Page 20 of Playing to Win
Chapter 7
“Now normally, when a girl brings a guy she likes home, this would be the time the dad usually asks what it is you do,” Max said, flipping a burger. Kyle found himself on the back porch with Max manning the grill while Callie remained inside, getting all the hamburger toppings together. Even though it was too cold to sit outside at the worn patio furniture to eat, Max insisted that the only hamburger worth eating was one made on a grill. The mouth-watering smell of fresh grilled hamburgers drifted over the backyard. Kyle looked out over the railing. He wasn’t surprised to see an old basketball goal in one corner, the grass worn down to where only hard-packed dirt remained. In the opposite end of the yard, an old weathered hammock was tied between two oak trees, swaying lazily in the wind.
He tried in vain to have Max and Callie let him do something, but they insisted he sit back and relax. So that’s what Kyle was trying to do, even though it went against his nature. Sit back and relax like any normal guy that might bring Callie home. The only problem was the thought of someone else bringing Callie home left him with a bad taste in his mouth.
“But, seeing as you’re Kyle Kelly and I already know what it is you do, that saves us a few boring details where you try to win me over with false platitudes,” her dad continued. “Damn, son, I know Callie told me you were coming, but I honestly thought she was pulling my leg. The thought of Kyle Kelly, in my living room—”
Kyle held up his hand to interrupt, but Max continued, “But then Callie talked to me about treating you like anyone else she would bring. She rambled on about how would I like it if I was a celebrity and people wouldn’t leave me alone and worshipped the ground I walked on and all that bullshit. Let me tell ya, kid, when that girl of mine gets it in her head to preach to you about something, you better prepare yourself for a long sermon because, man, she can preach it.”
“I’ve gotten several of those in the short time I’ve known her,” Kyle said with a smile.
“I’m sure you have. But what she said made sense. You’re just a Tom, Dick, and Harry like the rest of us. God made you with the same materials as he made everybody else. He just put yours in a little bit better packaging,” Max said with a wink. “I’m just wondering how you got my Sunshine to even talk to you, much less hang out with you willingly. She don’t take much to athletes.”
“Oh, man, sir. It was tough. She wasn’t very nice the first time we met.”
“I imagine.” Her dad chuckled.
“But then I beat her at a game of Horse and she said her daddy taught her to never squelch on a bet. For winning, she had to promise to hang out with me five times at places of my choosing. When she told me about you and how much you loved the game and the Thunder, well, that was one of my places of choosing.”
“Well, how ’bout that? I can’t remember the last time Sunshine lost at a game of Horse.”
“Sir, you want the God’s honest truth, she probably would have beaten me if I hadn’t lucked out in a final half-court shot. That girl of yours can shoot.”
“That she can. She better be able to, as much time as she spent with me at the gym growing up. You shoulda seen her at my practices, challenging all my players to a game of Horse or one-on-one. She couldn’t a been more than five or six the first time she done it. Got right in a player’s face. Senior, captain of the team, averaged twenty-three points per game. She stood on the top step going up the bleachers and he was on the floor, so she was almost eye-to-eye with his six foot five frame. Sunshine looked him right in the eye and said, “All right, boy. It’s go time. You. Me. On the court. Now.”
“What happened?”
“Well, that kid—good kid, gone on to coach his own team somewhere in Texas now—well, he played my little girl. And let her beat him.”
“I know Callie well enough to know that probably didn’t go over well, even as a little kid.”
“Then you know her pretty well. After it was over, I think he expected her to bounce up and down and clap her hands, happy to have beaten him. Not my girl. She just reached up to him and when he picked her up, expecting a hug, she slapped him in the face and said, “That’s for letting me win, punk.”
Kyle threw his head back and laughed.
“What are you two laughing about out here? You know old Mrs. Graumann is going to be calling the cops, saying you’re being too loud and waking up that damn cocker spaniel of hers, you know.” Callie came out onto the porch and leaned against the railing next to Kyle, drinking a soda and wearing a smile.
“Nah, that cocker of hers finally bit the dust last month. Somethin’ ’bout a cancerous lung or something,” her dad said.
“Are you serious? Now I feel bad.”
“Do not feel bad, little girl. Right after she buried it in her backyard next to her cat, Daisy, she got another little varmint. Some kind a terrier. And let me tell ya, you don’t have to worry about being too loud to wake up that she-devil. She barks at every creak in the bushes. I ’bout got out my BB rifle the other night to teach her a thing or two.”
“Wait just a second. Did I just hear you say she buried her dog in her backyard, next to a cat she had previously buried?” Kyle asked, his eyebrows quirked.
“Oh, yeah, son. She’s been burying all her animals in her backyard since her husband died. And every time one dies, she buries it and replaces it with another one. It’s a pet cemetery back there. She can’t even have a garden for all the dead animals.”
“And you’re not creeped out by this at all?”
“Nah, she’s harmless. Just a little old lady who misses her husband. They never had kids, ‘other than their animals. Guess it’s just her way of coping.”
“Wow.”
“Oh, yeah. That’s what living in a small town will do to you. Not only do people know all about your crazy, they indulge it, too. I imagine all the neighborhood kids will be knocking on Dad’s door before the night is over, asking you to sign autographs.”
“No way.”
“Wanna make a bet?”
