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
wasn’t great with time but he had noticed it right away and had been watching it ever since Not just watching He had tried to catch it numerous times since then only to be outmaneuvered Now that school had started the thing tended to perch in two favorite spots One was the maple tree closest to the street which it hung out in when school was in session The other was a sweet gum tree on the side of the Pattersons yard whose limbs reached over the fence to Albert’s house For some mysterious reason the creature seemed to be obsessed with Albert When Albert came home from school it would settle itself on the limb of the sweet gum tree that was closest to Albert’s bedroom window and perch like a statue Without success Tackle had tried to warn Albert and had tried to get Trey’s help Neither of the boys understood what he was bark ing about Today he was going to show them He stopped pacing and shook out his muscles his glossy reddish brown coat gleaming in the afternoon sunlight Yep Today he had a plan When Albert came home and the thing jumped onto the fence top Tackle was going to be ready He would finally grab that freak in his jaws 1.2 Line up single file at the cone Coach Perez said from the eighteen yard box We’ll do a one two You pass to me I’ll lay it off and you strike it 6
Albert was fifth from the end in front of Freddy Trey was first One two Goal Raul Mr Perez’s other favorite was next Another goal Jealousy began to gnaw at Albert Michael next A good hard kick The goalie stopped it but it was a solid strike My sister said your sister got on the best team in the state Freddy said to Albert as they moved up the line to take their shots She said that club is where all the future Olympic gym nasts train Albert kept his mouth closed Yesterday the coach had yelled at Freddy for chitchatting My sister saw her over the summer at that exhibition tour nament Freddy went on She won like gold in everything Did you go Yeah Albert said quickly Shh Kinney and Mills Mr Perez called out Cut the chitchat Yeah cut the bawking Trey whispered to more laughter Albert’s face reddened He turned away from Freddy and tried to focus Two more players and then it would be Albert’s turn The keeper was tall and strong great at catching and block ing the shots that went to his right but not as solid when it came to diving to the left Albert noticed One guy’s shot bounced off the goalpost the other was easily caught On it went and then Albert was up He could feel the eyes of the coach on him the keeper’s eyes too as he crouched ready to spring Almost shaking with the desire to score Albert passed the ball to the coach who sent it rolling Albert raced toward it planted his left leg at the perfect angle and fired his right leg forward knowing 7
