on the eighth grade team forget about playing in high school or college or having any hope for happiness That’s the way life works for you too You think the most import ant thing in the world is that tryout or that math quiz or whatever and you don’t even see the huge tornado coming your way 1.0 Eyes on the track Albert jogged Hi Albert Freddy Mills said approaching him on his left Hey Albert said immediately turning on the heat Freddy was slow which meant Albert’s own pace must have fallen A kind of light headedness came over Albert and he won dered if he was having a panic attack It’s the final day of tryouts he thought and I’ll probably pass out during the warm-up He pushed through it though and increased his pace catching up with Trey Patterson and his pack And then Trey pointed at Albert’s yellow soccer socks and shin guards and said You got chicken legs Kinney It was a ridiculous immature joke who cared what color his socks and shin guards were and yet the guys actually laughed Trey Patterson A year ago Trey would have been running by his side not making fun of him All their lives Trey and Albert had been next door neighbors and friends Not heart-to-heart 2
friends they were too different for that But they had grown up playing soccer together and had a great connection as teammates First in Albert’s yard and then in the park down the street and then as the two strongest stars in their recreational league and finally last year as the stars of the same travel team At the begin ning of the summer though Trey left for a six week soccer camp the first camp experience that the boys didn’t share and he came back transformed A growth spurt combined with new training changed not only Trey’s body but also his mind He informed Albert that he was quitting their old travel team to play in a more serious league That wasn’t the surprise Trey had always been competitive The surprise was the condescension and contempt in his voice Trey for no good reason had turned mean And now some of the other guys impressed by Trey’s bulked-up physique were siding with him And that was messing with Albert’s mind Bawk Trey called out and the guys laughed again Not funny Freddy called from behind After five humiliating laps each pass punctuated by bawk ing from Trey the coach split the group into four teams for simultaneous scrimmages and Albert’s heart sank even more His name was called for Team C Trey and Raul and all the other skilled players were on Teams A and B Honestly Albert knew he had a better sense of the field than Trey or Raul They were both strong but Raul couldn’t kick the ball with his left foot to save his life and lately Trey hogged the ball and took risky shots for personal glory rather than seeing the passes that would pay off It’s over muttered a player on Team D Mr Perez is crazy Freddy assigned to Team C whispered Everybody knows you should be on Team A Albert 3
Perez hates me Albert muttered Unfortunately it was true Right before school had started the old coach left and tapped Mr Perez to take his place Mr Perez had been Albert’s history teacher in sixth grade and had been in Albert’s opinion crim inally boring If Albert had known that he’d have to impress Perez this year he would have tried harder last year Yesterday when they did drills Perez praised others and didn’t say a word to Albert even though Albert knew he had done well When the whistle blew to start the scrimmages Albert tried to shake off his anxiety and come out hot He was playing cen ter forward his favorite position and that boosted his confi dence In the first five minutes he had three shots on goal and set up two chances that resulted in two more shots on goal all of which Mr Perez missed because he was watching Teams A and B Still Albert kept firing In the ninth minute he pres sured Team D’s left outside back to force a bad pass into the midfield Freddy was actually in the right place at the right time and somehow delivered a solid pass to Albert In the nanosecond before Albert received the ball he glanced around No defend ers on either side He took a couple of touches to the inside and ripped it Goal Yes he yelled hoping Mr Perez would tear his attention away from Teams A and B to look His teammates cheered and Mr Perez glanced over A quick distracted nod was all the coach gave And then he called out his announcement for the scrimmages to end and told them the last drill they’d do shots on goal Albert felt his spirits lift This was his final chance to show what he knew to be true that he deserved to play for the team 4
1.1 The dog a muscular Ridgeback named Tackle that lived next to Albert Kinney and belonged to Trey Patterson stood still eyeing the furry thing in the tree Oh the thing looked like a squirrel and it climbed like a squirrel and it jumped like a squirrel but it didn’t pee didn’t eat and Tackle made a sudden dash leaping up onto the trunk and barking at it sharply See The thing didn’t run didn’t even move Tackle sniffed Not a whiff of fear He sniffed again The scent it exuded was faint but detectable a scent similar to the Pattersons cell phones Grrr He didn’t trust it Didn’t trust it for a second To be clear Tackle was one hundred percent ordinary Earth dog That you are witnessing his intellect in action here doesn’t mean he came from another planet or had technologically enhanced abilities Whether you’re aware of it or not animals think you just can’t always hear them That said there is a range of intelligence in dogs just as there is in humans and it can be safely said that Tackle’s was above average Normally he didn’t bother with squirrels Strangers package delivery persons approaching storms unusual vehicular sounds changes in the way people smelled an occasional rat and one particularly aggressive neighborhood raccoon these were his priorities to protect not just the Pattersons but also the Kinneys next door But to be honest this was work that typically used only a fraction of his brawn and brain to resolve The four footed furball in the tree It was getting the better of him He began to pace The squirrel thing had arrived at some point before school started Maybe two or three weeks ago Tackle 5
