Chapter 26

Toby spent two hours in the Carter's family room hooking up cameras and sensing equipment and transmitters. The good news was that with Fernando's ill-gotten gains for a budget, he didn't have to skimp on things in any way -- but it was still a one-man operation and testing could be a bitch. Finally, he got things the way he wanted them and headed home, where the remote tests were also successful. But it seemed like a waste...

Friday morning, the first thing on the agenda was a frank discussion about club facilities. Terence and Clint and Damian and Alyssa and Hank and Bonita and Maddie and Brenda were all present when Toby braced Amy, "I think we need a new clubhouse."

"Huh?" The comment was general.

"We need a secret place - and Lon's is fine - but we also need a place we can let out the address of. That way, Randy isn't running back and forth all the time. Club members with girlfriends like us and some of the others don't need the secrecy - and some of them probably have no place to go," Toby presented his case. "There's also the fact that there are three groups, basically, and we have to push them out to three different locations right now. One big place with plenty of room would be preferable, you know?"

Terence rubbed his jaw. "Maybe a big place like a gym or a sports club?"

Toby grimaced. "I thought about that - but it might take a long time to get a commercial building - even if we could find what we wanted. And there might be permits or something. There are some big old houses around - even some big new ones. We can bring in the construction guys - and pay for it properly this time..." There were several nods. "I think we ought to talk to the older folks and see what they think."

"When?" Clint asked.

"Over the weekend?" Toby suggested. "We have a ball game - and a party..." He glanced around. "Speaking of which, who is coming?"

"Girls?" Amy shrugged. "Basically, all we have is Bernice and Jasmine and Sonya - everyone else is coupled. The older generation..."

Alyssa grimaced. "Things were a little wild for Mama - she's not gonna be up for it. I don't think Mrs. Horner will be, either. They had good times and all, but..." Toby sighed and nodded. Ma had pressed Adele and Phyllis pretty hard.

Terence grunted. "Mama will play, likely - and your Ma, Toby."

"Candace will, too." Damian's tone said she had no choice.

Toby eyed Hank. "Marta?"

"I'll ask. I'm pretty sure she enjoyed last time - but she isn't the type to just go wild," Hank replied. Toby nodded. Alonzo had made a big impression - but they weren't a couple, and Marta wouldn't entertain the idea due to their difference in ages. She might not even want a repeat performance due to the temptations involved.

"Well, we've got -- what - eight guys?" Hank asked. The new crop of girlfriends and the fall of the cheerleaders had shaken some existing relationships; Chuck Wilson and broken up with his long-term squeeze, Jessica - generally because she was eye-candy and not offering anything else. You didn't have to do any more than look at the group around the lunch tables to know that the girls there were offering more than that - even without making the leap to assuming that there was sex involved, there was a whole lot more honest intimacy.

Toby nodded. "I hate to call in Sonya - She's really with Rick and Teela and not really open. Teela won't let her go alone and that imposes on Rick." That got general nods; Rick and Teela didn't really run with the team, just as Lon and Sally didn't - but they were on the fringes and enough people knew what was going on to know that the three of them had their thing going - with spillover to Teela's dad and Sonya's mother. Frank and Jiang Yi were apparently a stable, if odd, couple...

Toby sometimes wondered what had happened to the three of them that had started this whole thing that shattered their bonds - but the answer seemed to be girls...

"I'll ask around," Amy offered. "Maybe there is something out there..."

Damian raised a hand. "Hold it - Bro, isn't Mama on shift?"

"Ah, shit - she is!" Terence yelped. "Your Ma, too, Man! She said something last night!" he added to Toby.

"Okay, NOW we're in trouble!" Toby hissed. Not only did they have a shortage of teen girls, they were ALSO short women!

"Hey, we'll just have to tell the guys we're short," Hank shrugged.

Damian shrugged. "The women can double up..."

"Candace, maybe," Toby opined. "Not Marta."

"Candace for sure!" Damian grunted. Amy eyed the black junior; she could read his thought process WITHOUT looking inside his head - but when she got there it was clear that he thought Candace needed what he thought of as 'tightening up.'

