Read Online Box Out by John Coy - Free Book Online Page A

too. Staley’s solid. As head of HAF, he doesn’t just talk. He walks the walk.
    Nielsen lines up and makes the first one.
    â€œBig Man, Big Man,” Pelke chants.
    â€œBig Man, Big Man.” Liam joins in with the others.
    Nielsen buries the second and grins with embarrassment and relief.
    After getting dressed, Liam sits on the bench in the locker room and rubs the rash on his finger. Everybody else is gone.
    What’s Coach Kloss doing? Liam gets up and paces back and forth in front of the training room. Why is he taking so long?
    He goes back to the bench and sits down. Suddenly, he feels dizzy, like the room is closing in on him. He grabs his coat and rushes out the back door. He takes a breath of cold air. He can talk to Coach some other time.
    Wind whips snow around the dark parking lot as he turns on the Toyota and pops in a CD. He races out of the empty lot, and the orange warning light next to the gas gauge blinks on. He doesn’t feel like getting gas in the cold.
    He doesn’t want to go home and have Mom question him either, so he stops at Subway. “Turkey sandwich on wheat with everything except onions and hot peppers, and two chocolate chip cookies.” While he waits, he calls home and leaves a message. “I’m going to see Grandma. I’ll be back later.”
    The powerful disinfectant smell of the nursing home hits his nose as he opens the door. An old woman playing solitaire in the recreation room goes back to her cards when she doesn’t recognize him. The TV blasts at full volume, but nobody is paying attention to it.
    He comes to room 103. Elizabeth Bergstrom. That still looks strange. Most people call her Lizzie. She sits in the chair with her head down. “Hey, Grandma.”
    â€œArlen?” She looks up.
    â€œNo, it’s me. Liam.”
    â€œArlen?”
    â€œNo, Liam.” He moves closer. Maybe she was sleeping.
    She peers through her glasses. “Liam? You look like Arlen.”
    He’s tall and thin like Dad and he has his big nose, but that’s about it. “I brought you a cookie.” He holds up the bag. “Chocolate chip. Not homemade, but I thought you’d like it.”
    â€œI would.” She looks at her tray. “They gave us JELL-O. JELL-O’s not a real dessert.”
    â€œDefinitely not.” Liam unwraps the cookie and offers it to her.
    â€œThank you.” She clicks off Wheel of Fortune. “How can they give away so much money on that show?”
    Liam sits down and explains about advertising, sponsorship, and television ratings.
    â€œI still don’t understand where the money comes from.” Grandma nibbles her cookie.
    Liam laughs. “That’s okay. I don’t really understand it either.” He wipes chocolate from his lips. “So, Grandma, did Dad tell you I’m on varsity basketball?”
    â€œYes. He did.” She speaks slowly, like she’s struggling to remember. She picks up her napkin and pats her mouth. “How are you doing?”
    â€œThe basketball part is going fine.” Liam crumples the paper from the cookie and throws it in the trash. “There’s something else I’ve got to talk to Coach about and I’m not sure how he’ll react.”
    Grandma looks at him with her tired blue eyes. “I’m sure you’ll do what’s right.”
    After the nursing home, Liam stops by the new gym at the Y. Dad says it was built when he was in high school, but everybody still calls it the new gym. Dad’s warming up with his teammates. Some of them are teachers. Some are high school buddies who’ve stayed in Horizon. A couple of them are both.
    â€œI thought we had a shot against West Branch.” Mr. Mattson, Liam’s eighth-grade math teacher, rolls in a layup. “But we didn’t have anyone to stop Collinswood.”
    â€œYes, we did.” A left-hander wearing a sleeveless shirt shoots a jumper.