The Break - Chapter 13

Chapter 13 Ronnie and Pete were already in the record company supplied bus. Ronnie was in one of his morning moods. He was not a morning person, especially the day after a show. It was as if the intensity of the show completely drained him. “Where the hell are those dudes?” Ronnie asked in a irritated tone. “They’ll be here in a minute.” Pete responded. “Ass is probably still working out. You know how he gets.” “Yeah, he is amazing, isn’t he?” Ronnie said admiringly. “Blows my mind that he gets Ben to workout with him.” “Well …” Pete started. “C’mon, dude. Don’t even start that shit.” Ronnie warned. “It’s none of our business.” “I know.” Pete said as he got up and stretched his arms above his head. “I’m all about live and let live, but it does weird me out some times.” “Can we talk about something else?” Ronnie stated flatly. “Damn, guess it weirds you out a bit, too.” Pete said. The look made Pete stop. It was a patented Ronnie look. Ronnie was not physically intimidating. But when he gave the look, people took notice. “So, dude.” Pete said after an awkward silence. “I never mentioned it but, I think your Dad’s pretty cool. Hookin’ us up and all.” “Yeah, whatever.” Ronnie said suddenly morose. Sensing that he accidentally stepped on a landmine, Pete tried to back off. But it was too late. “Dude, I mean … he … well …” Pete made an attempt to placate him. “What the hell do you know about him?” Ronnie asked harshly. “Dude, it’s cool.” Pete said. “Forget it.” “Forget it? Forget it?” Ronnie asked with surprising venom. “I’ll never forget. Did I ever tell you about how he wanted me to be a football player?” “Uh … no …” Pete started. “Well, when I was in seventh grade …” It was the first year for tackle football. Big Ron volunteered to help coach Ronnie’s team. He was going to make Ronnie a football player. Big Ron was happy with how tall Ronnie was, but he needed to fill out. Surely he would fill out by high school. Again, Big Ron would see to that. He had him lifting weights for the last two years. It started with the one on one blocking drills. Ronnie didn’t like the one on one’s. There wasn’t much about football that he actually did like. But he was willing to try. The idea of the one-on-ones was to pit two boys against each other to determine who was tougher. The boys lined up facing each other with an imaginary line of scrimmage between them. Each would assume either a three or a four-point stance. On the whistle, each boy would launch their bodies at each other and collide. Then they attempted to push the other back over a designated line. It was Ronnie’s turn to participate in the Sumo-like ritual. He lined up against a classmate that was quite a bit shorter than him, but he had a reputation as being one of the tougher kids in school. “All right, you two ready.” Big Ron asked. Both boys nodded. “On two. Down, set, hut, hut.” The other boy launched out with a fury rarely seen in a twelve-year-old. With a giant smack, his helmeted head hit Ronnie squarely on the right shoulder and extended his arms fully, pushing Ronnie flat onto his back. “Nice hit, Berger!” Coach Big Ron screamed. “Atta, boy. Harrison, what the hell is wrong with you. You let this guy flatten you. Get you head in the game boy. Let’s go. Same two again. “Uh…Dad…” Ronnie started. Quickly he paused to correct himself when he saw Big Ron’s reaction to the familiar term. “Um…coach…well…I mean…my arm hurts coach. I don’t think I can do it again.” “What did you say, Harrison. You don’t think you can do it again? Give me a break. Are you a pussy, Harrison? Get in there and hit. All right on one this time. Down, set, hut. Again the other boy slammed into the same shoulder with ever greater force. This time Ronnie was thrown directly back and flat on his back before the other boy extended his arms. Ronnie hit the ground with a thud, which instantly removed all the air from his lung. Only a voiceless scream protested the pain in his shoulder. Ronnie couldn’t breath, couldn’t think, couldn’t move and couldn’t tell if he was going to live. “Whoa, Berger!” Coach Big Ron eclaimed. “That’s a big-time hit – big-time!” “Harrison, you pussy! Get your ass up! Same two again.” “But something popped…” Ronnie managed to start. “Are you questioning me again Harrison? You