CH 135

Packing up for their trip to Seattle from beating Cincinnati, Bob called Allison and put his phone on speaker so Joan could listen in.

Allison : "Hi Bob! I saw you guys sent the Bengals packing."

Bob : "Yeah, now we're packing to head for Seattle. How are things there?"

Allison : "Your fan club is behaving themselves pretty much. Doctor Kimble has a new clinic by Mom's house. He's really made it Mer-friendly and after I had a chat with him, his attitude is better also."

Joan : A giggle. "Scare the shit of of him, didn't you?"

Allison : a sigh. " NO feces, that I saw. It was a tough job but someone had to do it!"

They all laughed.

Allison : "Oh! Speaking of jobs, the sheriff has formed an inactive Driftwood guard. It's part of the Texas Guard, people to be called up locally if there's an emergency. I joined, of course. Most of the town has. I was thinking about joining up Bob's fan club."

Joan : "How about joining them up with the Navy, say ... in the south China sea?"

Allison : "Not Antarctica?"

Joan : "That would work too."

Bob : "Have any of them seen a shrink yet?"

Allison : "Two. Hanna yelled at him and stormed out. Malinara took longer, but basically stressed he didn't know what he was talking about, and well, he tried to get her to go into a mental hospital. When I heard her screech out in rage, I interrupted and pulled her out of his office. He told me firmly not to bring any of them back."

Bob : "Not a success, huh?"

Allison. "You could say that. They are fine at home, pleasant, helpful ... Yes, Jo, I'm talking to Robert... OK, I'll put it on speaker."

Bob : "Hi, Jo?"

Jo : "Robert, where are you?"

Bob : "We're in Ohio, and heading off to Washington State later. You four doing all right?"

Jo : "We are, except for almost being eaten by a big alligator at the Connor house. It came out of nowhere, that thing was BIG!"

Allison : "Allie Gator gave them a little scare."

Bob and Joan chuckled. Joan : "How is Allie Gator?"

Allison : "She's fine, Got a bunch of little ones that come and go, so now she sleeps in the back yard by the barn. I have to say, I didn't notice her either."

Joan : "Damn, Bob, the taxi's here."

Jo : "PLEASE stop calling him Bob!"

Joan : "He's my Bob."

Jo : That's fine of you keep him happy, but his name is Robert."

Bob : "We gotta go. Allie, I'll call you when we get to Seattle, Love you,"

Allison and Jo together : "Love you too!"

Joan frowned at Bob as he hung up. "What are we going to do with them?"

Bob shrugged and picked up his bag. "Honestly? I have no idea. I was hoping seeing a doctor would help."

"I think it's time to be a little more tricky with them," Joan said and grabbed her bag. Bob opened the door for her, they went out to meet the taxi.

Discussing those girls in the cab and waiting for the rest of the team to show up at the airport, Joan and Bob talked about different things to try to 'ease' the ex-slave girls away from Bob. Unfortunately, none seemed likely. Even the 'brutal' route, Bob telling them they were all useless and he didn't want them, was with a try, but how badly Jo was treated yet didn't even try to run away from her former master, they didn't think would work.

Flying to Seattle, they met several BLM members in the airport. Some tried to give the black players pamphlets, and harassed the other players, saying they weren't wanted here.

A big guy got in Joan's face. "Get the fuck out! We don't want you... " He stopped speaking when she kicked his feet out from under him and kept going.

The man got up yelling, "That white trash assaulted me, did you see it!"

The police standing guard ignored him. He walked stiffly after Joan. "You wanna fight, your worthless white scum!" he screamed. He went to grab Joan's shoulder, Bob shot a hand out and gripped his arm to push him back. "Cut the shit!" Bob said sternly.

Another protester jumped on Bob's back, trying to tackle him. Bob bent forward and threw him off. The one who had been harassing Joan threw a punch at Bob, Joan caught his fist in her hand.

"Do you really want to get hurt?" she asked in a growl and squeezed before pushing him back.

Seeing the altercation, the other team members came over to defend their team mates. The four protesters backed off, spiting their hate at the football players.

The police nearby watched, but still did nothing.

Coach Emerson walked up to one of the cops. "Those people are harassing my players, why aren't you doing anything?" he cried.

"We'll get fired if we do. Unless something is broken or someone is seriously hurt, we were ordered not to interfere." the cop stated.

