The Great Quarterback Switch by Matt Christopher

Author:Matt Christopher [CHRISTOPHER, MATTHEW F]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780316095679
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2009-12-19T05:00:00+00:00

8

Michael’s heart flip-flopped. His face turned red, and he grinned back to hide his embarrassment— and his fear that Vince might get more nosy.

“Nice kick, Vince,” was all he said, and he trotted back across the field, with the rest of the guys, for the next kickoff.

The Moths were able to carry off only three plays, netting them enough yardage to get them to the Eagles’ thirty-eight, when the first half ended.

As the team came walking tiredly off the field, Michael concentrated on his thought-energies again. He sensed that his thoughts and Tom’s were in direct communication. In seconds he and Tom were back to their normal selves again.

Michael was very tired, almost to the point of exhaustion, but the experience had been fantastic. Imagine, he thought, he had gotten a touchdown. It was his second. He had scored the first one in the game against the Scorpions when he had intercepted a pass.

But this one he had done on his own. He had decided on the option play, and had made it work.

“Wasn’t that run just fantastic?” a voice cried behind him.

He turned just as Carol burst around the left side of his wheelchair. He saw that she didn’t have a Popsicle this time, and decided she was more normal than he had expected. No person could afford— let alone eat— Popsicles all day long, he told himself.

“I’ve got to agree,” he said. “It was.”

He looked for Vickie, and saw her coming toward them unhurriedly, her eyes across the field, probably looking at Tom.

“Hi, Vickie,” he said.

“Hi, Michael,” she greeted him, flashing her warm smile. “How are you?”

“Fine. What do you think of that touchdown run Tom just made?”

“It was great.”

“Yeah,” he said, cracking a wry grin. “I thought so, too.”

His grin broadened. If these girls only knew who had really made that touchdown, they’d die!

“Michael,” said Carol, looking at him with her large eyes, “did you ever wish that you— ” She hesitated, looked away, then looked at him again. “You wouldn’t mind if I asked you a personal question, would you?”

He shrugged. “No. Go ahead, ask.”

“Well— ” She glanced down and started to burrow a toe into the hard surface of the earth near the front left wheel of his wheelchair. “Do you ever wish that you were able to play football? I mean— I know it’s a stupid question because you… you can’t… but I just wondered.”

No one had ever asked him a question like that before. But he didn’t mind. “I know what you mean,” he said. “The answer is yes. I might as well be honest about it. I have wished that I could play. But it doesn’t bother me very much that I can’t.” Oh, how he would like to tell her more!

She nodded, and shrugged. “Gee,” she said.

“Gee, what?”

“Oh, nothing. Just gee.” And she laughed.

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