Hometown Favorite: A Novel (26 page)

"I think I get it," Dewayne said. He sipped his drink but refused to eat any of the food set in front of him. "Yet one thing
I don't get ... that it's your team"

"It's my team until I decide different;" Colby said. "You can
keep your God and your endorsements, but you're not taking
the team from me:"

Dewayne looked into the restaurant at the bustling crowd.
They were Colby fans, and Dewayne felt the isolation. He
dropped his head and looked at his folded hands, folded not
for prayer, but fingers locked to keep him from taking his drink and pouring it over Colby's bald head. Still, Colby's harsh words
gave him pause. Perhaps he had been naive and insensitive
toward his teammates.

"You know, Colby, I'm hearing you," Dewayne said, deciding
to submit to the dominant male. "I'm sorry if I offended you
or any of our teammates."

"I just love this religious crap, the way you sling it around,"
Colby said, his scarcely disguised anger coming out in a blast
of laughter.

"You're angry, Colby, and I'm sorry, but I don't see God as
the culprit'

"Fancy words for a jock, but I got no use for God. I don't
waste my time with God. There's nothing God can do for me
I can't do for myself."

"God could give you peace and make you happy," Dewayne
said.

"Save it for church," Colby said and finished off his beer.

The hostess approached the table to check on the progress
of consumption, and Colby rose from his chair and threw his
arm around her waist, pulling her into his side.

"Guess what? This is the only piece that is going to make me
happy," he said, biting her ear, which got him an affectionate
reaction. "I'll get the manager to call you a cab as I leave."

Dewayne finished his drink and watched Colby and the
hostess work the room as they made their way toward the
exit, making his fans feel appreciated for keeping his bank
accounts flush.

After their conversation at the restaurant, Dewayne had steered
clear of Colby for the rest of the season, but he did take Colby's advice about the endorsements. He told Rosella to put all endorsement deals on hold until the season was over. He did not
need the distraction as the team approached the play-offs, and
he wanted to be sensitive to his teammates. That gave Rosella
free time to develop her skills at investing their current assets
in profitable portfolios. With the help of a New York firm she
was able to increase their wealth by 27 percent, take care of
the baby, work at their church, and get Bruce and Sabrina all
the places they needed to be on any given day.

The biggest challenge Rosella had to face during this more
relaxed time was the Houston traffic with Sabrina at the wheel.
Sabrina had been complaining that she was well beyond the
legal driving age, and Rosella agreed. So in the evenings, Rosella
gave Sabrina her first driving lessons while Dewayne watched
the baby, helped Bruce with his homework, and studied his
playbook. Dewayne breathed a sigh of relief each time he
heard the garage door open and the ladies return from their
adventure. It meant they had survived the streets, but after
the women were inside the house, he always slipped into the
garage and walked around his Denali inspecting it for any
scrapes or dings.

One night when Sabrina bounded into the kitchen and lifted
the car keys off the key rack, all excited about testing her driving
skills for the first time on the freeway, Rosella begged off.

"Robert Jr. has a slight fever, and I just don't want to leave
him;' she said.

Homework covered part of the kitchen table with Bruce
and Dewayne bent over it, pretending to solve a difficult math
problem by mumbling some bogus figures. Dewayne knew the
silence in the kitchen meant that both women were staring a
hole into the top of his head, and he did not want to look up.
He had no desire to get into the front seat of his Denali with
his teenage niece behind the wheel. If he were going to the hospital, it would be for slamming into another player on the
field and not colliding with a vehicle on the street.

Rosella cleared her throat and called his name. It was a summons, and Bruce started to laugh. Dewayne raised his head
with a "do I have to do this" look plastered on his sullen face.

"I'm thinking you need a little uncle/niece bonding time;"
Rosella said.

"But do we have to do it on the freeway?"

"I'm really careful, Uncle Dewayne;' Sabrina said, which
made Bruce laugh and caused a harsh glare from his big sister.