Emerson shot him a look of disbelief. "So, what's seriously hurt?" he asked.

"Broken bones, blood, someone's killed."

Coach Emerson loudly announced, "Team! The cops say they won't interfere unless bones get broken of someone's bleeding. So do what you gotta do to get them off you!"

Suddenly the protestors backed off farther with their insults. One black clad individual with a can of something ran at the football players. Joan raced out and punched them in the thigh. The individual went down on their face. Joan ripped the hood off to show it was a woman with a big afro. Joan grabbed the can and filled her hair with whatever was in the can as the woman cried for help as she tried in vain to stop Joan.

A couple cops grinned.

Joan let the woman scramble up and limp away crying. Bob and the rest of the team stepped up beside Joan, the protesters decided to help their fellow antagonist away.

"Go ahead, guys, we'll watch your backs," Bob announced.

Coach Emerson said, "Joan, Bob, come on, those assholes learned their lesson, for now."

.

Rachel was furious once she was helped away from the confrontation. "What did she hit me with?" she winced as the foam was hardening in her hair.

"Dunno, but we better get that stuff outta your hair. It's beginning to smoke." one of the men said.

She looked down at the pain in her leg. She had a growing lump there and it hurt like hell. "Fuck, it had to be a hammer or something. We need to KILL that bitch!" she growled with a wince while her fellow protestors used their knives to cut the solid lump that used to be her hair off.

"That was the football team from Dallas, we know where they're gonna be. We'll get-em!" another man promised.

.

They got to the stadium with no further incidents. Coach Emerson went up to the security office to find out if they too had the 'don't interfere' policy the police had.

"Mr. Emerson, we have high security here," the Manager said. "If we didn't people would stop coming to the games. There's a hundred security guards and cameras watching every space with two different angles. They have and use their stun guns and pistols if need be. Anyone who is found causing trouble is dragged out screaming. You're safer here, than anywhere else in Seattle. Those idiots protesting and vandalizing know we don't screw around."

Eyeing him, Coach Emerson said, "Just know that if any of my players even get a scratch or bruise from anyone off the field, We'll be filing suit against this stadium for failing to protect the players. Knowing our manager, it won't be cheap, either."

"We will ensure your safety."

Coach Emerson then went down and called the team together and told them no one leaves the stadium.

.

Rachel, now bald with a few cuts on her head from knives that cut a bit too deep to get her hair off, still had a hard time walking. The doctor said it was a deep bruise. Rest and the swelling would go down in a few days. With her group gather, she said, "We can't touch them while they are in the stadium, but they have to leave. We block the road and stop their bus, then break the windows, firebomb it then get whoever tries to escape"

Another man cleared his throat. "After that broad tried to crush my fist, I got ahold of our sponsor and asked for help. I described her, and what she did. I also heard her first name, Joan. He told me do not fuck with her. She's one of the Connors. Fuck with a Connor, and they come back to kill you and anyone associated with you. The last ones who did had plenty of men with guns, sponsor backing and basically a fort to keep themselves safe. They shot Joan on the field with a large caliber high powered rifle. She didn't die, but their safe fort was raided, everyone in it killed, and the leader's head was put on a pole outside the burned down fort." He looked at Rachel and said, "I was told if we do anything to Joan Connor, if she and her clan don't kill us, our sponsor will to keep Connor from knowing about them."

"They mafia or something?"

"No, the Mafia's scared of them too. Rachel, I highly suggest you forget Joan Connor before you get us all killed."

"So she just gets away with what she did to me?" Rachel yelled.

"From what I heard, you're still alive, so yeah."

"Fuck no! I'm gonna kill that filthy white bitch!" Rachel growled.

"Do it by yourself, I won't be part of it." the man said and got up.

The two other men also got up. One pointed to Rachel and said, "I never signed up to commit suicide."

As they walked out on her, Rachel squeezed her fists tight, she would get that bitch!

.

The game against Seattle was good. Joan could see Kendra's coaching in their plays. A slow running game, only three to four yards gained each play, but Seattle worked their way down the field successfully, more times than not. A score of Dallas 46 to Seattle 32 was better than Seattle did last year. After the game, Joan went to see Kendra and found Kendra coming to see her as she walked through a spectator's hallway.

"Hey Joan! I taught them a few tricks," Kendra beamed.

