Paralyzed (11 page)

We all slowly changed into our street clothes for the ride back to Lincoln. It remained pretty quiet in the locker room. Everybody was digesting the loss, most of all the seniors like me. We had played our last game in a Lincoln uniform. Maybe it was easier for me than some kids. At least
I'd probably be playing football somewhere next year.

“Reggie,” Jeff Stevens called from his spot near the locker room door. “Somebody here to see you.”

That was weird. In four years of football at Lincoln, I don't think anybody had ever knocked on the locker room door to pull me out.

I pulled on a clean T-shirt and walked outside, still wearing my dirty football pants and cleats. On the other side of the door stood Nate's mother.

She stepped forward and offered me her hand. I shook it, not knowing what was coming next. A few seconds of awkward silence followed. “Reggie,” she finally said, “I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. When Nate got hurt, I was just so angry. I was looking for somebody to blame. I took it out on you. I...”

I could tell that she was on the verge of tears. “It's good to see you out on the field again,” she said.

“Thanks.” I wasn't sure what else to say.

She turned to walk away. “Mrs. Brown,” I called after her, “I hope Nate's back out here soon too.”

She managed a weak smile. “It might be awhile before he's ready,” she said. “And before I'm ready too.”

I nodded. The last couple of months hadn't been easy. But as I turned back toward the locker room, I was pretty sure the worst of it was over.

Jeff Rud is the author of ten sports-related books for children. This is his second novel in the popular Orca Sports Series. Rud worked for nearly thirty years as a journalist in Western Canada before becoming a media relations manager in British Columbia's Ministry of Education. He and his wife Lana, a middle-school teacher, have two children and live in Victoria, British Columbia.