A Little Bird Told Me To...Part Three

We would become nearly inseparable the rest of that season which wound up with us playing the last game against, the team I'd come from before, and many of my dearest friends. There was lot's of hype, and even more nerves flying, yet the game arrived with lot's of security and press. My insight into this team and, it's personnel, would be tapped into over and over again in that last two weeks of preparation. Becca could see the toll it was taking as I grew more and more anxious to prove my loyalty to the team I now played for.

As the whistle blew I could not be more energized, and two titans clashed with state playoff seating's at stake. Since this is not a story about football, rather, relationships...I can tell you that we lost to those boys I played for all my life. It wasn't supposed to happen, but, despite a near flawless game for us all, they were more flawless. I can not remember, to that point, a more upsetting set events. We made the playoff race and faced them again, only to lose to them, again. In a more humbling performance.

Through it all, Becca not only lifted me, but the entire team. She was without a doubt the most positive person I had ever met, a true inspiration in every since of the word. The scouts were there, I got the offers I wanted, but the real story here, is about the girl.

As the season closed I was invited over for dinner at her place one night, and her mother pulled me aside and gave me some insight I needed to hear. Now, when a mother has to step in to tell you to get your "real game" in order, you know you've missed the boat. And, I had! I cared deeply for this young woman but somehow, never felt worthy of her. I would learn that if I did not ask her to the winter formal the next month that, I'd really be screwed. So, I did! She accepted and to my eternal amazement lept into my arms with excitement. I mean, what did I ever do to deserve this story?

We would make plans for shopping for her dress, which she modeled for me, and of course, I purchased. A tux was chosen which I modeled for her, which of course, I rented. Flowers were ordered and she was never more alive, I saw it every smile she flashed me. I would drive her in her fathers, 1974 Nova. Fully Blown! It was her wish, what CAN I say?

Now this story would have been remarkable had it ended there. Yet in a manner in which only God knows the reason why, I did not. It is likely that this was relationship I could foster, all the days of my life. I was built that way, to be faithful to one, loving and supportive woman.

As the event approached I had been working all year at an area Winchell's Donuts, and my best friend who was part of the team which the year before, we had beaten, was the son of the owner. At 7:00 on the Saturday before, a call came and that buddy answered the phone, as he did always. When he stepped out of the office all I will ever remember was the ashen nature of his face. He took the order from my hands and finished it himself, then, turned and said, "...you need to get to Becca's, and you need to do it, right now!" Even a 17 year old could read a hundred things into that direction, but I swallowed hard and made my way to her home."

In the ten block drive over there I must have had a dozen thoughts to the look of his face, and the one question I could not yet answer was, what could possibly have caused such distress with a man as tough as D? I was rattled for all the appropriate reasons, and ill equipped to handle what came next.

See the final installation...Tomorrow.