2801
Practice Makes Practice
| TOC |
"You guys are fast," I said quietly while I plinked at the typewriter keyboard, trying to process the character to type, its location on the keyboard that I was trying to memorize, and the finger that was supposed to reach that key.
Sapphire laughed quietly without breaking rhythm.
Cyndy said, quietly, also without breaking rhythm, "We didn't get this fast overnight."
Sapphire added, "Patience is a virtue."
"I know, but it's still frustrating." I kept plinking. "You guys are working on practice material to take you over fifty words per minute, but I'm struggling to get to fifty characters per minute. More than half an order of magnitude difference, and I keep making mistakes."
Sapphire looked over at me and grinned without breaking rhythm.
Something in my brain momentarily glitched, and my fingers stalled.
Ms. Williams looked over at me and said, "Focus, Joe. Don't focus too hard that you can't move, but you do have to maintain focus."
I lifted my hands from the keyboard in resignation and sighed, then put them back and returned to the practice exercises.
I subvocalized as I read each letter and matched it first on the keyboard layout in my mind, then to the finger that the touch-typing method specified:
"x" -> 'x', "y" -> 'y', "b" -> 'b', "o" -> 'o', "c" -> 'c', "i" -> 'i', "q" -> 'q', "p" -> 'p';
"x" -> 'x', "y" -> 'y', "b" -> 'b', "o" -> 'o', "c" -> 'c', "i" -> 'i', "q" -> 'q', "p" -> 'v';
"x" -> 'x', "y" -> 'y', "b" -> 'v'.
I let a "Woops" spill under my breath.
"o" -> 'o', "c" -> 'c', "i" -> 'i', "q" -> 'q', "p" -> ' ;', "Woops."
"Quit saying woops," Cyndy whispered without breaking rhythm. "Just keep typing."
"I can't help it."
Sapphire whispered, still without breaking rhythm, "Should I threaten to kiss you once for every woops?"
"Arrgggh!" I lifted my hands from the keyboard again.
"Sssshh!" someone said from behind us.
I glanced over at Sapphire and she winked at me, still without breaking rhythm.
I took a deep breath and put my fingers back in position.
"Time!" Ms. Wilson announced. "Get ready for the last timed exercise."
We all hit the carriage return key a couple of times to move the paper to a blank line, and Ms. Wilson held up the stop watch and said, "Start."
After the last three-minute timed practice, we calculated our word counts for each practice and wrote them in on the practice page margins in pencil. I actually managed 152 characters without a miss on the last practice. Ten words per minute clean.
"Clean is a success," I muttered to myself.
"Uh huh." Sapphire affirmed quietly. While we waited for the pages being handed in from behind us, she looked over from her desk and read my numbers. "Not bad for a beginner."
Ms. Wilson started us on un-timed practice, walking around the room to check on the other students. After a few minutes, she stopped behind me. "Cyndy, if you and Joe could help after school, I could handle more of your classmates from the electronics class at a time. But I guess you're busy with cheer dance team practice."
Cyndy and Sapphire stopped typing and glanced at each other from either side of me while I continued to try not to hunt-and-peck while typing the practice page I was working on.
Cyndy said, "We can ask Coach Michaels, but I'm pretty sure she's going to want Joe in practice every day for a while. Maybe either Sapphire or I could help, one at a time."
"Oh? Mr. Mori wants to focus on technical use. They'll be using technical jargon. Sapphire, do you think you'll be okay with that?"
"I think so." Sapphire returned to her practice.
Cyndy also returned to her practice. "Sapphire's good with tech. She wanted to take the electronics class, too, but she decided to make the sacrifice and stay with the cheer dance class so I could take it."
I glanced over at Sapphire while I continued trying to type without looking at the keyboard. "Cyndy did say something about you thinking about taking the electronics class."
"Yeah, but I'm the one who pushed to get the cheer dance team started. I can't abandon it. And, besides, Mom and Dad don't think they want me going into engineering."
"Oh?"
"Mom tells me men in engineering can be real pigs. Dad says he wishes he could disagree."
"Dang. I want to defend my fellow pigs."
Cyndy and Sapphire both snickered.
"But we have a pretty good class, don't we, Cyndy?"
