See chap one for disclaimers…
Walking in to the community center with my bag slung over my shoulder, I hesitated as I saw the group of kids I would be working with. Gathering up all of the courage I had, I let out a sigh, grabbed a basket ball out of my bag and threw it over to the boys.
They stopped talking, as one of the taller ones caught the ball and held it. They all watched as I walked over to them.
"My name is Harmon Rabb; you can just call me Harm. Over the next few weeks I'm going to be teaching you how to work hard, play as a team and hopefully lead you to a championship this year." As I looked around I didn't see the fifteen boys I was expecting, only about seven.
"Would someone like to tell me where the other eight of you are? I was under the assumption that there was going to be fifteen of you."
The boys laughed until one, the sandy haired boy that had caught the ball spoke up, and said "Well some of them decided they didn't want to put up with this shit. Jail seemed like a better option," he said and threw the ball back at me.
All of the boys laughed as the sandy haired boy looked at me challengingly.
"What's your name kid?" I asked throwing the ball back to him. He caught it easily and laughed again.
"They call me Bull"
"Well Bull," I said taking anther look at my sheet, "or is it Ryan Weaver? Let me ask you this. How many feet are in a mile?"
He laughed, "How the hell should I know?"
"Five thousand two hundred and eighty," one of the other boys on the bench spoke up.
The group looked at the boy in surprise, but the boy only shrugged it off, and went back to looking like he didn't care.
"And who would you be sir?" I asked skimming over my roster. The boy didn't answer, and the rest of the group laughed.
"Anyone want to let me in on what's so funny?" I asked getting frustrated with all this laughing.
Bull spoke up again, "That's Gimp. He's not much of a talker. The fact that he talks at all is some kind of miracle."
"Well he's right. There are five thousand two hundred and eighty feet in a mile,"
"So?" Bull laughed again.
Shooting back a watery smile I explained. "So that's how many feet you're gonna run. One of the things you should know about me, is I don't put up with bad language, bad attitudes and disrespect. You want to vent your anger about being here, that's fine. But you're going to do it running. Have fun."
Bull stopped laughing and looked at me disbelievingly. "You're kidding, right?"
"Nope, now get to it, were wasting valuable practice time as it is." Bull got up and started running, swearing along the way. I let it go for now, and turned back to the rest of the team. "Now something you probably didn't know is that the Army, Air force, Marines, and Coast Guard all have junior basketball teams for kids whose parents serve in the military. We play each team twice, before the championship. Any questions so far?" Since there leader was running, the group remained quiet.
"Right so let's get started, how about you go around the room and tell me your names, let's start with-"
But at the sound of the gym doors opening I stopped and watched in amazement, at the young man and his mother walking towards the group. At almost six feet tall bouncing a basket ball, was Josh and Annie Pendry.
"Hello Harm, she said placing her hand on Josh's arm. Judging from the reaction from the other boys, it seemed that they knew Josh too.
A/N: I know, it's horribly short, but I just wanted to get something out to get the ball rolling again. Please review with comments. And thanks to Joanoa who commented that 7th Fleet actually covers SE Asia. And to all of those who are concerned that these boys are doing to much bad stuff, let me remind you that these are CHILDREN, whose parents are in the Navy. The kids are giving the Navy a bad wrap, hence Harm to save the day. Haven't decided if Mac is going to be a major player or not. Sorry if Harm seems a little OOC. Anyone have any ideas about where this story should go, let me know. I need all of the help I can get.