Thread: Back roads part 1

You may think you know High school football but unless you have seen a Texas high school football game you have no idea. I've seen Dad's throw their sons out on the street for throwing an interception, and if you didn't make the team??? It was like you weren't even family. Its a way of life down here and I've been learnin the game since I was just a youngin. They call me Danny West. When I was four years old my daddy had me in the backyard teaching me every play in the high school playbook. By the time I was twelve I could throw a football through a hula hoop from 30 yards back. My daddy was the famous Trent West, a two time state champ for the Colby High school Cowboys in 87 and 88. He went on to live out every kid in Texas's dream and went on to play quarterback for the AM Aggies. He'd say his biggest achievement was a Cotton Bowl Victory over the Longhorns back in 91. He even got drafted by the Houston Oilers in 92 but before he ever even got to training camp, him and a few buddies went out muddin on the dirt roads drunker than skunks. He never really talked about it, but I heard some police that were longhorns fans pulled them over and recognized my daddy. They was still sore bout that Cotton bowl upset and they beat my daddys ass breaking his arm in three spots and tearing his rotator cuff. The doctors told him he could never play again. I didn't come along until after all that, and my Daddys always been real hard on me say in things like The only thing good ol boys like you are good for is drillin oil and playin football and I'll be god damned if a son of mine is gonna be a rough neck. Since he couldn't play football anymore the Colby School board offered him a job as the P.E. teacher and the head football Coach also because he was a home town hero and all. Kids transferred from schools all over the state just to play for him. He coached three state champs in 97, 04, and, 09 and six runner ups in 95, 98, 99, 03, 05, and 08. I started playing for him in 09 my freshmen year. He kept me on the JV squad throughout my whole high school career until this year. He said it would teach me humility, I figured he was just bein an asshole. ... As I sat in my 1986 Camaro SS I felt the pride I took in my small town. On main street you had Duckwalls where you could get your basics. Anything from candy to toilet paper for a fair price. Next door to that you had the pizza joint Gambinos. They did pretty well but I never had a taste for Italian pizza. Across the street you had the first national bank which sat next to Lucky's, the Irish Pub. If you went a little further down main you had the baptist church which sat next to Central Park. Even further down you had the high school, the chuck wagon which had great curly fries and fried Califlour and you had the Homeland grocery store. That was pretty much it. Main only stretches about a mile and a half and then its nothing but ranchers and farmers. If you go east you got the fairgrounds and the oil fields. I saw Stacy walking down the road as I was driving by. She was about 5'2 with dirty blonde hair and some wide swinging hips. She was wearing some cut off jean shorts that were entirely to short by most standards. I wasn't complaining though. We had a thing once back in freshmen year but my daddy cut that off real quick. You go messin around with girls at your age you get em pregnant and if that happens your ass is straight to the oil fields cuz ain't no son of mine gonna have a baby he can't take care of so if you wanna keep playin football you just leave them girls alone. So that ended that. They still shared conversations and were pretty good friends but nothing romantix or he'd risk his daddy dis-owning him. As he pulled in to the stadium he admired the size of it. Some big rich oil tycoon named Dean Hays paid for it. His son was the QB for the 97 championship team. He read the sign. Hays stadium. It was bigger than some college stadiums and could hold up to 30,000 people when they brought in the North bleachers. When you took the players entrance you came to a big hallway that went two directions. To the left was the home locker room to the left was the visitor locker room in the middle read Home of the Cowboys. I walked down the hallway leading to the home locker room. It was a massive room with lockers and a large area with a dry erase board for half time strategies. To the past that was a weight room which contained just about every weight machine imaginable. As I sat down at my locker I looked at the name plate. 12 Danny West. 12 ran in my family all the way back to my great grand daddy who played Short stop for the Texas Rangers back in the 30s. My grand daddy wore it as a tail back back in the 60s and my Daddy wore it from his high school days clear up til his Cotton bowl upset. A gruff voice snapped me out of my thoughts, Coach West wants to see you. I turned to face our QB Coach, Coach Billings. He was in his mid forties with black hair and a goatee. He was the QB before my Dad. He was extremely talented but the team he had around him was garbage. He spent most of his life on the oil rigs until my dad brought him to Coach back in 95. I nodded and stood up dreading what my daddy had to say. When I walked up to his office I saw my English teacher Mr. Goode sitting across from him. Fuck. Was the only word to describe how much shit I was about to be in. My Dad caught me staring and waved me in. I could tell he was pissed by the vein sticking from his forehead, of course I already knew it was bad news. As I walked in Mr. Goode and my dad stood up and shook hands. Well don't you worry John we will get it taken care of. My dad was talking to Mr. Goode but looking at me when he said it. Mr. Goode gave me an embarrassed nod and then walked out. I was still standing in the doorway catching a death stare from Dad. Shut the door and sit your ass down. As if shutting the door was gonna keep anyone from hearing the ass chewing I was about to get. My Dad possessed a voice that you knew when he meant business. I'd seen him send grown ass men away crying without ever laying a hand on them. I shut the door and sat down, sitting straight up as if it would somehow help me. He