"Alyssa, could you maybe have a word with your mother?" Toby asked.

Alyssa shrugged. "Randy would just tell her..."

"We're trying to go without compulsion these days," Toby replied.

"Don't you GET no ideas!" Damian growled.

"No Damian." Alyssa snuggled up close to her man and he mellowed out. "Okay, I'll ask."

"I'll talk to the girls," Amy offered. "Maybe there will be some last-minute thing..."

"It'll shake out," Hank insisted.

"Let's check again after school," Toby insisted, and the group split up.

Amy caught Bernice and Jasmine after second period. "Are we on?"

"Dunno if it's worth it for me," Bernice muttered.

"Why not?"

"Everybody knows - and nobody's interested."

"I don't think that's true," Amy replied. "The guy you did yesterday - the second one - enjoyed himself."

"Didn't the first one?"

"Yeah, but I don't see you hooking up with him." Amy forbore mentioning that Randy was technically spoken for. "What about you?" she asked Jasmine.

"Well, that dark room thing might work," Jasmine opined. "At least to get my cherry popped, anyway. If I don't get no more than that, it'll be worth it." She turned to Bernice. "Come on, I don't wanna do this alone..."

"Okay." Bernice nodded. "I'll go."

"Great!" Amy smiled encouragingly. "Come back to school after the game and we'll pick you up before the guys return, okay?"

"Sure..." Jasmine nodded.

Amy drifted toward the group of 'committed' girls. "Is everybody all set for tonight?"

She got general nods. "I'm gonna bring mace in case that bitch Cindy bothers me!" Anita rasped.

"She probably won't - not coming right off a suspension!" Amy argued. "That's suicide!"

"Well, she gets extra points for being stupid," Misha snarled.

"Don't lower yourselves to her level girls," Amy grinned. "Look, uh, we're a few short tonight - just two new girls and something like eight guys. We're toast for older women, too - some of the ones we had last week have to work..."

"What are you asking?" Misha asked.

"Just if maybe you know somebody..."

"Oh," Misha sighed. "I thought you were gonna ask us to, ummm, spread ourselves..."

"No, you've all got guys. If you wanted to, or if they wanted you to, nobody would say anything - some girls in the club do - but I wouldn't ask you to risk a relationship."

"Whew!" Anita wiped her brow theatrically.

"Oh, ESPECIALLY not YOU, Anita!" Amy laughed. "We want YOU to grind Cindy Simpson into the dust! For that, you need to be Tad's one and only!"

"Cool!" Anita grinned. "I'm honored to serve!" She gave her little snorting giggle.

Amy made to move on, but Misha flicked her eyes off in the direction of the stairwell. Amy picked it up and nodded and altered course, going to stand at the indicated location. In a minute or so, Misha showed up, looking around nervously.

"What's up?" Amy asked.

"Those older ladies - who are they, anyway?"

"Why?"

"I think maybe..." Amy waited, but Misha didn't seem capable of going on.

Amy pursed her lips. "Actually, they're all somebody's mothers. The original purpose of the group was to get the guys - and their mothers - regular sex. It's been kind of iffy for the older ladies, but it's hard for them to compete with young girls. They're great trainers, though - for guys AND for girls!"

"If I knew an older lady..."

Amy's interest sharpened. "Who? How well do you know her? How old is she?"

Misha blanched. "You have to know her age?"

"Well, no - she isn't sixty or anything, is she? There are limits to what the boys will do..." '... although I haven't found them yet,' Amy added to herself.

"Oh, no - she's... forty, I guess. Maybe thirty nine."

"Misha..."

Misha looked away. "You said they're all mothers?"

"Yes. Every one."

"Okay. It's my mom."

"Yeah? Okay."

"Really?"

"Well, I don't know how you're going to pitch it, but if you do, I'm sure we can work something out."

"Cool!" Misha bubbled.

"If it crashes, though, well, that's bad. We can't risk that!" Amy cautioned.