"I saw that, that was a good game," Joan beamed back. "They gonna keep you on?"

"They are," Kendra said. Waggling her finger at Joan she added, "Some day, We're gonna beat you."

"Do your best!" Joan offered with a smile. "The closer the game, the more exciting it is."

"For everyone," Kendra agreed. They met in a hug and clapped each other's back. "Say, want to go get a drink? I know a nice quiet place."

"Can't," Joan said with a frown. "We've been restricted to the stadium."

Kandra frowned and asked, "Why?"

Joan raised an arm and let if flop down. "We got assaulted at the airport. The coach is afraid to let us leave the stadium."

Seeing a woman with an overcoat and a knit cap on her head coming, Kendra pointed and said, "Ma'am, the exit is the other way."

In a growl the woman continued towards them and replied, "I'll leave, right after I carve up that bitch!"

Joan turned around. "Well well, it's miss hairless. So what did that can of stuff you tried to spray our players with do anyway?"

Closing, Rachel pulled a ceramic knife." Not as much as I'm going to do to you!" she announced.

"Kendra, go find security!" Joan said and stepped in front of Kendra. Kendra took off.

"Better stop now before I hurt you, bad," Joan warned.

Rachel let out a primal scream and charged, cocking back so slash miss bitch's face open.

Joan caught the swing by her wrist. She offered the shocked woman a brief smile, then crushed down on the wrist she was holding. Rachel screamed in pain. She tried to punch Joan, Joan grabbed her other wrist and crushed down on that one. "Your bad day is just beginning," Joan said. "Who's your boss?"

"I'm gonna kill you!" Rachel wailed. She tried to drop down, bur was forced against the wall.

"Not today," Joan sang. "The name of your boss, or you won't have those hands any more," Joan stated in a growl.

"FUCK YOU!" Rachel wailed in her scream.

"I'm not into bald, psychotic bitches," Joan said and forced her arms down then twisted her wrists up. She felt bones crack. Rachel wailed out another scream.

"One good tug and your severed hand will still be holding that knife when I shove it up your ass," Joan stated. "Your boss's name, NOW!"

"PLEASE STOP!" Rachel wailed.

"You wanted to play rough, so we're playing rough. Say goodbye to that right hand," Joan stated.

"FREEZE!" "LET HER GO!"

Joan looked to see two security guards. One pointed a tazer at her, the other a pistol. "Which do you want?" Joan asked. "I have to move to let her go."

"Let her go, back away!" one guard stated.

Joan let go and backed away. Rachel crumpled to the floor. Joan pointed at her and said, "She tried to stab me."

From the floor, Rachel cast Joan a hate filled glare. "I Will KILL YOU!" She staggered up, knife still in her hand. She was tazered and fell to the floor screaming.

Quickly, the guards forced her on her back and handcuffed her, making her scream in pain again. They called an ambulance.

Joan had to stay while police came to investigate. Kendra stayed also, being a witness. Rachel was put on a stretcher, handcuffed to it and taken away on the charge of assault with a deadly weapon.

By the time Rachel was taken away, still spitting curses as she cried, The other coaches arrived to find out what was going on. The Seattle head coach asked Kendra, "Why were you talking to their quarterback?"

"We're friends," Kendra stated. "We may be on opposing teams, but we're still friends."

"Yeah, Kendra is smart, it's fun to play against her," Joan added.

Kendra grinned and said, "One day Joan, we're going to beat you."

"Keep trying!" Joan said with a grin. "If you do, dinner at fancy restaurant is on me."

"You can always come to Seattle," Kendra coaxed. "Name your price."

"Nope, I'm a Texan. Besides, if I did, who is there left to even challenge us?"

They both laughed.

.

In the hospital with a police guard, Rachel went into X-ray with two dark purple and badly swollen wrists. It was found both wrists were crushed, as were all the blood vessels going to her right hand. Emergency surgery removed her hands, and since she had only government insurance the remains of her wrists were taken as well. She would be getting basic claws to replace her hands, unless she was able to pay for a more advanced prosthetic.

Finally getting done with surgery and the doctor explaining both hands and wrists needed to be removed. she was taken to a prison hospital to recover.

There, a mistake was made. Instead of the antibiotics, she was injected with the lethal chemical used for executing prisoners. No one figured out how that happened in the investigations after her death.