"Basically because you and Rick are in there. And Hec, of course. But Hec has his moments. Sometimes I've doubted him. It's hard for you guys not to be male chauvinist."
"Our autonomous nervous system often betrays us. But," I filibustered. "In the first day in calculus, Professor White told us engineering requires hubris."
Sapphire and Cyndy both smothered snorts.
Ms. Wilson said, "Joe, you're talking while you practice."
"Sorry."
"No. That's good."
I turned and looked back at her.
Sapphire said, "Multi-tasking is good. Back to work."
"Oh." I checked my place and went back to trying to process the practice material through my fingers.
Ms. Wilson said, "Mmm. I'll have to think more about this. Well, you guys keep at it." and she returned to walking around the class while we continued to practice.
"So, you know something about electronics?" I asked Sapphire quietly.
"A little. Watching Dad and Mom work. Mom does engineering consulting and sometimes works at home."
I practiced in silence for a minute.
"Does it bother you?" Sapphire asked quietly.
"It intrigues me. And I wonder what else you're hiding."
"Not hiding anything."
"No? What's the derivative of X squared?"
"What?"
"X squared. Derivative."
"Is that like, back in eighth grade when you were telling some of your friends in geometry that just because the slope wasn't constant didn't mean it wasn't there?"
"Ah hah."
"I've seen my mom doing something that looked like drawing slope lines at various points on a curve. She'll draw tangent lines and measure their slopes. Then she matches the slopes to some lists of series of known slopes for formulas. She told me she was working out a derivative the hard way."
"And you connected the dots in your head, and connected the slope of the tangent to the derivative. And you remember that she said 'tangent lines' and 'derivative'. So what's the derivative of X squared?"
"I don't know that. But it is the slope at a point on the parabolic curve, right? The derivative, I mean."
"Yes. Parabolic for X squared. You remembered that."
I glanced at her at the same time she glanced at me. She nodded.
We kept typing.
"It's called instantaneous slope when we talk about derivatives as slopes."
"That sounds like something my mom said."
Cyndy interjected in a whisper, "So why are you even bothering with the calculus class at OC, Joe?"
"Why are you two practicing typing? Besides, just knowing the idea doesn't mean I know what to do with it."
"Exactly," Sapphire whispered in reply.
Cyndy whispered, "Unfortunately, typing is probably going to be more useful to us girls than calculus."
"But you're in Hec's calculus class here."
"True."
"I hope it turns out useful," I said quietly. "I hope you'll be able to use the technical skills."
"So why does it matter to you if Sapphire or I know a little calculus?"
I noticed that I was able to think about our conversation while my fingers and part of my brain were processing the practice material. Not completely without mistakes, but I kept typing. And it seemed to be working, sort-of.
"Sometimes, when I'm trying to understand something, it helps me to try to explain it to somebody else. And I'm going to feel a lot less silly trying to explain to Sapphire something that she already knows if I know she already knows."
After typing a line, Sapphire whispered, "I can see that would be true. But, no, I don't have the derivative of X squared memorized."
I failed to stop my tongue. "It's less something to memorize and more a principle to remember by applying."
"Lower your voice. And I'm busy applying other principles."
Sapphire and I both stopped typing and looked at each other.
"Dang, but you're beautiful," I whispered.
"And you're cute. Stop that. Back to practice."
We both started typing again.
"So," I whispered, "it's a deliberate choice not to take the tech?"
"Yes."
I smiled a small, wistful smile. "Will you mind if I ask you to listen to me working out problems sometimes?"
"Can I ask the same thing from you?"
I reached my hand across the aisle and she raised her hand and we touched fingertips.
(I should point out that there was no way I would have been prepared to suggest, much less accept, the commitment discussed here. But Joe and Sapphire have to be able to make it, to make the plot work.)
"PDA!" Cyndy whispered.
We dropped our hands guiltily and returned to practice.
Ms. Wilson smiled and shook her head without saying anything.
We finished out the typing practice, class ended, and Sapphire and I picked Rick up on the way to the field. Cyndy went to meet Hec.
When we arrived out on the field, many of the girls were already stretching and warming up.
Maralea got up from where she was stretching and came over.
"Ready to be taken under my wing, Rick?"
