Chapter 15

Zach woke up a few minutes before the bus reached the school. Before anybody got off Coach Crisfield stood at the front and reminded everybody about the match they’d be hosting that evening. “They don’t have a JV team and they forfeit a lot of weight classes on varsity,” he said. “We probably won’t be here long. Just make sure you stay on weight. Every match counts at seeding time, even the forfeits.”

They didn’t need to get back to the school until six o’clock, which was almost five hours away. As he stood up to exit the bus he knew he’d be doing only one thing that afternoon. Sleep. There was no point in following everybody inside and into the locker room. Instead, he set off on foot in the other direction, towards home.

His mom was bustling around the house preparing for work when Zach walked in. “I won, Mom,” he said, sparing her the awkward chore of trying to find out without coming right out and asking. “10 to 9.”

“That’s great, baby,” she said. “I wish I could have seen it. You know I’ll always be there when I don’t have to work, don’t you?”

“Yeah Mom, I know,” Zach said. “I wish you didn’t have to work so much.”

“It’s not so bad,” she said. “I just don’t want to miss seeing you grow up.”

“Hey Mom,” he asked, remembering what Coach Crisfield had said. “Where do you think my dad is?”

She had been fumbling around in her purse, looking like she was about to leave, but when she heard that she put it down and walked over to the couch where he had collapsed. “Where in the world did that come from? You’ve never asked about him before. Not even once.”

“Coach told me he wanted to talk to my mom and dad,” Zach said. “It was embarrassing.”

She bent down and touched his cheek. “Forget about your dad, Zach,” she said. “That’s the best thing you can do. You have a crummy father just like I have a crummy husband.”

Zach saw his mother’s teardrop hit the carpet between his feet. “Have?” he asked, looking up. “But you’re not still married are you?”

“It takes two people to have a divorce,” she said as she wiped her eyes. “He didn’t stay around long enough to get it done. There’s probably a way for me to do it myself but I never bothered. It probably costs too much money. Last I heard, and it was by accident, he was somewhere up near Boston.”

“Sorry Mom,” Zach said. “I shouldn’t have brought it up. You better go, you’ll be late.”

“No, I’m sorry, Zach,” she said. “What did your coach want to talk about?” she asked.

“He wants me to quit the band,” Zach said.

“That reminds me,” she said. “What time did you get in last night? I didn’t hear you coming or going.”

He told her the entire story of how the previous night had gone. When he was done there was no need to explain why Crisfield was unhappy.

“Well, Zach, if he forces it,” she said, “You’ll have to make a choice.”

“He’s forcing it,” Zach said. “I know what I should do but I hate to let Toby and the guys down.”

“It’s just for the rest of the season,” she said. “Right?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Zach said. “Until next season. But I don’t think they want to wait that long for me to come back. They already have my replacement lined up.”

“Wow,” she said. “That’s pretty crappy.” She looked at her watch. “Uh oh, I’ve got to run,” she said. “We’ll talk about this later, okay? If you want to, I mean.”

“Sure, Mom,” Zach said. After she was gone he stripped off his top layer of clothing and slid into bed. Only then did he realize that he was about to take a nap in a Chapel Forge Township High School singlet.

~~~

Chapel Forge won the evening match by a lopsided score. Zach had something to do with the result as he scored a second period pin. That meant that he had run off a string of five straight wins since losing on opening day. Not too bad for a burnout, he thought as he dressed after the match. He was pretty content with how the day had gone, especially because of its disastrous beginning. The sight of Beth Ellicott in the bleachers during the evening match somehow made it even better.

“Okay, listen up,” Coach Crisfield said when everybody was ready to leave. “Everybody have a great Christmas. Don’t forget to get your miles in. We’ll practice the day after Christmas at nine. Be here at seven the day after that for the trip over to Pennsylvania. I’ve got extra copies of the paperwork for anybody who needs it. It’s got details on the tournament and on the motel we’re staying at on Friday and Saturday nights.”

~~~

“Gents, it turns out that we’re working next weekend after all,” Fauquier said when everybody had arrived for Sunday band practice. “I got us a gig for Friday, Saturday and Sunday night.”

A knot instantly materialized in Zach’s stomach. There was no way that he was going to make it to any of those gigs because he was going to be wrestling in Pennsylvania’s Coal Region. Funny thing was, Fauquier knew all about that because they had talked about it less than a week earlier.

“Where at?” Herndon asked.

