Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 ï>¿The Trailer Park: The Fifth Year: Part 1: Words And Music A Story in the
Wynter/Trailer Park Universe by Wizard CopyrightÂ(C) 2007 by Wizard

   Chapter 46

   "How did he...  ?  Why did...  ?"

   They were almost the first five words Tami had spoken since the scene in
the locker room.  I treasured them.

   "Did you say something?" I asked to tweak her.  In the two hours since
the game ended, she'd been absorbed in her own world and ignored me.

   Our original plan had been to stay and watch the second game so that I
could size up next week's competition.  In fact, my plan involved staying
at the motel another night, though the team was driving back after the
second game.  But after Tami had caught the game ball, I changed my mind.

   We were zipping homeward down the freeway slightly faster than the law
allowed.  I'd packed for both of us while Tami stared at the ball.  Robbie
and Cody would ride home with her dad.

   Tami looked up from the damn ball and at me.  "How did he know?"

   I grinned.  No, I beamed.  "Tami, you're a hero.  You didn't think your
best friend would spread it all over the locker room?"

   "Robbie?"

   I nodded.

   "Not you?"

   I nodded again.  "I was in a dilemma.  On the one hand, I knew you'd
rather stay in the background.  You were a journalist just reporting the
facts.  But on the other hand, I was so proud of you I wanted to shout it
to the world.  So, I played King Solomon.  I kept my mouth shut but didn't
encourage Robbie to follow my example."

   "They all know?" she asked, still dazed.

   "Every last one of them.  By now, all their parents know too.  Girl, by
Monday everybody in school will know who the real hero of the semi-finals
was."

   "But I..."

   "Don't kid yourself.  Without you, our season would probably be over. 
Blakeman couldn't be as obvious as last week, not with all the cameras and
a complaint already attached.  But the Grizzlies were a tough team.  A
couple of penalties at the right time could have swung the game their way."

   Tami looked back at the ball in her lap.  "But Mike.  Why would he... 
?"

   I shrugged, then pulled into the left lane to pass three
tractor-trailers that seemed to be running in convoy.  "Good question.  I
can give you three possible answers, but I don't know what the answer
really is."

   "What are the possibilities?" she asked as a large rain drop splashed in
the center of my windshield.  It was joined by friends.  I flipped on the
windshield wipers.

   "In order of increasing probability, one, he broke his arm in the game
and realized just how close he came to ending his career.  The shock may
have turned him into a human being.

   "Two," I continued.  "Last year Coach Branson and this year Coach
Vickers have told him a lot that he's a great quarterback, but that his
leadership skills need some work.  This could be Mike working at being a
leader."

   I was quiet for a few seconds as I maneuvered around another pair of
trucks on a road that had gone from dry to water-logged in a heartbeat.  Ya
gotta love Washington Rain.

   "And the third possibility," Tami prompted.

   "He thought it would look good in his biography."

   "Think Cody got lucky?"

   "Arrrggghhhhh!" I yelled.

   Tami looked down at me quizzically.

   "No, I don't think Cody got lucky," I said after a long silence.  "And I
really wouldn't care if Cody got lucky.  And if by some miracle I cared, I
wouldn't care right now."

   "Touchy, aren't we?"

   "Tami, my darling.  We came home early and discovered that your mother
had decided to go to Wenatchee for the weekend.  We have the house to
ourselves on a Saturday night.  Just you and me..."

   "And Big Tony," she added, raising then lowering herself on my pole.

   "Just you and me," I repeated.  "We are here in your room, making a
connection.  And..."

   "We're connected all right," she said, moving up and down on Big Tony
again.

   "AND right now, Cody is not part of that connection."

   "It was just a question." She leaned forward and kissed me.

   "But you stopped what you were doing to ask it.  And I kinda liked what
you were doing." She had a kind of up and left then down and right rhythm
going while I toyed with the top of her slit with my thumb.  "Besides,
talking about another guy while fucking is cheating."

   Tami leaned back and cocked an eyebrow.  "What if I'd wanted to talk
about Robbie or Mikee or Kelly?"

   "That's not cheating, that's stimulating."

   Tami laughed.  "Sez who?"

   "A Guy's Manual for Relationships.  Atypical Edition."

   "Atypical?"

   I grinned up at her.  "I was afraid that if I said abnormal, you'd hit
me.  I have enough bruises already."

   "You think our relationship is abnormal?"

   I pulled her down against me and kissed her.  "Tami, our relationship is
many things." I kissed her again.  "Eternal." I kissed her nose. 
"Passionate." I kissed her forehead.  "But it is not now, nor has it ever
been, normal."

   Tami giggled.  "You..." she kissed my forehead.  "Got..." she kissed my
nose.  "That..." she kissed my lips just barely.  "Right!"

   I kissed her hard, then rolled over so that I was on top of her and
finished what we'd started.

   "So why don't you think that Cody got lucky?" she asked a few minutes
later.

   "Mostly cause Robbie told me he didn't," I said, lying on the bed and
watching Tami get dressed.

   "She did?"

   "We were on the sidelines talking, and she made a joke about wanting to
come see me after kicking Cody out about one in the morning.  She said
they'd been making out hot and heavy."

   "Dinner's in five.  You going like that?"

   I looked down at my naked body.  Big Tony was trying valiantly to take
the stage again.  "Mom knows we got home about two hours ago.  Think she'd
be surprised?"

   "Tony, be nice," Tami admonished sharply.

   "I am nice.  I'm just not sure that Mom's suppressing the truth in her
head is healthy." \ Tami grinned.  "So Cody didn't get lucky.  Think Peter
did?"

   "No!" I said firmly.

   "I was talking to Kelly during the game, and she said..."

   I stood and bowed.  "Point taken," I said as graciously as could.  "A
little suppression can be a good thing."

   I dressed, trying to convince myself yet again that my baby sister was,
always had been, and always will be a virgin.

   Evidence to the contrary not withstanding.

   "That was great."

   I leaned back in my chair and thought about loosening my belt.  Hell, I
thought about lying down on the floor and taking a nap.  My plate was clean
except for one last piece of meat that seemed to be staring at me.

   "Daddy does the best prime rib," Robbie said from across the table.

   "I always thought my dad did the best prime in the world, but right now,
I'd have to call it a toss-up."

   "I thought it was awesome," Tami said beside me.

   "I did the yams," Darlene piped up.  She was sitting at the foot of the
table.

   "That's okay.  Cheerleaders are decorative.  They're not supposed to be
useful too."