"Will it hurt?" Rick asked.
Maralea laughed. "No promises."
"Oh well. I'll just have to try to survive." Rick chuckled doubtfully.
Maralea gave him a sideways grin and they went to join Tussa's group.
Cyndy and Hec moved off to Cyndy's group.
Sapphire began her stretches, stretching her tendons in a standing stretch, and I began copying her as Coach Michaels came over.
"Sapphire, I have some business with you two."
Sapphire gave me a guilty look as she leaned forward, deepening her stretch. "It's not Joe's fault."
I copied her stretch.
"Of course. But I have it on good authority that you and Joe were practicing lifts and drops last night."
Sapphire ducked her head. "Yes, Ma'am." She stepped her forward leg farther forward, deepening her stretch some more, putting her hands on the ground in front of her.
I looked around and muttered, "Who on my street would have --?" before I copied Sapphire.
"Your sister, Joe."
Sapphire switched legs and I switched, too.
"Ivette knows you?" I asked.
"I've been coaching here for more than a couple of years, you know."
Ivette had attended Permian High. All my siblings attended Permian High. I could have attended Permian High because of my siblings even though we moved into the OHS busing area while I was in grade school, but I decided to go with OHS.
"Oh."
Sapphire let her legs spread forward and back over the grass until she was in full front splits.
"Yeah, I'm not doing that." I laughed.
"I should say not, Joe." Coach Michaels was emphatic. "Sapphire, what are you doing?"
"Joey knows when to stop." She rotated sideways until she was in full-width straddle splits. "Okay, Joey, go from where you are to this, but legs only as wide as your body lets you."
I thought for a moment, leaned over my knee and put my hands on the ground as Tussa had done the day before, walked my upper body around with my hands until I was perpendicular to my legs, and then used my hands to lower my posterior to the ground in straddle splits, but with an easier leg angle something greater than a hundred degrees but well less than a hundred eighty.
"Good. Now don't do this." She leaned forward until her elbows were on the ground.
I leaned forward, but stopped a bit before my elbows touched the ground.Coach Michaels said, "Careful with that, Joe. Sapphire, is Joe really flexible enough to be doing all of this?"
"He is, and he knows when to stop."
"It doesn't hurt," I added.
Ms. Michaels gave us both a doubtful look. "Ivette called me last night. We caught up a little on life. And then she told me what Sapphire and you had been doing."
I raised my hands from the ground to the sky and cried in mock distress, "My own sister finked on me!"
Sapphire laughed and said, "Careful, Joey, you're going to hurt yourself."
I grinned and put my hands back on the ground and shrugged. "I think I'm getting some good stretch in my thighs and my calves."
Coach Michaels laughed, too, but shook her head and became serious.
"Can I get a little personal, Joe?"
"What?"
"It's explained in the information packet I'm going to be giving you and Rick, but can I recommend you start bringing an athletic supporter of some sort?"
I cocked my head. "It's going to be necessary?"
Sapphire said, "You should get a dance belt. Let me take you to a store where they sell dance supplies."
"Dance belt?"
"Kind of like a bikini, but more support for men who dance."
I thought about that. "A regular jock strap wouldn't work?"
"Better than nothing," Coach Michaels said. "But a dance belt would be much better. Are you sure you're okay stretching like that?"
I did an internal assessment. "Yeah. No problems so far."
"Well, anyway, listen to Ivette, and don't try anything too extreme without asking Ivette or me."
Sapphire and I looked at each other questioningly.
Sapphire tucked a leg in and stretched over the extended leg, and I copied her.
"I called your house this morning, Sapphire, apparently after you'd left for Joe's church. I think your mom understands."
"Maybe that's why Mom was suddenly worried again when Becca dropped me off back at my house before school."
"No more lifts and drops for a while?" I asked.
Ms. Michaels said, "No drops, anyway. And be careful with the lifts, don't get Sapphire or her little sister up standing on your shoulders again just yet. Wait a little while, just 'til Ivette and I are confident you really understand what you're doing, and that your muscles can handle drops properly. And that you have enough muscle memory for the inevitable disasters."
Sapphire and I looked at each other again. Then she switched legs, and I copied.
"Promise," I said with a nod.