.

Up at the Littleton farm, the migrant workers came to stay after a family was kidnapped in Mexico to force their men to work for the drug dealers. The Sheriff brought all the paperwork and class material for them to get Green cards up to the farm. JJ had learned plenty of Spanish, and finding out how rough things were for them in Mexico, he and Eddie agreed the workers were better off staying in Driftwood, that returning to Mexico to face the unrest and drug dealers there that were getting worse by the day.

Pedro explained to JJ and Eddie near one of the houses going up. "It's a shame, our town used to be a nice place to live! Now too many people with guns are there, and they force us to do work for them. The Government does nothing to help! Men, older girls come up missing, we report it but nothing is ever done!"

"That won't happen here," JJ said firmly. "I feel sorry things like that ruined your home, Pedro. we do want you and your people to stay, if nothing else, to keep you safe."

"Yes," Eddie agreed. "You are more than welcome to live here with us. Did you see the Sheriff yet to get your green card?"

"Si, the sheriff set me up when I told him we came to stay this time, since things are getting so bad at home." Pedro explained. "And the border is becoming a mess! The worst part of the trip was coming across, people everywhere and the border agents there were scrutinizing everyone. Since we already had jobs, normally the dogs come through and we're waved on. This time we all had to get off, then we were wanded before we could get back on. It took forever!"

"At least you won't have to go though that again," JJ told him. With a smirk, he added, "And your buses will use a lot less gas."

Pedro chuckled. "Speaking of cost, with all our families here, and all the houses needed, That is going to be one big bill. Is a bank financing all this work? How are we going to pay it back?"

JJ grinned. "The bank of Mom is covering your expenses. She said pay when you can. she too wants to see you safe. You are good, hard working people."

"Your mothers must be loaded," Pedro said. "They paid for the land also?"

"Didn't have to, they or the Littletons already own it. As people move into the houses when they are done, the Sheriff's secretary will do the paperwork to turn each place over to the ones who live there, each family gets 2 acres of land with their house " JJ explained. "We want good neighbors. At the moment, you coming to stay is giving plenty of work to others in Driftwood. It's a win for everyone."

"Very generous of your family," Pedro said. "Many from our town are signing up for the Driftwood inactive guard. We don't want bandits coming here too."

"If they do, they will be having a very bad day," JJ said.

"Johnny!" Lily called as she ran up to them. "The concrete truck arrived, It's dry and still needs to be mixed. Where does it go?"

JJ Looked at Pedro. "What foundations are ready to be poured?"

Pedro pointed down the road. "The last two houses down that way on the left."

"Thanks," Lily said, gave JJ a kiss then ran back to tell the driver where to go.

This was a huge project, but one that needed doing. JJ thought the best part was the migrant workers were no longer migrants. They were now part of Driftwood.

.

Sonya's furniture factory was going full tilt. With all the houses going up, they all needed basic furniture and she needed more help. She had a stack of orders she hadn't even started on yet. Supply trucks that came were quickly emptied but it was taking time for her workers to get orders started. Thankfully, she got help. Where she was lacking the most was in finishing and upholstering. Some of Pedro's people, women who weren't helping to build their houses, came looking for work. Allison also visited her wondering if the four extras at her house could get a job there also. Sonya put them and Allison to work.

Her place was so busy, Sonya moved the finishing crews out into the garage, and the final inspection area was put out into the driveway. Instead of the 15 workers she had, she now had 89 workers. Her place was packed and just monitoring what was being worked on was a full time job. he was going to need a warehouse to put all the new furniture in until it was delivered.

In the middle of the controlled chaos, Sonya had the orders she had spread out on the front counter to help keep track or where the orders were in production, and when they were due to be finished. She was looking at these, making sure everything was moving when a white haired man and his younger busty blonde assistant came in.

"Sonya!" the man cried "My God, it IS you!"

Sonya looked up and was about to ask how she could help him, then noticed his face. "Charlie Farnsworth?" she asked to verify who it was.

Beaming her a smile, Charlie nodded. To his assistant, he said, "This is Red Sonya, the best bad-ass actress I've ever had!"

Sonya waved briefly. "Charlie, I run this furniture store now, and at the moment, I'm swamped. I don't even have time for a full night's sleep. If you want some furniture, right now I'm looking at a three month backlog to even get started on it."

