

# More than 44

## Phil Wohl

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2009 Phil Wohl

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

### One

It was the dog days of summer in New York City. Egg sandwiches with American cheese and bacon could have been cooked on the pavement of the concrete jungle, and tempers were boiling in the subway platform heat.

### Dave Abrahams was waiting for the number two train to take him back uptown to his apartment on the Upper West Side, but took a minute to submerge back into his favorite high school basketball daydream.

### There was five seconds left on the clock and his team was down by one point. The ball was handed to Mike Finnegan at half court and his teammates started running a play, like a key was inserted into a car's ignition.

### Coach Doherty had called for Tony Dorio and Tom O'Malley to set a pick on Dave's man, but Central High's Calvin Brown had slipped and fallen down. Dave looked behind himself as the referee's count on Finnegan reached three. He instinctively came to the ball to relieve the pressure and Jacobs let the ball go.

### Brown scrambled to get his feet and banked into Cameron Breslin as Dave drove to the basket. The defender got back to his feet long enough to tackle Dave before he could release the ball. The referee blew his whistle and then walked toward the scorer's table, "Shooting foul on number 35, green. Number 44, white, shoots two."

### One second remained on the clock as Coach Doherty screamed at the referee for a flagrant foul.

### "He wasn't even going for the ball, Gene!"

### The players set up on the foul line and Coach Simpson of Central High leaned over toward the other referee and calmly said, "Time out," trying to make Dave think about the shots that he was about to take.

### The only ice water in this steamy high school gymnasium could be found in Dave Abraham's veins. He had taken so many foul shots in his driveway and countless gyms throughout Long Island that the process was as routine as brushing his teeth.

### "There out of time outs!" Coach Doherty said to the group of five seated in front of him. "When Dave makes these shots we immediately pressure the ball. We're one second away, gentlemen." He stood up and looked around the huddle. "This is what we've been working for all year... all of our lives! Let's go get it!"

### The buzzer sounded to end the time out and the coach yelled, "Everyone in here!" All 12 players thrust a hand on the pile. One, two, three, HARD WORK!" the team collectively yelled in unison.

### Dave started his long journey toward the foul line. It had been 25 years since the team had played for a boys' basketball championship. The town of Bailey Woods was alive with hope as the referee handed the ball to Dave and said, "Two shots, gentlemen. Relax on the first."

### Dave held the ball in his left hand and rested it against his side. He looked toward the rim and took a deep, long breath. The crowd noise dissipated in his mind and his focus rested unwaveringly on the first shot. He dribbled the ball three times and then bent his knees and released the first shot.

### "Swish," the net sounded like the blast of a cannon, signaling the game was tied at 64. Dave then saw the second shot in his mind before even going into his pre-shot routine. The ball tickled the front rim, brushed against the backboard, and then dropped through the net. The home crowd erupted as Dave backpedaled toward the opposing rim. Central High attempted a last-second shot that fell short into Breslin's hands. The fans rushed onto the floor as the number two train came roaring into the station, bringing Dave back from his glorious past back into the oppressive heat of the present.

### He was lucky to board one of the subway cars with air conditioning, although this good fortune was tempered by the overcrowded, sardine-like nature of the car. City living had its advantages, but commuting in the summer heat wasn't one of them.

### Life had gone very well for Dave after graduating high school. His heroics on the court catapulted him to a full athletic scholarship at a local college, where he earned a degree in business and scored over 1,000 points in his four-year career.

### It had been six years since college, and ten years since he graced the halls of Bailey Woods High School. Working for a leading financial publisher and making a six-figure income was satisfying, but images of his exhilarating past often overshadowed many of the endless meetings and routine tasks.

He emerged from the 96th Street station and steadily walked through the layers of haze to Whole Foods Market. His fiancée, Haley, had called and left a message from him to pick up dinner. There would be no cooking in their small, one-bedroom apartment on that night.

### Dave walked into apartment 21E with his leather briefcase strapped over his left shoulder and a large, brown paper bag cradled in his right arm.

### "Hales?" Dave said as he put the bag down on the kitchen counter.

### "I'm in here changing," she said from the bedroom.

### A few minutes later, she came out in a pink tank top and a pair of jean shorts. Dave ignored the heat and was instantly turned on by the sight of his barely-clothed fiancée. He quickly approached her, looking for some love and said, "Give me some of that."

### She sidestepped him and whined, "David, it's too hot and I'm hungry."

### Dave shook his head in disbelief and kept walking toward the bedroom.

### "Did you get the mail?" he asked as he struggled to get his moist t-shirt off.

### "Yeah, it's on the dresser," she replied.

### He leafed through a few bills until he came to a letter addressed to him from Bailey Woods High School. Dave tossed his shirt on the bed and quickly opened the letter.

### Noise from the other room barely delayed his focus. "Did you get green beans?"

### Dave didn't answer. "David?"

### He seemed bothered, "There in the bottom under the stuffed turkey."

### She rifled through the bag, "Got it!"

### Dave opened the latter, which read:

### Dear Dave,

### We are proud to announce that you have been selected to be enshrined in the newly-created, Bailey Woods Hall of Fame.

The ceremony will take place on September 17th in the Dolphins gymnasium.

### Please reply by...

### "What do you think about a June wedding?" Haley asked as she popped a plate in the microwave.

### Dave's mind had placed him inside the Dolphins gymnasium, so he distractedly replied, "Yeah, it sounds great."

### "So, I should start planning the wedding?" Haley said with a half-smile on her face.

### Dave came in with a pair of basketball shorts and without a shirt.

### "I haven't seen you wear those shorts in a while," Haley stated.

### Dave helped her carry the plates and glasses to their small, round table.

### "Yeah, I just got this letter from high school," Dave said as he tried to pass her the letter.

### She rolled her eyes, "And?" she said in a slightly irritated tone.

### Dave hesitated and looked at Haley, "Something wrong?"

### "Did you hear what I said about the wedding?"

### Dave looked confused, "Is someone getting married?"

### Haley took a deep breath and replied, "I was talking about our wedding, David."

### The baking sun must have gotten to his head, "We're getting married?"

### The only thing worse than waving a red flag in front of a bull, is to mess with a bride-to-be's wedding plans. The dinner was pretty quiet after that misstep, and Haley never asked Dave again about his high school letter until he mentioned it a week before the event.

### "I'm going to Bailey Woods next weekend," Dave said as they watched television.

### She looked puzzled, "Weren't we supposed to around the city and pick a place to get married?"

### The only thing on Dave's mind was immortality, not immanent mortality.

### He pulled out the letter, which never was more than a few feet out of his sight, and handed it to Haley.

### She read through the letter and said, "How come you didn't tell me about this before?"

### Dave thought carefully before he responded this time. "That was the night you first asked me about setting a date."

### She rolled back her mind, "And you said something stupid."

### There wasn't much each person could say after that statement. A few minutes later, Haley proclaimed, "I'll get my mom to go with me. She was bugging me to go, anyway."

### Dave nodded his head and realized that Haley wanted to go with her mom all along. She decided to skip an important day in the life of her fiancée in favor of a self-serving activity of her own. Dave also realized that Haley had absolutely nothing to do with his high school exploits, and the day would be better spent around the people that experienced it all, his parents, his friends, and his younger sister.

### TWO

### Dave looked at the Saturday afternoon ceremony as closure for a great part of his life. He had worked hard and the success that he and his teammates experienced would be something he would never forget.

### He felt the adrenaline bouncing around his body the moment he stepped out of his parents Nissan Maxima. The guy in the big meetings talking in business jargon, was instantly replaced by the guy everyone called D.A. The crowd would chant "D.A." during games and people would greet him in the hallways every day with his initials. The only people in Bailey Woods that didn't call him D.A. were his parents. They still were stuck in reverse with his full name, David. His mother even went to David Isaac Abrahams, his full biblical-inspired name on occasion, when he upset her.

### Dave, his sister Lori and his parents walked in the back door of the school and were immediately handed programs by two female students that had volunteered for the event. There were 100 people being enshrined in this inaugural event and their pictures lined the hallway leading up the gym, scattered with a few black-and-white photos of a few athletes.

### In all, there were 25 football players, 25 lacrosse players, 15 baseball players, 10 wrestlers, five softball players, five volleyball players, four soccer players, three field hockey players, one bowler, and three female and four male basketball players over the 50-year history of the school.

### Dave stopped at his picture across from the boy's entrance of the gym. Although he had been seen that particular picture of himself at the foul line before, it held a completely new significance to him now that it was so prominently displayed.

### Melanie Abraham pulled out two tissues and handed one to Dave's sister. Dave looked at his dad, Walter, and smiled. Walter had struggled to fill the gaps once Dave's college career had ended. He would still travel into the city when Dave played in a corporate basketball league a few years earlier.

### It had been two years since Dave played, but visions of the game were still very active in his mind. These thoughts were even more prominent on this special day in the gym he owned for a few years.

### The ceremony was simple, with names being called off and athletes, young and old, walking up to center court to receive their Hall of Fame plaques. Pete's high school coach, William Doherty, was now the school's principal. He had quickly moved up the chain from athletic director to vice principal and then principal a few months before the current school year began.

### The success of Dave's team had opened the door for Coach Doherty – a door that would otherwise have been bolted shut. The town and the superintendent believed in him, and there was never a shortage of reminiscing when they got together.

### Handshakes were the order of the day until the name "Dave Abrahams" was announced by Principal Doherty. Dave rose from his seat and strolled up to the huge dolphin at center court. He hugged his coach, who whispered "You have to give me a few minutes after this is over."

### Dave nodded and turned to go back to his seat, but the familiar chant of "D.A.!" started to ring throughout the bleachers and stopped him in his tracks. He looked into the second row of the bleachers at a few of his teammates, who undoubtedly started the chant to bust his chops. Dave nodded and saluted his buddies before returning to his seat.

### The ceremony was followed by a catered reception in the cafeteria, saving all of the honorees and their family from being served by old ladies in hair nets and plastic gloves. Dave was about to sit down with a full plate of food, but he saw his coach out of the corner of his eye gesturing to him in the hallway. He set the plate down and said, "I'll be right back."

### The hallway outside the gym was always a hotbed of activity for Dave. He talked to many college coaches, broke up an all-out brawl during a game, and even experienced his first French kiss against a row of lockers outside of the locker room.

### Dave stepped into the hallway and shook his coach's hand, "Thanks for putting this together."

### They started walked, "Well, I had you in mind when I started this process a few years ago. Let's walk toward my office."

### The new principal continued, "I'm not sure if you have been following this, but we have had four basketball coaches in the past nine years. We also haven't had a winning season since our team."

### Dave replied, "I knew about the record, but not about the coaching turnover."

### "I still don't think the people in this town care much about basketball. I would step in, but my contract won't allow for it," Doherty explained.

### They walked into the main office, located in the front of the school, and then Doherty stepped into his office and pulled a document off his desk.

### "We've had a real budget battle this past year and this has impacted the district's athletic department. The National Board of Interscholastic Athletics has sanctioned us to add an additional girl's program and eliminate a boy's program. We've had 20 or so meetings and the final recommendation hinges on the stability of our basketball program.

### Dave was surprised, "They're going to eliminate the basketball program? That's not right! What can I do?"

### The principal smiled, "I'm glad you feel that way..."

### Dave left the principal's office and took the long way around to the gym. He cruised through the halls until he came upon his locker, number 1032. The locker felt smooth and cool as he ran his fingers over the faded number plate. Across the hall from the locker was the room he first learned about how to successfully rob a house from Mr. Henderson, an aged Social Studies teacher going senile in the twilight of his career.

### He passed by classroom after classroom as the memories kept flooding through. While first base was realized near the gym, second base was taken in the 300-wing – with Dave's right hand against Cindy Brower's left breast. He was quickly tagged out despite his best base running efforts, which were sloppy but expected for an inexperience tenth grader.

### Dave continued to walk through the halls until he came upon the empty gym. The memory of the roar of the crowd echoed in his ears and hugged him like a down blanket on a winter night. This was his home. These were his people. Walking away from a high-paying job in favor of chasing his legacy was a tough sell in the rational world.

### Doherty told Dave he would accept his M.B.A. in lieu of a teaching degree, because he could teach business classes once Mrs. Walters retired mid-year. He was also offered the job with a starting salary of $50,000 plus $5,000 for coaching the team. This was roughly half of his current base salary.

### School had just started but Principal Doherty needed a decision by the following Monday morning. He needed information so he could go to the board with a loaded gun or an empty chamber. Doherty also gave Dave with one last deal sweetener, which hit him at a level that no corporate expense account or company seats to sporting events could.

### "If you do this, we've been talking about retiring your number 44."

### There had been only one number retired in school history - number 27 for Ryan Pelfry—who lost only one game as a starting pitcher on the baseball team and eventually went on to win a Cy Young Award while playing for the Toronto Blue Jays.

### Dave walked back into the cafeteria, took a deep breath, and then walked toward the table where his family and friends were seated. His high school buddy, Cameron Breslin, was finishing the last of the two plates beneath him.

### "Good to see you haven't lost your appetite, Cam," Dave said.

### "Hey bro, your food was getting cold so I took the liberty of finding a safe place for it," Breslin replied.

### "You might want to get that," Dave said as he motioned toward the red sauce on Cameron's right cheek.

### "Dude, you're such a slob," another teammate, Brian Finnegan stated.

### "What's up, Finns," Dave said in a somewhat awkward tone of voice.

### "Big day, big time. Glad you could come back and share this day with the little people."

### A third teammate stood up as Dave made a move at Finnegan.

### "Not here, not now," a calm Tony Dorio said. "I'll let you kick his ass later if you want. Dave calmed down as he looked into Dorio's eyes. "D.A., let's go get some food."

### Dorio was a year older than Dave and obviously a year wiser. Tony D, as he was called, was always a larger-than-life figure for Dave growing up. The guy was 6'4" when he was 13 years old, but never grew another inch. Although Dave was now two inches taller than Tony, the elder statesman was still the tower of strength and voice of reason.

### Dave and Tony walked through the buffet line.

### "The ziti is pretty good," Tony stated. "Not like mom's but it's passable."

### "So, how is Mrs. D doing?"

### Tony smiled, "She still cooks me meals and does my laundry when I come over. I don't think she's caught on, but I usually bring the same stuff over for her to clean."

### Dave put his hand on Tony's shoulder, "I heard about your dad. Is he doing better?"

### "It was a mild heart attack, but he still yells at me to take out the garbage even though I don't live there anymore," Tony answered.