"Me, too, I guess," Sapphire said.
"You guess?"
"It's just -- Joey is too easy."
Ms. Michaels gave me a quick look.
I tilted my head, questioning Sapphire with amusement.
"I don't mean that. Not that kind of easy. We did talk about that last night, but not that. He's just natural with dance."
"Sapphire, you wouldn't let any other member of the team take risks like this. Your dad wouldn't, either."
"That's how natural Joey is." Sapphire stood up, and I did, too.
Ms. Michaels breathed a deep sigh, then turned to me. "Joe, can I talk to your parents?"
"Sure. Just for the record, my parents and Sapphire's are in the loop. We aren't keeping secrets from them."
"Speaking of which, I need the three of you guys to have your parents fill out permission forms anyway, now that I know you're serious about joining us. Can I send you home with one today?"
"Yeah. No problem."
"And listen to Ivette. Both of you."
Sapphire and I both nodded agreement, and Sapphire called out, "Crews!"
Becca moved up to lead and Sapphire stayed with me as we reviewed the previous day's workout. Sapphire was very hands-on as she checked the way I was using my muscles.
Cyndy was also more hands-on than the day before, but Hec took it in stride.
While Tussa led her group, she coached Maralea's coaching for Rick. They kept it somewhat less physical, never pushing either Rick or Maralea too far -- although Rick did look over to me a couple of times for encouragement.
When we finished the review and gathered around Coach Michaels, she said, "Due to certain --" She paused and looked my direction. "not-quite unexpected circumstances, we're going to shift our focus for the rest of our practice today. We need to practice working with and articulating our centers.
"Stand in second position, feet under your shoulders, hands on your hips. Try to feel your center of gravity." She paused while we all checked our feet and thought about what feeling our center of gravity meant.
"Imagine," she continued, "headlamps mounted on the front of your hips and shoulders, pointing front. We're going to keep those headlamps pointed front as we do this. Especially your hips.
"This is a lateral upper-body stretch. Raise your right hands over your heads and let your arms arch overhead. I'll be doing this in mirror."
And she proceeded to demonstrate. We copied what she was doing, our right arms arching until our hands were over our heads.
"Keep those headlamps pointing front. Let the side of your body under your right arm open up into a convex arch over your head. You think you know what you're doing, but don't crunch the left, keep air under your left arm. You'll naturally lean sideways to the left, but you don't want to think of it as leaning. You're making a concave arch with the left side of your body, getting that air. Keep those headlamps pointing front. Your backs should be forming three concentric arches centered to your left. See how much stretch you can get without crunching."
She waited while the crew leaders went around checking our posture, stretch, and air under the inside arch.
Sapphire told me, "You want to feel this arch when you do these," as she traced along the inner arch under my left arm.
I curved my rib cage and spine to the left.
"Too much. You're crunching your left."
I backed the curve off a bit as she put light pressure under my armpit.
"Drop the center point a little and move it out."
I responded to the image of a circle that she suggested.
"Hold that without crunching."
She traced along the external curve under my right arm. "Feel the stretch?"
"I think so."
"Good. Now the other side."
I straightened up.
"Reach."
I got the image of reaching in my mind and stretched laterally to the right, and she traced the curves I was forming.
Others of the less experienced students watched and copied what I was doing. Becca and some of the more experienced members of the crew coached them.
"Okay, I think you have it figured out. Come help me coach some of the others."
She walked around her crew and I followed.
"Joey, can you give Thea some support here?" She patted Thea's spine between her shoulder blades. "Don't push, just let her feel your hand and follow it as she stretches."
I put my hand up to her spine. "I'm not sure I'm going to be very useful."
Thea said, "Just keep your hand there. It helps me figure out where my body is." So I held my hand there while she worked on her stretch and Sapphire went to help someone else.
Cyndy coached Hec much as Sapphire coached me, while her second, Tina, coached and advised her crew. Then Hec also got drafted into helping.
Tussa coached her crew while Maralea coached Rick. When Rick got it down, Maralea dragged him over to help others, as well.
When everyone had pretty much gotten the idea, Coach Michaels explained, "This is a basic lateral upper-body stretch, one which we want to become second nature. We want to keep our arches and curves open and airy even while we are emanating power in the cheers."