don’t wanna play.” Big Ron screamed at his son. The coach threw his arms up in exasperation and walked around in a short circle. He made two full circles before he stopped facing the boys. He crossed his arms and shook his head in disgust. “Do you sit down to pee?” “What?” Ronnie said puzzled. “Are you a little girl? Do you need to sit down to pee?” “Uh…well…uh…no.” “Then get up and get ready.” Ron paused for a moment as Ronnie scrambled to a standing position. “Down…” Without another compliant, Ronnie squared off against Berger in his stance. Berger saw the pain in Ronnie’s eyes. Ronnie saw Berger’s eye soften. He could take it this time. “Set, hut!’ Ronnie and Berger shot into each other barely. There was no viciousness in the hit. “Berger, what the fuck was that?” “C’mon coach.” Berger pled. “Are you going to go easy on some one in a game?” Big Ron asked angrily. He hand shot up and grabbed Berger’s facemask. “If I tell you to hit somebody, you hit’em – got it!” “Yes coach.” He replied obediently. “Good! Now same two – line it up.” Big Ron continued. “Down…” Once again the boys faced each other and stared into each other’s eyes. “Sorry man.” Berger said. “Set …” “It hurts.” Ronnie said as tears began running down his cheek. It was plain to see Ronnie was really hurt. Quickly he made a decision. He stood straight up and put his hands on his hips. “Coach, he’s hurt. Really.” Berger said tentatively. “I’ll tell you if he’s hurt. Now back in there.” “No, coach.” Berger said steeling himself. “I can’t do it.” “What? Did you tell me no? You’ll get in there or run 4 laps.” “I’ll take the laps.” He said truly relieved. To him, running was nothing. “Hit the road.” Big Ron said as he jerked his thumb towards the track. Berger set off running. “Chavez, get in there with Harrison.” Ronnie just turned and began walking very slowly, painfully towards the school locker room. “Harrison. Harrison! HARRISON!” Big Ron exclaimed. Ronnie didn’t pause or look back. He just continued walking. Big Ron just shook his head. “All right then, Chavez and Martin. Let’s go.” Berger saw that Ronnie was walking in to the school building. He picked up his pace. It would take him just a little over 6 minutes to run the mile. Even in pads, the kid could run. As he finished his last lap, he noticed that Ronnie just made it in to the building. He ran past the blocking drill area. “Did the four, coach.” Berger shouted as he continued running towards the locker room. “Berger. Berger! BERGER!” He screamed. “Jesus Christ, what the hell is going on today? Are any of you going to listen to me?” Big Ron took off his cap and wiped off his forehead with his sleeve. He put his cap back on, inhaled deeply and exhaled the words, “All right Jones, Grey. Let’s go” He turned to the new set of boys and said dispassionately. “Down…set…hut.” The two boys slammed into each other. Neither had an advantage. They wrestled for several moments. Finally, Jones made a push and managed to move Grey past the designated line. Practice continued as usual until an ambulance pulled up to the back of the school and came to a stop in front of the locker room doors. The paramedics got out of the ambulance, pulled the stretcher out and hustled into the locker room. All the boys ran to see what was happen. Big Ron wasn’t far behind. He made it to the double doors just in time to see the paramedics rolling Ronnie out on the stretcher. “What the hell is going on?” Ronnie voice betrayed the fear. “Looks like a broken collar bone.” One of the paramedics said. “It’s pretty bad, too. It’s a clean break in two places.” Big Ron was stunned. He really had thought that Ronnie was faking it. But he was really hurt. Not wanting to show weakness, Ron simply leaned over and said, “It’ll be all right, boy.” Even though he wanted to comfort his son, he couldn’t force himself to look into his son eyes. Quickly he turned and walked toward the locker room. “Dad …” Ronnie said tearfully. But Big Ron didn’t slow down or even look backward. “I’ll see you at the hospital.” He said briskly. Before the door fully shut, tears had already begun to form in his eyes. By the time he entered his office his was crying profusely. Tags: Fiction, Online Book, Rebeleyeball, Paul Gavin Copyright (c) 2006 Paul Gavin. All rights reserved.