### "Tony elbowed Dave, "What's up with you, D?"

### Dave sighed as he scooped up some ziti on his paper plate. He looked at Tony, who had a smirk on his face.

### "You guys know?" Dave asked in a surprised tone.

### Tony nodded, "Everybody knows. They want you back, D."

### "This shit is just wrong," Dave stated. "We got to talk this thing out."

### "Already have four stools saved for us at O'Malley's."

### Dave asked, "Tom works at his dad's bar now?"

### "He owns the bar. His dad died last year."

### "Fuck! Mr. O! What the hell is going on around here? Next you're gonna' tell me that Kelly Zabriski is a lesbian," Dave joked.

### Tony's eyes widened as he shook his head.

### Dave's Jaw dropped, "That chick banged half of the football team!

### The guys picked up some plastic silverware and headed back to the table.

### "Well, now she's on another team," Tony said.

### THREE

### "Why didn't you guys tell me about what I was coming back to?" Save asked his family as they got into the car.

### "Coach Doherty wanted to talk to you first," his mom said in a voice intended to calm him down. It was the same voice she used after Dave gave up a winning single to lose the Minor League championship when he was nine. Back then, she turned to her son in the back seat after he threw his glove.

### "Be gracious in both victory and defeat. You'll get another chance to show what you're made of."

### Dave's father was not as forgiving. He knew that words would only go so far, so he had his son out on the field the next day, fielding ground balls and batting against him. Dad's advice was more pointed, "They only way to get redemption is to work, not sulk. Sulkers never win, they just complain about things not going their way."

### Back to the present; the 15-minute car-ride home was fairly uneventful until Walter stopped at a red light. Lori and Dave's mom were chatting back and forth about some of the people they had seen and Walter turned his head to the passenger side where his son was sitting. He gave him an "It's time to get back to work" glance and Dave nodded in agreement. The two men had refined a language all of their own over the years, and words never seemed to hold the weight of their deep connection.

### Dave had given up his passionate pursuits in favor of a more material life, where making money and talking in nauseating catch phrases like "bring to the table" and "let's put that to bed" were standard issue. The Starbucks generation had replaced his more comfortable world in Bailey Woods, where everyone knew all of his strengths and flaws and still loved him for it. The city had about as much warmth, aside from glorious Central Park, as an extremely large ice cube.

### Making decisions was always a quick process for Dave. He always went by his initial gut reaction, and supported his decision with necessary research. The supporting data on this long day would be uncovered at O'Malley's Pub. Dave was in the front seat and his three teammates crammed into the back seat. Walter Abraham was driving and sternly said as he pulled up the pub, "If I see one egg on this car, or one roll of toilet paper on a tree of my house, I'm coming after you Finnegan."

### Finns gave Mr. Abraham a look like, "You got me all wrong, Mr. A."

### "I also don't want you guys calling me at three in the morning," Mr. Abraham added.

### "Yeah, O'Malley has a shuttle bus for drunks like us," Breslin said.

### Dave got out of the car first and said, "Thanks, dad."

### Mr. A turned to the other three mooks and said, "You guys better not fuck this up."

### They replied in unison, "Yes, Mr. A" and then got out of the car.

### Tony turned to Dave, "Your dad can be a very scary mother fucker."

### "Tell me about it," Dave concurred.

### It was 7:00 p.m. and the bar was sparsely crowded with regulars and families out for dinner on a Saturday night. As advertised, there were four stools available at the large, semi-circle bar, so the guys stepped up and sat down.

### Finnegan saw O'Malley coming out of the corner of his eye and said out loud, "I hear the burgers are pretty good but the fries are soggy."

### Red-headed, Thomas O'Malley, Jr. walked behind the bar with a small towel over his shoulder, looking like a choir boy.

### The street thug emerged, "I thought I told you to stay the fuck out of here, Finnegan. Your tab is as long as you think your dick is."

### O'Malley then turned to Dave, "Davie Abie. What's up you city-slicking, Jew bastard."

### They slapped hands and O'Malley continued, "How about four cheeseburger platters and a couple of pitchers?" He then looked at Dave, "Or would you prefer a New York Strip and a bottle of wine?"

### Before Dave could respond, his boys had his back.

### "Our boy just got some big fame, you ignorant Mick bastard," Finnegan said.

### "We also brought him here to liquor him up and get him to take over the team," Breslin added.

### "What? The girl's bowling team?" O'Malley questioned.

### Tony D repositioned his chair signaling to O'Malley that he either back off or get the beating of his life.

### O'Malley's mood changed as he said, "I'll be right back with your food."

### A girl then came out and poured a few pitchers for the guys and set out four beer glasses on top of Budweiser coasters.

### Dave said, "I love it that Tony can still scare the shit out of people without even talking.

### The glasses were full when Dave said, "Here's to the Bailey Woods Dolphins."

### "Dolphins for life," Finnegan said.

### "Take it to the grave," Tony added.

### O'Malley came out with a few appetizers and then picked up a glass and toasted with the guys, "Salud."

### The boys said in unison, "Salud."

### The night started as a get reacquainted session, but they moved into more of a free-flowing, game-plan mentality.

### "What are you pulling down, hot shot?" Breslin asked Dave as he threw a chicken finger down his throat like a pelican swallowing a fish.

### "About a buck and-a-quarter," Dave replied.

### Finnegan nearly choked on another fried offering, "Fuck! And you're gonna' leave all that for this shitty job?"

### Smacks on the back of the head from Tony D and Brian brought Cameron back to his senses.

### "Thanks, Cam. But the money part is the least of my problems," Dave replied.

### He took a huge swig of beer to wash down the slop and the wiped his mouth with a paper napkin.

### "Didn't my parents tell you guys that I was engaged?"

### Finnegan was the small point guard and floor general, so he called the play, "I divorced my wife because she didn't like sports."

### Cameron couldn't resist, "You divorced that whore because she worked at Hooters and was sleeping with half of the customers."

### Brian thought about fighting, but he was about three bars shy of raising his fists. He looked real serious and then smiled, "But she made real good tips."

### The guys cracked up and then Dave asked, "Any of you guys married?"

### Breslin stared at a girl behind the bar, "I'm gonna' marry that girl, but she doesn't know it yet."

### "You dumb kraut. That girl's gonna' marry a brother with a shamrock like me," Finnegan exclaimed.

### The girl behind the bar walked over and started to refill the pitchers. She looked at the guys and said, "I'm standing right over there," pointing to the corner of the bar. "People in the parking lot can hear you guys talking out your asses. And you!" she said looking at Breslin, "You come in here every week and give me those sad, puppy eyes, but you just sit there and watch TV. What's it gonna' be Cameron?"

### The six foot two-inch Breslin straightened up in his chair and pushed the diminutive Finnegan to the floor before he could make a wise remark.

### "Kathleen McNulty, will you do me the honor of going out with me tomorrow night?"

### She smiled and replied, "Cameron Breslin. I would be honored, but make it tomorrow afternoon because I work at night."

### Finnegan got up from the floor but Breslin knocked him down again for good measure. The guys were yakking it up until their shooting guard, six foot Tom O'Malley, reached under the bar and pulled out a weathered Louisville Slugger baseball bat. He held the bat in his right and slapped it on his left palm.

### "She's my cousin, Cam. Fuck with her and I'll rearrange that pretty face of yours."

### Cam nodded and then the guys returned to their eating.

### Finnegan staggered back to his seat and asked O'Malley, "Hey, brother. Do you have any other cousins?"

### Tom smiled and replied, "Do you mean cousins that work in an office and don't wear little orange shorts and white tank tops?"

### There was no room at the bar for taking yourself seriously. In fact, the only thing there was room for was imagination and hope, two things that had been sorely missing Bailey Woods since the boys graduated high school. Together, they were a seamless machine that operated with incredible efficiency. But apart, they had struggled to regain any level of satisfaction they had previously attained.

### Near the end of the night, Tony was prophetic when he asked, "Have we left our best years behind us?"

### Dave took another swig of beer and offered his two cents, "If we did it once, there's no reason that we couldn't do it again."

### "Are you in?" Breslin asked.

### Dave looked at the other four guys, "Only if you guys are in with me."

### Finnegan was wasted, but he excitedly interjected, "I'm in!" and then Cameron knocked him down again.

### Tony said, "Get up you little bastard and get your hand in here."

### Right hands were placed on top of each other from all angles.

"On three," Tony said. And then the boys yelled, "One, two, three, HARD WORK!

### FOUR

### It was hard work getting up the next morning and making the long trek back into the city. Instead of taking him to the train, Walter Abraham suggested that he drive his son back into the city. Dave needed to have a man-to-man talk with his dad, anyway.

"Three fifteen?" dad asked son.

"It would have been closer to four if they didn't drop me off first," Dave replied.

"Everything go Ok?"

"Did we have a good time? Yeah, we always have a good time when we're together."

### Walter was never one to skip around an issue. "So, have you made a decision?"

### Dave wanted to tell his dad but leaned toward the conservative approach. "I have to talk to Haley first."

### Dad looked over at son with a no bullshit grin, "So, you're taking the job?"

### Dave smiled and replied, "Yeah, I'm gonna' take the job."

"You know. Coaching is a lot different than playing," dad counseled.

### Dave asked, "What do you mean?"

"Do you think it was always easy coaching you and your friends over the years?"

### Walter would coach the guys during the summer in leagues and was never shy about giving his input to Coach Doherty, who had no choice but to appease his star's father. The elder Abrahams was also was a wealth of basketball knowledge, so having an extra pair of educated eyes benefited the team, but sometimes put a strain on the relationship.

### Dave's dad really wasn't interested in discussing how Dave would approach his fiancée with such a potential life change. Haley had a plan in mind: marriage, move to Westchester, kids, play groups, spending uncontrollably, comfortable retirement in Arizona. Dave's plan was much simpler and more direct: WIN!

### It was about 4:30 in the afternoon by the time Walter pulled up in front of Dave's apartment building.

"Call us when you get a chance," Walter said as he showed some emotion in his face for a change.

### Dave had never seen his father cry, or show much weakness at all except for spontaneous anger. The prospect of his son returning to their glory days gave Walt moist eyes like the end of the movie "Field of Dreams."

### Walt got out of the car and hugged and kissed his son.

"Thanks for driving me back, dad. I'll see you in a few days."

### Dave slung his bag over his left shoulder and started walking to his building. When he left Friday night, the first thing he did was turn off his cell phone. That damn thing never seemed to give him a moment's peace.

### He walked through the front door, which was held by Michael the doorman, and instantly saw Haley getting out of the elevator.

### She spotted him and said, "David! There you are!"

### Directly behind Haley was her meddling, annoying, divorced mother, Constance, or Connie as she was called. Dave had another "c" word that he called her in his private thoughts.

### They approached Dave and he gave Connie the same air kiss that she supplied.

"My mom and I were going out to get a bite to eat. I left you like 10 messages. Did you forget to bring your phone?"

### Dave lifted his phone out of his pocket and replied, "I had it all weekend, but I forgot to turn it on."

### The women gasped.

"How was your school thing?" Haley said as she was putting the finishing touches on her coffin.

"My school thing was just fine. Why don't you go ahead to the early bird special without me? I'm gonna' go up and take a shower and relax."

"Do you want me to bring you back anything?" Haley asked.

"Nah, I was kind of in the mood for Ray's. I'll take a walk down the block later."

"Ray's?" Connie said in her most effected phony accent. "Is that the new soul Asian fusion restaurant?"

"No. I was talking about Ray's Pizza on the corner."

### The women gasped again.

### Haley gave Dave a peck on the cheek and said, "Toodles. I'll fill you in on the place we found later."

"Those chocolate ganache pancakes were to die for," Connie said as they started walking away.

"Yeah, I especially liked the one..." Haley said as their voices faded into the distance.

### Once they were gone, Dave turned to Michael and asked, "Does she ever say thank you?"

### Michael was hesitant to slip out of character.

"C'mon Mike. I'll be gone in the morning," Dave implored the doorman to speak frankly.

### Miguel, a proud thirty-something Puerto Rican man in a white man's world broke down and said in his best Hispanic accent, "To tell you the truth, jefe, that bitch is cold. Hace frio, my brother."

### The guys exchanged a brotherly handshake and a chest bump, and Dave was off to gather his things. Three hours, two slices of pizza, one meatball hero, and three beers later, Haley stepped back into the apartment and was instantly confused.

"David! What is all your stuff doing in the living room? I don't believe we scheduled a fall cleaning."

### Dave came out of the bathroom, fresh off a major deposit, spraying profusely with awful potpourri-scented air freshener.

### Haley waved her hand in front of her nose and said, "Can you spray a little bit more?" She then looked over to the pizza box and commented, "Do you know how many calories are in that stuff?"

### He came out of the bathroom with a look on his face that she had never seen before. It was the sort of defiance that men had to leave at the door if they were to be with a Ziegler woman – or at least that's what Haley's mom said – but that was probably before her father left her mother for another, more accepting woman.

"What happened to you this weekend?" she said in a disgusted tone.

"I saw my future." Dave replied.

"What does that mean? Did you meet another woman?"

### He muttered, "That would be a real stretch."

"Well, did you sleep with one of those loose Long Island girls?" Haley said in a preachy, scolding manner.

### He was enraged, "Are you fuckin' kidding me?"

### She stepped toward him and wagged her right index finger, "Don't you take that tone with me, mister!

### The beer was definitely talking when he said, "Haley, there is somebody I'd like you to meet." He pulled down his shorts and let them drop to the floor, "Haley, this is my penis. Penis, this is Haley."

### She switched from anger to desperation when the thought of no wedding crashed into her like a wayward bike messenger. The fake, caring Haley emerged, "I found a great place for us to get married inside of Chelsea Pier."

### Dave pulled up his shorts and quickly put an end to such matrimonial talk, "I'm quitting my job first thing in the morning so I can go back to Bailey Woods and take over the team."

### She was frantic, "Quitting your job? What team? I feel faint."

### He said, "You don't love me anyway."

### She regained her composure while seated in the tub chair, "What's love got to do with it?"

### Dave nodded his head, "Exactly, Tina Turner. It's everything."

### The discussion went on for the next half-hour until Haley finally gave up. Dave put his left hand out and demanded, "The ring, please."

### The warmth of the day had swelled her left finger a bit, but Haley begrudgingly forced he ring off her finger. She started crying as she handed him the ring, but his heart had already grown cold.

"Everything happens for a reason," he said as he slipped the ring into his pocket.

### Dave went into work the next day expecting to give his notice that he was quitting. There was a buzz in the air as he reached his office at 8:00 a.m. One of Dave's office friends, Jim Morton, walked in and said, "So, what are you going to do?"

### Dave was in the dark, so he replied, "About what?"

"About the merger."

### Dave was still searching for the switch to turn on the light, "What merger?"

"Where were you all weekend? I called you 20 times?"

### Dave finally turned his phone on – the readout informed him that he had 45 messages. He then turned the phone off.

"Oh yeah, Haley told me you had that high school thing," Jim explained.

