“Wish where we were supposed to be was down my street. Woulda went home,” Lu mumbled. Ghost was on his knees trying to catch his breath. I would’ve laughed at what Lu said, but I didn’t have the energy. None of us did. Plus, he said it a little too loud.
“No, see, that’s where you want to be, son.” Coach picked up the two batons from the track, and wiped them down. “But this is where you need to be.” He slipped the metal sticks in his pockets. “And you know why, Lu?” Lu lifted his head, eyes on Coach. “Because you and Ghost owe me a mile.”
“Coach, I was last! Not Ghost. You said, ‘Ghost can’t be last.’?” Lu looked apoplectic.
“Yeah, but I don’t ever want you to be okay with being last, son. So you both owe me one. Everybody else, I’ll see y’all Saturday, bright and early. We’re gonna try these relays, and if they look good, we’ll start working on other ones, and maybe even some hurdles.” The rest of us got up, limped our way to the benches. Car doors started slamming as parents showed up to pick up their half-dead kids. You could see others poking their heads out of the windows, trying to understand why the track looked like an apocalypse movie.
I looked for Momly, then caught myself, realizing that she wouldn’t be there. Couldn’t be. But there was Uncle Tony. He was holding Maddy by the shoulders—Maddy, unbroken, breathing—they both looked tired, as if they’d been running too. A rush of feelings came washing over me. The sizzle in my lungs now becoming a full fireball dropping into my gut. I turned back toward the track for a quick moment of Get yourself together, Patty. Be strong, Patty. I was looking out toward the track but not at the track. Not at anything.
I shook my head—refocus, girl!
“It ain’t gotta be fast, but it’s gotta be done,” Coach was saying to Lu and Ghost, and as the blur cleared, I saw them both now standing with their hands resting on their heads, their breathing almost back to normal. But they looked pathetic. Exhausted. And they had to put in another mile. Poor guys.
Deja walked by me, heading toward her mom. “Good job, Patty,” she said, tapping me on the back.
“Yeah, Patty,” from Krystal. “You ain’t no joke. Let’s crush ’em on Saturday.”
“That’s definitely the plan,” I said, now walking toward Maddy and Uncle Tony. I glanced back. Sunny was still on the track. Still leaning against the fence. His father hadn’t come yet, which was weird. The stiff-suit dude was always on time.
When I reached Uncle Tony and Maddy, Maddy gave me her usual big hug, and whispered, “There’s pizza in the SUV.” I let go of her, nodded, then gave Uncle Tony a hug too. Just reached out and grabbed him. I told him I needed a few more minutes. Then to Maddy, I promised, “Ten, tops.”
“Of course,” Uncle Tony said. And I turned back toward the track to join my boys.
“So, I’m ready to tell y’all what’s wrong,” I said to them halfway around lap one. See, I told Coach that if Lu and Ghost had to run, then so did I. That as a newbie, we also have to win and lose together, hold each other up.
“Somebody’s learned a lot this week, huh?” Coach teased. He had no idea what I was feeling. What I’d been going through. How could he?
“I’m in too, Coach,” Sunny said, sauntering over.
“Look, we takin’ it easy, Sunny,” Ghost said testily. “It’s all love, but don’t be showin’ off.”
And no one did any showboating. And once we knocked down that first two hundred meters, I was ready to talk.
“Well, we ain’t interested no more, Patty. We over it,” Lu jabbed.
“My aunt’s in the hospital. The one that takes care of me,” I said flat-out, to shut his stupid mouth for once.
“Shoot,” Lu said quick. “Patty . . . I was just jokin’.”
“I know.”
“She good?” Ghost asked.
“Yeah. Car accident. Broke her arm and she’s bruised up pretty bad. And she got a concussion. Crazy thing is my little sister was in the car with her, but, thankfully she came out okay.” No one said anything. Just kinda let that whirl around us for a second. “But on top of that, well, I don’t think I realized how much she actually be doing. Like, how much she takes care of. I mean . . . she takes care of my mother, for real. So now I gotta figure out how I’m gonna get my mom to the doctors and all that so she can get her blood cleaned. Plus, Momly’s how I get to the track. It’s just so much. Too much.” I could feel myself getting choked up.
“Wow. That sucks.” Lu said, as we rounded the second curve. He jogged closer.
“Yeah. A lot going on,” I replied, with nothing on it. “Uncle Tony will probably ask Skunk to help out with some stuff since he ain’t working.”
“Who’s Skunk?” Ghost asked.
“Cotton’s big brother,” I answered. Which makes him basically my big brother and practically Uncle Tony’s little brother. Y’know, my uncle just be looking out for Skunk’s knucklehead self. Keep him out of trouble.
“And who’s Cotton?” Ghost followed.
“Patty’s bestie,” Lu panted.
I shook my head at him, like really? “Ghost, Cotton is really Lu’s boo.” Not really, but they liked each other. Which was disgusting.
“Oh, word?”
“Nope.”
“Yep.”
“We just cool.”
“Don’t deny my girl, Lu, or I’ll leave you laid out across this track.”
“Whatever.”
“Whatever, whatever,” Ghost cut in. “Patty, just put me on with them rich girls at your school.”
“Tuh. Boy, please.”
“What? You think they too good for me?” Ghost’s voice toughened.
Lap three.
I thought of T-N-T. Taylor, TeeTee, this is Ghost. “Nah, not even. You’re too good for them, Ghost. They ain’t ready for you,” I said, glancing over, catching a slick smile creeping across his face. Then I added, “Plus, they don’t eat sunflower seeds.”
“They don’t eat sunflower seeds?!”
“They don’t eat sunflower seeds?” Lu repeated.
“They don’t eat sunflower seeds,” I confirmed.
Sunny, oddly didn’t weigh in on the sunflower seed situation. So we all just jogged, the sound of eight feet moving in rhythm, slapping down on the track.
Last lap.
“Yo, so how long Mrs. Emily gonna be in the hospital?” Lu asked.
“The doctor said they doing surgery tomorrow morning. Hopefully she’ll be home by Saturday.”
“You still gon’ make it to the meet?” Ghost asked.
“That’s the thing. I’m gonna try my best, but I don’t know yet. I wanna be there for her, y’know? Don’t tell Coach, though. I don’t want him to be disappointed. He gave me anchor.”
“Wait, so you not gon’ tell him?” Lu asked. “Patty!”
“I know! But I’m still trying to figure everything out. This all just happened this morning,” I explained. “I’ll text him tomorrow, latest. It’s not like he can train another relayer in a day, anyway.”
“You better,” Lu warned.