Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 105398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 527(@200wpm)___ 422(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 527(@200wpm)___ 422(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
“Will do.” I said and hung up.
I didn’t text Gabe though. The bike was too important. After Dougie’s death last year, a pall seemed to hang over the group. There was still joy, but all the lightheartedness that Dougie brought with him when he entered the room was gone. The construction of the bike seemed to bring Dougie back to us, if only by bringing his friends back together, laughing and telling old stories that involved him. Pulling those memories to the forefront, and painting or constructing them into the bike.
Instead of interrupting, I got busy. A football player came in with what looked like heat stroke and a concussion. He must have passed out, and then tackled once unconscious. In the Texas sun, it was a very real thing to have heat stroke, even when all you were doing was a little gardening in the shade. It could get up to one hundred and ten on a summer day, and with the humidity added to that, we could possibly have a head index of one hundred and twenty. This was no laughing matter, and I lectured the coaches daily on giving multiple water breaks every hour. Being in full pads only ratchets up the possibility of heat stroke. Every year athletes died of heat exposure, and I would be damned if I had that happen to me.
The paramedics were called, and I explained the situation to them just before they carted him off in the ambulance. I watched them exit the college parking lot, and start towards Longview with their lights and sirens going. I took a few deep slow breaths before I marched over to the football field to give the coach a piece of my mind. I failed to notice that I was no longer alone. It never crossed my mind to not go outside and say something to that little shit head of a coach.
I marched through the practice field, interrupting the plays that were being ran. Each and every player gave me a wide birth. Must have seen the look on my face, because I was livid. Spying the little prick across the field, I made a beeline straight for him. He saw me coming and called a halt to practice.
“Water break!” he yelled.
All the players jogged over to the opposite side of the field and crowded the two coolers full of water.
“How many times do I have to tell you? Water breaks once an hour! Moreover, I know it’s over 104 out here. You’re supposed to call practice when it reaches over one hundred! I’m going to have your job for this. That boy is lucky to be alive, and its no thanks to you!” I yelled, getting right up in his face.
Coach Martin was forty-five, and thought he was God’s gift to everyone. He was a slimy bastard and didn’t care about anything but making himself look good. I wasn’t bluffing when I told him I would have his job. The athletic trainer had a lot of pull, and I was good friends with my boss. He would know that I would never lie about something so serious.
“I’ll call practice when I feel like calling practice, and not a second sooner. So how about you trot your tight ass back to the gym where you belong, and leave this to the big boys who actually know what they are doing?” he said snidely.
“Know what you are doing? What a joke. You don’t know your ass from your face. You’re only looking out for yourself out here. These boys look up to you for guidance, and when you push them this hard, they will break. What will you do when you have no players to play because you were too stupid to call practice when you were supposed to?” I seethed.
Coach Martin didn’t take too kindly to my belittling him in front of his assistant coaches and the players. He started to step into me when he was halted by a very low and dangerous voice.
“Do not touch her. If you even think about it, I’ll rip the jokes you call nuts off and feed them to you.” A familiar voice said directly behind me.
I whirled around and saw Gabe standing straight behind me. He was in a pair of worn jeans that had grease stains all over them, and a black t-shirt that I’m sure had more of the same. He had on a Texas Ranger’s ball cap pulled low on his head and a pair of Ray Ban’s covering those eyes I loved so much.
His mouth was set in a grim line, and I knew that this was going to escalate if I didn’t do something to avert his attention. Tearing my eyes away from him, I focused on the other forty people.
Standing behind me as well was the entire football defensive line, and they looked pissed. Jesus. How was this coach not bawling in his own puddle of tinkle? If I’d seen the crew that I had at my back standing against me I’d be hauling ass in the opposite direction.
“Alright boys, it’s time to call it a day.” I said to them. “You know better. Y’all should have said something to him. There’s a thermometer right by the water coolers. I fully expect one of y’all to come see me if this ever happens again. The next time it could be you who has a heat stroke, and you might not be as lucky as Jason was today.”
Walking towards Gabriel, I stood up on my tiptoes, gave him a peck on the cheek, and started back across the football field. As the head athletic trainer at the college, I had other obligations besides the football team. I had two other trainers under me, as well as three assistants.
One of said assistants, June, was at the gym door hopping from foot to foot looking quite anxious. She was one of my prized pupils as well. She was also in love with Kale. I’m not sure where they stood now that he was back in the gang, but I knew a love like that doesn’t just quit because the person you love is doing something stupid.