   A pea bounced off my cheek.  I hadn't seen who threw it, though I had a
good idea despite the look of innocence on Robbie's face.  Or maybe because
of it.

   "I don't usually like sweet potatoes, but these were great," Tami said.

   "I got the recipe from Good Eats."

   "You watch Alton Brown?" I asked Darlene, surprised.

   "You know who he is?" she asked, even more surprised.

   I shrugged.  "I was flipping channels one day and ran across his show. I
got hooked." "A cooking show?" Tami and Robbie said together.

   "It's more than a cooking show," I said in my defense.  "Alton talks
about the science of cooking.  And uses strange props to illustrate his
points."

   "Remember when he got trapped under the giant popcorn kernel?" Darlene
asked with a giggle.

   "How about when he lost his memory and..." I looked around the table at
the strange looks on Tami, Robbie, and her dad's faces.  "I guess you had
to be there."

   "Just when you think you know a guy," Robbie muttered.  A pea glanced
off her forehead.  I hadn't thrown it and didn't know who did.

   We were just finishing a Sunday dinner that had been a true community
endeavor.  In addition to the prime rib and the yams, Tami had made the
peas, Robbie the biscuits, and I had made the salad.

   Her dad stood and started gathering plates.  I speared the last piece of
prime off mine just before he took it.  "Tony, since you and Tami are like
family, I think we can tell you one of our deep dark secrets.  We'll just
send Darlene to her room."

   "Daddy!" Stereo again, though this time Robbie and Darlene.  When had
Darlene started calling him Daddy?

   Mr.  Tate grinned and took the dishes to the kitchen.  He returned with
a pie and five small plates.

   "None for me, thanks.  I'm full," I said, patting my stomach.

   "Robbie made this," he said, setting it down.  "Coconut cream.  Won a
blue ribbon in the state fair when she was ten."

   "Talk about not knowing someone," I said.

   "And not in the children's division either.  She beat the grown-ups."

   "Why am I not surprised," I muttered.

   Robbie had turned a pretty shade of pink.  "The secret's the coconut
rum. And I didn't learn that from Eldon Blue."

   I didn't bother correcting her.  "So is that your deep dark secret. 
That Monster Girl bakes."

   "No I thought you'd like to hear about Beaver's first football team."

   Two "Beavers?" blended with a "Daddy!" I grinned.  I'd known Robbie's
family nickname, but apparently, Darlene and Tami hadn't.

   "Would you prefer Roberta?" her dad asked.  The look he got back was
less than daughterly.

   "Beaver..." Robbie cringed.  "...  grew up watching football.  Her
mother had four brothers, and they all played college ball."

   "Uncle Tom went to Oklahoma.  Uncle Vince UCLA.  Uncle Mark was at
Florida, and Uncle Jason was an Aggie," Robbie said, ticking them off her
fingers.

   I was impressed.  They were all good football schools.

   "Jason was the runt of the litter at six-one and two hundred pounds. 
Anyway, on weekends they'd get together and watch all the games on TV.  It
made quite a picture, these four huge guys crowded together on a couch and
Robbie squeezed into the middle."

   "Enough reminiscing," Robbie pronounced.  "Nobody wants to hear it
anyway.  Tami, I almost forgot: your mom called while you and Tony were
upstairs, uh, talking."

   Darlene giggled.

   "What'd she say?" Tami asked without a trace of embarrassment.  Tami's
mom had gotten back this morning.

   "She said your editor called and won't need a column for Tuesday."

   "They won't?" Tami seemed surprised.

   "She said he said they had something else running.  But it's back to the
grindstone for Thursday and Saturday."

   "Okay." Tami sounded a little insecure, so I reached over and squeezed
her knee under the table.  I knew that sometimes she couldn't believe she
had her own column at her age and half expected someone to come to their
senses and yank it away.  I knew they wouldn't.  The great thing was, the
paper didn't treat is as a student column, or a high school column.  They
treated it like a regular column.  And though Tami wrote about high school
life most of the time, she'd done columns on everything from the war in
Iraq to the president's disregard for the Bill of Rights.

   "So how did Beaver's uncles get her into football?" Tami asked and stuck
her tongue out at Robbie, letting her know her change of subject hadn't
worked.

   "Well, you know how shy Robbie is?"

   Darlene, Tami and I nodded, and Robbie turned pink again.

   "Her uncles would boisterously discuss formations, tactics, and
penalties.  By the time she was seven, Robbie was in the thick of it,
arguing right back."

   "So her uncles talked her into playing?" Darlene asked.

   "No.  I think they were more surprised than anyone when she started. 
After all, she was just a girl."

   "And wouldn't want to be anything else," Robbie added.

   Her dad smiled and nodded.  "Anyway, when she was nine she told me that
she was going to play football.  The youth league the Parks and Recreation
ran was just getting started for the year, so we signed her up."

   "As Robbie Tate," I suggested.

   "Well, nobody ever called her anything else.  Anyway, I don't know if
it's the same everywhere, but in our town the youngest division for
football was the ten and eleven-year-olds, though they took nine-year-old
with special wavers.  So we showed up at tryouts and..."

   "I made the team and the rest is history.  Anybody for some ping pong?"

   We all ignored her and looked at her dad.

   "We go to tryouts and naturally the first thing anyone says is 'she's a
girl'.  So I pull out their rule book, and nowhere did it say anything
about boys or girls, it just says players.  So the big cheeses huddle and
decide that they have to let her try out.

   "So, they run Robbie and about a hundred boys through four hours of
drills.  Passing, catching, tackling, running, the works."

   "And Robbie was best in everything," Tami piped up.

   "Not the best, but top five pretty much," Mr.  Tate explained.

   Robbie's pink had gotten a shade or two darker.

   "The way Parks and Rec had it set up, everybody tried out and got a
t-shirt, then they picked enough of the best ones to make four teams. 
After the tryouts, assistants handed the t-shirts while the mucky-mucks
huddled again and picked the teams."

   "Un huh," I mumbled, nodding, sensing what was coming.

   "So, we're all standing around the field, parents and kids.  Most of the
kids had put on their t-shirts, though Robbie hadn't."

   Robbie smiled.  "The honchos came back and made a long speech about how
hard everyone tried, and how hard it was to pick, and it was too bad that
everyone couldn't be on the team.  The usual BS.  Then they read a list of
names, and mine wasn't there."