"Your boss won't give you time off?" he asked.

"I am the boss, Charlie,"

"It's great to see you're doing good," he beamed. "This place looks rather busy. Is there no way I can coax you to accept a role in a new picture?"

Sonya shook her head. "No, we're up to our ears in work here."

"Do you know where Cameron and Delilah are?" he asked.

"They are very busy too," Sonya told him.

"That's a rotten shame. I have the perfect sci-fi movie written..."

"Charlie," Sonya said firmly, interrupting him. "I'm very busy here, I don't have time to just stand here and talk about movies."

"I was hoping to find out who to see to set up a movie studio and land to film a picture on."

"Go talk to the sheriff. If anyone knows, he will," Sonya told him.

Allison came running in from the garage. "Sonya, we got a problem, the garage is full, and we got 20 pieces waiting to go in."

"Cameron!" Charlie beamed.

Allison only glanced at him. "What do we do?" she asked Sonya.

"Let me take a look," Sonya said, then followed Allison out.

Charlie frowned and left.

.

Allison found that working at Sonya's factory was good for Bob's harem. They were hard workers and they were good at putting stain on furniture, even the ones that called for different colors for inlays. The problem was the garage was so full there was barely room to walk, and many more pieces were waiting to come in. The doors were open on the end and a couple fans on the back blew air out to help the stain dry faster. Outside, the clear coat poly was being put on furniture and inside, the dust raised by all the wood being cut would get on the finish i it was put on inside.

Sonya let out a sigh. "We've come to a bottleneck. Until we get more room, just move out each piece after it dries."

She didn't want to but for a while, no more pieces were going to get finished. So far, the new houses all this furniture was to go in, weren't done yet.

.

With all the construction going on, the normally all but vacant road out of Driftwood now bore trucks of all kinds from contractor's trucks to tractor trailers. New turn around places were bulldozed and even though Driftwood never had a stoplight before, the sheriff was withing they had one now. At the end of the small lake road, Kouta got the job of being a traffic cop. Even the utilities were going to be hard pressed. With things bottled up at the furniture factory, Allison and the harem went to work for for Cameron to lay the beginnings of a new power plant that was going to be fueled by alcohol primarily from John and the Lewis farm. Fuel grade alcohol was going for 2.30 a gallon. Gasoline was 2.85.

Using the dozer tank that now had a bulldozer blade on the front, Cameron taught Allison how to drive. Allison flattened land near the road to the Littleton's farm and made a dirt road out to the main road. JO and Dina collected up stones to be crushed. Lucy had come to help (and get paid) to put the rocks in the stone crusher. Some were large, they had to use a small tractor to move them to the stone crusher.

At the end of the day, they were all exhausted from work. A stake bed truck driven by Yuka brought them to work and took them home at night. She parked at the top of driveways to let people off.

At the top of her driveway, Allison helped a sore to the bone Hanna off. Malinara, Jo and Dina weren't much better off. Getting inside, Allison sent the girls into the bath while she made dinner.

"Not hungry, I just hurt," Hanna complained.

"Yeah, Allison, come bathe with us, there's room," Dina agreed.

"We'll get dinner after we clean up and soak a bit," Malinara agreed and clasped Allison's hand.

They all wandered into the bathroom with the big tub. Jo ran the water. They filled the hamper as they got undressed.

Sitting on the edge of the tub watching the water pour in, Hana asked, "Allison? does Robert and Joan work this hard too?"

"It's not the same type of work, but yes, they do work hard," Allison replied. "Speaking of which, they have a home game in Dallas in two days. We all got tickets. The bus we nave to the game will be number three, by the sheriff's office."

"We're not done with working yet," Malinara said.

"We're taking a day off to go to the game. The work will be there when we get back," Allison told her. "Half of Driftwood is going to the game. Even Sonya's shutting down for the day."

"These football games are very popular then?" Dina asked.

"They are for Driftwood," Allison told her. "Joan is the only woman play on the field in the whole League. Plus, she's the most winning quarterback. That makes her very popular here at home."

.

