’ve been searching for an AAU team for him for the past week because he got banned from YMCA for breaking another kid’s ankles so hard that he is hospitalized now.”
“This sounds absolutely ridiculous, but I’ll keep that in mind just because I like you.”
Ring-ring-ring!
“Sorry, I got a call,” Coach takes out his phone and answers the call. “John Larsson speaking. Yes, he’s sitting next to me right now. Do you want to talk to him now? Okay, I’ll tell him. It’s for you.”
Danny grabs the phone and puts it to his ear. “Hello?”
“Hi! Am I talking to Danny Mortisson?”
VIVERE
Scars wrote: ↑20 Apr 2024, 04:30“Uh-oh,” Kyle nudges Danny. “You got into more trouble, didn’t you?”
“Excuse me? Who do you even think I am?” Danny retorts.
“Someone who got suspended from the team in his sophomore year for beating up the team captain. A Ron Artest wannabe that got ejected from a game in his junior year for hit-sticking a referee after he missed a foul call. Oh, and a quitter. After being stuck on the bench for the past three years because of upperclassmen and attitude problems, the dude finally gets the keys to the offense, only to throw everything away and quit the team entirely. What a waste of talent.”