Then she had us do ten repetitions of this stretch to each side, maintaining our focus on posture and form.
"Okay, now check your feet. If they are not in second position, move them to back to second position. Bring your arms to second position as well. The arms don't want to be straight out, get some rounding in them. See what your neighbor is doing, and then check yourself."
We did so.
"Get a smooth curve in your arms. Keep your elbows level with or just below your arm pits, and your hands level with or just below that. Don't force it, just let your bones and muscles do what's natural. And try to maintain a smooth curve all the way across your shoulders."
She gave us some time to try to get nicely curved spread.
"Your knees should be engaged, not bent and not locked. Your whole legs need to be ready to absorb or generate energy."
Again, she gave us time. Sapphire and the other leaders went around giving pointers.
"Your spine needs to be centered. Not too much forward bending from your sacroiliac, not too much pulling back. Stack your vertebra up neatly in smooth curves so your spine can hold your weight better. You need smooth curves to absorb and generate energy without hurting yourselves.
"Each of you will have slightly different curves."
When the crew leaders were somewhat satisfied with everybody's stance, she continued.
"Okay, what we're going to do next are often called breathing exercises. Martha Graham made them one of the points of focus of her technique, so some people call them Martha Graham breathing exercises. You should not," she said with emphasis, "be sucking in your gut or pushing it out, even though many of you will immediately try to do that. It's a habit we get into as kids, but it gets things out of line and makes it easy to hurt ourselves."
She paused to let us think about that.
"So, imagine a chain passing magically through your skull to the top of your spine, suspending your shoulders from the top of your spine, and the rest of your body dangling below that. See if you can feel a lift on your shoulders."
Again, she paused, this time to let the crew leaders give pointers.
"Now imagine a chain attached to your lower spine, just above your sacroiliac, coming out of your body behind you. it has tension, it's pulling back on your spine. Let your spine and your muscles respond to the tension, drawing your spine and your muscles and your abdominal cavity with it. Your arms can become more rounded. Hold that," she paused. "... and release the tension in the chain, letting your spine move back to its natural curve. Your arms might naturally adjust."
She paused again to give us a little more time to try to figure out what it meant and let the leaders give pointers.
"Let's repeat that. Tension, count two. Release, count two. While you're doing this, let your diaphragm move the air in your lungs, like you're singing in the choir. And keep your body suspended by that other chain that's holding you up."
Sapphire put her hands on my abdomen and sacroiliac, not pushing, just watching what my muscles were doing. "More energy in your abdominal muscles. The chain image is good, but you don't want your shoulders sinking into the ground," she said. "Your back is stronger than your abdominal muscles. We're going to have to work on that."
Then she went around helping others on the team. Rick and Hec also got similar help, and again Rick checked with me. I shrugged, and he looked perplexed at first. But I watched his shoulders relax as he let his mind relax, so that he could focus on what Maralea was telling him about what the muscles just above his hips were doing.
Maralea, once satisfied with Rick's work, also went around helping others.
Coach Michaels continued, "We're helping you today, but you'll need to be able to listen to your own body, to figure out what your spine naturally does. And your muscles. Everyone is little bit different.
"Arms and feet in second position. Remember, while we do our repetitions, keep your abdominal muscles energized. Do not suck your stomach in. And keep that vertical chain pulling your body up."
Coach Michaels and the leaders demonstrated again.
"Energize and hold. Relax, but stay suspended, and hold. Repeat."
We did something like twenty repetitions.
"Now imagine that you're holding one of those big earth balls we all played with during field days, back in elementary school. There's a smooth arc running fingertip to fingertip through your shoulders and spine. The ball is on the ground and you're going to pick it up.
"It's like your upper body is hovering, but you aren't seeing hovering in your mind. You're picking up this ball that is wider than your arms can reach. Now, lift the imaginary ball in front of you, over yourself, until your arms are wide open to the sky. Your center of gravity is going to shift from in front of you to behind you, of course."
She and the leaders all demonstrated, and the more experienced members of the team went around helping the less experienced members figure it out.
We practiced lifting and lowering the imaginary earth balls for twenty or so repetitions.