"How much do I have to tell her?"

Amy rubbed her face. "I guess the minimum would be that she'll be taken to a secret location and... well, sexed..." Amy had trouble saying 'fucked.' "But that means we have to work really hard at her security. I'd like it better if she knew more, but the more she knows..." She grimaced. "This is gonna seem dumb, but you might want to talk to Toby about this. He would have to make the arrangements and he... has a feel for these things."

"Toby? Really?"

"Toby." Amy nodded. "He'll know if it's going to work. Maybe he could take you home over lunch to talk to her?"

"She'll be at work... Maybe he can take me to the convenience store?"

"Maybe. He has really good ears - he won't have to stand there. But he'll be able to tell if your mom is interested or not." Amy had no idea how she was going to carry this tale off... Sighing, she flipped open her phone. "Toby? Um, remember our problem tonight? Well, Misha says if she's approached properly, her mom might be available..."

"That's... interesting," Toby floundered. "What were you thinking?"

"Well, we were thinking you could take Misha over to where she works and kind of listen in when Misha pitches it. You can just hang out at a distance and use that super hearing you seem to have to see how she takes it..."

"Misha thinks this will fly?" 'Super hearing...' Toby rolled his eyes.

"She seems to."

"Chris knows," Misha volunteered. "Mom caught us - and she asked Chris if maybe he had a brother. Very embarrassing." She looked away. "For all three of us."

"Um, okay. First lunch? Meet me in the parking lot," Toby said. He hung up, sighing. This stuff just got weirder and weirder. "Super hearing..." he muttered.

Amy had third period with Chris - which allowed her to confirm Misha's tale and forward that confirmation to Toby - which gave Toby some confidence that he wasn't wasting his lunch. Misha bounded out on schedule - with Chris, which was a complication. 'Nothing ever goes smoothly,' Toby thought, exasperated. As it turned out though, Chris gave Toby some protective coloration - someone to talk to while he allowed Misha to talk about the issue and to assess her mother's reactions. With the pair of boys wandering in front of the drink coolers, Misha approached her mother, "Hey, Mom, can we talk?"

"Okay." Iris flicked a quick glance at her boss, who waved them off. Ravi was good about family things...

"When do you get off?"

"Eight-thirty tonight. Aren't you going out with your boyfriend?" Iris flicked a glance at Chris.

"We'll still be at the football game, but yes..." Misha gathered herself. "Remember when you asked Chris if he had a brother?"

"Oh, God, I'm SO embarrassed about that!" Iris whispered. "You two just made me so hot..."

"Well, what if... he did?"

"I couldn't," Iris erupted. "Too embarrassing. Too close to home. No way..." 'God, why would she tempt me like this?' she wondered.

"What if... What if I knew of a place that you could go - totally anonymously - that had young guys who were looking for no-strings sex..." Misha felt her way out onto the ice.

"Anonymous? How anonymous?"

"Everybody wears masks - and goes naked."

Iris' breath caught in her throat. "Everybody?"

"Everybody."

"Pumpkin, I..." Iris waved disparagingly at her body. Iris was a somewhat larger version of Misha at about five feet four - a bit of an ass, rounded, nothing much to speak of on top. She had big nipples, though - courtesy of Misha, actually, since she had breast fed her daughter for several months.

"You don't weight three hundred and look all blubbery," Misha replied. "One lady did last week..."

Iris frowned. "What was that?"

"That's what I heard," Misha covered herself.

"And she went around naked..."

"She was wearing a mask..." Misha shrugged.

"We'll talk about this tonight." Iris wanted to hear more - a LOT more - but she didn't see herself using it for anything more than a masturbation fantasy.

"No, that's why I'm here - there is a party tonight!" Misha hissed.

"You're kidding, right?"

"Would I be here if I was kidding, Mom? Come to the school after work. Some people will pick you up and take you to the party."

"Pumpkin, I can't! I..." 'I don't have the guts!'

"You CAN and you WILL!" Misha insisted.