drummed his fingers on his desk and just looked at me for a long time before he spoke, Are you high or just plain stupid? I shrugged my shoulders immediately regretting it. He slammed his fist down, I asked you a fucking questioned boy! Now you answer me like you got some damn sense before I slap you in the mouth!! I opened my mouth to answer but he cut me off. Don't.... just don't I can't even imagine what the hell I was thinking putting you as my starting QB this year when you can't even bother to show up to English class!!! He jumped out of his seat and shoved an English book in my face hitting me square in the nose. It hurt like a mother fucked and I tasted the blood running down into my mouth. He walked out from behind the desk and stood beside me. Now for some reason and don't ask me why! I have got John to give you some time to make up the work you missed, and you are not doing a damn thing til its all turned in! And if its not turned in by Friday morning you might as well consider yourself a homeless roughneck cuz you ain't playing on my team and you ain't living under my roof got it?!! I stood up and faced him, Fuck you! I screamed in his face. He seemed shocked for a moment but then his face turned beet red and he threw the chair I had been sitting on through the office window. Oh you're a man now?? You want to get in my face like you are a grown ass man? He bucked his chest up and got nose to nose with me bulldogging me until I was up against the wall. What the hell was I thinking? He was gonna kill me and I probably deserved it. Then the punch came and it hurt like a mother fucker. I knew he didn't hit me with all of his strength because if he had I'd have been laid out on the ground passed out. I looked at him as I spit blood out of my mouth. You aint a fucking man! He screamed. In that moment I felt all the shit I'd been taking from him my whole life go from my throat down to my hand and I balled up my fist. He went to get in my face to yell some more but he didn't get the chance... I sent a haymaker right into his jaw with everything I had sending him falling through his desk. My knuckles immediately screamed with pain and I knew I broke at least a couple of them. He was shocked and I could tell. But it wasn't long he was on his feet charging me. At that moment Coach Billings came threw the door and speared him to the ground. As he held him he turned to me and yelled, Get the hell out of here!! I darted out of the office and got in my camaro taking one last loom at Hays stadium. I knew I'd never play quarterback but at this point I didn't care. I pushed the throttle to the floor and the 405 squealed the tires all the way out of the parking lot. I got to the house and threw all of my clothes in a duffel bag. I had no clue where I was going but I wasn't coming back here. As I looked at my pee wee trophies I sat down on my bed and started crying. My mother had died when I was twelve and that's when things got real bad between me and my dad. She was such a good woman. She was beautiful, everyone in town loved her. She had used to have us in church every Sunday and cooked a meal for the whole pee wee team after every game win or loose. She used to tell me how special and handsome I was and how she would always love me no matter what. She was tough to. I think that's why dad loved her. She was the only woman... no the only human being, I had ever seen back my dad down. Most of the time she let him have his way but there were a few times she put her foot down and he had to deal with it or get the hell out. Even after she got breast cancer she would walk into a room and it would light up from her personality. After she died my dad wouldn't even speak to me for months When he finally did start talking to me I wished he hadn't. I stood up taking one last look at the room then grabbed my duffle bag and walked out the door. When I got to the Camaro I threw my duffel bag in the trunk and hopped in the driver seat. I started the engine when my passenger door opened and Stacy got in. What the hell happened? She said with worry in her eyes. The thing about small towns is that bad news spreads fast. Your dad beat Coach Billings within an inch of his life. They took him to jail. I slammed my hand down on the steering wheel. Coach Billings had got the worst of my dads rage while I ran away like a little bitch. Stacy saw my rage and put her hand on my shoulder. If you ask me its about time you stood up to that asshole. You've let him run your whole life its your time now. She slipped her shoes off and put her feet up on the dash. I started the car and headed down main. Out past all the stores and past the fields of horses and wheat. She never asked where we were going and glad she didn't because I didn't know. I found a dirt road and punched it sending dust fly king in the rear view. I reached down and flipped the radio in. George Strait, Check yes or no. She smiled as she sang along. I could hardly keep my eyes on the road. Her long tan legs up on the dash, her jeans cut so high you could see her tan line. She caught my stare and giggled pushing the blonde hair out of her eyes. I don't know how far we took that dirt road but when the sun started to set I pulled over next to a pond. I pulled a couple of Coors out of the trunk, they weren't cold but I needed a buzz after the events of today. We sat on the hood watching the sun set for awhile and she finally looked at me and spoke. So what are you gonna do now? I chugged the last of my beer and crushed it throwing it in the back seat. I guess I havn't thought about it but I can't go back... nothing for me there now but bad memories. She got up off the hood and stood up in front of me scooting in between my legs. She leaned forward so that the wind was blowing strands of her hair in my face tickling my nose. She put her head against mine nudging my chin with her nose. Then my lips founds hers as our tongues met and she grabbed my cheeks and pulled me closer. We made love right there on the hood as the sun set behind the hills. As we lied there beneath the stars she whispered Take me with you Danny. I had no idea what was I was gonna do next all I knew for sure was that I wanted her with me....