The Rivalry by John Feinstein

Author:John Feinstein [Feinstein, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-375-89603-3
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2010-09-27T16:00:00+00:00

SOURCES AND RESOURCES

By Saturday, Susan Carol had mostly shaken off her bad swim and the letter to the editor. Or at least put them in the back of her mind. She was too busy to brood. Stevie was running down the schedule for their afternoon at West Point.

“The team practices at three o’clock. We’re seeing Coach Ellerson in his office at one thirty, and Tamara’s talking to the superintendent at two. We’ve got to write some kind of story, maybe two, for the Sunday papers after practice. They’ll really start gearing up the coverage in the Sunday papers.”

Susan Carol nodded. “And what about the security story?”

“Bobby wanted us to talk to either Dowling or Campbell—if they’re here—and see if we can confirm his source’s tip that the president might not come. Oh, and find out why not, of course.”

“Sure, no problem.”

When they arrived at Ellerson’s office, the receptionist said, “You guys are right on time. The only problem is, Coach isn’t. He’s in a meeting right now, but I’m sure he’ll be with you just as soon as possible.”

So they waited. Twenty minutes later, they saw two men walking down the hallway in their direction. One was Rich Ellerson. The other was Pete Dowling.

“Hey, Steve, you got out of the dining room at the Linc,” Dowling said, smiling as everyone shook hands.

Stevie introduced Susan Carol to Ellerson and Dowling.

“So am I guessing that you being here means the president is still coming to the game?” Susan Carol said, flashing The Smile to try to make the question sound like “What time is sunset?” rather than something more serious.

If the question bothered Dowling, he didn’t show it. “Don’t believe everything Bobby Kelleher tells you,” he said. “I saw that story in the Herald this morning. His guy got a bad tip. The president’s coming. I think everyone’s jumping at shadows a little bit because of what happened Tuesday.”

“Fraternity prank,” Stevie said.

“Odd but true,” Dowling said. “And now everyone’s putting two and two together and getting five.”

“So you aren’t worried about anything?” Susan Carol asked.

Dowling laughed. “I worry about everything,” he said. “That’s my job.”

“Will you be around today?” Susan Carol asked.

“All day,” Dowling said. “Maybe I’ll see you at practice.”

They shook hands and Ellerson waved them into his office, which had a great view overlooking the stadium, the field, the reservoir, and the wooded hills beyond.

“We may not be able to recruit too many NFL prospects here,” Ellerson said as they sat down. “But I wouldn’t trade my office with any coach in the country.”

Stevie could see why. It was spacious, and the view was spectacular.

“Does all this Secret Service stuff bother you?” Susan Carol asked once they were seated. “I mean, is it a distraction?”

“For the players, I’d say no. The older guys on the team have been through this before. For me, it’s a first, so it adds some time and detail I could probably live without. But it’s part of the deal here at Army. And it’s an honor to have the president attend.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.