I Love Corey, Chapter Twenty-four

I was reminded that this young man had seen many things that I’d never been exposed to. Despite the fact that I was older than he was, I’d never been around any addicts. Sure I’d been to a few parties where drugs were used and even tried them myself but I’d never been exposed to that side of society. In fact, outside of the loss of my parents, my life had been what might be considered sheltered. I grew up in a two parent home and those parents had loved and encouraged me. The community where we lived was filled with families much like ours and was a community where all the parents watched out for all of us kids. Corey probably had a lot better understanding of the situation than I did. From things he’d said he had been forced to pretty much look out for himself for the last few years. A couple of the places he’d mentioned that he’d lived in were places I knew were filled with addicts. How he’d managed to survive that environment and turn out like he had never ceased to amaze me.

As I held him in my arms I wished I knew a way to help his mother with her problem. Not because I really liked her but because of Corey. Understand, it wasn’t that I disliked her. It was just that all the things I knew told me that I couldn’t help her until she wanted to be helped. Until she accepted that and wanted to get her life together I wasn’t sure I could ever like her. So far she had given me no indication that she was ready for any help I might be able to offer. In the meantime it was tearing Corey apart.

This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. The only difference was that this time it seemed to have more effect on him. For the first time he had told me what was wrong and I could understand how it hurt him. I just didn’t have any way to assure him that everything would turn out all right. Only time and his mother could determine that.

He finally fell into a restless sleep. I stopped rubbing his back and shoulders and lay there wondering if there was anything I could do. That’s the last thing I remembered before the alarm clock made its usual intrusive sound.

If anything the morning was worse. Corey moped and the nicely wrapped presents reminded both of us what had gone wrong. I wondered when or if she would show up. If she did return I doubted that Corey would be completely happy. The fear that she wouldn’t return and might die was something that I was sure would always be in the back of his mind. I did the only thing I could think of. I tried to convince him that I would always be there for him and he wouldn’t have to worry about being alone. While I might not be able to replace his mother, maybe the thought that he would have a place to live and someone to help him and protect him would help.

It was hard to be cheerful during classes. The students were really cranked up with the thought that the team might have an undefeated season, at least in league play. After that, who knows? Comments from several of my collogues convinced me that I wasn’t the only teacher having problems keeping the students minds on their work. Every place you looked there were students grinning and high-fiveing each other. If one of the team members was near, all attention was on them. You’d have thought they were royalty. I hoped the team remembered that they still needed to win. Too many of the students seemed to think it was a done deal.
Every time I spotted Corey, he was just quietly going about his business. He wasn’t joining in with the high spirits that seemed to have taken over the rest of the student body. The difference was so stark that a couple of teachers asked me what was wrong with him. I briefly told them he was worried about his mother. They seemed to want to know more but we didn’t have time to pursue it at that time.

During lunch Principal Mathers asked me about Corey. I told him what had happened and he said maybe we needed to address the problem in the morning meetings. He reasoned that Corey’s teachers were bound to notice his mood and if they knew his problem they might be able to help him. I hadn’t thought about it like that and was now sorry I hadn’t mentioned it this morning. I told him I’d be sure and bring it up tomorrow.

As the school day wore on the background noise in the school increased. There’s always a certain amount of noise but today it swelled to where it sounded like an angry hive of bees. The only thing about that was that if one looked around, one could find no one who looked angry. Instead, there was a feeling of exuberance in the air. I’d never seen the student body like this. They were even more pumped now than they were just before Christmas. I was really beginning to worry. If the team acted the same way the rest of the students were acting, I had real reservations about how well they would play.

Finally classes were over and the team members headed for the locker room. I’d managed to place a package containing the appropriate set of briefs in each team member’s locker where they stowed their pads and jocks. It wasn’t hard as I had a master key to every locker so that if a student left his key at home, we could still get his gear out and he wouldn’t have to adjust one of the spare sets of shoulder pads.

As they entered the locker room I could hear them chattering like a bunch of magpies. I just waited, wondering what reaction I would get when they discovered the packages. They were all noisy and I had the door to my office cracked so I could hear what was going on. All of a sudden I heard a shrill voice yell, “All Right!” A few seconds later there was only the sound of lockers being jerked open. Then the noise level went up. I could hear voices yelling things like cool, look at these, what color did you get, and things like that. It sounded like the briefs were a success.

I finally couldn’t resist. I opened the door to see what they were doing. Instead of getting dressed for the game they were all modeling their briefs. I couldn’t believe it. The room was full of butts clad in brightly colored briefs and they all seemed to be inspecting their teammates, almost like checking to see if they approved. 
They didn’t even notice me and when I yelled at them, telling them they better get their act together and their gear on, they jumped like they’d been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

I began to wonder if I’d make a mistake in giving them their reward before the game. The only way to describe them was much too cranked up. At the rate things were going there seemed to be some question as to whether or not they wanted to play the game today or stand around and brag to each other about how well they had played during the season.