   "So Robbie and I went up to the man in charge and asked why she hadn't
been picked.  He looked down at her and said, "I'm sorry, you just weren't
good enough, honey.' "

   I cringed.  I knew the honey comment had not gone over well.

   "So, I told him my lawyer would decide if she was good enough."

   "Daddy was great.  The guy said there was nothing for a lawyer to
decide. Daddy said he was sure his lawyer could make a case out of it and
not to lose or destroy their data sheets, and meanwhile a restraining order
would put Parks and Rec out of business until a court decided if they
discriminated or not.  I was so proud of my daddy that day for sticking up
for me."

   Father and daughter traded smiles.

   "So, I looked up at this guy, who'd turned a little green around the
gills, and asked him who was better than me.  He pointed at this kid
Howard. He was eleven and had a face like a hound dog.  He'd been the best
in just about everything.  I had a football in my hands, so I yelled, "Hey,
Dog Boy!" and threw it at him.  He caught it, and I tackled him."

   There was a long silence around the table while we processed that.  "Did
he get to play that year?" I asked finally.

   "No, he had a broken collar bone," Mr.  Tate explained.  "He played in
the twelve-year-old league the next year but he was never quite the same."

   "I walked back to the man and asked who else was better than me."

   "So Robbie made the team," Darlene said softly.

   "Well, there WAS an opening." Robbie shrugged.  "I didn't mean to hurt
him, but it wasn't fair."

   "I don't know if they were afraid Robbie was going to take out everyone
who was ranked above her, or my threat of a lawsuit, but Robbie made the
team."

   "Man, am I glad I helped you get on the team in eighth grade," I said
with a grin.  "I like my collarbone."



   Chapter 47

   "Uh, Tony...  ?"

   I'd been sitting in Dad's chair, staring at the television without a
clue what I was watching and hadn't even heard Peter come in.

   It had been a brutal day.  I'd had tests in calculus and A.P.  history,
and Mr.  Calloway evidently took the advanced part of advanced placement
seriously cause the test was a killer.  Then Mrs.  Connors played lightning
round in debate, and it seemed like she wasn't giving us our usual three or
four seconds to think about the question.  Football had been worse.  I
couldn't seem to hold onto the damn pigskin.  I fumbled five times and
completed one pass out of a couple dozen attempts.  Another day like this
and Coach Vickers would trade me back to the middle school.

   Play practice didn't improve things.  Our timing was off, and it seemed
like everybody was stepping on each other's lines.  Then the final insult:
with a house empty of parents Mom and Dad had gone to Denver for a couple
days for some conference of Dad's Tami was over at Allie's working on some
project.

   I shook my head to focus and looked at him.  "Huh?" Okay, not my best
line, but at least I acknowledged him.

   "Traci sent me out." Peter and Traci had been in her room studying, or
at least that was their story while I chaperoned from my chair.  "She,
uh..." Peter was turning pink.  "She said to ask you..." The pink was
spreading.  Not just his cheeks, but his whole face, his neck, even the top
of his chest.  "She said you would, uh, that is..."

   "You want a damned rubber!" I snapped, jumping to my feet.

   Peter looked like he was ready to emigrate to somewhere safer, like
Iraq.

   I shut my eyes and counted to ten.  First in English, then Spanish,
French, German, Russian, Swahili, Chinese, Hebrew, Dutch and Navajo.  I
opened my eyes.  "Peter, sit."

   Peter almost ran to the sofa and sat down.

   "Sorry, I didn't mean to make that sound like an order.  And I didn't
mean to snap at you.  This hasn't been one of my best days."

   "I understand," he said nodding.

   "I'm not sure you do.  I guess I'm a hypocrite 'cause you know I've been
having sex, but I really really don't want my little sister to."

   Peter smiled, then hid it, probably afraid it would set me off again.

   "But if Traci's going to have sex, I'm glad it's someone like you."

   "You are?"

   "And even more glad that you're getting protection first."

   Peter blushed again.  "Traci said that you and Tami don't use them."

   Okay, first I have to deal with my baby sister having sex.  Then I have
to deal with her telling her boyfriend about my love life.  This is not a
good day.

   "We don't, but Tami has the patch.  It's like the pill."

   I could see the wheels going around in his head and waited.  "Do you
think that Traci can get the patch?"

   I smiled.  "Tell you what.  If you or Traci decide to ask Mom that
question, let me know first.  I think I'll visit my cousins in Colorado
that week." Hopefully there were enough mountains between here and there to
protect me from the blast.

   Peter nodded.

   Thinking about Cinnamon and her dad, I wondered if my parents would be
able to get over there to visit while they were in Colorado.

   "Now, I'm going to get you a couple of rubbers.  And I'll show you where
I keep mine.  If I'm not here and you need..."

   Peter nodded again.

   "Down the road, if you and Trace aren't seeing each other and you need
some, don't be afraid to ask." Peter nodded a third time.

   "But if you ever want to cheat on Traci, I wouldn't advise trying to
make me an accomplice."

   Peter turned deep red.  "I wouldn't," he stammered and I believed him. I
had a feeling that Peter was a one girl at a time kind of guy.

   "Does she know?"

   "Does who know what?" I asked as I settled into the desk next to her.

   "Does she know?" Robbie's eyes flicked to Tami, who was in the front of
the room talking to Mrs.  Connors about something.

   "Know what?" I asked innocently.

   "Sims!" she hissed.  "I'm going to tackle you so hard..."

   I grinned at her.  "Too bad today is one of my gymnastics days, and I
won't be at practice." Though Lord knows, the way I practiced yesterday, I
needed it.

   "Tony?"

   I took pity on her since it looked like Tami and Mrs.  Connors were
almost done.  "I don't think so.  How'd you find out?"

   "I've gotten in the habit of stopping by the library before sixth
period."

   I nodded as Tami walked over and sat on the other side of me.  Mrs. 
Connors took her place in the center.  "Today we're going to settle the
immigration problem.  Tony, is our immigration policy racist?"

   Damn.  I'd thought she was going to start on the other side of the room.
"Yes."

   "Tami, do you agree?"

   "No."

   "Looks like we have the start of a debate here.  "Tony why?"

   "Because the biggest category of potential immigrants are Latin
Americans.  The second biggest are Asians.  Both are categories that have
traditionally been looked down upon."

   "Tami?" Mrs.  Connors prompted.

   "It doesn't matter how potential immigrants are.  The law's the same for
everyone."

   "Being the same for everyone doesn't make it fair," I argued.

   "Yes it does."

