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
in his bones that the connection between foot and ball was going to be perfect But then time seemed to shift into slow motion at the exact same moment dozens of black birds flew out of the trees just behind the goal screeching as if a huge invisible hand had struck the branches Startled Albert felt his upper torso jolt back and his plant foot slip out from under him He fell with a thud A few laughs Albert jumped up quickly hoping the coach would give him another shot but instead the coach called out for Freddy to step up Avoiding all eyes Albert retreated to the back of the line fuming It wasn’t fair He would have had that shot He was perfectly placed After the last guy took his shot the coach blew the whistle That’s a wrap Stretch and cool down boys I’ll post the list by tomorrow Good job everyone Just like that he set his clipboard on the bench and started to collect balls Feigning the need to leave Albert skipped the cooldown and grabbed his backpack from under the bench The yes list on the coach’s clipboard was easy enough to see Trey Patterson’s name was first and had the word captain next to it Albert’s name wasn’t on the list For the next few minutes he tried to focus on getting home One foot in front of the other His phone buzzed in his backpack The sixth text from his mom since school had ended How did tryouts go Your sister’s practice is almost done She was flawless on beam Bars to go A grim heaviness came over him His soccer career was over 8
At the end of the summer his mom had called a family meeting to discuss the fall schedule Erin’s new opportunity on the most competitive gymnastics team in Maryland was going to make after school and weekend schedules complicated As a single par ent his mom couldn’t get Erin to her new team’s practices and get Albert to his travel team’s practices especially since Trey their carpooling partner was no longer playing on Albert’s team At that time Albert had assumed he would spend the next six years of his life playing soccer for his schools teams and since those teams routinely took state and attracted recruiter attention he had agreed to drop out of the travel league He couldn’t believe what was happening now He was losing what he loved most Another buzz Another text When you get home let me know how Nana is doing This is what I have to look forward to Albert thought bitterly Failure humiliation and checking up on my grandmother Deep in this vortex of anger and depression he walked up his driveway As he headed toward the side door he could see between the slats in the fence that Trey’s dog Tackle was running toward him at full speed Albert’s anxiety level rose instantly For three weeks now Tackle had been aggressive jumping and bark ing and scaring the heebie jeebies out of him and he couldn’t understand why Now Albert saw the squirrel out of the corner of his eye and with horror watched the dog leap up slam against the fence and grab the poor squirrel between his teeth with a sickening crunch Startled Albert jumped dropping his backpack 9