Day of the game, all four girls were eager to get a day off, as was Allison. In the morning they packed up and bus 3 came around the lake to collect people. Allison led the girls onto the bus to see Gramma Sarah, Grampa Martin, John, Cameron, Delilah, Daniel and Jackie already on. The next stop was Allison's parents, Daniel and Claire getting on, then at the end of the road, Duncan and Carol got on. Coming to the furniture factory, Mark, Sonya and their boy Dennis got on followed by Kouta, Lucy, Nana and Mayu, and eight more from the factory. The bus was over half full by the time they got to the sheriff's office where it was filled to capacity.

The trip to Dallas was a convoy of three busses and a pair of SUV's also filled with people heading for the game. With chatter here and there and a few people laying card games, the ride wasn't boring for most. At a rest stop north of Austin, they all got out for a stretch. They made good time until they got to Callas, close to the stadium. There, traffic slowed down and they joined the line of cars and other busses going into the stadium.

Parking directors were busy, keeping the line moving to fill the parking lot and directing the bus traffic to the drop off points.

"Wow! There's a lot of people here!" Nana cried, looking out the windows. "They all came to see Joan and Bob play football?"

They caused some laughter. "To see our team beat Atlanta!" Mark told her.

Malinara said, "We came to see Robert and Joan play."

Another girl towards the front, called out, "Joan's TNT, she's dynamite!"

That prodded the group of girls to call out their 'TNT' cheer, thrusting their fists in the air. Half the bus joined them, making the cheer extra loud. They got everyone to agree to join them in a TNT cheer right after the team came out on the field.

Finally their bus rolled up to the drop off point. A worker stepped in and looked at the paper the driver had. She then said, "Driftwood crowd, Dallas side, mid field second and third row seats, follow me, be sure you have your tickets in hand."

It was still a long walk after getting off the bus. After getting into the stadium, they walked down a long hallway then into a tunnel to come out into a big stadium that had thousands of seats rising high in hundreds of rows. Allison led the girls down to the second row behind John, Delilah and Cameron. The ones with the large rolled up banner got into the third row seats. More people from town filled those rows in then the next two behind them.

Malinara watched the empty field in front of them. "I thought we were going to see a game. There's no one out here except a few guys in stripped uniforms."

"The teams aren't out here yet," Allison told her.

"Look up there, they got real big TV's!" Jo said, pointing to the monitors.

"They follow the game and show replays," someone behind her said.

Nana offered, "There's all kinds of people still coming in, they're probably waiting for everyone to come in and get seats."

"With the size of this place, that's going to be a while," Hanna noted.

Jo said, "Those are TV's, they are playing commercials."

"They won't stop the game for commercials, will they?" Dina asked.

"Once the game starts, they will only do commercials between plays," Allison told her.

Behind them, a girl announced, We got the banner unrolled. Everyone in the second row turned to see the TNT banner. "We all sing it at once?" Cameron asked.

"Yeah!"

"Here comes a wave," John said.

Allison saw it too. "Girls, stand up and throw your arms up with me!" The wave came, the whole Driftwood section got up and passed the wave on.

"What was that?" Jo asked.

"A wave," John said. "The idea is to get it passed all around the stadium. Look down there, it's still going."

The last commercial ended and an announcer showed up on the monitors. "Welcome to NFL football! Today we are in Dallas Texas where the Atlanta Falcons will try to upset the Dallas Cowboys winning streak. Like last year, so far this year the Cowboys are unbeatable. They have a solid defense, last year it was rated second best in the league and their offense, second to none, is lead by Miss Dynamite herself, Joan Connor. So far this year, as in the previous two years, Joan has yet to have a second down. The ball goes from her hands and right into the end zone. It's hard to believe a 5 foot 6 slim girl could possibly handle being the TOP NFL quarterback, but Joan has a bag full of tricks and just plain hard charging attitude to keep her team on top.

Opposing Dallas today is quarterback Joe Hanson for Atlanta. He has a good record so far this year, passing for 118 yards, completed passes, 12 out of 19, 87 running yards, Zero sacks so far.

"Oh, our cameraman just found a former football legend in the crowd."

On the monitors, a live picture of Cameron sitting by John and Delilah showed. A red circle showed around Cameron as she waved. "Right here today ladies and gentlemen is the Iron Maiden, Cameron Connor! Joan's mother and the only female quarterback in College football history! MVP for two years running and holds the record for THE fastest football ever thrown at 146 miles an hour! Gotta tell ya, I wouldn't want to be THAT receiver!"

"And now the players for each team!"

They all sat and watched the lineup offense and defense for each team.