### Dave did a double take, "What were you doing talking to Haley?"

"I couldn't get in touch with you, so I called her number."

"How did you get her number?" Dave asked.

### Jim scrambled, "You must have given it to me."

### The light finally went on in Dave's head, "You're sleeping with Haley?"

"C'mon, Dave! Don't be ridiculous!"

"Who do I talk to so I can get the fuck out of here? Get the hell out of my office and send that person in here, now, before I lose my mind!"

### A few seconds later, a Human Resources specialist named Tammy walked in:

"What can I help you with, Mr. Abrahams?"

### Dave cut to the chase, "We're getting bought out?"

### She replied, "Yes."

"Are they offering packages to leave?"

### She smiled, "Yes, I hear they will."

"Send a check to this address," he said as he scribbled down an address and then handed her a piece of paper.

"It might take a few months," she added.

### Dave smiled and replied, "No problem. Thank you."

### FIVE

Haley was one of the farthest things from Dave's mind as he left work and visited his cousin, Ari, on the 47th Street Diamond District. Ari had made the ring and he would surely give him fair value for it in return.

### Ari opened the negotiations, "What did I charge you for this?"

### Dave replied, "I think it was about 15."

### Ari inspected the ring and said, "It's in perfect condition. Almost looks like she didn't wear it. What happened?"

"The glass slipper didn't fit after all. I'm going home to coach the team."

### Ari looked up and smiled, "Ah! Mazel Tov! Finally something happens in New York that makes sense!" he paused for a minute and then continued. "You know I can't give you back what you paid for it. How does nine sound?"

"How about 10?"

"Ninety-five hundred," Ari countered.

"Done," Dave stated.

### Dave knew that his cousin had given him an insider's price initially, and would probably resell the ring for $20,000. A few minutes later, Ari emerged from the back with a thick envelope filled with 95 crisp one-hundred dollar bills.

"You might want to run this over to the bank. You're a big guy, but stranger things have happened," Ari explained.

### The two guys hugged and Dave was off to move some money around. His first stop was Citibank, where he withdrew half of the $20,000 in the joint account with Haley and removed his name from the record, as they had decided. He then walked down the block and opened a new account at Chase.

### Dave's city experience ended with his renting a small U-Haul truck and toting his possessions back to Bailey Woods. Although his dad had volunteered to pick him up, Dave knew he would have to go solo on this life-changing experience.

### The 35-inch flat screen TV and the accompanying surround sound system was his; Dave brought up his old 27-inch TV from storage and put in the apartment in its place. He moved all of his stuff into the truck and then took a quick shower before leaving the apartment. Dave then dropped his key off at the front desk and then went over to Ray's to get a few slices of pizza before hitting the road.

### Dave picked up his phone and dialed.

"Good afternoon. Bailey Woods High School, how may I direct your call?"

### Dave smiled, "Principal Doherty, please."

"Who may I say is calling?" the receptionist asked.

"This is Dave Abrahams," he proudly stated.

"Oh, Mr. Abrahams. He's been expecting your call. Please hold," she excitedly replied.

### Dave folded a slice of pizza and took a huge bite.

### A few seconds later, Principal Doherty picked up the phone, "Dave! What's the good word?"

### Dave drank some Sprite to wash down the pizza, "Hey, coach! The truck is backed up and I'm heading home!"

"That's great news!" Doherty exclaimed.

"Yeah, I'm excited about the opportunity!"

"So, when can you start?" Doherty asked.

"Well, I wanted to find a place first. I love my parents but they turned my room into a workout room," Dave explained.

"A friend of the program has a brand new town home you can rent," Doherty said with a smirk on his face.

"A friend of the program? You really planned all of this stuff out. Impressive. I'll be there with the moving truck in a few hours."

"I'll make sure he's there with the key at five o'clock. Can I expect you at work tomorrow at seven a.m.?"

### Dave smiled, "It's Coach D's famous full-court press. I'll tell you what – I'll stop at IKEA on the way home and pick up a bed, a couch, and some other furniture. Why don't you have your friend meet me at six-thirty? Where is the town home?"

### Doherty explained, "It's just off Main Street, a few blocks from O'Malley's. The address, believe it or not, is 44 Dolphin Drive."

"That's freaky. Thanks, coach. I'll see you tomorrow."

### The New York real estate market had cooled, but it was still hotter than most markets on their best day. Steven Brady, the twelfth man on Dave's team, had become a small-time real estate developer in Bailey Woods.

Steve began his career as a realtor and worked his way up the real estate chain right after college. His first investments were in houses he bought, fixed up, and then flipped for a sizeable profit. In recent years, he had turned to real estate development. When Coach Doherty called to fill him in on the details, Brades felt that he could finally make a real impact on the team. He loved Dave and his teammates and would do anything he could for his coach and his team.

### Meanwhile, Dave was flying around IKEA in Hicksville like Superman on an interior decorating spree. Couch, bed, dining table, small entertainment center, bathroom rug, towels, an anything else that wasn't nailed down and could fit into the truck. He then raced across town and was motoring past O'Malley's Pub when he saw a grounded sign that read, "WELCOME HOME, D.A.!" Bailey Woods was a large Long Island town with a small-town feel. News traveled fast as fast as e-mail, and it always felt like the gossip-mill present in high school was alive and kicking in the adult world.

### Dave turned left on Dolphin Drive and drove all the way down the block until he located the last unit on the left, number 44. He peeled himself out of the U-Haul and walked up the concrete path toward the front of the door. Dave knocked on the door and it opened slightly – he stepped inside and yelled, "Hello?"

"Up here!" a muffled voice exclaimed from the bedroom floor.

### Dave walked up the stairs and stopped short of the top stair, as he was greeted by a familiar face.

"Brades!" Dave said excitedly.

### Steve stepped forward and shook Dave's hand, "David, welcome home!"

### Steve Brady was one of the few people that used the name "David," being that the two guys had grown up a block from each other and went all through school together. Steve was always by Dave's side and it was known that the two guys were a package deal – if Dave was picked for a team, then Steve would also be on that team.

### The same held true for the Bailey Woods Varsity Basketball Team – wherever Dave went, his friend Steve would probably be a few steps behind.

"I saw you on CNBC a few weeks ago," Steve said. "I thought there would be no way we could bring you back."

"Is this your place?" Dave asked.

"Yeah, I won units 40 through 44."

### Dave walked around, "Stainless appliances, cherry cabinets, quality tile floors and carpets. You really did this place right." He then pulled an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Steve. "Here. This should cover rent for a while." Dave kept walking and Steve looked inside the envelope, which housed $7,500.

"I was going to charge you $750 per month, with the first month on the house. Let's just call this the first year's rent and the security deposit, which will be applied as a down payment if you want to buy it."

"Thanks, Brades. So, it's a two bedroom with two bathrooms?"

"Yes, it also has an attached two-car garage," Steve added. "You also get a complimentary membership to the clubhouse, which includes pool and workout room access."

### Dave came back into the living room area and looked his old friend in the eye, "We have to get to work tomorrow."

"I know."

### Dave put on his game face, "Unstoppable."

### The diminutive, bespectacled Brady replied, "Hard work," and the two old friends hugged.

### Steve hadn't seen much of Dave since the big guy was the best man at his wedding two years earlier. That was about the time that Dave met Haley, who had effectively cut him off from his friends.

"Did your girlfriend make the trip?" Steve asked.

"We were engaged. That envelope I gave you was most of her engagement ring."

"Sorry to hear it," Steve politely said.

"I'm not," Dave stated.

### Steve nervously smiled, "Yeah, me neither." He then flipped Dave the keys and asked, "You need some help unloading your stuff?"

"I might just take the bed out, put it together and call it a night," An exhausted Brad said.

### Steve put two fingers from each hand in his mouth and whistled. The front door opened and ex-teammates and other townspeople carried Dave's stuff in like a well-organized pack of ants. Within ten minutes all of his stuff unloaded and a guy named Chris James walked in with another set of keys.

"Is the truck's going back to the rental place on Harris Road?"

"Yeah," a pleasantly surprised Dave answered.

James continued, "All right. I'll take care of that and you can drive this until you come into James Ford and get another car." He flipped Dave a set of keys and then said, "We'll be sure to give you a good deal. Good luck," he said and then shook Dave's hand before leaving.

### Dave read the plastic tag on the keychain that identified the car as a Ford Mustang GT Convertible. "Good choice." He looked around the room, "Thank you, everyone! How can I repay you all?"

### The room was quiet until Dave said, "Let's go get a few rounds at O'Malley's on me!" There was a widespread roar throughout the town house as Dave's furniture and clothing quickly founds its place.

### Dave was home again but this time, he felt the weight of the town was going to be shared by all. He had missed his friends... he had missed his town... he was home again.

### SIX

### A few drinks and a burger later, Dave walked back to his new home and passed out on the queen-sized bed at about 10:00 p.m. His internal tank was usually full after about six hours of sleep, but this night he slept a solid eight.

### A shower and a shave, then a quick spin in the convertible had Dave pulling into a space in the teacher's parking lot at 6:45 a.m. He walked through the back door of the school, and was struck by how peacefully quiet the school was. The gym lights were off but the east sun was starting to filter through the upper glass blocks and huge blue drapes.

### Karl the janitor walked in and started cleaning the dirt off the floor with his large maroon broom.

"Karl, is that you?" Dave said across the gym.

### Karl had recently turned 65 and his eyesight wasn't what it used to be – but he still knew what he was looking at.

"David Abrahams, is that you?" Karl said as Dave walked over and shook his hand.

"Coach said you'd be back today. Just wanted to make everything right – it's been a long time since anyone cared."

"We'll see what we can do about that," Dave stated with all of the optimism of a grade-schooler.

"I'll come back and finish up later. Good to have you back, coach."

### Dave walked onto then main court and under the basket closest to the hallway – he stretched his right arm toward the sky and grabbed the net with his right index finger. It felt good to be back doing what he loved for people he genuinely cared about.

### He was trying to make a good impression on his first day, but wearing a business suit only made him stand out in the land of leisure suits and flammable fabrics. This setting was as far as possible from any boardroom, but he wanted to show the proper respect afforded any new job.

### Dave walked into the main office at 6:55 a.m. to the delight of Martha, Principal Doherty's secretary.

"Oh, there he is! We were just talking about our favorite son!"

"Good morning, Mrs. Graves," a respectful Dave replied.

"You're going to have to call me Martha," the 54 year-old divorcee, and mother of one of his classmates, pronounced.

"That's going to take some getting used to," an awkward Dave replied.

### Just then, Principal Doherty walked out of his office, "They made you dress like me, too?" the dapperly-dressed administrator quipped. "This is the only air-conditioned room in the building besides the teacher's room. You better get used to dressing down a bit."

### Dave walked up to his coach and shook his hand, "It's good to be back."

### They walked into the hallway as Martha said, "Good luck, David."

"Thanks Mrs.... I mean, Martha," Dave awkwardly replied.

"This is all going to come at you very fast, so I'm going to try to slow it down as much as possible," Doherty explained.

### The two men walked through the halls, which were starting to fill up with teachers and early-arriving students.

### Doherty continued, "I'm going to pair you up with another new hire. This will give you both a chance to reacquaint yourselves with your surroundings. He turned into Room 215 and there was a tall, well-built woman writing on the blackboard. She turned her head and then did a double-take, before walking toward them.

"Dave Abrahams, this is Sarah Lindman," the principal said.

### The two met in a handshake before it clicked in Dave's head, "Hey! You're that girl that broke all of my records. How's your brother Tim doing?"

### She replied, "Yeah, but it took me three years to do what you did in two, and we only won half of our games."

"A record is a record," Dave stated.

"I was a sophomore when you were a senior," she said. "My brother is doing great. His wife just had twin boys."

### Doherty chimed in, "Do you remember when I paired you up with her during your senior year? She was about four inches shorter back then."

"Wow! That was you? You're a lot taller and you've filled out nicely since then."

### She blushed, "Thanks."

### Principal Doherty looks at them, "Normally I would warn new employees of our sexual harassment policy, but I'll let this one go."

### Dave looked at the blackboard and said, "Health?"

"That's what they call it, but I want to call it Life Tools."

"Yeah, we'll talk some more about that," Principal Doherty, the old Health teacher, stated.

"What class are you going to be teaching?" she asked.

"Business."

"Oh right. I saw you on TV a few weeks ago. Didn't understand a word you said, though."

"Dave's going to apprentice under Mrs. Walters until she retires in December," Doherty explained.

"How many games did the girls' basketball team win last year?" she asked.

### Doherty replied, "I think they won a couple." He turned to Dave, "She's our new coach. And by the way, your team hasn't won a game in three years."

"Looks like you got your work cut out for you," she ribbed.

"Don't you know there's no 'u' in team," Dave replied smiling at his coach. "We're going to have to go back to the beginning. There's no sense dwelling on the past."

"Why don't you two take a seat," Doherty said in his most nurturing voice.

### He removed two thick booklets from the inner breast pocket of his jacket, and then handed each of them a book of rules. "I would read that county basketball rule book from cover to cover. You two know the game better than anyone else I ever met, but these books take it to another level. I'm going to give you a few days to look it over and then we'll talk about the particulars. You can't move ahead with your programs unless you know these rules cold.

### Dave and Sarah nodded as Principal Doherty started walking out. From the doorway he said to Sarah, "You'll walk Dave to Mrs. Walters' homeroom."

### He then looked at Dave, "Dave, good luck son. We're glad to have you back."

### Doherty disappeared into the hallway and Sarah turned to Dave and asked, "You wanna' get together after school?"

"Three-thirty in the gym," Dave countered.

"Did you bring a change of clothes, because I have some new moves," she stated.

"Yeah, I have a bag in the car. But I have to warn you, it's been a few years since I picked up a ball."

"Well you can read and I'll shoot."

"Deal," Dave replied.

"Let me take you back to meet Mrs. Walters."

### Dave asked, "What is she like?"

### Sarah smirked, "Remember that lady with the shopping cart that used to hang out at the park? What was her name?"

### Dave thought for a moment, "Crazy Alice."

"Yeah, Crazy Alice."

"Are you saying that she reminds you of a bag lady?"

### She smiled, "I think you just inferred that. Mrs. Walters doesn't walk around with a cart."

### Dave laughed and then abruptly stopped, "Wow! It's gonna' be a long few months."

### The day went by as slowly as sitting through Mrs. Wallace's geometry class. Dave used to look out the left bank of classroom windows and watch golfers approach the eleventh hole of the Kennedy Memorial Park golf course. Thankfully, Mrs. Walters' classroom also faced the same hole, because listening to her endless views on textbook business were ringing in Dave's ears like a continuous school bell.

### Dave might have been a renowned expert on Wall Street, but he was quite a novice in the classroom. He usually spoke about advanced topics but wasn't as well versed in describing basic concepts. That was where the 25 years of work experience for Walters would come in handy.

