“Oh … I didn’t realize. Ursula, are you leaving?”
Jane puts her hand over her mouth.
“I’m sorry. Did I speak out of turn? I apologize.”
“It’s fine,” I snap.
I think that I may have hurt Jane’s very fragile feelings, so she decides to make a trip to the concession stand to give me some space. I start to pop my earbuds back in when Jim continues talking.
“When were you going to tell me you were quitting?” he asks in an accusatory tone.
“I didn’t realize that I had to tell you.”
“Don’t bite my head off too. I just thought … we had dinner the other night. We talked abouta lot.”
“You’re right, we did. It just didn’t come up, Jim. Sorry.”
“No problem. I just … never mind. What are you listening to today?”
“Earth, Wind and Fire.”
I show him the playlist I’m listening to on my phone.
“You have such eclectic taste in music.”
“I think I got it from my mom.”
“Can I listen? My dad loved this song too.”
I hand Jim an earbud but before he has a chance to place it in his ear, a football comes soaring through the air and hits him smack dead in the middle of his forehead.
“Oof!”
“Oh my goodness!” a spectator exclaims. “Are you all right?”
The two old timers, who always sit up front, turn and try desperately to hold in their laughter and now I see why. Coop is staring over at us like a fire breathing dragon.
This was no accident.
I stare him back down for a moment and hope that he feels the eyes of shame that I’m trying to give him. Then I turn to check on Jim.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, everyone,” he says holding his palm to his head where there’s a dark pink knot starting to form. “It was just a football.”
Jane returns from the stand with a popcorn in her hand. “What happened?”
“Can you reach into my cooler and hand me the frozen water bottle I have in there?” I ask her.
“Sure, thing.”
I wrap the bottle in a few paper napkins and hand it to Jim.
“Here put this on your head to stop the swelling.”
“Thanks, Ursula.” He smiles in an obvious attempt to mask the embarrassment he must be feeling right now.
I notice that Saint Stevenson and the offensive coordinator are both speaking quite animatedly in Coop’s face. There’s no doubt they are reprimanding him for the hit. It was totally out of character for him and a juvenile thing to do. They’re also trying to stop him from approaching us here in the bleachers, but that’s the thing about Coop—nobody can stop him from anything when he’s determined or delusional.