"Sweetie..."

"YOU know you need it and I know you need it - it's there! All you have to do is go and you'll get some!"

"How safe is this?"

"It's safe. Would I send you somewhere that wasn't?" Misha insisted. She took off the kid gloves. "If you don't show up, Chris and I are gonna come home and fuck in your bed RIGHT BESIDE YOU!" she hissed. "You'll go totally nuts - I KNOW you will! Then you're gonna have to apologize to me for begging my boyfriend to fuck you! Won't THAT be embarrassing!"

"You wouldn't!"

"Remember that video with the two girls and the sybian?" Their current house rules stemmed from that incident; they'd watched the movie together and almost ended up in a sixty-nine. After that, masturbation was solo... "I GUARANTEE Chris will be MUCH worse than that!"

Iris didn't doubt it a bit.... "Okay. I'll be there."

"They'll take good care of you. You'll be very happy," Misha insisted.

"Sweetie..."

"Trust me." Misha didn't leave Iris any time to backtrack; she turned and walked out. Iris stood rooted, awash with hunger and fear - until Toby tweaked the fear just a touch and it rolled over into resignation...

"She'll be there," Misha announced confidently.

"I know," Toby agreed.

Meanwhile, the lunchtime break provided an opportunity for another volunteer to come forward. Nothing happened in the lunchroom itself - the timid just weren't capable of approaching a cluster of the most popular guys in school - but Donna heard her name called as she left the lunchroom to go to the bathroom. Turning, she discovered Janice Fremd standing there, her narrow hands clutched before her as usual. "Janice?"

"Um, are you going to the game tonight?" Janice asked timidly. With Janice, everything was done timidly. She stood taller than Donna but hunched herself to get her head down and seldom looked anyone in the eye. Today, she was in a signature outfit - a pink sweater with a single button done at the neck to occlude what little of her alleged cleavage the square-necked sack of a dress she was wearing might have displayed. The skirt ended below her knobby knees, leaving a short expanse of bare calf above the no-nonsense white strap sandals that touched each other at the toes but not the heels as she stood there. Janice's legs bowed backward when her knees were locked (as they were now) presumably to facilitate her pigeon-toed stance - something Donna couldn't really comment upon, since she was pigeon-toed, too. Up above, Janice had muddy brown hair pulled back into a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck - sprigs of which escaped, making her look even more messy and vulnerable. Watery blue eyes blinked above a nondescript nose above a wide mouth set in pouchy cheeks. Despite years of braces, Janice's upper lip extended over her lower one, largely because she didn't have a whole lot of chin. The braces and retainers were gone, but the habit of holding most of her mouth wide and lipless remained, along with the injuries four years of having to endure the teasing of other kids while wearing them had done to her psyche.

'Well, duh!' Donna thought - but she didn't feel like watching Janice cringe, so she stifled it, limiting herself to, "Yeah."

"Can I ride with you?"

"Well, I'm going to a party afterward..."

"Oh..." Janice looked crestfallen - of course - but then, that was a normal expression for Janice. There was a pause and just as Donna made to turn away, Janice erupted, "What happened?"

"What?" Donna blinked.

"Well..." Janice waved back at the lunchroom. "You. Misha. Anita. Miriam. Those guys. How...?" Janice was shaking; even asking the question was an act of bravery for her...

...And Donna recognized that. "Walk with me - I have to go..." She turned to head for the bathroom, glancing behind her to ensure that Janice had lurched into motion. She really DID have to pee - or she wouldn't have left the table - and Mac. Reaching the bathroom, Donna rushed into a stall.

Janice was still waiting patiently when Donna emerged from the stall, her hands up and clutched before her like some kind of humanoid praying mantis. Going to the sink to wash her hands, Donna said, "One day I realized that I wasn't being cautious and picky - I was SCARED! I was looking for something perfect - defined as perfectly safe - and there is no such thing."

"Wh-what did you do?" Janice asked, wringing her hands.

"I didn't stop being scared - but I quit letting it stop me," Donna replied. "An opportunity came along, and I took it."