### Later that day, Dave walked into the locker room to change his clothes. Bruce Watkins, the boys' soccer coach walked through and stopped when he saw Dave.

"You must be Dave Abrahams. I'm Bruce Watkins, boys' soccer and volleyball coach."

### They shook hands and Watkins continued, "I'm not sure if you know this but we have our own locker room downstairs."

"When did they put that in?" Dave asked.

"A few years ago. They moved and updated the boiler room, so we took over the space."

### Dave thanked Watkins and then walked downstairs past the varsity locker room and down the half-lit hallway to a room marked "Coaches." He opened the door, leaving the sparse setting of the typical public school basement. The room was complete with carpeting, comfortable chairs and couches, plus carpeting, dry erase boards, and state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment. On one side was the women's locker room and the other was the men's locker room. It was more like being in a deluxe health club than a school basement.

### Dave reached into the side pocket of his Carolina blue Nike gym bag and pulled out a Master lock, which hadn't been used in over a year at New York Health and Racquet Club. He thought briefly about the combination and then dialed 4, 17, 29, and opened the lock.

### He looked around for an open locker and then grabbed number 44. It felt good to undo a tie and remove a suit that he hadn't worn since his engagement party. It felt even better for Dave to be free of the noose that Haley had been tightening around his neck for some time.

### The long locker was equipped with a sturdy wood hanger, which Dave used to hand up his suit. He had gained a good 15 pounds since his last workout, causing his XXL t-shirt to be a bit confining. The 15 pounds were probably a bit closer to 20 pounds, making him feel slow and a bit out of his element. He thought, "It's a good thing they asked me to coach, not play."

### Dave laced up his completely underutilized, three year-old, Adidas basketball sneakers. He grabbed the rule book and then closed the locker and spun the lock. Being out of breath walking up the stairs had Dave looking for an elevator. He thought, "Whatever happened to Handicap Accessible?" He took a drink from the knee-cap height water fountain and then made his way onto the gym floor.

There were a few students walking on both sides of the gym, but only Sarah was on the main court. She was wearing a pair of basketball shorts, Adidas Superstar 2G low tops, and a blue and gold warm-up jacket with DOLPHINS BASKETBALL on the back. She turned to Dave and said, "You have to earn one of these jackets."

### He flipped his rule book under the basket next to her book.

"This is gonna' hurt, but I need that jacket," he said.

"I have one close by if you can beat me. Game to 21, winner's out. Everything goes back."

"So, you're making the rules?" Dave asked.

### She stared him down. "My court, my rules."

"So, now it's your court?" Dave challenged her as he checked the ball. "You score a few points and grab a few rebounds, and then you take ownership of the court?"

### She grabbed the ball and then sunk a quick jump shot. "That's one."

"I didn't even have a chance," he said.

"Looks like you gained a little weight, Mr. All-American. The game has changed a lot since you left," she teased.

### His face turned serious as she rushed her next shot and Dave jumped about three inches off the ground and grabbed the missed shot. He walked the ball past the foul line and said, "Do you still get a point for making a shot from here?"

"Swish."

### He moved to his left, "How about here?"

"Swish."

### Sarah smiled and then started to giggle like a kid.

"Yeah, that's 2-1," he said.

### He missed his next shot and they traded baskets and aggression until the score was 19-19.

"I would let you win, but I really want that jacket," Dave said between heavy breaths.

### She smirked and then turned serious as she dribbled slowly around the foul line. "I would let you win, but I leave my charitable pursuits outside of the gym."

### Sarah quickly crossed the ball over from her right to her left hand and then drove hard to the hoop. She thought she was home free until the ground shook from the coming stampede. Dave's long legs made up ground as he cocked his right arm and slapped the lay-up attempt against the blue pads under the basket.

### The game was pretty much over after that. Sarah nervously threw up a long shot and then Dave hit two flat-footed, 20-foot jumpers to seal the deal. He sat down against the pads as Sarah said, "I'll be right back."

### Dave softly replied, "Take your time, I'm not going anywhere."

### Sarah returned with a couple of plastic bottles of Gatorade. "Orange or fruit punch?"

"Orange, please."

### She flipped him an orange Gatorade and then tossed him the Dolphins Basketball warm-up. She smiled and said, "The largest size we had was extra, extra-large."

### He looked behind himself at the pads and replied, "I think I dented this pad. Pretty sad that you let a water buffalo chase you down."

### He opened the orange drink and gulped down about half the bottle, before the excess rolled down his chin and to his sweat-soaked shirt.

### He sighed. "Wow, that is good," Dave said and then reached down and picked up one of small, beige rule books. "Ok, let's get down to business."

### For the first 20 minutes, Dave read the book and then they both interpreted the words, as Sarah continuously took foul shots. Once Dave's electrolytes were restored, he switched places with Sarah after he fetched a towel and wiped up the pool of sweat that had accumulated under him.

### Dave was feeling more comfortable with every shot, until the point when his left hand was able to compete with his right hand. He had spent hours practicing free throws, letting each side freshly compete against the other. Walter Abrahams used to play one-on-one against his son, and would give Dave the ball back if he attempted a shot with his left hand. This helped strengthen his weak hand to the point that he became a lethal threat with both hands.

"What is that, like 15 in a row?" Sarah chimed in.

### Dave wanted to clarify a point, "So, the count stops when the ball is in the air, not when it is touched by a player on the floor?"

"Yes," she replied. "Were you upset when I broke your scoring record?"

### Dave smiled as he sank another free throw. "A little. I think my dad was more upset than I was. So, how many three-pointers did you have in that game?"

"Three."

### He continued, "So, you scored 45 points with three, three-pointers, and I scored 44 with zero three-pointers?"

### Sarah was ready to say, "Yeah, what's your point?" but she came to a stunning realization. "You didn't have three-pointers back then. How many bombs did you put up?"

### Without hesitation, Dave replied, "Two, maybe three. But a record is still a record."

"Since you left no guy has ever scored more than 25 points in a game, and no girl has scored more than 20 points since I left."

### Brad shook his head in disbelief. "That's pretty messed up. Well, it's our time again," he said as he finally missed a free throw. "You wanna' grab some dinner?" Dave asked as if he was talking to a buddy.

### Sarah stood up and replied, "Thanks for asking but I have to meet my boyfriend."

"Oh, am I holding you up? Dave said in an apologetic tone.

"No, Dave Abrahams. You're not holding me up. Thanks for almost letting me win. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thanks for the warm-up jacket. I'll really enjoy it when it fits," he said as she disappeared into the girl's locker room.

### Dave muttered to himself, "Got to make the last shot," as he cocked his right arm and released the ball toward the rim. He would never leave the court until his last shot went through without touching the rim. On this day, it took only one shot – must have been beginner's luck.

### Sarah had just started to see a guy she met near the end of the summer. At 26, she had had her share of relationships, although none had lasted more than six months. After high school, she had a few scholarship offers but decided to attend Cortland State University on what amounted to a half-scholarship—the Division III school could not offer formal scholarships so it gave its students creative jobs to defray the costs. Sarah wound up working at the gym, which paid for more than half of her education, and her parents picked up the remainder of the small tab for this cost-conscious, in-state school.

### While at Cortland, she majored in health education and minored in sports management. SUNY Cortland was a veritable sports factory and many players went on to be major players in the sports world after graduation. Sarah worked for the Albany Yankees and then wall called up to the big club in the Bronx during her four years after Cortland. But working in the club's public relations department was a far stretch from what she really envisioned for her career.

### It was a no-brainer for Sarah when Principal Doherty called her the previous March when she was down in spring training with the Yankees. One of the high school's health teachers was leaving and Doherty had a hole to fill. Ten wins in three years driven by a woman that spent more time with the drama club and staging plays than she did with the basketball team in calling plays, was quite enough.

### Sarah gladly accepted Principal Doherty's offer by saying, "I've been a Mets fan all of my life anyway."

### She worked in summer school and Hofstra basketball camp to get back into the swing of things. Sarah Lindman grew up the youngest of four kids to Mike and Deidre Lindman. She had three older brothers that were athletes, so she really has no choice to either blend in or be left behind. Her eldest brother, Gary, was six years older and was an all-state lacrosse player. He went on to star at Syracuse University and has been a successful high school lacrosse coach since graduating.

### Brother number two, Danny, was all-county in both lacrosse and soccer, and works on Wall Street. The brother she is the closest with, Tim, is only a year older than Sarah, and was the first Lindman to play their father's favorite sport, basketball. Gary and Danny were both about six feet tall, but Tim was 6'4" and Sarah was almost as tall as the other two. Dad was 6'1" and mom was 5'7", so the height of the last two was a bit surprising.

### Danny was a fair hoops player, starting every game in his senior year after seeing garbage minutes his junior year as a member of Dave's team. Tim had the assignment of guarding Dave every day in practice that year. He learned a lot that season, and went on to average 10 points and eight rebounds his senior year. But, baseball was his sport – Tim was all-state as a pitcher and went to St. Johns University on a full scholarship. He was drafted by the Minnesota Twins and spent a few years in the minor leagues before becoming a pitching coach for the organization's AA team in New Britain, Connecticut. He is currently the manager of that team, and is considered one of the rising stars in the organization.

### For all of the family's accomplishments, Mike Lindman became most excited when his girl told him that she decided to coach at the high school. He never missed a game at bailey Woods, and even made occasional treks to Upstate New York to see her play in college. He had worked the most with Sarah and Tim on their games, primarily because he had no experience or interest in lacrosse or soccer. Mom was the soccer and lacrosse specialist of the family and was the real driving force, both literally and figuratively, of the older boys' success. She drove those kids everywhere while her husband worked as a corporate lawyer in Manhattan. It was a household where you needed a scorecard to keep track of the non-stop action.

### SEVEN

"It's not like we can recruit from other towns and states," Dave said to Steve Brady as they sat on a concrete bench between pick-up games at Veterans Memorial Park.

"You have to start from the beginning and work upwards," Steve said. "Remember when we played in the Police Boys Club league when we were 10? That's when it all started. They don't have junior basketball leagues in this town anymore, unless you go to a parochial school."

"Well, what would it take to start a few leagues now?" Dave asked.

### Steve took over, "Normally, you would rent out space in one of the schools, but I'm the part of a group that is building a new community center that will be open this spring. We could get a few local businesses to sponsor the league, and I could arrange for some gym time."

"Wow! That sound great Brades. Thanks, man," Dave said in a heart-felt manner.

### Steve put his fist out, "Anything for you, Dave."

### Dave banged Steve's fist, "Ditto, my brotha'."

### Tony D's car detailing business had failed and Dave sensed that his friend was searching for a real purpose in life. Dave had been in town for all of two weeks when he walked into Principal Doherty's office one morning.

"I was thinking it would be wise to hire Tony Dorio to be the junior varsity coach and my assistant coach," Dave said.

### Doherty was ready and barely picked his head up, "We already have a junior varsity coach."

### Dave cut to the chase, "How much will it take to make him go away?"

### Doherty picked up his head and saw that Dave wasn't laughing. "You're serious. What can he do in the school?"

### Dave thought and then replied, "Do you have any security in the building?"

"No."

### Dave cocked his head and stated, "You remember how big he was in high school, right?" The principal nodded. "Well, he's twice as big and all muscle now. It's so imposing." Doherty nodded again.

"How about Head of Security?"

"If you can work out something with Art Miller..." he said biting his lip, "We never had this conversation."

"So, you'll give him the job?"

### Doherty replied, "I'll find a way to get it done. We've had some PTA meetings about the lack of security in the building, anyway."

### Dave was never the muscle of the operation, but he knew that any mention of compensation in front of Tony would embarrass him. So, he walked upstairs to the science wing and to Room 404. He then knocked on the door.

"Hi, are you Art Miller?"

### The nerdy Miller ran the Science Club in addition to coaching the junior varsity basketball team. He never played a sport in his life, other than speed chess, but decided to volunteer for the job to make some extra money. It was a good thing that Miller was a relatively young teacher, because Dave's experience with Biology teachers was not one that he cared to revisit.

"Yes, I'm Mr. Miller," he said with all of the tense conviction of a white man.

"Hi, I'm Dave Abrahams," he said as he extended his right hand. "I'm the new varsity basketball coach."

"Oh. Nice to meet you," Miller replied. He had no idea who Dave was, let alone that the previous coach would no longer be doing the job. "I wasn't sure if they had cancelled the sport."

### Dave thought about dipping his toe in the shallow end, but decided that a running dive into the deep end was completely necessary.

"I'm willing to offer you a thousand dollars cash to step down as j.v. coach," he said.

### Art smiled, thinking that Dave was kidding. "Are you serious?" Dave wasn't laughing, so Miller continued. "You are serious. Is that legal?"

"I'm not sure of the legality of the payment, but I do know that you could probably care less whether you coach the team again."

### Art looked into Dave's determined eyes and replied, "You have yourself a deal, Mr.... What was your name again?"

"Abrahams."

"Mr. Abrahams," Art said.

### Dave looked around and pulled out a white envelope with 10, one hundred dollar bills enclosed.

### Miller opened the envelope and flipped through the bills. Dave then removed a piece of paper from his pocket and said to Miller.

"Please sign this paper and just remember that I was never here today," he said and waited for Miller to get the gist of his innuendo.

"Gladly," Miller said as he signed his official letter of resignation from coaching the team.

### Dave shook hands with Miller and walked toward the door, "See you around, Art."

### The hard part of the process was not bumping Art Miller out of the way it was convincing the prideful Tony Dorio that he wasn't a charity case.

"Hey Tony, what are you doing?" Dave asked his friend over the phone.

"I'm on my way to my mom's house for dinner. You wanna' come? She's making her famous spaghetti and meatballs."

### Dave started salivating, "I'll meet you over there." He loved meatballs and Mrs. D's meatballs were clearly the greatest food on the entire planet.

### Chris James has made an offer that Dave couldn't refuse, so he cashed in the Mustang convertible for a Jeep Grand Cherokee with a removable hard top. The ride was airy and the world was open for Dave to explore.

### The meal at Mrs. Dorio's was completely satisfying and about as heavy as eating a bowl of cannon balls. Dave was wearing elastic sweatpants, which gave ample room for his stomach sway in the open breeze.

"That woman is the da Vinci of cooking," Dave said as he took a seat on the aged couch.

"I'm not moving away. In fact, I'm probably going to move back in with her," Tony stated.

"Have you talked to her about it yet?"

### Tony replied, "No, not yet."

"Why don't you move in with me?" Dave quickly asked.

"Are you serious?" Tony questioned.

"Yeah, I can't stand living alone. The silence is killing me."