   I looked up at my teacher.  "May I use an analogy?"

   She nodded.  We had to be careful of using analogies 'cause Mrs. 
Connors said they were overused by a lot of debaters.

   "I've just drafted a new law.  It says that employers may pay employees
up to fifty percent less if they are liable to need pregnancy leave."

   "You can't do that, it's sexist," Mary Abbott, a senior on the other
side of the circle, exclaimed.

   "Sure, I can," I said smugly.  "It's a fair law.  It applies to
everyone."

   "But only women get pregnant," Robbie pointed out.

   "Not my problem.  Besides, anyone who doesn't like it can get fixed."

   "That's..." Mary exploded.

   "Enough," Mrs.  Connors said forcefully.  "Tony's being deliberately
provocative, but he's making a point.  A law can be balanced and apply to
everyone but still not be fair.  So the question becomes, if our
immigration policy is in fact racist, is it wrong?" The debate moved to the
other side of the room, and I wondered why I hadn't taken a nice easy study
hall.

   "I say we kick back and read the paper while Traci makes dinner."

   "The paper?"

   The day was winding down.  Gymnastics had gone smoothly, and Robbie said
they had a great football practice.  Then play practice looked like we
actually knew what we were doing.  All in all, not a bad day.  Now, Tami
and I were sharing the sofa while Traci called Pizza Hut.

   "Here, I'll take the front page, and you take the editorial section," I
said, splitting the paper.

   Tami gave me a long look as I pretended to concentrate on a story about
a bar fight.  Then she started looking at her paper.

   "Tony, what did you do?"

   Heroes

   While the town goes nuts after yet another Rebel victory,

   I think we need to focus on the real heroes.  I don't mean

   Neanderthals who just like to hit things, or studly cro-mags

   who think being able to throw an air-filled leather bladder

   fifty yards entitles them to a Nobel prize.  But real heroes.

   Everyday heroes who do what needs to be done without

   the benefit of rally girls in short skirts or cheering mobs

   packed in the bleachers.

   Heroes like the girl who usually writes this column.

   Tamarone Elizabeth Sharp is a sixteen-year-old girl

   who not only goes to school and gets A's and B's, but

   gives up twelve weeks of her life to coach middle school

   gymnastics.

   She is also a member of the cast of Zoe's Song,

   the play chosen by the high school as the local

   entry in the Prentiss Foundation's statewide play

   contest.

   AND she gets out three columns a week for

   this paper.

   Sharp also writes several articles each week for

   THE REBEL YELL, the school paper.  One of

   those articles, ZOE: PORTRAIT OF A FRESHMAN

   has been nominated for the Bothwell Award, a

   prestigious national award for high school journalists.

   (The finalists for the award will be announced in June.)

   Sharp is the first student in the thirty-one year history

   of the award ever nominated for the award twice.  Her

   essay MY DAD HITS MY MOM was first runner up

   her freshman year when Sharp was the first (and so far,

   only) freshman ever nominated.

   And all without cheerleaders.

   Tony Sims, co-captain

   Rebel Football

   "So which are you?" Tami asked, a tear in the corner of her eye.

   "Which what?"

   "A neanderthal who likes to hit things, or a cro-mag playing with your
air-filled bladder?"

   I kissed her gently.  "I'm the missing link.  A little bit of both."

   Tami stared down at the paper for a minute.  "You were wrong you know. I
do have a cheerleader.  Even if you don't wear a short skirt."

   "You don't like him, do you?"

   I smiled to myself and, without missing a step, shifted my hand from
Robbie's shoulder to her hip.  "You're not as good at it."

   "Not as good at what?" Robbie asked defensively, her competitive nature
taking center stage.

   "The questions.  Tami either asks awkward questions at inconvenient
times or questions without any context at all.  I know what you're talking
about."

   Robbie leaned up against me as we walked.  "She does," she agreed.  We
kept walking around the park.  Robbie was keeping me company since Tami was
at Allie's again.  The girl had no priorities, thinking that a school
project was more important than my walk.

   Robbie glanced back.  "Our shadows have disappeared.

   I looked back.  Traci and Peter weren't behind us.  Either following
Robbie and me just didn't feel the same as Tami and me, or they were taking
advantage of a parentless house.  Maybe both.  "You ready for tomorrow? 
The big pep rally and long bus ride to Tacoma." The coach had made it clear
that anyone missing the bus this time would not be playing.

   "Then Saturday, the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat." Robbie
added.  "But, Mr.  Smart Ass, you never answered my question.  You don't
like him, do you?"

   I sighed.  I'd hoped that I'd slipped that one past.  "No, I don't.  And
before you ask, I don't have a reason, just a feeling.  Cody seems like a
nice guy, a good guy.  But, I guess our chemistries just don't mesh."

   "Jealous?"

   "Could be," I admitted.  "But I've liked your other guys."

   "But you knew my other guys.  In most cases, even longer than I did. 
You didn't know Cody."

   "Maybe that's it.  I don't know."

   "He likes you."

   I grinned.  "That's a given.  Everybody does."

   "That's love."

   I looked up from my book and out the window Mark was staring at.  Tami,
driving my Mustang, was pacing the school bus.  I waved, Tami honked, then
pulled ahead.  Traci and Kelly shared the passenger seat.

   "Letting your girlfriend drive your baby.  That is true love," Mark
said, settling back into the seat in front of me.

   "Said the Oracle of Romance," I said sarcastically.  "Your longest
relationship was what, two weeks?"

   "Naw, but I made it to eight days once back in sixth grade."

   I shook my head and went back to reading.  I'd just gotten hooked on
Stephen Frey's stuff and was reading his latest, The Chairman.

   The pep rally at school had been fun.  Then we'd climbed on the bus for
the long ride to Tacoma.  And long was right: we were only about halfway
there.  I just hoped I didn't run out of book too soon.

   I stepped off the bus and stretched.  It was the same motel we'd stayed
at last week, and I knew they had a sauna and a spa, I hoped to take
advantage of one or both in the near future.  Then I smiled as I saw Tami
in the lobby, waiting with Kelly and my sister.

   I stepped forward and hugged her.  My mouth covered hers, and my tongue
moved in for a long visit.  I heard Traci giggle.

   "Tony, My da..." Tami started a couple minutes later.

   "Quiet, I'm schmoozing here," I said as I looked up at the big man
behind her.

   "Schmoozing?" Tami repeated.

   I held out my hand.  Tami's dad looked at it for a second, then grasped
it firmly as we shook.