"What kind of opportunity?" Janice asked.

Donna discovered that she couldn't explain. Something in her was unwilling to go into details - so she switched tracks. "What do you want, Janice? Love? Sex? Just attention?"

"I... don't know."

"Sex will get you all three," Donna declared.

"Sex!" Janice snorted in derision. "Like THAT's gonna happen!" It was her first display of spirit since the conversation started.

"Well..." Donna didn't want to go too far with her encouragements; what Donna had too much of, Janice barely had at all. "If you're, like, willing, boys don't stay away like they do when they're just looking - I don't know - it's like they look past, you know?"

Janice sighed. "I don't see how they would get past MY looks..."

Donna found herself limited again. "There are ways," she forced out. "If you're interested, maybe..."

"Maybe what?"

"Maybe I can fix it."

"How?"

"Don't ask. Let me find out first." Donna got out of the bathroom. She was a little bothered by the fact that she couldn't seem to talk about the club. Janice followed her back to the lunchroom, hanging back, unsure whether she'd been dismissed or not.

Donna descended upon Amy just as Toby was returning from his mission with Misha. "Amy, I wanted to invite Janice to the party, but I can't talk about it."

Amy flicked a glance at Toby as she played it off, "I think that it's a good thing that you can keep a secret. A lot of people could be embarrassed or even hurt if you just talked to any old body about it."

Donna shook her head. "No, I mean I CAN'T!"

Amy cocked her head. "Physically?" She turned to Janice, "We need your solemn promise you won't talk about this to anybody."

Janice wrung her hands. "Okay." Toby was already in her head, enforcing it.

Amy turned to Donna, "Try now." She glanced around; the guys had mostly moved off, headed for their afternoon classes, but there were a couple around - and at least one who knew nothing about what was going on. "Not here. Want me to go with you?"

Donna pursed her lips. "Yeah."

"I'm right behind you." Amy got up and swung a glance at Toby to confirm things; Toby nodded. Clearly, he'd been a little too obvious about Donna's block; he tuned it, fixing it so the compulsion was to get lost in worries about the effect on her relationship and other people and her responsibilities, rather than a brick wall.

Amy followed the other two out of the room; Donna turned toward the parking lot, even though she didn't have a car. In a couple of minutes, she was leaning on Mac's. "Want to go to a party?" she asked Janice.

"What kind of party?" Janice asked fearfully.

"A party with us girls and the guys on the team, after the game."

Janice gulped. "That might... be nice."

"Can you pay the admission?" Donna pressed.

"I have some money..." Janice ground to a halt. Donna wasn't talking about money. "What admission?"

"You have to go naked - and have sex with any boy who wants it."

"WH-WHAT?"

"Oh, you won't be alone," Donna went on, "I'll be there, and I'll be naked, and Amy will be there and she'll be naked... Everybody will, for that matter. It's a sex party."

"I-I can't..." Janice whispered.

"Sure you can! I do. She does. Anita and Misha and Miriam and - well, you can probably figure out the list. We ALL do it."

"Nobody is going to want..." Janice sputtered.

"No, of course not!" Donna retorted sarcastically, "Not when they have THIS to choose from..." She stuck out her hands and presented herself like a model, then rolled her eyes. "Give me a break! You haven't cornered the market on being less than appetizing!"

"We get around these things, Janice," Amy interjected. "You discover that if you're willing to be approached sexually, your appearance counts for less than your willingness to be... intimate. We have ways of making things totally anonymous, for instance."

"H-how?"

"Everybody wears masks, for one thing," Amy told her. "Girls tend to wear a mask with a hood that covers a good deal of their faces. I've learned that just being naked is protection from being identified; boys tend to be unable to visualize you naked, so they're not going to recognize you. Your other assets draw their attention from your face, too."

Janice sighed ruefully. "What other assets?"

"You have a pussy, right?" Donna prompted.

"Well, yes..."

"There you go..."

"It can't be THAT simple!" Janice protested.