"Now we're going to old that ball to the sky and shift it to the left. But we won't let our upper bodies rotate or curve. We will keep our arms parallel to the ground. We don't want to drop the ball to the side. Center of gravity shifts left, shoulders stay parallel to the ground, headlights remain pointing front."
She demonstrated and the crew leaders coached.
"Now right." And she demonstrated while the crew leaders continued coaching.
We did probably ten repetitions, left and right.
"Now we are going to hold the ball over us and face the sky. Center of balance will shift back a bit. Rotate your upper body to face the sky to the left."
She demonstrated this, too.
"Now to the right." Ten or so repetitions left and right.
"Take a breather everyone. Joe, come over here with me. Hec, you and Cyndy, too."
She moved over to where Tussa was leading her group. "Joe, you're going to demonstrate the fireman's carry with Tussa. Hec, you can demonstrate with Cyndy."
I looked at Sapphire. She raised her eyebrows and gave me a conspiratorial grin and nod that I couldn't decode, and a pat on my glutes.
"C'mon Joe. I'm waiting." Tussa's command had a jocular tone.
I went over and stood in front of Tussa.
Just for the record, Tussa had, as some would say, curves in just the right places, solidly built. She stood eye-to-eye with me.
Hec and Cyndy moved to join us, and Cyndy stood in front of Hec.
Coach said, "Let's see how you do, Joe. Hec, you and Cyndy, too."
Hec started to reach down, but Cyndy motioned for him to wait and watch and follow me.
"Okay, Tussa. Turn sideways," I said. There was probably a little resignation in my voice.
Tussa gave me an "Oh, yeah?" look, but turned to her right.
Cyndy turned to her left in front of Hec.
"Can I ask you to raise your arms?" I asked.
Tussa did so, deliberately making me dodge her right hand as she raised it. I grinned, and she grinned back. I moved under her right arm and got myself centered, letting my knees flex just enough that I could get my left arm around her back under her shoulders.
Cyndy suppressed a laugh as Hec copied me. She did not wave her hand in Hec's face, though.
Rick watched us all attentively.
Tussa's right arm remained suspended above my shoulders.
Cyndy chuckled while she wrapped her arm around Hec's shoulders.
I said, "You can put your arm on my shoulders."
"Oh!" Tussa smiled broadly and rested her arm around my shoulders, just kind of letting it dangle, and grinned expectantly.
"Are you going to hold on or are you going to make me do all the work?" I asked, with a lopsided grin.
She gave me a moue and wrapped her arm around my back. That moue would have been scary the day before.
I dropped in a narrow plié and put my right arm under her hips, with my right knee under my arm, gently pushing her knees forward with me knee.
Hec watched what I did and copied it while Cyndy checked his form.
Tussa sat back into my arms, and I used my legs to lift. She relaxed deliberately. I had the leverage, and she rose cleanly.
"My hero!" she said with a big, sardonic grin, spreading both arms wide.
Hec also got Cyndy up in good form, but Cyndy did not copy Tussa's dramatics. She did open her arms wide with a grin.
I turned so that all the members of the team could see how I was supporting her weight by centering our combined centers of gravity.
Hec hesitated before turning, but he also let everyone see what he was doing.
"Textbook demonstration, both of you," Coach Michaels pronounced. "Now set them back down, gently."
"Grab hold again," I warned.
Tussa brought her left arm back to my shoulders.
Again, I used the leverage of my legs and flexed in plié to get Tussa back to standing cleanly on the ground.
Again, Hec watched and followed me, and got Cyndy cleanly back on the ground.
Tussa gave me a quick hug. "When I heard what you two were up to yesterday, I was sure Sapphire must have been helping you," she said with mock severity.
"She was."
"But I wasn't."
"Sure you were. You definitely aren't a sack of potatoes."
She grinned. "How do you like my body?"
I looked at the sky with a sideways grin. "I plead the fifth."
"Joey, you've got to quit flirting with my friends!" Sapphire joked from behind me, giving me another pat on the glutes. She and Tussa exchanged palm slaps.
I noticed Maralea did not join the scattered laughter.
Coach Michaels said, "Rick, do you think you could lift Sapphire in a fireman's carry?"
Rick cocked his head. "Maybe?"
"Want to give it a try?"