### Tony nodded his head in approval.

"Ok, we'll get your stuff when I finish digesting these meatballs. That might take a few days." Dave then paused briefly before plowing forward. "But that's not the reason why I came over here." He took a deep breath. "I was talking to coach the other day."

### Tony's face turned from gratitude to concern as he stood up and walked out to the back patio. Dave followed him as quickly as his meatball-saturated body would allow. He confronted the mountain of a man, who only felt comfortable doing things for others. Dave went for the jugular, "I feel that our best chance of success is having you by my side."

"You're not going to propose, are you?" Tony kidded.

### Dave plowed on, "This is the way it's gonna' go. You're going to be my assistant and also be the head coach of the j.v. During the day, you're going to be head of security of the high school."

### Tony processed the information and then asked, "Are they going to pay me?"

"No, you're gonna' work for nothing. Of course, Coach D will take care of you."

"Because you told him to?" Tony asked.

"No, because it's the right thing to do," Dave said in a stern voice. "Besides, there's no one else that could do that job but you.

"Thanks, bro," Tony said as he slapped his friend's hand and gave him a big hug.

"No thank you, TD."

### EIGHT

It was October 1st and there was only a month left until practice began. Dave was constantly reminded about the lack of talent in the school, but he saw many star athletes from other sports. After watching footage of the previous-year's team, Dave decided to scout the football and soccer teams for pure athletes. Many of these guys participated in multiple sports but their vacant season was usually the winter.

### Dave and Tony held a few open tryouts but so few students showed up that they couldn't conduct a five-on-five, full-court game. Dave also canvassed the remaining six members of the previous year's team, and all 12 members from the junior varsity. Out of the 18 players, only six planned to come out for the team. The remaining recruiting tool was split between recruiting from within and/or combing the local minimum security prison to fill out the roster.

The girl's team was facing a similar lack-of-interest dilemma. By November 1st, Sarah had only ten girls on the roster, while Dave was limited to 11 players and one manager in case of emergency. Football, lacrosse, field hockey, baseball, soccer, softball, and lacrosse players filled out the roster so they could stay in shape between seasons.

### That initial season was a roller coaster ride for both coaches and programs. The boy's team started the year with five straight losses and then won three consecutive games; it was the first time the team had experienced such a positive run since Dave was a senior. The girl's team, on the other hand, won their first game and seventh and eight games, but lost every game in between. Anyone you sliced it, it was still a 3-5 start for each team. Both programs were also 2-2 at home, which was a goal from the beginning – protect your home court!

### The boy's team finished the season at a respectable 9-9 record, which earned them a spot in the playoffs for the first time in 10 years. A 6-4 home record was marked by three straight wins at Dolphin gymnasium to end the season. Dave, Tony, and Walter Abrahams instilled the three "fs" into this team – fundamentals, fight, and familiarity. Dave's dad was never too far from the action, even taking his regular turn in practice schooling the team on the finer points on the 2-3 zone defense.

### Playing the number one seed, Carlton, in the first round of the playoffs was a difficult chore. The team trailed by 12 at halftime and wound up losing by 23 by the time the final buzzer sounded. But a 9-10 final record, and a trip to the playoffs, was more than enough progress for a hopeful principal and newly invigorated town.

### The girl's team finished the season with an 8-10 record and narrowly missed the playoffs. But a quantum leap in the quality of play was greatly appreciated, if not completely satisfying. Sarah had her dad at her side all season, and the team's progress left enough momentum for the following year.

### Dave went out to dinner with Sarah and Principal Doherty at the end of the season.

"You two did everything I thought you would do and more," Doherty said as they clanked glasses full of beer.

### It had definitely been a year of change for both the program and Dave. Instead of being trapped in stuffy board rooms, he was out filling the lane on a fast break. He and his former teammates reunited at least once a week to take on the varsity. The games were fairly close the first few weeks until the guys rounded into shape. They started playing so well, in fact, that Principal Doherty would often come back to the school on his days off to batch his boys on their court again.

Most of the attention thrown toward the team initially was because of these games. The local paper, The Bailey Woods Beacon, even wrote a special feature on the guys and the fact that Dave and Tony had come back to coach the teams. Dave was even quoted as saying, "The school's all-time leading scorer, Sarah Lindberg, has also come back to coach the girl's team."

### Nostalgia was definitely a draw - at least in the beginning - but the team's hustle and gritty play filled about half of the stands by the end of the year.

### The dinner was pleasant and Principal Doherty picked up the tab before taking his leave.

"I expect at least the second round of the playoffs from both of you next year," Doherty said on the way out. "Have a few more before leaving."

### He got a hold of the waitress before leaving, "Make sure you keep the drinks coming to that table," and then he handed her a fifty dollar bill.

### An hour later, both Dave and Sarah were pretty sauced.

"So, what's the story with you and that boyfriend of yours?" Dave asked.

### Sarah rubbed her elastic face, "I don't know. I think he's cheating on me with this slutty waitress from Hooters."

"What makes you think that?" she asked.

Rachel squinted, "Because I was over his apartment one night and my hands slipped between the cushions of his couch and I pulled out this." She held a name tag in her right hand that said HOOTERS in orange lettering with the name Cindy beneath it.

"What kind of name is Cindy for a hooker, anyway? It sounds like "Sin" with a "d," she stammered.

### She pulled her purse out and said, "I have to find my keys,"

"No, no! You're in no condition to drive home. Why don't you crash at my place? It's just down the block."

"Ok, one more beer and then we'll go home," she said.

### The two star athletes turned coaches drained one more Budweiser and then weaved back-and-forth down the street to 44 Dolphin Drive.

### She looked up at the number of the town house and said, "You know, I always wanted to wear 44 after watching you, but the girl's jersey was too small."

"You take my room and I'll sleep on the couch," Dave said as he walked her to the bedroom before stopping in the bathroom to take a piss. He then walked back into his room and tucked Sarah in and kissed her on the forehead.

### She smiled and slurred, "I love you, Dave," as he moved out of earshot.

"Love, Dave," he said as turned on the TV and plunked down on the couch. He was out cold within seconds, but woke up a few hours later and turned off the TV before heading to the bathroom again to unload another 20 ounces of beer. He flushed the toilet, walked into his room, took off his shirt and then crawled into bed.

### The hazy evening turned into the extremely bright morning, as Tony returned from his mom's house where he stayed over from time to time. He took his jacket off and was headed to the bathroom until he passed Dave's room. Seeing the half-naked body of Sarah lying on Dave's bare chest prompted Tony to double-back and say, "It's about time."

### Sarah heard Tony's voice and opened her eyes while yawning. She then squinted and saw Tony and said, "Good morning, Tony." Then she heard another familiar voice that mumbled, "Morning, TD."

### She snuggled on Dave's chest and then a tidal wave of disorientation spread through her like wildfire. Tony continued to the bathroom as Sarah quickly sat up and checked to see if she was wearing clothes. She was wearing a bra and panties and had trouble locating her shirt, which wound up under the covers. Sarah stopped briefly to check out Dave's full, tent-pitching, morning package. Her left eyebrow rose until she remembered her boyfriend, albeit a cheating, asshole of a boyfriend.

### Dave thought he was dreaming about having a girl in his bed. It had been over six months since he left Haley, and even longer since he had been with a woman. Haley pounded on Dave's chest and shouted, "Wake up, you big, snoring bastard!"

### He struggled to open his crust-laden eyes and focus on the person ruining the quiet morning.

"Good morning, Haley," Dave said with a smile as he yawned and stretched.

"Haley? Haley! Who's Haley?" Sarah exclaimed as her voice got louder with each word.

### Dave quickly sat up, or as quickly as a six-and-half foot man could move while still have asleep.

"What's going on?" a thoroughly confused Dave asked.

### "I was trying to figure that out myself," she replied. "Who is Haley?"

### "What? How did you and I..."

"Whatever!" Haley said as she slid out of bed and put her pants on and slid on her shoes. She walked briskly out of the room and turned to Tony before opening the front door, "is there any man in this town that doesn't have a woman on the side?"

### She stormed out and walked the two blocks back to the restaurant to fetch her car. Before getting in the car she scowled, "Who is Haley?"

### She unlocked her car, sat in the driver's seat, and then pulled her cell phone out of her front jeans pocket.

"Enough is enough," she said to herself.

### Usually, a face-to-face conversation would take precedent over a phone call, but Sarah decided to go for the lowest common denominator: the text breakup.

### FOUND CINDY'S NAME TAGE, YOU CHEATING M.F.!

### WE'RE DONE!

### Without hesitation, she pressed the enter button and sent her now ex-boyfriend the message. She then navigated the buttons until all subsequent text messages and calls from him would be blocked.

"What was that all about?" Tony asked Dave as he walked into the kitchen.

### Dave sat down in one of the tall chairs in front of the breakfast bar and replied, "Hell if I know? We went out with Coach D for dinner and then he left, and we kept drinking." The hazy series of events started unraveling in Dave's tangled mind. "She was in no shape to drive, so I told her to crash here. I gave her my bed and then went to the couch. I must have gotten up in the middle of the night and then went back to bed. I have to talk to her," Dave explained and then tried to hurriedly stand up before Tony slowed his roll.

"Whoa! Hold on their tiger! Probably not the best time to confront her. You better let her cool off."

### Dave begrudgingly nodded in agreement.

"So, you guys didn't..."

### Dave looked up in disgust, "No! What the hell!"

### Tony then gave Dave a stern look to match his tone, "What the hell would be wrong with that?"

### Dave searched for a valid excuse, "But she has a boyfriend."

"Who's been cheating with a Hooters chick," Tony stated.

"How did you know about that?"

### Tony smiled, "Big girl and I are tight."

### Dave's jealous eyes widened.

"Not like that, DA," Tony explained. "You know I like my women short, fiery and full-blooded Italian."

"Like that girl Bianca Maglia?"

### Tony raised his left eyebrow, "Exactly."

### Tony knew that Sarah liked Dave for 10 years, and he saw the way they fit together like a glove when they were together. The chemistry was undeniable and totally obvious.

### Sarah was so fed up by the men in her life that she decided to go away for the summer to coach at a basketball camp in Pennsylvania. Dave made several attempts near the end of the school year to get through to her, but she was a stone wall. They spent some professional time together in the late spring, launching leagues at the new rec. center. She was in a real dark period and there was nothing he could do to snap her out of it... at least for now.

### NINE

### Dave spent a lot of time that summer with his family. He even decided to play in a league with his old teammates. Tony had volunteered to coach Sarah's team for the summer, and there was no doubt that Walter Abrahams would be coaching Dave's team.

### The success of both teams had generated enough interest that the rosters were now filled with 12 capable players, which was quite a high number for a summer league. All of the leagues took place at Veterans Memorial Park and had the group nearly living there Monday through Thursday.

### Walter Abraham had coached Dave and the boys since they were ten, so they naturally called him either coach, or Mr. A. Dave spent most of his formative years by his dad's side, whether they were on a basketball court, a baseball diamond, watching TV, or being a barbeque assistant. Although Dave had come to idolize players from professional sports teams, his dad always remained his hero – the guy that everyone looked up to – the person he wanted to be when he grew up.

### Dave often felt raw from Walter's harsh and direct criticism, but knew that there was no disputing the extremely favorable results. The transition from player to coach was difficult at times for Dave. He was used to imposing his will on the outcome of the game by making the big shots when needed. As a coach, he had a more helpless feeling and wasn't sure what to do with all of that leftover energy.

"Put it into your preparation," his dad said one afternoon at a July 4th barbeque.

"What do you mean? Are you saying that I don't prepare adequately?" Dave questioned.

"No, stop being so defensive. You have to focus all of your energy on the practice and preparation, not the games."

"It's not natural."

### Walter nodded, "I know. On game day you're there to motivate and make adjustments, not become too emotionally involved."

### Dave chewed on that last point for some time. "Not emotionally involved? How is that possible?" he thought as he devoured a hot dog fresh off the grill. His parents' backyard was filled with family and friends, yet something was missing. Sarah was missing. Dave felt helpless to detach himself from the situation, because his life was all about "emotional involvement" no matter what his dad theorized.

### Preparation was an ingredient that was sorely lacking in Dave's classroom management. Teaching, in fact, was all about preparation – preparation of writing, reading, and visual materials; and preparation of state standards, lesson plans and grade books; preparation of grading tests and papers.

### The high school life was so much different than corporate life. Once you reach a level of competency in corporate America, the subsequent learning curve tends to flatten out. With teaching, the learning curve eventually flattens, but the level of preparation never seems to dissipate. So, Dave's life was changing from purely reactionary to one of constant preparation.

"I wasn't prepared for that," Sarah said to another female coach named Lindsay Price one evening while they watched a game at camp.

"Well, there's really only one question that needs to be answered," Lindsay, a perky ex-point guard asked. She extended her arms and asked, "Who is Haley?"

That name had been ingrained in Sarah's brain since Dave mumbled the name in his half-awake state. She and Dave had talked about many things in the months leading up to the encounter, but the name Haley had never come up.

### Tony D's phone vibrated in his shorts and he reluctantly decided to take the call.

"He whispered, "Hello."

"Tony?"

"Yeah, it's me. Who is this?"

"It's Sarah. Can you talk?"

"Not really. I'm in a movie theater and the lights are dimming."

"Who is Haley?" she asked.

"Haley?" he thought for a moment before a sharp elbow collided with his ribs. "Let me call you back later."

### Tony closed his phone and slipped it back into his pocket.

### Bianca Maglia leaned over and sternly whispered, "Who is Haley?"

### It seemed that everyone wanted to know who Haley was – well, everyone except Dave. He already knew who is ex-fiancée was. In his mind, she was a calculated, cold-blooded, assassin on a strict life schedule.

His assessment proved to be true to the bone, as Haley and Jim Morton were engaged even before Dave coached his first game. She and her mother had planned and reserved The Chelsea Pier for a June wedding with Dave, but Haley went on as scheduled and married Jim on Friday, June 22nd, which was coincidentally the last day of school. She had a baby exactly nine months later.

### Tony D's plans of kissing Bianca Magglia on their second date had as much of a chance of succeeding as Shaq jockeying in the Kentucky Derby. He tried to hold her hand during the movie, but she dug her nails into his skin until it drew blood. She was fuming about a girl named Haley calling her man right in front of her. Tony had slept with many girls in his life, but none had ruled with an iron first reminiscent of his mother in her prime. Getting the grip of death might have been a bit much, but he was happy to take a hit for his roommate.

### Bianca was silent until she and Tony got in his truck.

"Who the fuck is Haley?" she yelled after he closed his door. "And if you lie to me, I'm going to cut your balls off!"

### Tony was usually a mild-mannered Adonis, but he quickly drove to the vacant end of the parking lot and got out of the car saying, "I really like you but you are crazy lady!"