Amy chuckled. "I didn't think so, either - and I got a shock!"

"There are other things," Donna amplified. "Have you ever sucked one?"

"A... penis?"

Donna wrinkled her nose. "Sucking one isn't a medical exam. Call it a cock, or a dick - you know the words."

"Okay. No, I've never..."

"So, if you were in a little room and someone stuck one through a hole in the wall, what would you do with it? He can't see you - and you'll probably never know who he is, either, but you get to play with the real thing... Could you suck it?"

"Um, wow! Really?" Janice turned wide eyes on Amy for confirmation.

"We have three booths," Amy confirmed. "I know one girl who likes to fuck that way - she just backs up to the hole..."

"I got fingered that way once," Donna admitted, blushing crimson.

"Wow!" Janice felt a rush. A boy's fingers in her... Actually touching a cock... "I... might need help..."

"We sometimes go two to a booth," Donna supplied.

"I think... yes... I can do that..." Janice was having trouble breathing as her imagination went wild. She could FEEL a cock sliding into her as she stood with her ass pressed against the wall with the hole in it! That HAD to be better than a hairbrush handle!

"How about this?" Amy asked. "We put you in a room with a boy. It's so dark you can't see your hand in front of your face. You do it all by touch..."

"Wow..." Janice whispered. Her eyes were fixed on nothing while she felt the hands of an invisible stranger on her.

"We play a game," Donna murmured. "You get a card with a code on it. You hook up with a guy and he likes what you did and he wants to play again - so he asks for the card. He takes it to..."

"Me, usually," Amy supplied.

"... and she shows him who you are - and who he is. And because he took your card, he MUST take you on two dates! Public dates! There were eleven couples at Wimpy's Monday night when Cindy and Tad got into it over Anita..."

Janice's heart thudded in her chest. Dates? Things could go long-term? Vistas opened... "How, um, hooked-up are you and Big Mac?"

Donna's smile spoke volumes. "More than two dates. He started talking about more even before the first..."

"Don't you get... passed around?" Janice's fears surfaced.

"It happens," Donna nodded. "I don't think any of us hit on the first pass. I've sucked two or three dicks." She shrugged. "It's... experience."

"There aren't any guarantees," Amy interjected, "and you might not get lucky the first time. But our hit rate is over ninety percent."

"You get confidence," Donna added. "Some of us even get a little wild. Misha sucked Chris off at Wimpy's - right there in the booth! Miriam went topless! Just being able to get brave like that - do you know what it does for your chances? Even with other guys? To KNOW that if you make an effort, it will be rewarded..." Now Donna's eyes were glazed.

Nobody wanted Janice. Janice's dad didn't really put up with her or her tired-looking mother - Mom was there to put food on the table and wash his clothes - and Janice kept her mouth shut and stayed out of the way, because if she got his attention, he was pissed about it. He didn't beat her or anything - she was just... inconvenient to have around. Janice didn't think that Dad and Mom had sex any more - Dad went out once or twice a week. Dad paid the bills and beer money was more important than groceries - UNLESS dinner wasn't on the table. Mom caught Hell anyway, of course. Boys her age didn't seem to be a whole lot different (but of course she was basically hiding from them...) Clothes CERTAINLY weren't a priority; Janice was wearing stuff Mom had put up in her closet in the Eighties mixed with whatever they could get cheap.

"What do I have to do?" Janice husked.

"Tell your mother you're going to a party after the game," Donna replied. "You'll be with us. Tell her there will be adults present - there will be, but they'll be doing what we're doing..."

Amy interjected, "Why don't you do it now, while we're here to help if somebody asks questions?"

Janice sighed. "I don't have a phone..."

"Use mine." Donna handed Janice hers.

Janice gathered herself and dialed her mother, "Mom?"

Abigail Fremd was thrilled that Janice might actually get a chance to socialize - and Tom wouldn't give a shit, anyway, since it was Friday night...

