Chapter Thirteen

Halftime

"I can't watch this anymore! I have to do something." Darla said standing up in her seat and walking to the stairs. Her mother grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "And what exactly do you plan on doing?" Sharon asked looking at her daughter. "Something." Darla stormed down the stairs and fought her way to the locker rooms.

"Whoo! Hey, girl!" Whitaker yelled out at Darla. "Why don't you slid that piece of ass over here!" He laughed with his teammates. Darla rolled her eyes and looked around for the Panther's locker room. "Come on girl, I don't bite. Hard." More laughing.

"Get bent. I'm with Odessa." She said.

"Girl, I don't care where you're from, I just care where you goin'. And it looks like you goin' my way."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm spoken for; now leave me the hell alone."

"Darla?" Don asked and walked over to her. "What are you doing down here?" He asked confused.

"Oh, that little bitch is you're man?" Whitaker asked.

"Screw you!" Darla said and cupped Don's face. "Those boys are merciless. I can't stand to watch them kill you out there."

"I don't know what you want me to do about it." He said looking down. "They're better than us."

"They're dirtier than y'all are. That doesn't make them better."

"What the hell are we suppose to do?" He asked her.

She licked her lips and looked down. "I don't know."

"You need to go back to your seat."

"No, I'm not. I'm going to be on the sidelines with you."

"Darla, that's stupid. You can't be on the sidelines."

"I'm a certified trainer; I'm allowed to be on the sidelines."



"Darla, even if I thought it was a good idea for you to be out there, you're father would never go for it."

"Let me worry about my father. I just know that, I need to be there for you. Standing up and cheering for you isn't helping. I need to be with you."

Don sighed and looked down at her. "Just talk to your dad."

Darla nodded and gave him a small kiss. She walked past him and looked for her dad in the locker room.

"What makes you think I'm going to let you out there?" Coach Gaines followed his arms and looked down at his daughter.

"Because, I need to be. I physically need to be down on the field so I can—"

"So you can what? Make out with Don?"

"You really think I'm going to be making out with Don during the state championship?"

Her father stayed quiet.

"Listen," She sighed. "That team is breaking more bones then any one of us can imagine. Trapper is only one man, let me help me."

Her father bit his tongue and stared down at his daughter.

"If you distract any of my players," He said after a minute. "I'm sending you back up to your mother."

Darla smiled. "Thanks, Dad."

"Go ask Trapper for a shirt." She nodded and went to find the Permian trainer.

Trapper was looking at the cut on Mike Winchell's chin as Darla walked over to him.

"You got an extra shirt for an extra pair of hands, Trapper?" Darla asked him.

He turned and looked at her. "What?"

"I'm your new assistant and I need a shirt."

"In my locker." He said. She nodded and walked to the trainer's locker. She dug threw it until she saw a black shirt that was a little 

bit big for her, with the words TRAINER on the back. She slipped it on over her shirt and walked over to Trapper and Mike.

"How's he doing?" She asked as she picked up gauges so she could wipe up his blood.

"He'll live." Trapper said. Darla nodded and began to clean around Mike's cut.

Darla looked over to see Ivory pacing back and forth. He seemed to be getting angrier by the minute. She looked back at Mike and placed a band-aid over his cut. Turning her head sharply when she heard Ivory snap out.

"What's wrong with y'all?" He screamed. "Y'all are playin' like some little girls! Y'all act like you never played football before! These guys are nothin'! They bleed just like we do. And sweat just like we do. They went through two-a-days. We went through two-a-days in 110 degree heat! I want you to hit everything that move! If the ref gets in your way, you hit him! 'Cause they're cheatin' us too! They're against us too. This is our team. This is us! Let's go right now! Let's get it off now and let's go!"

Darla smiled and looked over at Mike. "Looks like he finally snapped." Mike just nodded and rubbed his chin. "How does it look?" He asked her. "Like Trapper said, you'll live." She smiled and patted his shoulder pad as he walked over to the group of football players that huddled around the center while her father walked in the middle of the room.

Don looked over at her and shook his head. She just smiled at him and crossed her arms over her chest.

The players took a knee and looked up at their head coach. He looked around and took in every since one of his players.

"Well, it's real simple. You got two more quarters and that's it. Now most of you have been playing this game for ten years. You got two more quarters and after that most of you will never play this game again as long as you live. You all have known me for a while and for a long time now, you've been hearing me talk about being perfect. Well, I want you to understand somethin'. To me, being perfect is not about that scoreboard out there. It's not about winning. It's about you and your relationship to yourself and your family and your friends."

Don looked over at Darla for a second before looking back at his coach.



"Bein' perfect is about being able to look your friends in the eye and know that you didn't let them down. Because you told 'em the truth. And that truth is, is that you did everything that you could. There wasn't one more thing that you could've done. Can you live in that moment as best you can with clear eyes and love in your heart? With joy in your heart? If you can do that, gentlemen, then you're perfect. I want you to take a moment and I want you to look each other in the eyes."

Don looked up from the ground and looked around at all his teammates. Looking at them, taking them all in. His eyes stopped at Darla. He stared at her. She smiled at him as she stared back at him.

"I want you to put each other in your hearts forever. Because forever's about to happen here in just a few minutes. I want you to close your eyes," He paused as every player closed their eyes. "And I want you to think about Boobie Miles," He said looking over at Boobie. Boobie bit down on his bottle lip as tears stung his eyes. "Who is your brother. And he would die to be out there on that field with you tonight." Coach Gaines looked away from Boobie and back at all of his players. "And I want you to put that in your hearts. Boys, my heart is full. My heart's full." He looked around one more time with a smile on his face. "Ivory." He said and looked down at number 90.

Ivory and the rest of the football team, bowed their heads. "Our Father . . ." He started until the entire team joined in. "Who art in heaven, hallowed be they name. They kingdom come, they will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses. As we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom the power and glory forever. Amen!"