title: A Wager
author: Emerson, Chuck
description: October, 1995 Murphy Robinson, State U's offensive line coach, says to Jeff Brownfield, "I'll bet - I'll bet you don't have even one single girl to ask, not a single phone number." What's Murphy talking about? Homecoming, the social event of the year at the small rural college. But why bother? Jeff's his best friend - and an easy mark. Murphy bets Jeff will be dateless for Homecoming, wager-ing tickets on the fifty-yard line and steak dinner after the game for Murphy and his girlfriend. Pride gets the better of Jeff and they shake on it. But how can Jeff find a date? He's got just three weeks and no phone num-bers . Jeff's a girl-shy college administrator and community volunteer who's unhappy he's still single. And he has a shadow. I call it the fog . It's a bil-lowing ground cloud that ebbs and flows in shades of gray, mirroring his moods and predicaments. With the fog underfoot, his long-divorced mother vexing him as usual, Jeff, all 5'7" and 148 lbs. of him, thrashes through three weeks of anxiety, miscues, and work.