The One & Only(39)

Coach and I clinked our bottles of Shiner Bock, followed by another fist bump. Then we rolled and landed on science. Our next question: “Do porcupines masturbate?”

Coach and I exchanged a look. “Let’s see … I bet boy porcupines do,” he said.

I laughed. “Well, I bet the girls do, too.”

“I bet you’re right,” Coach said, turning to my mom. “Okay. We’re going with yes.”

“Is that your final answer?” she said, a rookie tactic that we didn’t dignify with a reply.

My mom shook her head and handed us our green wedge. “Ridiculous.”

“Ridiculous that porcupines masturbate? Or that we’re about to win this thing,” he said, glancing at his watch, “in under an hour?”

I rolled the die again, moving to history. “What did the first Spanish dog to be fitted with contact lenses not see the day after the fitting?” Lawton read.

“The car that killed ’em,” Coach said. “Bam.”

“Oh. It’s a pity,” I said.

“What’s that, girl?” Coach said.

“That we still need the orange to win,” I said, referring to the sports category.

“Yeah,” Coach said, shaking his head. “That’s going to be really, really difficult for us.”

I grinned and rolled as we got two more answers, then landed on orange. Coach looked at Lawton and said, “Fire away.”

Lawton read to himself, then shook his head and said, “Unbelievable.”

“Read it,” Coach said. “And then weep.”

“Who won the Heisman Trophy in 1964?”

Coach gave me a knowing look that made me melt, then said to Lawton, “Wait. Was the question ‘Who won the trophy?’ Or ‘Who should have won the trophy?’ ”

Coach nudged my leg under the table, and I got a tingly feeling inside.

“Who won it,” Lawton clarified, obviously not getting our inside joke.

Coach picked up an orange wedge. “Shea? I’m drawing a blank. Do you know this one?”

“Hmm. Was it Butkus? … Or maybe Rhome?” I mused aloud. “Or Brian Piccolo? He graduated in ’sixty-four, didn’t he?”

Coach shrugged and said he couldn’t for the life of him remember what happened that year.

Lawton looked hopeful until I blurted out, “Actually … I think we’ll go with John Huarte.”

“Are you sure?” Lawton said, his face falling.

I nodded. “Yep. Huarte.”

“That’s your final answer?” my mother chimed in.

“Yes, Marie. You heard my girl,” Coach said. “Huarte. We’re going with Huarte.”

“Dammit. She’s right,” Neil said, taking the card from Lawton, then throwing it down.

“Of course she is,” Lucy said, getting up to refresh her wine.

“Nothing like a little rout to kick off the season,” Coach said with a wink.

“Plenty more of those to come,” I said, winking back at him.


On the morning of our departure I awoke early, just after sunrise, and came downstairs to find Coach alone on the front porch, drinking coffee and staring out at the water. He looked so peaceful and deep in thought that I quietly retreated. But just before I rounded the corner back to the stairwell, he suddenly turned and looked at me through the open front door and said, “Morning, girl.”

“Good morning, Coach,” I said.

“You’re up early.”

“So are you,” I said, shuffling toward him.

“This is late for me,” he said. “There’s a fresh pot of coffee in the kitchen.”

“I’m good for now,” I said.

He nodded and motioned for me to join him, so I walked out onto the wraparound porch and took a seat on the old wooden swing where Lucy and I had logged hours of conversation as little girls, while frequently reprimanded by Mrs. Carr for swinging too high or fast. I slowly rocked back and forth now, gazing at the lake, so still that it looked like a piece of glass, a mirror reflecting sky and trees. Coach and I chatted for a few minutes about how nice it was up here, especially this time of day, before we got back to the only topic on both of our minds. I knew he had to be so sick of the slate of usual questions; he couldn’t go anywhere in public without being bombarded by them. But I threw one out anyway, hoping it would be a little different coming from me.

“You ready for practice?” I said, studying his profile.

“Yes,” he said, reaching up to stretch with one arm. “Let’s get the show on the road, you know?”

I nodded, then asked the predictable follow-up. “How do you think we’ll be? As good as everyone’s saying?”