### Bianca got out of the car, slammed the door and stomped to the front of the car where Tony was standing.

"Haley is my friend Dave's ex-fiancée!"

"Why was she calling you?"

### Tony shook his head in disgust, "She wasn't calling me. Sarah was calling me!" Tony explained and then muttered, "Oh, shit."

"Wait! Before you draw blood or cut something off my body, let me explain," Tony pleaded.

### He then went through a five-minute explanation of the soap opera-like details until he could see the smoke clear. Tony lifted Bianca onto the hood of his car and the two met in a wild, passionate, ten-minute kissing and groping session.

"She said, "Did you say that you like me?"

### Tony nodded and replied, "What's not to like?"

### She growled and said, "You are my Tony the Tiger!"

### He kissed her neck and she let out a jeans-expanding moan.

"It's ggrreeat!" he said as he lifted her off the car and carried her back to the car.

### The next day Tony realized he hadn't called Sarah back, so he sent her a brief text message.

### SARAH,

### HALEY IS DAVE'S EX-FIANCEE.

### HE BROKE IT OFF JUST BEFORE HE TOOK THE JOB.

### DOLPHIN PRIDE,

### TONY

### Sarah was busy all morning, but stopped at lunch to check her phone. She found a quiet, shady spot under a tree and flipped open her phone. "Message from Tony D" flashed across the screen. She read the message and became even more confused than before.

"He was engaged?" she said out loud.

### She closed her phone and hustled up the hill to join her friend Lindsay in the lunch room.

"He was engaged," was the first thing she said as she set her tray on the long table.

"He was engaged?" Lindsay surprisingly repeated.

"That's what I said!" Sarah exclaimed.

"Didn't you two ever talk about his past?"

### Sarah rolled her eyes, "We've been pretty swamped getting used to the whole school thing. Just then, it hit Sarah that Dave had told her about Haley, in so many words. She thought back to one of their first conversations and how their lives had changed so drastically.

"This is a lot different than the city," Sarah commented.

"No doubt," Dave replied.

"My roommate was a little pissed that I decided to cut out early on the lease." She went fishing, "Did you have a roommate, or did you live alone?"

### Dave sat back in his chair in the coach's locker room and replied, "Yeah, that's a long story."

### Sarah quipped, "What were you married, or something?"

### Dave rolled his eyes, "Almost."

### The conversation then was put on hold by a slew of other coaches streaming through the locker room.

### Back to the present, "He did say he was almost married before he left Manhattan."

"But you never got any further in the conversation?" Lindsay asked.

"No. Not until we woke up in bed together that morning.'

### It was funny how Lindsay and Sarah had become fast friends. They had competed against each other when they were in high school and now as coaches. Porter Bridge High School was 10 minutes by car from Bailey Woods but always had fine sports teams with winning records.

### Lindsay was definitely under a different kind of pressure than her friend, Sarah. Thankfully, the two schools were not in the same sports division – Bailey Woods in Class 1-A and Porter Bridge in Class 1-B, because of its smaller relative population – so this kept the friends from becoming too competitive.

### Sarah felt badly about the way she treated Dave. She might have been frustrated, but he definitely bore the brunt of her anger she was feeling toward her cheating boyfriend. It was obvious that Dave was a monogamous, one woman only, kind of guy. She thought about writing him a letter, but had no patience for gathering up paper, envelope and stamp. So, she constructed the following e-mail.

### Dave,

### Hi! It's me, Sarah. Hope your summer is going well.

### Sarah

### It wasn't exactly the leap of faith but she was able to hopefully re-open the lines of communication. Dave was pleasantly surprised to hear from Sarah, and e-mailed her right back.

### Sarah,

### It was great hearing from you!

### I wanted to formally apologize for that

### Night we slept together in my bed. The

### Sleeping part was fine... anyway – you asked

### Who Haley was, but I never got a chance to

### explain. You see, you're not the only one

### that felt betrayed by a person you loved.

### Haley and I were engaged, but I'm not

### really sure why I even proposed to her in the first

### place. Once I heard about the open coaching

### and teaching positions, I also found out that Haley

### had been sleeping with my buddy at work

### (because she obviously wasn't sleeping with me).

### I moved out the next day and came back home.

### Only a few weeks left in the summer. I have been

### Looking after your team and they are primed for

### a playoff run! You did a great job with them this

### year – we are all so proud of you!

### See you soon,

### Dave

### Sarah and Lindsay poured over the computer screen in a small, hot camp office.

### "Wow! He really let loose and poured his heart out," Lindsay said. "It usually takes guys the better part of their lives to get that many expressive words out. What does this guy look like?"

### Sarah looked at her new friend like she had two grotesque heads. "You never heard of Dave Abrahams?"

### Lindsay scanned her mental database and replied, "Like ten years ago. Big guy, championship. That guy?"

### "Yeah, that's him," Sarah said as she pointed at a picture of him on the school's web site.

### "He still looks good," Lindsay said in a man-eating kind of tone.

### Sarah gave her a "Back off!" look and the Lindsay said, "I'm just saying..." You better rap that up before someone else steals your thunder. And I'm not talking about me here."

### Back home, Dave was having similar feelings about Sarah. He never openly talked about it but he had become very lonely over the course of the school year. There was a fine line between being respected and sleeping with half of the free world. Most of the girls that he met at bars were just that, girls. Being barely legal to drink was a far stretch from being a woman. He definitely wanted to be with a woman, not a girl.

### TEN

### Dave guided the girls' basketball team to the second round, where they lost to the eventual champion by only three points.

### Walter Abrahams drove the boy's team to the semi-final game against perennial powerhouse, Choral Stream. With five seconds left in the game, Choral Stream inbounded the ball at half-court to a player that took two dribbles and then appeared to trip over his own feet. The trailing referee blew his whistle and called a foul on the closest Bailey Woods player, proving that the more celebrated and connected teams also got the calls during the summer.

### Walter jumped in the air and started yelling at the ref, "He tripped over his own feet!" Dave was watching the game from the other side of the fence - primarily because he was restricted from being on-court when his team played summer games – he noticed an immediate change in his father's demeanor, stood up, and then started walking toward sacred ground. Coach A grabbed his chest, went down on one knee, and then fell toward the concrete.

### Tony D was standing next to Dave and instinctively dialed 9-1-1. Thankfully, Dorio had been an EMS worker for a few years after high school. The two guys then raced onto the court to help Walter.

### A sweaty, Walter Abrahams was face down, so the first thing Tony did was turn him over and check if he had a pulse. Walter had no pulse, so Tony started administering CPR. Within a few minutes, Walter was breathing again and the paramedics showed up. One of the EMS guys said, "What do we have here, TD?"

### "Hey Kev, we have a 62 year-old man who grabbed his chest and appeared to suffer a fairly significant heart attack. He had no pulse, so I administered CPR and now he's breathing."

### The EMS guys lifted Walter on a gurney and exiting the court to polite applause.

### Dave looked back at Tony and said, "Finish this up TD and meet me at the hospital. Don't let these guys quit."

### Luckily, the Bailey Woods Medical Center was one of the finest heart hospitals on the East Coast and was only minutes from Veterans Memorial Park. Walter was stabilized in the ambulance and then set up briefly in the emergency room, before moving to the Cardio Pulmonary wing of the hospital by the end of the day.

### Sarah and Lindsay were both single and living with their parents, so they decided to start looking for a place they could share somewhere between their two schools. That was, before Sarah came home...

### She dropped her stuff off at home and raced over to Dave's town home. This was the day after Walter suffered his heart attack, and his life was still hanging in the balance. An angiogram revealed that an angioplasty was necessary, and that procedure would take place later that morning.

### Sarah knocked on Dave and Tony's door and a groggy Tony answered the door.

### "Sarah! Come on in," Tony said in his low bass voice as he hugged her.

### "Rough night?" Sarah said in a sarcastic tone.

### Tony turned around as he approached the living room. "Yeah, we had a real rough night last night."

### Sarah looked around and was instantly worried, "Where's Dave?"

### "He's at the hospital."

### "Is he all right?" Sarah said in a frantic tone.

### "Yeah, it's his dad. He had a heart attack at the end of the game last night."

### "BW Medical?" she said as she started walked out.

### "Yeah. I'll see you later."

### A female voice from the other room yelled, "Who's there, Tony Bear?" Bianca came in the room wearing only a navy Bailey Woods practice jersey that looked like a dress.

### The voice stopped Sarah in her tracks. "Bianca, this is Sarah. Sarah, this is my girlfriend, Bianca."

### Sarah waved and said, "Nice to meet you Bianca. I'll see you later, Tony." She closed the door and was off to the hospital.

### "Pretty girl," Bianca said. "She even looks like Dave," a significantly calmer Bianca said as she reached up and kissed her man.

### Sarah raced to the hospital and asked the attendant at the information desk to help her locate Walter Abrahams. "They'll be in the waiting room on the east wing of the Cardio Pulmonary floor."

### The world slowed down while Sarah's heartbeat sped up. It seemed like it took forever and a day to get to Dave. She navigated the hallway until she came to the east waiting room, which appeared at first sight to be empty. That was, until she saw Dave sitting by himself, head buried in his hands. She walked toward him and he instinctively turned to see who was coming. He stood up slowly as she rushed toward him – he was sobbing even before their bodies melted together.

### "Thank god you're here!" he said between tears.

### Sarah kept stroking Dave's hair and saying, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

### Her kisses on his forehead felt like a healing potion – like an apple pie cooling in an open window – like a mother rocking a sick child to sleep – like coming home all over again.

### Dave had discovered how precious time was, and wasn't about to waste another second of his life pretending. He wiped his tears on the sleeve of his t-shirt and then entwined his left hand in Sarah's right hand – he raised the clasped hands and kissed the back of Sarah's hand.

### "I love you and I can't live without you," he said as they hugged.

### She started crying and quietly replied, "I loved you from the first moment I saw you."

### The started laughing. "That man, your father, will never give up. You think he's gonna' miss you win another championship?" she said pointing toward the O.R.

### Just then, Pete's mom and sister came walking in with a cup of vanilla frozen yogurt with rainbow sprinkles.

### "They were out of chocolate sprinkles, Dave's sister said. "Hi, Sarah."

### Sarah hugged Lori and Mrs. Abrahams and reconnected hands with Dave once they sat back down.

### Mrs. Abrahams looked at Sarah and David and said, "Well, if you two can finally come together then there is definitely hope for us all." Everyone instinctively said, "Amen."

### Hours later, Dr. Prescott came out of the operating room with his best poker face.

### "Well, it took a little longer than we thought, largely because he had about seventy percent blockage in one of the main arteries. We were able to clear the path and our diagnosis is for a complete recovery."

### A collective sigh and then a cheer could be heard in the now, crowded waiting room. Bianca, Tony, Finnegan, O'Malley, Breslin, Brady, and even Principal Doherty joined Pete, Sarah, and Pete's mom and sister. It wasn't Walter's time to go, and the group was grateful for the opportunity for him to continue to be a huge part of their lives.

### Walter Abrahams might have been short-tempered and hyper-critical at times, but he would give his left arm to someone if they needed it. This unwavering dedication and intensity produced two separate lines of supporters and detractors in his life.

### Dave might have mirrored his dad in physical attributes, but shared very few personality traits with his dad. However, Walter did pass down his blatant refusal to ever relent, which some saw as stubbornness but others lauded as a winning attitude. The two men had vision and would only see the ultimate goal, not the treacherous path leading up to the goal. This single sense of purpose usually translated into much more success, than failure.

### Dave considered success the maximization of effort, while his dad only had the elusive thought of perfection in his sights. For men like Walter Abrahams, elation and satisfaction are only achieved through imperfection – also a cause of inner turbulence and probably a catalyst for his heart attack, along with incessant cheese eating and his refusal to get annual check-ups.

### In fact, Walter hadn't seen a doctor since his first cousin died of cancer three years earlier. The two men were the same age and were very close most of their lives. The family grumbled that a miss-diagnosis was the culprit, not a softball-sized tumor that developed in his lungs from Elijah Abrahams 35 years of smoking.

### An initial diagnosis of an upper respiratory infection by a family internist, turned into full-blown lung cancer once the proper scans and films were taken. A few weeks really didn't matter I the grand scheme of things – Elijah's cup was emptied six months later.

### Walter made some changes after Elijah's death, and vowed to eat and live healthier. This high-fiber, low-fat lifestyle endured about six months until Walter reverted back to eating bagels and cream cheese, instead of fruit and granola. This time, however, the change would have to be permanent, or the life change would be permanent.

### ELEVEN

### Speaking of changes, there were plenty made following the tumultuous, but happily ever after, summer. The town house at 44 Dolphin Drive was rocking every night with activity, but space was definitely becoming an issue.

### "So, what are we going to do?" Dave asked Tony, Bianca, and Sarah as they sat around the kitchen table.

### It was October and another season was just around the corner. Both Bianca and Sarah had moved in and privacy was definitely becoming an issue. Sarah and Dave were lying in bed one night when Bianca's repeated, "Give it to me, Tiger" made them look at each other and say, "We need our own place."

### Dave, of course, knew what he and Sarah were going to do, but he wanted to be diplomatic and preserve a critical friendship. Actually, the unedited version that he was scared shitless of Bianca, and he really didn't want to be on her bad side, was more accurate. He thought about buying a house after his six-figure settlement finally arrived from his old company – the merger had taken a few months to complete and another four months before the two companies could successfully integrate their accounting systems.

### "So, Mr. Real Estate Baron, I'm in the market to buy something," Dave said to Steve Brady.

### "Trouble in paradise?" Brady asked.

### "No, quite the contrary. Things are going really well, but it's getting a bit tight over there. I want to buy a place for me and Sarah, and never want to move again."

### Brady thought, "Well, then the only way to go is to buy a house. Your parents' neighborhood is nice."

### Dave loved his parents but he couldn't bear the thought of living on top of them. "Yeah, but..." was all he had to say.

### Brady continued, "Do you want to stay in Bailey Woods?"

Dave shot Brades a look like, "What do you think?"

### 'Yeah, that what I thought. Well, this is your lucky day!" sounding like a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman.

### Brady was developing a community on the site where an old grade school used to be, on the border of Bailey Woods and Porters Bridge.

### "Sarah will be happier being able to live near her friend Lindsay," Dave stated.

### The community would be complete with a deluxe clubhouse, sports courts, biking and walking trails, and an outdoor pool - a perfect place to raise kids and live a healthier lifestyle. The reasonable purchase price would also leave plenty of room for sizeable equity appreciation.

### "It will take about six months to build once you sign on the dotted line," Steve said.

### Dave did the math in his head, "So, with potential weather issues, we're probably looking at the end of the school years before we can move in?"