"Killing time?" John asked.

"Waiting for the official start time," Allison told him.

"And here they are, the Atlanta Falcons!" the announcer said. The monitors watched the cheerleaders come out and bracket the tunnel, then the players trotted out between them. Many of the crowd on the other side of the field cheered. Once they were out and lined up, the announcer said, "And here they are, the Dallas Cowboys!"

Their side of the field stood up and roared with cheers, as did many on the other side of the field. The banner was thrust up high and most of the Driftwood section of the bleachers sang out Joan's chant. Others around them picked up the chant and joined in.

Joan's TNT,

She's dynamite

TNT, and she'll win the fight!

TNT, she's a power load

TNT, watch her explode!

After the chant, they all cheered again. It was caught on the monitors.

The National Anthem was played, then the coaches went out for the coin toss. "Atlanta has first possession."

Watching the teams go out on the field, Jo asked, "If Atlanta has the ball first, why do the Dallas players have it?"

"To kick it to them," Allison explained.

"From all the way back there?"

"Yup."

Allison explained how it worked as the ball flew high, Dallas players charging behind it, to come down into the waiting Atlanta players. Atlanta caught the ball and got to the 17 yard line. First down."

"Each team had four chances to get the ball ten yards farter down the field," Allison explained. "See those bright stick being up up? In the next 4 plays they must get past the farthest stick, or Dallas gets the ball."

Everyone watched the monitors since the teams were so far down field. Two play later, a pass was made an Atlanta player and a Dallas player close behind him ran in front of them. The ball came flying, the Dallas player jumped up and grabbed for the ball. It bounced out of his hands and the Atlanta player missed it completely.

"Incomplete pass! Dallas just missed an interception!" the announcer said. Third and 2 for Atlanta!"

"That's third down, two yards to go to make their ten yards," Allison explained.

"I can see Robert out there, where's Joan?" Malinara asked.

"Sitting right there," Allison said, pointing to the bench. "She's on offence, they don't go out until we have the ball."

Atlanta made a couple more plays and got closer to them. The next play Bob broke through the line, the Atlanta Quarterback was looking to pass and Robert hit him hard to knock him down. The ball bounced free. Players from both teams dove at it.

"Yes!" Allison cheered.

The refs looked a the pile of players and had each get up. One ref stood up and announced, "Interception by Dallas."

"Yay Robert!" Malinara screamed along with Jo and Hanna. They then cheered also.

Each team switched players. Joan talked briefly with the coach then went out. She and Robert shared a very brief hug as they passed each other.

The announcer said, "This isn't good for Atlanta, turnover on their own 46 yard line."

The Dallas offense huddled, Joan made motions as she talked, then clapped her hands once. The all got on the line, Joan stayed back a ways. She then called out, "Fifteen! Twenty one! HIKE!" As the man in the middle threw, Joan charged the ball. The lines mashed together, pushing at each other. Joan jumped up and flew over the line and she was gone. The monitor above shower her running fast down the field. a couple Atlanta players came from the sides chasing her. By the time she got to the goal line, they'd quit, knowing they weren't going to catch her.

"Touchdown DALLAS!" the announcer said. "You almost had to expect that."

When the TNT banner went up and the chant started, it sounded like half the stadium chanted along with them.

By the time they quit playing for 'halftime', Hanna was feeling bad for the Atlanta team. although Joan was going out and making touchdowns, and they were getting field goals, Atlanta had yet to get even close to the other end zone to make any points.

.

Going in off the field after the first half, Coach Emerson said, "Joan you beat them to death. I'm putting Dennis in for the second half."

"Hokay," she replied with a sigh.

A man came running at them. "Coach Emerson! I'm hoping you can help us! We're missing our singer!"

Coach Emerson frowned at him. "And? What do you want me to do about it?"

"Who was it, what was she suppose to be singing?" Joan asked.

"A Pink imitator was going to do her songs but she, ah, isn't fir for the stage," the man told Coach Emerson.

Joan grabbed him by the shirt and turned him to her. "I'll do it! Coach, I can do it, let me!"

"You can sing?"

Yeah, Tell me what songs?"

"Joan," Coach Emerson said with a sigh.

"I'm not going to be doing much the second quarter, so come on, lemme sing!"

"Come with me, Ma'am," the man said and ran off. Joan followed.