   "Thank you," he said quietly as he let go.

   I slipped my arms around Tami and Kelly and steered them toward the mob
at the desk.  "Let's see where I'm staying.  Then we can all change and hit
the spa while Traci carries in all the luggage."

   "I heard that."

   Chapter 48

   "What are you grinning about?"

   I climbed back to my feet.  It felt like every Tiger in the stadium had
piled on me after I ran back the kickoff to the fifty.

   "I was thinking how nice and peaceful it was to just be playing
football."

   "Peaceful?" Robbie asked, cocking her head.  Then she got it and nodded.
"Maybe we can do a double or triple overtime so you can stay out here."

   "Please."

   "I talked to the coach, and he said it was okay."

   I looked blankly at Tami.  "Coach?  Okay?"

   "Instead of going with the team, you can have dinner with me."

   I grinned, remembering last year when Tami and I had a quiet dinner
together while the rest of the team invaded a Sizzler.

   "Outback?"

   "And Daddy," she added, dropping her eyes to the floor.

   For just a second I hated her and remembered last year again, when she'd
set up a meeting for me with her Dad.  But I also remembered how he'd
brought her to Tacoma and how I'd slept in her arms.  She wanted her dad to
be part of her life.  And right now, hopefully forever, I was her life. 
But even more, she was my life, and if that came with baggage, I just had
to deal.

   "Cool," I said with a smile.

   Tami's head snapped up and she looked at me.  "You mean it?"

   "Could I lie to you?"

   Tami smiled.

   "Tami, he's your dad.  I may not like some of the things he's done... 
hell!  I hate some of the things he's done, but he's your dad and I need to
accept that.  He and I probably won't ever be friends, but I guess I can't
just ignore my father-in-law." No matter how much I might want to.  It
helped having a cousin who knew police, who knew other police, who said
that he was still in counseling and seemed to be taking it seriously.

   Tami threw herself forward into a kiss that knocked me backward onto the
bed, which could have been a lot of fun if Traci hadn't been lying on it.

   "Punt?"

   "Punt," I agreed.  We'd just barely managed a first down last time.  Now
we were fourth down with twelve yards to go on the Tigers' forty-one.

   Robbie took the snap she'd started at quarterback and booted the ball
deep into Tiger territory while the rest of us raced after it.  Our first
drive had been shut down by the Tiger defense, but we were only four
minutes into the first quarter.

   "Tony, thanks for coming."

   I grinned.  "Thanks for inviting me," I said as the three of us sat down
at a table." Tami and I had taken the motel shuttle, and her dad had driven
over from his hotel.  He'd booked his reservation too late to get into
ours. I can't say I was sorry that he wouldn't be in the next room while
Tami and I...

   "No, I mean it.  I know you and I started off bad."

   You threatened to shoot my kneecap off, slick.

   "I appreciate you giving me another chance."

   "Like I told Tami when she asked me, I'm part of her life, you're part
of her life, we have to learn to deal."

   "You're a pretty sensible young man."

   "Tami slaps me upside the head if I get too far out of line."

   He smiled.  "I have a feeling she doesn't have to do that too often."

   "You might be surprised."

   "Ever think of becoming a cop?" I must have made a face, 'cause he
continued, "You don't like cops?"

   "I try to be open-minded.  I know there's a lot of good cops out there.
Dan Boyd, my neighbor back home is a good cop." I decided not to mention
that he'd met Dan, since Dan had been pointing a gun at him at the time. 
"But unfortunately, there are as many mediocre cops and bad cops."

   "Like me."

   I hate when I feel like the quicksand is starting to give way beneath my
feet.  "When I first met you, I didn't think much of you as a cop or
anything else." He dropped his eyes down to the table, and I took that as a
good sign.  "But I've got some friends in Colorado, and they're in pretty
good with the police in their town, and of course their cops know other
cops.  I had you checked out, and you seem to be a pretty good cop.  I'm
reserving judgement on the anything else."

   He lifted his head and looked at me again.  "I guess I can't ask for
anything more."

   I grinned.  "You could ask, but that's what I'm prepared to give right
now.  And I think we should change the subject before Tami throws her neck
out." Tami had been doing the ping pong thing as she looked at her father,
then me, then back again.

   "That was an exciting game last year.  I was glad I came.  Going to be
just as good this year?"

   "Most of the sportswriters have picked us to win."

   He smiled again.  "These the same sportswriters who said you didn't have
a prayer last year?"

   I shrugged, then brought the conversation around to Tami's column and
her nomination.  As she became more a part of the conversation, I sat back
and listened.  When the food came, I just concentrated on my steak.

   'Oh shit!' I thought as the Tiger halfback sprinted along the sideline.
He'd gotten past our defense, and there was no one between him and the
goal. No one but me, and I was too far away.  As I tried to pick up speed,
I thought about Cinnamon's dog.  Ghost seemed to have the ability to stop
being in one place and immediately be somewhere else.  I wondered if he
could teach me.

   The gap between us seemed to be getting smaller, but it was taking too
long.  Way too long.  I could hear others chasing us, but no one was in a
position to intercept.  The space between us got smaller: ten feet, five
feet, three feet, but he was too close to the goal line.

   Hero or goat time.  I launched myself.  I'd look like an idiot if I
missed.  The gun for the first half went off as I was in the air.  I
landed, my arms around his legs.  He was down!  There was mud in my eyes. I
couldn't see.  Had he crossed?  Had he crossed?

   I let go of his legs, rolled onto my back, and wiped my eyes with my
sleeve.  The first thing I saw was the referee waving his arms.  No
touchdown.  I'd stopped him.

   The first half was over.  The Tigers hadn't scored.  But neither had we.

   Some of us actually learn from our mistakes.  This year, I set the
alarm.

   Traci, Peter, and Kelly had hung out until almost ten, overstaying their
welcome by a couple of hours, but we had fun anyway, and at least Peter
hadn't asked for a rubber when they left.

   I set the alarm, and Tami and I climbed into bed.

   Sleeping in Tami's arms was still magical.  Waking in them even to the
blare of an alarm even more so.  We looked at each other and smiled.

   "You know, if someone hadn't forced me to rejoin the team, we could stay
like this."

   Tami leaned forward and bit my nose.  "If you hadn't rejoined the team,
we'd be at home, each in our own house, and you'd be listening to the
pre-pre-pregame show on the radio."

   "How'd you get so wise?"

   "I used to have a boyfriend who read."