When the game finally started it was almost like the first game of the season. They were nervous and couldn’t seem to relax and just play their positions. Between jumping off-side and missing their assignments it was surprising we managed to stay in the game during the first quarter. Only some great plays on defense saved our asses. I was beginning to get very worried. We didn’t have enough size on the team to just ram the ball down the field and we had to depend on speed, agility, and teamwork. The teamwork just wasn’t there. It wasn’t that the kids weren’t trying; it was that they were so excited that they just kept making mistakes. It wasn’t until the second quarter that things started to settle down. We were only down by one touchdown and when they finally got their act together it didn’t take long to make that up. By half-time we were up by seventeen points. Making the points after would have made things even better but so far we were zero for four. boy it would be nice to have a good kicker. Couple that with the fact that we didn’t have the size to overpower our opponents in short yardage situations and that had been one of our problems all season.

Every time I’d looked at Corey during the first half, he seemed to be searching the crowd. I knew he was looking for his mother. She had been making it to most of our games since about mid-season. Today didn’t seem to be one of those times. Each time I looked at him he seemed to have withdrawn into himself a little more. His shoulders slumped a little lower and his eyes kept looking more towards the ground than at the game. I wondered if he was managing to keep up with his duties of keeping track of the game.

At half-time I learned the answer. The first quarter wasn’t bad but the second had almost no information. It was a good thing that the team was finally playing well and I didn’t need his records. He looked like he was about ready to just give up and cry. The worst thing about that was that I didn’t have the time to try to console him. Much as I’d have liked to drop everything and just try to help Corey with his hurting heart, I still had a team and a game to worry about.

After the usual half-time talk, the team streamed back out to the field. Corey just sat there, not even looking like he’d noticed that he and I were the only ones left. I put my arm around his shoulders and gave him a hug and finally he seemed to notice what was happening. We walked out to get ready for the second half.

The team had calmed down and was now hitting on all cylinders. Our opponents were not the toughest team we had faced and that soon became apparent. Maybe there should be a mercy rule. After the third quarter, the game was no longer in doubt. In fact, we would have almost had to leave the field in order for our opponents to have had a reasonable chance of catching us. We ran the opening kick-off back for a touchdown, intercepted a pass for another, recovered a fumble and carried it in, and moved the ball in long bursts every time we had it. We had a forty-nine point lead going into the final quarter. I had all the substitutes in trying to hold the score down but it was no use. Our opponents were no longer trying. They were beat and all the fight had left them. I’d even gone to a ground game to try to slow things down but when your opponent doesn’t seem to try to tackle, that doesn’t help. The final score set a school record for most points and largest margin of victory. No matter what we had done, it seemed to work and produce another score.

The fans and the team were jubilant. The only one I could see who was not was Corey. While everyone was screaming and celebrating the first time any team from our school district had gone undefeated, Corey didn’t even seem to notice the game was over. For myself, I was torn. It was great to coach such a great bunch of kids who had come together as a team but with Corey feeling the way he did, I also felt bad. I knew that we would have to join in the celebration and catching dinner at the local McDonald’s where we normally gathered after a victory. I’d seen the manager calling towards the end of the game, no doubt warning his staff to be ready. While I was thrilled we’d won and had a perfect season, all I really wanted to do now was to try to cheer Corey up. None the less, we’d have to go along and celebrate.

The locker room was a madhouse. The team was almost too excited to remember that they needed to shower and get dressed. There were other students and the fathers of some of the players joining the celebration. There were so many people in there that I began to wonder if the team would ever find room to get their gear off and get a shower. All that was lacking was champagne. I’m sure if they had thought they could get away with it, some of the parents would have changed that. We had to make due with sparkling cider. Boy what a sticky mess. It doesn’t pop quite as loudly when opened, but when properly shaken, sprayed nicely.

The team members finally managed to get their showers and get dressed. As they started out of the locker room, they encountered parents and the reporter from the local paper taking pictures and asking questions. That slowed things up and I was beginning to wonder if we would ever manage to get something to eat. I suppose that if there hadn’t been such a celebration more people would have noticed how quite and subdued Corey was. Thankfully no one seemed to notice him and ask questions about it. I was sure Corey didn’t want to talk about his problems and I know I didn’t.

Finally the crowd started moving. I couldn’t believe it. It looked like half the town was outside the doors waiting for the team. When the doors opened and they could hear the crowd chanting, the team suddenly looked shocked. It was as if they suddenly grasped the incredible thing they had accomplished. They didn’t seem to know what to do or how to act. They didn’t have time to worry about it as suddenly people were grabbing them and shaking their hands. I think there were some congratulations given but there was so much noise it was hard to tell. The team had gone from jubilant to overwhelmed in a distance of about forty feet. They no longer had any idea of how to act. As far as I was concerned, they weren’t the only ones. 

Someone grabbed me and thrust a megaphone into my hands. I could hear chants of speech, speech. I had not a clue as to what to say. 
Of course when I tried to say something the volume wasn’t properly adjusted and all that came out was a bunch of garbled screeches. The screeches probably made as much sense as what followed when I got the volume adjusted. I managed to babble about the usual things that are said at times like that. You know, what’s known as the usual clichés.