### "Yeah, that would be about right," Steve replied.

### "Any solutions until then?"

### Steve smiled, "Number 40 Dolphin Drive has just become available. It has three bedrooms and a bigger kitchen. I could give it to Tony D for the same price you guys are paying. 44 is yours until you move out."

### "Or until it's retired next month," Dave joked.

### He hugged his friend and said, "Is there anything I could do for you, my friend?"

### Steve smiled again and Dave instantly recognized the look on his face. He had seen that "Someone challenged me and now you're gonna' have to take care of business" look hundreds of times when they were growing up.

### "What dragon am I going to fight now?" Dave asked.

"Well, it's the 100th anniversary of Bailey Woods next year, and we wanted to commemorate this prestigious event by staging a few important events in the town's history," he explained.

### Dave's mind rolled over, "So, who are we playing?"

### "It's the championship game against central all over again."

### Dave acted surprised, "They agreed to play us?"

### Steve knew the reaction his answer would elicit, "They suggested it."

### "What?" the guys yelled while standing and drinking at O'Malley's.

### "I guess they didn't see us play last summer," Tom O'Malley stated.

### Finnegan chimed in, "I'm in!"

### Breslin added, "Yeah, why not. What do we have to lose?"

### Tony D said, "Everything."

### "It's only worth it if you have everything to lose," Dave said.

### "So, you guys are in?" Steve asked.

### The five said, "Yeah."

### "Then I'll go round up the rest of the guys."

### The never-shy Finnegan interjected, "Like that fuckin' matters! Brades, the only people that ever played, were the five people standing here. Of course, we need you there to give us moral support."

### Breslin added, "Yeah, you don't suck as much as you used to."

### Tony D kept it going, "I'm not embarrassed to hang with you anymore."

### O'Malley put the finishing touches on the conversation, "You can dress if you keep score."

### The guys cracked up an affectionately pounded on Steve Brady, the most successful guy in business since they graduated. Dave happily gave up that distinction to leave his plastic life to be just one of the guys again.

"I heard you guys are going to play central again," Sarah said as she opened the fridge.

"Yeah, the excitement is underwhelming."

### She countered, "How can you be so modest and so confident at the same time?"

### Dave smiled, "It must be a gift. Hey, speaking of gifts..."

"Did you buy me something?" she excitedly asked. "Don't tell me and spoil the surprise."

"Ok, New Yorker. Do you mind if I finish my sentence first..."

"Before I try to blurt out the rest of the sentence?" she laughed.

### Pete laughed because love was fresh and everything that Sarah did was cute and spontaneous.

"Ok, little girl, this is adult time. I was talking to Steve Brady this afternoon, and he told me about this property we could buy," he said as he handed Sarah a folder with details about the community.

### Sarah looked through the alluring color brochure and replied, "Wow! This looks like a future for us!"

"That's what I said!" Dave animatedly agreed. "It's on the spot of your old elementary school."

"That's interesting. Talk about coming full circle."

### He added, "There's even the strong possibility of building a new grade school on the site."

### She smiled again and replied, "I think we should go for it. When would the house be ready for us to move in?"

"About the time school ends."

"Can we do it?" she asked.

### Dave smiled and hugged his girlfriend, "We can do anything."

### It was late October and Dave decided to open the gym up for something he called "Dolphin Madness." Basically, the Friday night basketball-fest was part clinic, part open call to assess the talent level in Bailey Woods.

### Midway through the event, Principal Doherty walked over to Dave and said, "We're going to retire your number at halftime of the first home game."

### Dave remained quiet and then pointed at a kid playing on the main court. A 6'2" kid with a slender, yet stocky build was wearing a blue tank top jersey with the number 44 on the back of it.

### "Do you notice how all of the action swirls around him," the older coach said.

### "He's always around the ball," Dave added.

### The kid caught a pass in the right corner and then calmly sank a jumper. Next time down, he stepped into the deep corner and sunk another shot. The ball was mid-way toward the basket and the kid starting walking off and said, "Game."

### "Let's hold off on that ceremony. This is all not about that, anyway," Dave stated.

### "I hear you," Doherty agreed. The two men followed the kid to the water fountain in the hallway.

### "That's the spark," Dave said as he approached the kid.

### The kid stood up after getting a few good slurps of water, and nearly walked right into the two men. He immediately showed his age when he blushed and almost banged into the two guys.

### "Slow down there, son. You're gonna' make me take a charge," Dave said trying to make light conversation.

### The kid smiled, but the words had not yet approached his mouth.

### Dave didn't want to talk in front of other kids, so the three of them walked into the cafeteria adjacent to the hallway.

### "I'm... Dave started.

### "Dave Abrahams. I mean, Coach Abrahams," the kid said.

### "Have we met?" Dave asked as he looked into the kid's big brown eyes.

### "I got you autograph when I was five," he said.

### Dave quickly scanned through the catalog that was his life.

### He turned to Doherty, "Remember the kid that started coming to all of our practices and games?"

### Doherty looked at the kid and then Dave replied, "Matthew..." but blanked out on the last name.

### Dave found it, "Vaughn Phillips." The two men silently lip-synched to each other, "MVP."

### The kid smiled, "People usually call me Matt now."

### "Ok, Matt," Dave said. "You must be in ninth grade now. Right?"

### "Yeah."

### "Are you trying out for the j.v. team?" Doherty asked.

### "Yes! Do you think I can make it?" Matt asked, showing his age.

### Dave put his coach face on, "You have a good shot if you work hard. Coach Dorio is expecting a large turnout."

### The men shook hands with Matt and the walked back into the gym.

### "You know, that was the practice jersey I gave him?" Dave said.

### "I know he even looks like you when he shoots. It's a little weird," Doherty replied.

### Dave smiled, "things are turning around, coach."

### "That's why we brought you back, David."

### TWELVE

### Dave was starting to feel a little more comfortable in the classroom at the start of his second year, after spending the first half of the previous year watching his predecessor, Mrs. Walters. She recanted countless stories of IBM in an era where Microsoft and Intel had taken over the leadership positions in the technology industry.

### School had always been about outdated textbooks and tests based on easily forgettable facts. Watching Mrs. Walters teach and, more importantly, observing her students reacting in a similar distant way that he did as a student, made him realize that things had to change. Without the proper schooling to become a teacher, Dave had to get a crash course with some on-the-job training.

### The first six months were about survival than anything else. Lesson plan, district- and state-wide teaching standards, teacher training, and kids that talked back. When Dave went to school, kids would get thrashed if they talked back to an adult. The beat-down line would go from teacher to principal to mom and then dad, when he arrived home from work tired and hungry. The last thing a dad wanted to do when he arrived home was discipline his kids—but it was inevitably, his first order of business.

### Moms would hit their husbands over the head with, "Your son got in trouble today," or "Aren't you going to do something about your kid's behavior." Actually, all dad wanted to do was changes his clothes, eat some food, and then settle in on the couch and hopefully nod off in the middle of the game.

### The parents of today have made the executive decision to run toward the opposite direction of their strict parents. But loosening the reigns produced many negative outcomes – the first of which is the inability of kids to respect authority and take orders. The other phenomenon that has occurred is that parents smother the crap out of their kids from the moment they squirt from the womb.

### The great comedian W.C. Fields once said, "Children should be seen and not heard. Children are not only seen these days, they have also become the primary decision makers in the household. This kind of power only strengthens over time to the point that parents have assumed the additional responsibility of entertaining kids, 24 hours per day, seven days a week.

### "When I was a kid, we would come home from school, put out books down, and then go out and play with my friends until it was time for dinner," Dave said to a group of colleagues in the teacher's lounge.

### Ms. Tremendo, the Spanish teacher added, "Sometimes we would wait until the last flicker of light went away."

### "Where did you grow up? Mexico?" said Mr. Bianci, who obviously came from a long chain of ignorant Geometry teachers.

### Tremendo looked at Dave, who shook his head in disbelief. She lost the regal Spanish accent to reply, "South Bronx."

### Dave was initially looked at as an ex-jock that was given preferential treatment by his ex-coach. About half of the staff had retired or moved on to other school districts in the 10 years since he was gone – but there was still a contingent of people that remembered Dave the underachieving student, over Dave the star athlete. It didn't matter to these educators that Dave made the Dean's List multiple times in college, went on to finish his M.B.A. at night, or have his opinions aired in front of millions of people in the international media. They were out there to prove a point – that teaching was harder than other profession – that they could have been as successful in the business world.

### Dave knew he had to give his students a more practical education. He blended elements of his daily business life with elements inherent in the curriculum. The name IBM was mentions, but only in the context of how the world's biggest technology company freely let smaller companies eat away at its dominant market share.

### He also made share that each student was able to use spreadsheets, such as Excel, and even brought in one of his Wall Street buddies for a day of instruction. Writing about, and being able to speak about business topics, was also a huge part of his class. Presentations utilizing PowerPoint were also expected. Tests were only rarely given as an objective assessment tool, but made up no more than 25% of the final grade.

### Many things had come into clearer focus following the murky days surrounding Walter Abrahams' heart attack. While Walter was still hyper-critical at times, his eating habits improved and he was able to appreciate the loved one's that surrounded him every day. He had become consumed with Dave's basketball career and everything that surrounded it – this, in turn impacted his marriage and professional development.

### The word "recommitment" would be the battle cry for a man that had stopped breathing and started walking toward the afterlife. If not for the skilled hand of Tony Dorio, Walter would have died tragically and suddenly. Instead, the blockage had been removed and he had been given the clean bill of health, as long as he got back into the swing of things slowly.

Once Walter recovered, Mayor McNulty – affectionately called Mayor McCheese – issued Tony D a proclamation, claiming "This is CPR awareness day. By Tony D's courageous actions, a beloved man in this town can live on."

### Dave wasn't sure when his dad had crossed over from meddlesome parent to loved man, but it all sounded right. "We should all learn a lesson from this story of an extended Bailey Woods family. We must once again come together as a town. We must once again become one in pursuit of a common goal, and that goal is saving lives."

### Dave omitted the saving lives part of the speech from his mind, and wrapped his arms around a potential renewed oneness in the town. He couldn't wait until the day when Bailey Woods would come together united in a packed Dolphin gymnasium.

### THIRTEEN

### Life was moving fast for Sarah and Dave. They went from co-workers to admirers, to boyfriend and girlfriend, to future home owners. Dave was convinced that he would propose to Sarah before they moved into their house. That kind of financial commitment deserved an equal life commitment in order to be fully effective. Besides, Melanie Abraham was working on her son "to do the right thing" when it came to the Sarah/house situation.

### Although they were already living together, Sarah and Dave were still innocent days of the relationship. Tony and Bianca had moved to the number 40 unit and were free to yell and scream nauseating nicknames during sex. Not that it would have stopped her from expressing herself in the throes of passion.

### Tony and Bianca's move also gave Sarah a chance to settle in and create her own space. The second bedroom was converted from a bedroom to a full-fledged office, complete with file cabinets and two large tables that were used as desks. There was also a small flat screen TV and a DVD player that was used to break down footage. Sarah and Dave took turns using the two TVs although Dave usually like to huddle in the second bedroom and pour over both school and sport like a mad scientist.

### It was approaching year-end, and Dave and Sarah were walking around the mall one day. It was the first time that Dave was in a mall since he stormed Spencer's Gifts when he was in college. Life in the suburbs moved from the malls to the strip centers, and city life had always been a more storefront experience.

### The couple passed by a jewelry store and Sarah came to an abrupt halt at a display window featuring engagement rings. Dave didn't even realize that his girlfriend was frozen by diamonds, so he kept walking. Although he thought Sarah was as feminine as any woman, she wasn't exactly a girly-girl by any stretch of the conversation. There must be some mystical power inside the engagement ring that makes women go completely gaga—it's like the Beatles without the shrieking, crying, and yelling.

### She studied the rings as if she had to memorize top secret information. Dave started talking to Sarah, and then realized she wasn't there. He walked back to her, a little red-faced, and wondering what she was looking at.

### He peered over her shoulder, "I was wondering where you sped off to. So, what are we looking at here?"

She waited until she was sure, "I like that one."

### Dave looked around and pulled out his camera phone. He snapped a couple of pictures so he could make sure that his cousin Ari would have a clear view of the ring.

"Why don't you go inside and have them size your finger, while I go to the bathroom," he said as the pressure of the moment caused his stomach to collapse. Dave thought back to the day Haley made a bee-line to Tiffany's on 57th Street and 5th Avenue. She wanted to buy the ring on the spot, but Dave knew his cousin would charge him half as much for twice as much ring. Size was definitely an important variable for Haley and her mother. The ring had to be big enough to get TV reception from a satellite, but small enough to get through security checkpoints in the airport.

### This time around, beauty would definitely win the day. Haley's thin, long fingers required something substantial in the engagement ring department. Once Dave endured the life-changing trauma, accompanied by the stomach-churning flashback, he was back on the mall trail. Haley was still in the jewelry store, as an elder female employee has maintained a firm grip on her ankles to keep her from leaving the store empty-handed.

### Dave motioned to Sarah that he had emerged from purgatory, and then she walked out of the store with the woman's card and her ring size.

### "Everything all right?" Sarah asked as she handed him the card.

### "Thanks. Yeah, I'm fine. I must have had a bad reaction to the plastic pizza at the food court."

### He put the card in the front pocket of his jeans and then reached out with his right hand and took hold of her left hand. She was slightly concerned that his feet were a little cold, but feeling his touch only served to bury those thoughts.

### Sarah had a much smoother transition in the classroom than her boyfriend. She spent four years and countless classroom hours preparing to teach health education. The fact was that she took a slight detour between graduation and actually teaching her own classes. Within a few weeks, however, all of the knowledge and experience she had stored up was released with grace of a flock of mourning doves.

### She started about when she first noticed Dave. She was a freshman in her first month of school at Bailey Woods High School. At the time, Sarah was only 14 years old and stood about 5'4". She walked into the boy's door of the gym, as a result of miscalculating the various entrances and exits. She crashed into a senior leaving the gym, who said, "Fuckin' freshman." Her books went flying and then looked like random puzzle pieces sprawled across the floor.

### "I'm sorry!" Sarah exclaimed as the guy kept walking into the hallway.

"What are you apologizing about?" a soft voice said from behind her.

### A much thinner, 16 year-old version of Dave bent down and helped Sarah pick up her books. She looked into his big, brown eyes and was an instant goner.

### "That guy is a jerk anyway. Freakin' football players on 'roids," he said as he handed her a few books.

### "You might want to try the other entrance down there," he said, pointing toward the other end of the gym.

### Sarah nodded while she put her books back in her backpack, making sure that she fully zipped it shut this time. She turned back around to say, "Hi, I'm Sarah," but he had already walked into the locker room.

### It was possible that the seeds of love were planted that day, as Dave was the first person in the school to be nice and notice that Sarah was alive. She remained "the girl with the books on the floor" until Coach Doherty paved the way for them to pair up down the road.

