Page 88 of Playing to Win
“That’s some messed up, girly, elementary school hype, if I ever heard it. You’re a pussy, man. She done turned you into a pussy.”
“You have an explanation?” Kyle stared at Jamal’s blank face. “All right then. Like it or not, it is what it is. Haven’t you ever seen Love and Basketball with Omar Epps? They play better because they love each other. It is what it is.”
“Man, you are such a girl.”
“Hey, isn’t that the movie you have hidden up in your closet? The one that fell on me the other day and you swore me to secrecy to never tell anyone you had?” Trevin elbowed Kyle in the ribs and they both turned to give pointed looks Jamal’s way.
”You’re a big mouth, Anderson. Besides, er’body knows that movie is an awesome basketball movie. And that girl is hot.”
“Sure, Jamal. Whatever you have to say to make yourself feel better. Now, let’s go beat the Knicks and win ourselves a championship. Whaddya say, girly?” Kyle laughed and easily sidestepped the punch Jamal threw his way.
“Man, you tell anybody I own that movie I’m tellin’ ’em your momma gave it to me.”
Kyle laughed. It was safe to say his best friend was back in his corner.
It was the fourth quarter,eighteen seconds left, and the Thunder had the ball, up by two. All they had to do was keep it on their end of the court and the championship was sealed. Kyle threw the ball to Jamal and ran ahead up the court.
The crowd was even more deafening than usual. Kyle turned to look back just in time to see Jamal get trapped right at the corner as he crossed the half-line. Giving a hard half-step to the goal, Kyle broke away from Anthony toward Jamal to give him an outlet to pass to. Just as Jamal threw him the ball, Galloway went for the steal.
As he did, his knee clipped the side of Kyle’s planted foot, twisting Kyle’s knee to the inside of his leg at an awkward angle. Kyle felt the rip just before the pain shot through his knee and he dropped to the ground. Right before he hit the floor, all he could hear was his screaming.
Callie waitedby the door of the hallway where they had wheeled Kyle into surgery two hours before. She had quit chewing her nails when she was a sophomore in high school, but when she looked down, she found her thumbnails almost chewed to the quick.
“Is he going to be okay? Please tell me he’s going to be okay.”
Her dad just pulled her in for another hug. “I don’t know, Sunshine. You know as much as I do. The doctors are working as hard as they can to make sure he gets the best possible care they can provide.”
“It just seems like it’s taking forever.”
“I know. Don’t you think they should be out by now?” Kyle’s mom was pacing the hallway and had been since they arrived. Where Callie had reverted to chewing on her nails, it seemed like she was determined to wear a hole in the floor before the night was over.
“Honey, you know how these things go,” Kyle’s dad said. “You’re a surgeon. You get in there, you find something you didn’t see on the scans—”
“I operate on hearts! It’s supposed to take a long time. His is a knee! How long does a friggin’ knee take, for cryin’ out loud?”
“See that?” Kacia came and leaned against the wall next to Callie. “You see how much thicker her Southern accent is getting? That’s how you know she’s nervous. She could never be a public speaker. They wouldn’t be able to understand her the accent would be so thick.”
Callie gave a half-hearted smile Kacia’s way. She knew Kyle’s sister was just trying to cheer her up, but she was too nervous to find anything funny.
“I’m sure he’ll be fine, Cal,” Aria said, taking Callie’s thumb out of her mouth. “Now stop chewing. It’s gross. You can get worms.”
“That’s not true,” Cassie added. “She can’t get worms. But it is gross. And now you’ve officially reached the point where you’re about to start gnawing skin, so I suggest you stop.”
Just then the doctor walked through the doors.
“Well?” Callie said. “Please tell me you have good news.”
“Surgery went as well as can be expected. His knee is going to make a full recovery.”
Callie and the rest of the crew gathered in the hallway let out a collective sigh of relief.
“But,” the doctor continued, “even though he will make a recovery, the damage was pretty extensive. Add that to the torn ACL he had repaired in high school, well, I’m afraid his days of playing in the NBA are over. I’m so sorry. I wish I had better news.”
Callie felt tears forming and struggled to keep them at bay. How was she going to tell him? Simple. She wasn’t going to. She’d let his parents be the bearers of bad news. She didn’t think she could do it.
“He’s still in recovery and pretty groggy, but he demanded to see a Curly. I’m assuming he means you, ma’am,” the doctor said, giving her a smile.
“Actually, he meant him,” she said, pointing her thumb to the bald Jamal. “It’s his affectionate nickname for good ol’ Jenkins. It’s how they bond. But are you sure he doesn’t want to see his parents first?”