He nodded hesitantly as Sapphire moved to stand in front of him.
Sapphire gave him pointers, and pretty quickly he had her up in good form. She spread her arms so that we could all see that Rick was supporting her stably, and then he got her back down cleanly. Then he lifted Maralea up in fireman's carry, just for good measure.
The next ten minutes were spent in a workshop in both how to lift and how to be lifted, with the three of us boys engaged in unplanned participation. We probably lifted ten of the girls each, and were in turn ourselves lifted several times. Since you ask, Sapphire was the first to lift me. Tussa also lifted me, of course. Gave me a heft and got a half foot or so of clearance, to pretty much everyone's laughter. And Tina, who was one of the smaller girls on the team, also had no problem lifting me and keeping me up.
While everyone was stretching to cool down, Coach Michaels called Hec and Rick and me over.
"Hec already has a packet, but, Rick, you and Joe need one."
Rick and I accepted our packets.
"This describes our team goals and plans and what the team members should expect and what the team expects. I've made a permission form just for you boys, because there are some details that aren't quite the same as for the girls. And I need your signatures, as well as both your parents, or your legal guardians' signatures. Rick, I'm not familiar with your family situation. Do you think there will there be any issues getting the signatures?"
"No. Dad adopted me when he married my mom, and they both seem to like this idea. For some reason. I thought they would have religious objections, but both say it's not the same as dance hall dancing."
"Okay. Read it with your parents and make sure you all understand it before you sign it and bring it back."
She paused.
"The games. Hec, you say he can make it for some of the games, right?"
Hec nodded.
"But we're still discussing whether we can have Joe and Rick out on the field or the court performing at the games or not. We're thinking we need to discuss it with the administration at OHS, too."
Rick and I nodded.
"One more thing, Rick, the packet mentions that we strongly recommend that men on the team use a dance belt during both practice and performance. An athletic supporter might be enough, but we strongly recommend a dance belt. Do you know what a dance belt is?"
"Just me?"
"Cyndy has already taken Hec to get his, and I talked with Joe about it just now while you were warming up."
I said, "Sapphire said it was like a bikini brief, but better support for dance than a jock strap."
Hec nodded. "Feels a little weird at first. 'Specially 'cause I know Cyndy knows I have it on. But I pretty much forget I'm wearing it."
Rick did not look convinced. "You're wearing it now."
"Yep."
"Why do I think it sounds a little kinky?"
"It's no worse than a Speedo."
"I don't consider that high recommendation."
Tussa came up just then. "Dance belts? You'll look great in one of those, Rick!"
"Merry? Help?" Rick put a hand to his eyes.
"Tussa!" Maralea came up behind her. "Quit that!" She laughed. "You'll scare the boys away!"
"I'm afraid, Tussa, that Maralea is right." Coach Michaels' tone was just a tad sharp. "You'll need to be a little more careful with your jokes."
Rick's hand dropped, and he looked askance at Tussa.
"Jokes? What -- ouch." Maralea's elbow to her ribs interrupted her, and she laughed. "Okay! Okay. I'll behave myself. But you really shouldn't worry about the dance belt. It's just protecting your family jewels."
Rick closed his eyes and shook his head.
"Tussa!" Cyndy cautioned as she and Sapphire came up. "Quit teasing!"
"I guess I'm outnumbered. Coach Michaels, a couple of my crew have questions." Tussa gave Rick a wink just as he opened his eyes.
Rick gave me a look again. He subvocalized another "Help?"
I shook my head."If you're not careful, Tussa, you're going to have Rick falling in love with you."
"Oooh, is that so?" Tussa grinned. "Just teasing, Rick." She wagged her eyebrows.
Coach Michaels wrinkled her brow and sighed. "Well, I'll let you guys figure it out. I guess I'm needed over there."
"Bye now, lover boy." Tussa gave Rick a finger wave and followed Coach Michaels back to where some of her crew were discussing something.
Rick took a deep breath as she left. He said a quiet, "Uh, thanks, guys," and gave me a sideways look.
"She is cute."
"Joe." Hec cautioned me, this time.
"Way more than cute." Rick rubbed his forehead. "I really don't know how to deal with this, Merry."
Maralea started to respond, but stopped to check with me.