   "Whatever happened to him?"

   Tami grinned.  "He was late meeting his coach in the lobby, and I think
he's still running laps."

   I looked at the clock.  Damn, where did the time go?  I jumped up,
dressed, and headed for the door as Tami blew me a kiss.

   "This is the year!"

   I rolled off the Tiger I'd tackled and watched as Robbie, who'd scooped
the ball he'd lost, streaked toward the end zone.  Just before the line, a
Tiger launched himself like I had, but he wasn't as lucky.  Robbie jinked
to one side, then sailed across the line, holding the ball over her head.

   Now this was the way to start the second half.  Kickoff to the other
team, force a fumble, and score.

   "Sims!"

   I'd swiped the keycard, the light had turned green.  So close.  I looked
down the hall.  Mike was standing there.  We'd just gotten back from the
same athletic club we'd gone to last year.  No Seahawks this time, but
half-a-dozen other pro athletes to do the meet-and-greet.  Tami and the
younger ones had met us in the lobby as we came back, and I'd managed to
get rid of Traci, Peter and Kelly for a half-an-hour so that I could have
some time alone with Tami.  Now...

   "Sims!" he repeated.

   I looked at Tami, and she nodded without the need for words.  I swiped
the keycard again and opened the door.  "Come in Mike.  Let's talk."

   Tami kissed my cheek, then headed down the hall.  I figured I'd find her
in Traci's room.

   "Sims..." he said again after I'd closed the door behind him.

   "How's the arm Mike?"

   He held it up in front of him and turned it a couple of times.  It was
still in a cast from his elbow to his wrist.

   "Doctor says I'll be throwing again by January.  Good as new by March."

   "That's good to hear." I couldn't muster a lot of enthusiasm, but I was
glad his career wasn't over.  "Scouts still looking?"

   He nodded.  "Sims, uh, Tony, I wanted to say..." He looked all around,
scuffing his foot.  "Well, I really want us to win.  I want that trophy.  I
know it won't be mine, but..."

   "Don't be stupid," I snapped.  "If we win, it's as much your trophy as
anyone's.  Your arm got us here.  At least when it was in one piece."

   Mike half smiled.  "I've always liked that about you.  You're all about
the team."

   I grinned.  "Don't try to make me a saint.  I like the hero bit.

   "Yeah, but you're for the team at the same time.  I try, but..."

   Damn.  I almost felt sorry for him.  "Mike, I'll bet all your life
you've had coaches and everybody else telling you how special you were. 
And giving you special treatment.  Sometimes it's hard to keep your head on
straight."

   "You're almost as good as me.  You've had that too."

   I liked how the word 'almost' came so naturally to him.  "I had an
advantage.  I had a mom who understood athletes, and especially talented
athletes.  She made sure I didn't get special treatment."

   "What about your dad?"

   "Dad's a great guy and I love him, but he couldn't even make the chess
team."

   Mike laughed.  "My dad..." he stopped, probably remembering the problems
his dad and I had.

   "Your dad is your greatest fan.  He supports you and pumps you up. 
That's what's important." It would be nice if he did that for the rest of
his family.

   "Dad was a pretty good ballplayer in high school, but couldn't make the
cut in college."

   That explains a lot.  Mike's his second chance.  "Like I said, he
supports you and pumps you up, and that's what's important."

   Mike stepped toward the door.  "I'm glad we had this talk."

   I clapped him on the back.  "You know, Mike.  So am I."

   He opened the door, then stopped.  "Do you think we could have been
friends?"

   I thought about it.  I'd moved in the seventh grade, but after football
season, so I'd known who Mike was but didn't know him.  When football
started again, I was an eighth grader and he was a freshman, and that was
like two different species.  Then Robbie and I joined the team as freshmen,
but Mike was accepted by the juniors and seniors and we were outsiders. 
Then last year...

   "Stranger things have happened, Mike, stranger things have happened."

   We stopped another Tiger drive as the third quarter ended.  Robbie
slapped me on the back.  "Sorry, Tony, you may not get your overtime." We
were still up six to nothing.

   "But the real world's out there.  I don't want to go."

   Robbie shrugged.  "Maybe you can hide behind the trophy.

   "Uh, Tony?"

   "What are you doing up here?" I said, looking over my shoulder.

   "Robbie said you were up here.  I, uh, wanted to talk." I'd been
standing on the top deck, looking down on the field and the rapidly filling
stadium.  I decided I owed Robbie something.  Maybe I'd set her up with
Kevin Murphy.  Nice kid, but he had acne that would make a leper cringe.

   "What do you want Luke?" I asked without turning around.  The field
looked so pure.  So...  so fresh.

   "I just...  I just wanted to say thanks.  For letting me play.  For
everything."

   Damn.  I missed the old world.  Where the good guys were good, and the
bad guys were bad, and they stayed that way.

   "You didn't need me.  You got yourself straight, and you stayed that
way." Down below, a lone person was walking across the field.

   "I thought you should know I was talking to this guy from Oregon
State..."

   Coach Branson.  I knew.  He'd talked to me and Robbie about Luke first.

   "He said if I hadn't tested every week, he probably wouldn't have been
interested.  I'm pretty sure most of the other scouts feel the same way.  I
wanted to say thanks."

   "Don't bother.  I didn't do that part for you, I did it for me.  For the
rest of the team.  All you owe me, all you owe us, is a good game.  Your
best game."

   There were four guys in the middle of the field now, discussing
something.  I watched.  After a minute Luke left.

   I took the hike and faded back as my line became a wall.  I looked for
Zach.  He was covered.  I found Robbie in the open.  I pulled the ball up
by my ear and let it sail.  She was on about the fifteen.  It looked like
we were going to get some insurance.

   Suddenly a kid leaped into the air and snatched the ball.  Test that boy
for steroids, or testosterone.  Hell, test him for flubber.  Nobody should
be able to jump that high.  I recognized him.  It was the damn halfback I'd
chased halfway down the field.

   I glanced at the clock after Mark brought him down just short of the
fifty.  Two minutes.

   "Sims!"

   Damn, my name was getting a workout today.  I turned and looked down the
tunnel.  "Mr..." Something fishy.  Mr.  Salmon.  Mr.  Carp.  Mr.  Herring.
Mr...  "Trout."

   "I hope you're happy."

   "I'm in a pretty good mood.  I don't know if I'd go so far as to say
happy."

   Trout glared.  "You and your girlfriend should be happy.  Dan Blakeman
has agreed to a three year suspension.  You've ruined him."