Bishop Feeney High was a perennial also-ran in the conference; they hadn't won a conference championship in over a decade, but they came in second or third regularly and you didn't win the championship unless you could take on the Mad Monks and win. The previous year, the Eagles had gone down to ignominious defeat at the hands of the Monks, and the surprise against the Tigers the previous week notwithstanding, the Monks weren't concerned.

The Eagles got out of class a period early to prepare for the trip; just after five, they boarded the team bus along with the cheerleaders and set out for Bishop Feeney High. Cindy and Beverly were part of the cheerleading contingent - and the team made it clear that they were pariahs. Bev spent the whole trip trying to protest her innocence and cuddle up to Ben Ellis, but he wasn't buying; Cindy just sat in her seat looking grouchy. Tad stayed as far away from her as he could get.

When the rest got out of school, they convoyed up in cars - those that had one and several who didn't riding along - the overflow in the van with Randy and Miriam. The ride up took almost an hour, partially because the cars were queued up like a funeral procession and very carefully not speeding.

Bishop Feeney didn't have accommodations for the cheerleaders, so they threw up blankets and changed on the bus; nobody cared. The team went into the locker room without looking back. Gina Blaisdale turned on Cindy, pissed. "Not only have you fucked YOU up - you've fucked the REST of the squad up! You suck!" Cindy merely fumed.

Martin put the Eagles on the field with Tad at the helm again. They made ground through a couple of series of downs, then the Monk defense started closing down Ben. Tad went to the air, close-in, relying on Clint's hands more than his passing. That got them down field and into field goal range before the Monks were all over Clint. Chris hit his mark and they were up 3-0.

After that, it got harder. Tad went to Mark, but he didn't have Clint's hands. The Monks got the ball and marched it to the thirty before Bobby executed a sack on their quarterback that stopped them cold. Tad alternated Clint and Mark in the air and Ben and Ray Thinnes on the ground, but his air game was less than fifty percent, and Ray didn't have Ben's punch; they wrestled for field position with the Monks until halftime without anything decisive happening.

The team was tired when they came into the locker room, but Martin bucked them up. "In the first place, we need to be able to execute with Tad at the helm," he told them, "and in the second place, we don't want them expecting the switch. Get ready, though - it's time."

The team had to kick off for the second half and Terence and Vince and Eddie Ray had their work cut out for them stopping the freshened Monk advance - until the Monk offense, watching Bobby streak in against their quarterback, missed Terence coming in from the far side. The ball popped up and Vince came away with it - and it took half of the Monk line to keep him from crossing the goal line with it! They brought Vince down on the twenty and Coach yelled, "Damian! Take over!" as the offense hit the field.

Bang! Damian went to Clint in the end zone on first down! The ball went into Clint's hands like it was riding on rails and the Eagles were on the move! Chris had no problem with the conversion - the Monks were momentarily demoralized...

That being the case, Martin put Tad back in again, and when they got the ball, the Eagles marched forty yards before the Monks firmed up. They leaned on Tad and he had to duck, losing yardage on a second down, so Martin sent in word that it was time to change again. Damian threw a slant to Tad, who made another ten yards before going out of bounds. The Monks were looking back and forth, trying to figure out who was the tight end and who was the quarterback, so Damian threw to Mark Torres, who took it twenty-seven yards for the second touchdown of the quarter...

After another fine extra point kick by Chris, the energized Eagle defense went to work on the Monks as they tried to shake off the suddenly ugly turn of events. The Monks weren't going anywhere beyond the thirty -- which was where they returned the kickoff to - and their quarterback stayed in the pocket too long trying to set up a long bomb and Bobby sacked him on the fifteen. The punt pushed the ball out to mid field with Damian at the helm.

Damian hit Clint, then Mark, then Tad, making ten yards at a pop before the Monk defense started blitzing. No problem - Damian danced back, handed off to Ben, and watched him tear through the great gaping hole in the Monk line left by the four defenders chasing him all over the backfield empty-handed. Damian got tackled - and the Monks got called for unnecessary roughness because the play was over - Ben was in the end zone! The penalty was declined...

The final score was 31 - 7.