I tilted my head to give her a go-ahead.
She said, "Just let it go Rick. Don't take it personal. Her teasing is what she does when she doesn't know what else to do. It's kind of self defense."
"Ride, ride, ride, let it ride." I intoned in a low sing-song.
Maralea wrinkled her brow at that.
"Maybe you're right, Mara. I just don't know how to protect myself from that."
"I think Mara'll run interference," I suggested. "How about it, Mara?"
"Sure." She didn't hesitate.
"What was it Ivette said about crushes, Joey?" Sapphire interjected. "It was Ivette, wasn't it?"
"Ah, yeah. Ivette's words. It's okay to have crushes on lots of people. Crushes aren't what we marry for."
Rick gave me a "Gee, thanks." look, and then smiled a wry half-smile. "I guess I'm still standing."
"Do you need someone to go have a look at dance belts with you?" Maralea suggested.
Rick looked at the sky. "No!" He looked around at us and added. "Maybe. Da-ang, I'm glad I'm among friends."
The conversation stalled for a few seconds while we all quietly chuckled.
I said, "I don't think we can go get dance belts today, though. Rick and I have work, and I think we were planning to do some more practice at my place?"
Cyndy said, "Mara, you're riding over with us, right? Just in case we get lost?"
Mara nodded, and we all picked up our books and headed for the parking lot.
Sapphire took the navigator's position. Rick didn't want her sitting in the mess, so I sat in the back seat.
Rick traced the usual route, and Hec and Cyndy followed us out of the parking lot in Hec's car, with Mara in the navigator's seat.
Rick visibly relaxed as he concentrated on driving.
"So, you're named after John Wayne?" Sapphire looked back at me.
"No, actually, I'm named after a guy named Marion George Romney."
"Who's that?"
"A Mormon leader," Rick said, glancing back at me in the mirror. "I think you said he was an apostle, Merry?"
Sapphire gave me a puzzled look.
"We claim that God has called new apostles -- special witnesses of Jesus Christ to the world, leaders of the Church."
Her eyes widened slightly.
"You're named after an --," she got stuck. Then she started over, "So is that like supposed to one of your life's goals?"
"No, I don't think my parents expect me to become an apostle. That's a lot of responsibility. And you need a lot of preparation. They definitely have not pushed me that direction."
"Hmm." She was quiet for a moment.
After that, the three of us talked about dance.
As we drove up to the house, Rick asked, "Did your sister actually say that?"
"About crushes?"
"Mmm hmm."
"Yep. A couple of years ago. I had told her I thought I had a crush on her."
Sapphire said, "I think I have a crush on her."
Rick looked thoughtful as he shut the engine off.
I checked the sidewalk as I got out. "Oh, there are inserts today."
I opened the passenger side for Sapphire before Rick could get around.
"Of course there are inserts today," I said to myself as she got out. "Every week there are inserts today. No big deal, it'll take me about ten, maybe fifteen minutes longer than yesterday."
Rick joined us on the sidewalk as Hec parked his car. The street had lots of room to park, especially with the empty lot we owned next door.
"Want me to help with the newspapers?" Sapphire suggested.
"Who's going to lead the practice?"
Hec, Cyndy, and Maralea joined us and we headed for the front door.
Sapphire tilted her head. "Not Ivette?"
"She wouldn't appreciate it."
"Okay, I guess that wouldn't work very well. Well, let's get their practice started, and you and I will have our little practice when you get back."
Ivette was waiting in the living room and everyone but me headed back to the den. I went into my room and grabbed my carrier bags and went back outside.
I counted the bundles on the sidewalk. The ads were small enough to insert there on the sidewalk instead of taking them inside. I lifted the completed load onto my shoulders and set out. The papers were heavier than the previous day's, but not too much so.
While I was delivering the papers, a couple of customers stopped me to ask me to come by that evening so they could pay their subscriptions for the next month.
The route took me just a little longer than the day before, and I could see my friends practicing out on the front lawn when I rounded the corner to finish my home block.
| TOC | Next | |
| Where it starts |
Copyright 2026 Joel Matthew Rees
[Edit record here: https://joelrees-novels.blogspot.com/2026/10/mark00-3809-2801-practice-makes-practice.html]