"I'll help Bruce with his math. You two go on.,,

Dewayne had to admit that Sabrina was careful and displayed
a confidence and poise behind the wheel that he had not expected. As a reward for her excellent performance and for not
frightening him, he took her to dinner at the family's favorite
steakhouse. They had barely ordered their drinks before fans
began to come up to the table asking for autographs or taking
cell phone pictures of Dewayne and Sabrina out on the town.
When they got home that night, the way uncle and niece joked
about their driving experience, and the way Sabrina bragged
of how cool it was to have dinner with someone famous in a
restaurant, it was obvious to Rosella and Bruce that they had
missed a good time.

"We've been slaving over math while you two were out having fun," Rosella said with only a minor hint of envy.

Dewayne agreed to make himself available for the next couple driving lessons. A week later when Sabrina announced that
the school would soon be offering a driver's education class,
both Rosella and Dewayne were relieved. They were ready to
pass off the responsibility of teaching Sabrina the finer points
of driving to an expert.

Dewayne's declining endorsement deals so he could focus
more on the final games before the play-offs did not prove
to be much of an advantage for the team. The Stars split their
last two games, giving them an eleven and five record. They
only won the first game by a field goal-no touchdowns for
Dewayne-and lost the second by fourteen points, with only
one touchdown for the rookie receiver.

It was a sloppy way to end the regular season, Coach Gyra
admitted to the reporters at the press conference after the second game, but he pointed out that the Stars had made it to the
play-offs, something not achieved in several years. He was
grateful for the dramatic turnaround within one season and
promised to make Houston proud in the upcoming games.

"I don't know what happened. The offense didn't adjust to
what the Chicago defense threw at them," Colby said. "How
do you get confused this late in the season? I don't know. Ask
Bible Boy Wonder over there." He wiped the perspiration off
his head. "He always has an answer for everything."

The locker room atmosphere was morose. The Stars had
gone into the play-offs with an eleven and five record that won
them home-field advantage for the first game, but Chicago
had returned to Houston with a grudge against the Stars for
their demoralizing defeat at the beginning of the season. The
final score was 17 to 13, and Dewayne had scored the only
touchdown late in the third period. The defense had done their
homework and shut him down. Chicago had given back their
previous humiliation.

Before the Houston television reporter moved on to Dewayne, he asked Colby if this would be his last year with the
Stars since he would now be a free agent. Colby finished the interview by giving the reporter several options of where he
could stick his microphone.

"I wish I could tell you why we lost," Dewayne responded to
the interviewer's question. "I agree with Colby. I didn't make
the right adjustments to Chicago rolling out a linebacker in
double team coverage. Chicago came to play the full sixty minutes. They were at the top of their game, and I can't take that
away from them"

"So what are you going to do with your time off?" the reporter asked, casting a cautious glance over his shoulder at
Colby.

"I'll be back in the weight room later this week," Dewayne
said.

She dropped her Bible and screamed the moment she recognized him. It took a few seconds to be sure her eyes were not
playing tricks: no dreadlocks, no exposed muscled and tattooed
flesh, no crew to flank his stride. A bright smile replaced his
permanent scowl.

When he spoke, there were no hard, clipped phrases, no
profanity, especially not in the sanctuary of the Lord. From what
she could tell, on the surface there were no more vestiges of the
former life. Even his voice was different as he told her that he
had met Jesus and Jesus had forgiven him. Jesus had given him
a new perspective. Jesus had given him a new life. Jesus had
helped him get out of jail shortly after his eighteenth birthday
because Jesus had helped him become a model citizen while in
juvenile detention. And once free, Jesus had given him a new
location in which to live, and a marketable skill in computers
had gotten him a job so that he could have an apartment and
a car-both modest in price.

There was only one thing Jesus had not given him yet, and
that was Sabrina. That would be the last request he would make
of Jesus. That was the last fleece he would lay out before the
Lord to prove his goodness to him. If Sabrina came back into
his life, then it would be complete. As God had proven himself to Tyler Rogan, so Tyler would prove himself to Sabrina, to
her family, and to the world.