“A new club opening up on South Street,” Fauquier said. “A friend of a friend is part owner. It’s half nightclub, half concert hall. Perfect for us. They’re trying to get bands booked at the last minute for New Year’s weekend. I thought it might be good exposure. There are lots of record industry power guys over there but they don’t get out of Philadelphia much. So the club gets live music and we get stage time. Pretty good deal.”

“That’s the deal? How about money?” Dumphries asked. “Do we get any of that out of it? Or are you just doing people favors?”

“Maybe next time, if we go back,” Fauquier said. “We weren’t working anyway, Toby. At least we’ll be on stage instead of paying to watch somebody else play some place else. Look at it that way.”

“You booked us to play for free?” Herndon asked. “For three nights in a row? What, are you nuts?”

“Nope. I have a plan, unlike you guys,” Fauquier said. “It isn’t always just about money.”

“Why did you do this?” Zach asked. “You know I’m not around this weekend. We just got done talking about it.”

“Maybe it slipped my mind,” Fauquier answered.

“Bull,” Zach said. “Why don’t you just come out and say it?”

“Say what?” Fauquier asked.

“That I’m out of the band,” Zach said. “Your bringing your buddy in to take my place. ‘Shiny’, or whatever his name was.”

“Well, I want to keep moving forward,” Fauquier said. His tone sounded rehearsed to Zach. Fauquier was trying too hard to sound calm.

“That’s what you call free jobs in some club that nobody’s ever heard of?” Zach asked. “Just admit it. You’re doing this to get me out. Quit being a weasel about it.”

“Joe, what gives?” Dumphries asked. “What were you thinking we could do without Zach?”

“The world doesn’t revolve around Zach,” Fauquier said. “Glimmer can do all three shows. I already checked.”

“What a surprise,” Zach said.

“That guy blows!” Herndon said. “He can’t sing and he can’t play. Who are you kidding? We can’t go on stage like that!”

“Joe, don’t you think you should have run this by us?” Dumphries asked.

“Look, the opportunity was there,” Fauquier said calmly. “So I grabbed it before it was gone.”

“Come on,” Herndon asked. “There’s no other band around dumb enough to take this deal.”

“This is how it’s going to be, guys,” Fauquier said. “That’s all there is to it. Glimmer will sing and I’ll find somebody else to sit in on bass.”

“You mean we’re splitting our take five ways instead of four?” Herndon asked. “Let’s see, what’s zero divided by five?”

“Yeah, good point,” Dumphries said.

“So do you even want me to practice with you guys today?” Zach asked.

“Of course,” Fauquier said. “You’re still in the band.”

“Not really,” Zach said. “What’s the point?” It would have been the perfect time for him to announce that he was dropping out for the rest of the season, but something inside told him to keep his mouth shut. Wrestling was important to him, maybe even more important than the band. He’d put a lot of time and sweat into the band too, though. It just didn’t feel right to pull the plug yet. Not until he absolutely had to.

“Are you okay with this, Zach?” Dumphries asked.

“Not really,” Zach said. “I don’t even know why I’m here today. Joe wants this new guy to take my place.”

“We’re not kicking you out,” Fauquier said. “Don’t get all pissy about it.”

“I’m not,” Zach said. “I said it’s cool, okay?”

“Are we having a practice or not?” Herndon asked. Before anybody could answer he flipped the switch on his amplifier and cranked out the opening chords of ‘Fire House.’ Dumphries and Fauquier followed the unwritten rule and joined in. Zach didn’t. He unplugged from his amplifier and walked outside with his bass still strapped across his front. The song sounded odd without lyrics and a bass line. Somehow that was comforting to Zach.

The door opened and closed again after Zach had unstrapped the bass and taken a seat on the steps. “Hi,” Jeanine said as she sat down next to him. He hadn’t even known she was in the house. “I heard what happened,” she said, putting her arm around his shoulder. “Don’t freak out about it, okay Honey?”

Zach leaned away far enough that she pulled her arm back. “I’m not freaking out, okay?” he said.

“Do you know what karma is?” she asked.

“Just leave me alone for a minute, okay?” he snapped. “I’m not in the mood right now.”

She turned and looked him in the eye, something she didn’t do very often. For once she had nothing to say. He looked down between his feet, trying to find the right words to apologize with. None came to mind so he stared at the concrete and said nothing as she got up and went back inside. When the song was over he went in and finished practice, wondering if it would be his last.