Emergency Quarterback by Rich Wallace

Author:Rich Wallace
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin USA, Inc.

Anthony phoned in the early afternoon. Jason had been staring at the TV, not really watching the Giants game, just thinking about his failures at quarterback.

“Bro, you okay?” Anthony asked.

“I guess.”

“You guess? What’s not to be okay about?”

Jason sighed. “Like you don’t know?”

“Get over it. Meet us downtown in fifteen minutes.”

“What for?”

“We’re going for pizza,” Anthony said.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Sure you are.”

“I don’t know....”

“I’m telling you,” Anthony said. “Villa Roma. No excuses.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“We’ll come over and get you if you don’t show up. It’s mandatory.”

“Says who?”

“Me.”

“Wow. I guess that’s final, huh?”

“You bet it’s final. Fifteen minutes.”

Twenty-five minutes later Jason was walking on the Boulevard toward the pizza place. The street was busy, but he could see Anthony, Miguel, and Calvin walking toward him. Anthony grinned when he caught sight of Jason.

“We were on our way to drag your butt down here!” Anthony shouted from half a block away.

Jason smiled. He stuck his hands in the pocket of his sweatshirt. “No need. I’m coming.”

“You still blaming yourself?” Miguel asked as they met.

Jason shrugged.

“Good,” Miguel said. He grinned broadly and grabbed Jason’s shoulder. “You blew it, my man. Sure can’t blame anybody else. Can’t blame the line that didn’t protect you, or the running backs that couldn’t gain any yardage, or the receivers that couldn’t get open.”

“Or the starting quarterback who never got you the ball,” Calvin added.

Jason nodded. “Yeah,” he said, “I know—T-E-A-M. But it’s mostly my fault. You all know that.”

“Are you the reason we won our first five games?” Anthony asked.

Jason bit down on his lip and squirmed a little. “No. I’m one of the reasons.”

“But you’re the reason we lost last night?”

“The biggest reason.”

“The guy who was in your face when you threw the interception was my responsibility,” Anthony said. “He knocked me on my butt and took off after you.”

“And the guy who caused that fumble blew right by me,” Miguel said.

“Okay. You made your point,” Jason said. “We all stunk last night.”

“Not entirely,” Calvin said. “The game was dead even except for two plays.”

Jason laughed. “Okay. So now we’re back where we started. Two plays—big—time mistakes by the emergency quarterback.”

“And now it’s over,” Anthony said. He was laughing, too. “I’ll sit on anybody who brings it up again. Take it out on Palisades next week. Now, I’m starving. Let’s go eat.”

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