Chapter Four


Tim Mathis sat in his room, doing his homework. He could overhear his mother in the other room arguing with his father over the phone (the couple were in the midst of a nasty divorce).


"Sleep, now," Coach Randall would tell Tim during those private sessions in Coach's office. "Sleep … Now."


Part of Tim wanted to be just like Coach Randall. I wish I could make Mom and Dad get back together, he thought as his mother was on the phone in the other room, calling his father every nasty name she knew. I know Coach Randall could make them do it.

Funny … Coach has never asked me about the divorce ...


"All your cares … your concerns … your worries … are now fading away. Fading … Away," said Coach Randall.

"You can come back to this pleasant state of mind whenever you want" Coach Randall intoned. "Just by saying the words 'Relax, Relax, Relax' …"


"Relax … Relax … Relax," Tim chanted softly to himself.

Those three magic words. Those three magic words that were supposed to make everything better.

Tim's mother was still on the phone in the other room, screaming at his father. Now deeply entranced, Tim got up and walked across the hall to his parents' bedroom.

He walked into his parents' bedroom (technically, it was now just his mother's bedroom, given that his parents had separated six months ago), opened a dresser drawer, and pulled out a .38 revolver (the one that his mother kept around for self-defense).

He checked the magazine (fully loaded … Check), pulled back the hammer, put his finger on the trigger, pointed the gun towards the side of his head, and …


"I am not angry at YOU," said Jeannie. She and Tony Jr. were sitting across from one another at the dining room table.

"You're not?" Tony Jr. asked.

Jeannie shook her head. No. "If I am angry at anyone, I am angry at Coach Randall," she said. "One ... for putting you through this in the first place and Two ... for ordering you to keep it a secret from your father and me."

"Do you know anything about hypnosis?" Tony Jr. asked.

Jeannie let out a breath. "I was magician to the court of Sultan Qadir al-Mamluk," she said. "I often used it to interrogate prisoners.

"That said, I was dealing with grown men ... soldiers." Jeannie then added, "It is not something ... that I am proud of."

Changing the subject, Jeannie said, "I need you to tell me everything you know ... about what is going on in that program."

Tony Jr. thought for a moment. "Our quarterback, Mike Jeffries, has been having rotator cuff problems all season ..." he said.

Jeannie looked quizzically at Tony Jr. "What is a 'rotator cuff'?" she asked. "I am not familiar with the term."

Tony Jr. clapped his hand on his shoulder and said, "This is your rotator cuff."

"I presume that is Mike's throwing arm?" Jeannie asked.

Tony Jr. nodded. Yes.

"Has he been to see a doctor?" Jeannie asked.

"Coach won't allow it!" Tony Jr. exclaimed. "He's threatened to kick him off the team permanently if he goes."

"If he WERE to see a doctor, what would happen?"

"In all likelihood, he would be declared medically ineligible due to his rotator cuff problems," Tony Jr. explained. "He would be put on the injured list ..."

"... and prohibited from playing," Jeannie concluded.

"Exactly."

"Are there no backup quarterbacks?" Jeannie asked.

"We have backups, but Coach won't let them play," said Tony Jr. "He says they're too inexperienced."

Jeannie looked quizzically at Tony Jr. "How are they to gain experience if the coach will not let them ... play?" she asked.

"Coach sees Mike as his good luck charm," Tony Jr. explained. "He sees him as his ticket to a championship."

"Even with rotator cuff problems?"

Tony Jr. shook his head in disbelief. "Coach figures that if he gets him through the season, he'll be able to take care of it during the off-season," he said.

"Where does hypnosis fit into all of this?" Jeannie asked.

"It kills the pain," Tony Jr. replied. "Coach puts him under, the pain is gone ..."

"... And Mike can go back to playing football," said Jeannie, finishing Tony Jr.'s sentence.

"Yes."

The more I hear, the less this makes sense, Jeannie thought.