   What did he expect, guilt?  "Maybe he should have thought of that before
he cheated."

   Trout kept glaring.

   "Don't bother coming in to wish us good luck.  We don't need your kind
of luck."

   I watched from the sideline as that damn halfback found another hole and
plunged thru to our seven.  First and goal with thirty-three seconds on the
clock.

   "You know, life would be so much easier without people," I said in the
locker room as Robbie and I psyched ourselves up for the game.

   "But not half as much fun."

   I felt so helpless as I watched from the sideline.  At least Robbie was
in the game.  The quarterback took the hike, faded back and handed off to
the halfback.  The halfback was sprinting toward the right sideline. 
Robbie was shadowing him.  That's when I realized the quarterback still had
the ball.

   "The other side.  The other side!" I shouted.

   I don't know if Robbie heard me or just sensed, but she reversed and
headed toward the other side of the field.  The quarterback launched a
short pass.  The end grabbed it and turned.  He was only four or five yards
away.

   Robbie was closing in, but she'd never be in time.  I hadn't heard the
gun.  She launched, hitting the kid just as he stepped over the line.  If
the ball came loose there was a chance...  Robbie and the kid went down.  I
waited, then the whistle.  The referee standing there, both arms in the
air. Touchdown, Tigers.

   I looked at the scoreboard.  It had stopped with four seconds left.

   I weighed the options while the two teams lined up for the extra point.
If we blocked the point, we went into overtime.  If the point was good, we
had four seconds.  Which meant, we had to score on the kickoff.

   The ball was hiked, the quarterback spotted it, kicker in motion.  It
almost seemed like slow motion.  The kicker connected, and I watched the
ball sail through the uprights.  They should have made a video of the play.
It was textbook.

   I grabbed my helmet and ran onto the field, yelling instructions and
encouragement to the players coming with me.  We took our positions.

   "Sorry!" Robbie yelled

   "Nothing to be sorry about," I yelled back.  "Eighty, ninety yards and
we win."

   The Tigers kicked.  I heard the gun before the ball came down.  Luke was
camped under the ball.  I moved forward to block for him.  The Rebels moved
up the field.  The Tigers prepared to meet us.

   I blocked a Tiger.  He went down to the side.  Robbie took out another.
Luke shifted, crossing to the other side of the field.  A Tiger broke
through.  Luke was across the fifty.  The damn Tiger halfback angled toward
him.  I dropped my shoulder and hit him hard.

   Luke was at the forty.  He shifted again, up the middle now.  A Tiger
broke through and went for the tackle.  Luke pirouetted out of his grasp.
The thirty.  Luke twisted out of another Tiger's reach.  Then...  three
tigers dove, one getting Luke's legs.  Luke tried to pull away, but another
Tiger hit him and he went down.

   Only twenty-three yards short.



   Chapter 49

   "So how does it feel to have lost another one?"

   I glared at Traci, but she felt safe sitting between Peter and Kelly and
grinned back.

   "It feels..."

   "I can think of ways to make you feel what we're feeling," Robbie said
with just a touch on menace."

   "Sorry," Traci mumbled dropping her eyes.  "I was just teasing."

   My sister was more afraid of Robbie's revenge than mine.  I wasn't sure
how to take that.

   "Amy Long's German shepherd just had puppies.  Can we trade her in on
one?" I asked with a straight face.  "I know Dad's allergic, but we can get
him a surgical mask to wear around the house."

   "Children, behave," Mom said with mock severity.

   "That's what they say when we're together," Robbie and I sang together.
Robbie giggled, catching my eye from the other side of Tami, so I
continued, "And watch how you play..."

   "You two are weird," Mikee said, shaking her head.  "What was that all
about?"

   Mom set a huge plate of waffles on the table and sat down between Dad
and Mikee.

   "It's an old Tommy James song, I Think We're Alone Now," Robbie
explained, reaching out and spearing the top waffle.  She was sitting
between Dad and Tami.

   "It starts out 'Children behave', I guess the song popped into both our
heads at the same time," I finished, scooping scrambled eggs off a platter
and onto my plate.

   "Do you two know every song ever written before I was born," Kelly asked
picking a piece of bacon off her plate.

   "Just the good ones," we said together.

   After the championship game, Tami and I had stayed over and come back
this morning.  Now we were having a family brunch.  I'm not sure when
Mikee, Kelly and Peter joined the family, but it seemed perfectly natural.

   "Just out of curiosity, how old is that song?" Traci asked between
bites.

   "Let's put it this way.  They played that song at my senior prom," Dad
said, then grinned.  "Along with some other moldy oldies."

   "Sixty-eight or sixty-nine," Robbie supplied.

   There was relative quiet as we all concentrated on our food.  Mom had
gone all out: waffles, cinnamon rolls, and french toast along with eggs,
bacon, sausage and country potatoes.  I think she was trying to cheer me
up, I didn't have the heart to tell her I wasn't depressed.

   "So how was your trip?" Tami asked, pushing her plate away from her.

   "Pretty good, all in all," Mom said, following Tami's example of pushing
her plate away.  "The conference was long and boring, and I could have
learned just as much from a two-page memo."

   "I liked it," dad said.  "I sat around the pool and relaxed.  Then I
went shopping.  I found the most darling..."

   Dad really should have expected that elbow.

   "What did you think of Mitch, Rosita, and Cinnamon?" Robbie asked,
working on her third waffle.

   "Well the conference ended Thursday afternoon and we drove to a little
place in Idaho Falls.  What was the name again?"

   "Miner's Pick," Dad mumbled around a mouth of cinnamon roll.

   "The Miner's Pick.  It's a quaint little bed and breakfast.  I needed to
unwind."

   Dad opened his mouth, thought better of it, and took another bite of
cinnamon roll.

   "Then Friday morning, we slept in till almost ten, then finished the
drive to Mitch's.  We met them for lunch at..."

   "The Harbor Club," Dad said before popping the last of his roll in his
mouth.

   "It's the marina right on the lake.  They had a very nice restaurant,
and the view was magnificent."

   Dad made a show of leaning back in his chair and pulling at his belt. 
"We'd planned to have lunch and visit awhile.  Then drive back to Denver
about four, which would have gotten us to the airport by six and still left
plenty of time for all the fun and games it takes to get on an airplane
these days."

   "Somehow..." Mom started.

   "And I'm still not sure how or when," Dad added.

   "We wound up spending the night and flew out in the morning."

   "Cinnamon!" said every voice at the table under twenty except Peter.

   "Your cousin was very nice."

   "My cousin is a scheming, conniving..." Tami's hand had been stroking my
leg and now she squeezed the pressure point just above my knee.  "... 
little angel," I finished.

   Tami smiled, leaned over, and kissed me on the cheek.

   "So what did you think of everybody?" Traci asked.

   "It's hard to believe that Mitch is a doctor, let alone a member of my
family.  He seemed so, so full of life."

   "And it's obvious he's very much in love," Dad added.

   "What did you think of Cinnamon?" I asked.

   Mom hesitated then nodded.  "Cinnamon seemed very nice.  She was polite
and very intelligent.  I was so glad she could get out of school to have
lunch with us."

   "I think she could give Tony a run for his money," Dad said with a grin.

   "You got that right!" Traci added, matching his grin.

   I glared at her.

   "Don't glare at your sister when you know she's right." I didn't have to
look at Robbie to know her grin was just as big.

   I leaned back, imitating Dad, and patted my stomach.  "I think I could
keep her in check, but we'll never know.  I think Cinnamon's life will go
in a very different direction from mine.  For one thing, I can't see her
playing much football..."

   Robbie giggled.  "Can you see her trying to stuff those melons under
some pads?"

   Mom gave her a reproachful glare, then hid her own grin behind a napkin.

   Cinnamon' sweren't all that big.  About the same as Robbie's, but she
was short enough that they looked bigger.

   "So what do you see her doing?" Dad asked.  "I assume, you're still plan
to coach?"

   I nodded.  "Well, Robbie called her the future leader-of-the-free-world.
I'm not sure that's far from wrong.  Which means those two can butt heads,
not me.  I'm pretty sure that Robbie was planning to be the first empress
of the world.  Cinnamon's also really into music, so the redheads can
battle for the top of the charts before they take on the world."

   I expected a sarcastic retort, but Robbie looked thoughtful.

   "And you'd be content to let one or both of them run the world?" Mom
asked.

   I stood and bowed to my mother, then Tami, then Robbie.  "Mom, between
you, Robbie and Tami, I've never had a chance to run my own life anyway,
let alone the world.  You can't miss what you've never known.

   Dad looked like he was about to say something, but changed his mind,
stood, and bowed to his wife, then Traci.  He looked at me.  "Tony shall we
do the dishes before we get finagled into doing them anyway?

   I grinned, nodded, and started picking up plates.



   Chapter 50

   "Yes."

   "Yes what?" Tami asked as my hand sank into the back pocket of her
jeans.

   "Yes is the answer."

   "What answer?" Tami asked a little over loudly.  Behind us, I saw Traci
and Peter come out of their own world to look.  It was the Sunday night
after the brunch, and we were talking a walk around the park even though it
was misty.

   I smiled.  Turning my head, I nibbled on her earlobe.  "The answer to
the question you're going to ask in about twenty or twenty-five minutes."

   "What question?" she asked.  Tami had a way of sounding like she was
stomping her foot without physically doing it.  "And why would I ask it in
twenty or twenty-five minutes."

   "Because my love, in about ten minutes, my parents, wonderful creatures
that they are, are going to collect our shadows and take them to a movie,
then they are going on to dinner with friends at the Holiday Inn.  Ergo..."

   "Ergo?"

   "I'm trying to class up my act here.  Ergo, in about fifteen minutes you
and I will enter a totally unchaperoned house complete with beds.  So,
twenty to twenty-five minutes from now would be an inconvenient time to ask
a question, so you will." I turned my head and grinned at Tami.

   "Who says I want to be unchaperoned with you anyway?'

   I kept grinning.

   "Maybe I want to go to the movie with Peter and Traci and not ask you
anything inconvenient."

   "First of all, my beautiful little minx..."

   Tami giggled.  "I thought you gave up on the pet names."

   "It seemed appropriate.  First of all, I'm not sure my sister and her
boy toy would appreciate a chaperone of their own."

   "And second of all?"

   "You can't resist me."

   "You are so full of it."

   "True, but you still can't resist me.  Besides, you want to know the
question to my answer."

   Tami pouted as we kept walking.

   Tami lay on the bed, her legs wrapped around mine as I drove my cock
deeper and deeper within her.  I knew her body so well that I could
literally feel the orgasm building within her.  I slowed my strokes, trying
to stave off the explosion that was coming.  I was close, too.  A last
push, and I released my pent up seed, mentally thanking her aunt who kept
her supplied with birth control patches.  Tami shuddered, and we clung
together in the afterglow of our sex.

   "I wonder if Co..." I grinned down at her.  "Damn you," she said without
spite, then laughed.

   I rolled onto my side, pulling her with me.  "As I said about twenty
minutes ago.  Yes, I think Cody got lucky."

   "Have I mentioned I hate you?"

   "Once or twice."

   "I could cut you off.  No more nookie for Tony."

   I kissed the top of her breast.  "You know, I was thinking just
yesterday that I haven't been spending enough time with Mikee and Kelly. 
Or Paula.  It's been a long time since I gave Paula the attention she
deserves."

   "I hate you."

   "You said that," I reminded her, and started kissing the valley between
her breasts.

   "Paula wouldn't have you.  She's hot and heavy with Josh Lindsay."

   I shook my head, my nose brushing against her tits.  "Not anymore.  He
dumped her on Friday."

   Tami sighed.  "She has the worst luck with guys.  Maybe I should send
you over."

   I made as if to get up.  "Your wish, etcetera, etcetera."

   "Not right now." She pulled my face back between her tits.  "You're
being punished."

   "Why?" Not that I minded.  "You've been reading my mind for almost four
years.  Just because I get one right now and then..."

   "It's the principal of the thing.  So you think Cody got lucky?" she
added, changing the subject.

   I lifted my head, laying it on the pillow next to hers.  "Robbie didn't
say so, but she was pretty bummed after the game.  I'm guessing she let
Cody console her."

   "Is that what I was doing in the motel last night, consoling you?" Tami
asked with a wicked smile.

   "Nope.  We were celebrating."

   "How come you were celebrating and Robbie needed consoling."

   "'Cause she's a wee bit more competitive than I am.  I saw us as being
the second best team in the state of Washington two years in a row.  She
saw us as losing for the second time."

   "So how come you didn't console her?"

   "'Cause I'm not a very good friend.  I was busy celebrating with you."
   "It was a pretty good celebration too."