### Even though Dave initially remembered Sarah's older brother Tim, he nonetheless knew who he was. He took a real interest in her varsity career, and he took special pride in her amazing accomplishments. Life had changed so much over the years that no one could ever anticipate the couple of these two giants. Dave was only a few months away from getting married to Haley, while Sarah was running around getting lean corned beef sandwich at the Stage Deli for George Steinbrenner. Although their lives appeared to be moving in opposite directions, their hearts never left the Dolphins Gymnasium.

### Dave knew the minute they shook hands that his future would connect with his past. His only reservation came in the professional code – he never got involved with people at work – although his best friend at work was sleeping with his fiancée. Teachers had instantly hooked up with each other as Spring Break participants, but discretion was always the better part of sneaking around. Teachers also had been airing their dirty laundry in the news, professing their love for ex-students. Neither Dave nor Sarah were going to fall in love with any student, at least not that kind of disgusting, incestuous, creepy, completely wrong kind of love.

### FOURTEEN

### The season started and Dave's vision of the new number 44, Matt Phillips, became even clearer. He had talked to Tony D about his boy, although it was obvious that Matt would not only make the team but be a starter. The future would be on hold at least at the varsity level, as Dave tried to improve on his team's up-and-down season the previous year.

### The driving force of Dave's basketball career had always been his father. Walter Abrahams was doing about as well as expected following his heart surgery, but a slightly-irregular heartbeat had him scheduled to receive a pacemaker. This proved to be an obvious distraction for Dave, who still hadn't fully recovered mentally from the trauma of the initial heart attack. It was bad enough that Walter had the heart attack, but the visuals of Walter falling limply to the court had haunted Dave in his conscious and unconscious dreams.

### Luckily, the two things that Dave could do in his sleep – play basketball and talk about business – were the two things he had to do every day.

### "You Ok with all of this?" Sarah asked Dave.

### He took a bite of his pasta and coldly replied, "About what? The food?"

### She had unlimited patience for Dave, "About your dad and his procedure."

### "What do you think?" he said in an indignant tone.

### She had a twist of pasta on her fork and set it back down in her bowl. Dave looked up to see his girlfriend looking sad, with her head down and her eyes closed.

### He quickly realized he was being a dick and said, "Are you meditating? So you won't reach over the table and kill me."

### "I don't want to kill you," she replied as she opened her eyes following her rebalancing.

### "I'm sorry. I shouldn't snap at you. Here, let me feed you," he said as he picked up a fork-full of pasta and messily shoved it in her mouth.

### She then flicked a bunch of pasta at him and soon the pasta and water were flying everywhere. They came together as two bodies fused together as one on the kitchen floor and then steamed up the vanity mirror near the shower as they got clean. Their arguments were usually brief and invariably ended with smoldering make-up sex, immediately followed by extensive clean-up.

### Walter's procedure went smoothly and soon he was out of the deathly-smelling hospital and resting at home comfortably. Dave breathed a huge sigh of relief that night and slept like a baby for the first time in months.

### Walter's improving health also came in time for the coming season and the Central High championship game rematch. The guys kept playing together and continued to terrorize the varsity team in scrimmages. Dave admittedly was much more focused on the preparedness of his team, rather than playing in a game that had little or no significance.

### The night game in January was more about celebrating the town's history than playing a game for all of the marbles. Besides, Dave and Tony's focus on that day was squarely aligned with winning the varsity and junior varsity games that preceded the "big game" at Dolphin gymnasium.

### Once January rolled around, many things in the lives of Sarah and Dave transformed into amazing clarity. One of his classes was in first place in the Newsday Stock Market Challenge, his basketball team sprinted out to a 5-2 record, and Haley's squad was an improved 5-3.

### Dave set the tone before the first practice of the year. No one had talked about the summer league game when his dad collapsed. Dave strolled back and forth with a serious look in his face and then stopped and said, "So, what happened at the end of the game?"

### Twelve huge exhales later, team ham/entertainer and point guard, Greg Morales, jumped on the opportunity.

"Check this out, Coach Abe. We were ready to walk off the floor but the coach of Choral Stream insisted that we finish the game." He stood up and continued his animated description. Coach D looked over at the other coach and we thought he's send the guy through the fence. But he gathered us around him and said, "Fuck these guys! We're gonna' win this thing!"

### The team collectively started laughing, including Dave who was fascinated by the positive twist to the emotionally-scarring event.

"So, this dude from Fairy Streams makes both free throws, and Coach D called time out. Two seconds left, with the ball under their basket. Jimmy took the ball out and threw it to T-Man, who was on the move at the foul line. Let's do this y'all!"

### The starting five got up and reenacted the event. Carl Tedesco caught the ball and took two dribbles before hoisting the ball toward the basket in the distance. Dave and the other seven players watched as the ball floated toward the basket. He extended his arms in the air as the bull thudded off the glass and through the net. The team went crazy, like they had just won the world championship. Once the excitement waned, Dave turned to Morales and excitedly asked, "So, you guys won?"

### Morales looked around at his teammates and smiled, "No, we lost. The ball hit the back rim, but it looked like it was going in."

### Dave looked at his players and stated, "We're gonna' get those guys this year! Next time, the shot will go in!"

### The team rallied behind their coach ad then he said, "All right. Let's stretch it out and then hit the lay-up line."

### The team's positive momentum brought them to their last non-league game of the regular season, versus Central High, which had started the season with an impressive 6-1 record. Dave's body might have been ready for the big rematch, but his mind was set as a coach, not player.

### Tony D's junior varsity team had struggled early on, posting only a 3-4 record. Dave was more interested in the development of his team, rather than their overall record. They had lost two games in a row, largely because Matt Phillips was suffering from a lingering virus that wouldn't seem to go away. Dave walked up to Matt in the locker room before the Saturday 2:00 p.m. game.

### Matt's head was down as he sat on a long, wood bench. Dave extended his left arm and put his hand gently on the top of Matt's head.

"How you doing, son?"

"Matt slowly lifted his head, "I've felt better, coach. I just have no strength."

### Matt was still in street clothes and had arrived a few minutes before his teammates. His gym bag rested on the floor between his legs, and his body language suggested "bag of bones."

"You gonna' play today?" Dave asked.

"Coach D said it's up to me."

### Dave bent over so his mouth was close to Matt's left ear, "Can you breathe?"

### Matt answered, "Yes."

### Dave asked, "Can you walk?"

"Yes."

"Would I ever miss a game?" Dave asked.

"No."

"All I would ever ask from you is that you do your best and leave everything you have out there on the floor. Your teammates will never follow you if you take the night off. Nobody will ever remember the score of this game today, but they will remember that you fought through adversity and that you are a true warrior."

### Matt nodded, "Yes, coach.

### Dave patted Matt on the back and started walking out of the locker room.

"Hey coach!" Matt called.

### Dave turned around, "Yeah, Matt."

"You gonna' break Central's heart again tonight?"

### Dave smiled and replied, "We'll see," as he walked out into the gym.

### The crowd was sparse at the start of the Central-Bailey Woods junior varsity game, with family members and a few locals scattered throughout the bleachers.

### Dave sat with Sarah in the stands as Matt took off his warm-up jersey and nodded at Dave. He nodded back as Sarah said, "Wow! He looks really pale. Should he be out there?" she said channeling her inner mother.

### Dave turned his head and looked at Sarah. "You ever miss a game?"

### She instantly replied, "No."

"Why not?"

"Because I just couldn't... oh, I get it," she said.

"It really doesn't matter how he plays today. What matters is that he did play. I bet he scores only a few points, but he's gonna' be pissed every time he plays Central for now on."

"Are you talking from experience?" she asked.

"What do you think? You ever been shut out in a game?"

### She searched through her mind, "There was this one time in seventh grade when the coach played me only a few minutes..."

"I mean, when you started a game."

### She quickly replied, "No, never."

"That's what I thought," Dave said as he smiled at his girlfriend. He wanted desperately to hold her hand, but they were role models and that wasn't the time or the place for a public display of affection.

### It didn't matter that everyone and their grandmothers knew that Sarah and Dave were dating, it wasn't proper to flaunt their relationship in front of impressionable teenagers. Kisses and hugs in celebration were more spontaneous expressions of affection and were more suitable examples of love.

### It was a dismal half of basketball for the Bailey Woods junior varsity. Central started the game by pressing Tony D's charges, and never seemed to take a step back in the first 16 minutes of the game. Matt looked like a zombie, scoring three points and doing little else than look like a pinball bouncing off bumpers and point-scoring bells. He slinked into the locker room, walked straight to the toilet, and then proceeded to throw up. A teammate walked up to the stall and said, "Dude, are you all right in there?"

### Matt threw up a little more and said, "Yeah, I'll be out in a minute.

### The guy said, "You should be in bed, at home."

### Matt emerged from the toilet and stopped to wash his face. Tony and the entire team were watching him and waiting for him to join them. He shook the remaining cob webs and started walking toward the team.

"You want to sit this one out, Matt?" Tony D asked.

### Matt smiled and replied, "That's Ok coach. I'm actually feeling better."

### The team still lost by the 16-point deficit they trailed by at halftime, but that also meant they played Central even during the second half. Matt finished the game with 10 points, but he also had eight rebounds and four assists. The impact he had on the game transcended the stat sheet and established his leadership role amongst his teammates.

### Dave sat in the stands watching until the middle of the third quarter, when he marched into the locker room with his team to prepare for the game. The few second-half minutes he saw told him everything he needed to know... Bailey Woods Basketball was on the road back to the top.

### FIFTEEN

### It had been five years since Bailey Woods played Central in a basketball game. The games had become so one-sided that Central yawned and the decided to stir up some real competition. The last two games, in particular, were 25- and 34-point slaughters for Central, who played most of the second half of these games for reserves.

### Walter Abrahams walked through the doors of the gym for the first time since the previous season. He had been told by his doctor's to keep his blood pressure down in the months following his heart attack. Walter walked into the locker room to wish his son, and the team, good luck. The guys instantly mobbed him like he was a rock star.

### While Dr. Patel wasn't thrilled about attending the game, he knew the stress of not being there would be there would potentially be greater than his attendance. The elder Abraham decided that he wasn't going to spend the rest of his life protecting his life. There were certain things he had to do differently, like eat better and exercise more, but living through the Bailey Woods basketball team would remain.

### There was no real history between the current teams, so the game started as just that, another game. Once the lead changed hands eight times in the first quarter alone, the rivalry had been rekindled. At halftime the score was 24-22 with Bailey Woods missing out on a three-pointer after the buzzer sounded that would have given them the lead. It was becoming painfully obvious that the team with the ball last would probably win.

### It was 39-38 in favor of Central after three quarters, and Dave felt he couldn't have scripted the game better if he wrote the screenplay himself. But his satisfaction was short-lived, as his best player, Carl Tedesco, picked up his fourth foul only a minute into the final stanza. Once Tedesco went to the bench, Central quickly built an eight-point lead forcing Dave to take a time-out to regroup. With four minutes left, he rolled the dice and reinserted Tedesco. The team slowly crawled back until the deficit was cut to two with a minute left in the game. Time out, Central High.

### The stands, which had been half-full most of the game, had become completely full by the end of the game. People arrived in anticipation of the night-cap rematch, but were treated to an instant classic in the interim.

### Central failed to score out of the timeout and then Tedesco picked up a loose ball and put it back in the basket with 15 seconds remaining. Bailey Woods tied the score and now had to stop Central one last time.

### Dwight Burrows dribbled the ball near half-court until the clock his six. He penetrated into the lane and dished to Calvin Martin, who elevated to win the game. Tedesco closed from the other side of the lane and swatted the ball against the wall as time expired. The referee at half court almost silently blew his whistle, signaling a foul on number 23 white, and the crowd went from elation to stunned silence to outright anger.

### The referees huddled near the scorer's table to discuss the foul.

"It looked like he climbed over his back from my vantage point," the referee that called the foul stated.

"Mike, it was a clean block. I had a good look at it," the other ref explained.

"Ok, that's good enough for me Tommy." He turned to the scorer's table and yelled while waving his arms, "No foul! Time has expired! Overtime!"

### Coach Timmons of Central High went crazy and had to be restrained by his assistants. The public address announcer reiterated what the ref said, and the crowd burst into celebration. Sadly, the euphoria was short-lived, as Central steamrolled Bailey Woods in overtime and won by five points.

### Before the old team took to the floor, Greg Morales Turned to Dave and said, "It's all on you now, coach."

### The rematch against Central was the furthest thing from Dave's mind as he offered words of encouragement to his team. But as O'Malley, Breslin, Finnegan, and Brady joined Dave and Tony D in the locker room, the blood started flowing through his body again. The group of 29 year-olds, with the exception of the 30 year-old Dorio (who was held back in third grade), were legends in the eyes of their predecessors.

"The crowd wants blood!" an energized Principal Doherty said as he walked through the doors of the locker room.

### Brian Finnegan, Bailey's floor general and resident maniac yelled, "If they want blood! Let's give 'em blood!"

### High fives and screams filled the usually docile locker room, proving that championships are never won without emotion and total commitment.

### The guys couldn't have been prepared for what awaited them on the floor of their gym. Yes it was once again their gym, at least for one more night. Mayor "McCheese" brought a huge, framed copy of an old town headline that read "CHAMPIONS!" He solicited Doherty and Dave to flank him for a photo opportunity, and then slinked off the court to undoubtedly smile and shake hands with anyone within striking distance.

### Then Pete Grey, the Dolphins old public address announcer said, "Ladies and gentlemen. Please call your attention to center court..."

### Out of the gym office, a way-too-familiar face emerged.

### Cameron Breslin said to the group, "Is that fuckin' Billy Joel?"

### He walked over to the guys and shook hands with them, "Good luck guys."

### Joel then walked over to Doherty and said, "Doherty, you old bastard! How you doing? Are we even now?"

### Doherty laughed and nodded as Tom O'Malley asked, "Even for what?"

### The old coach looked at his players and replied, "If I told you, I would have to kill all of you!"

### Joel and Doherty were 15 year-old classmates at nearby Clinksdale High School when Joel's mom came home early from work and caught the two boys smoking pot. Well, she walked in on Doherty inhaling. Being the good friend that he was, albeit a totally high one, Doherty took the rap for bringing the pot over and smoking with his friend's house. He also lied and explained that Joel was not involved in any way with the drugs.

### Doherty was grounded for a month and beaten within an inch of his life by his father Liam, who drank like a fish and worked on the docks. He went to school for a month and then came straight home, where his friend "Billy the Kid" was waiting with a bong and a dream. The next year, Doherty was sent to Catholic school and well, you know what happened to Mr. Joel. The two guys stayed in touch over the years and remained close friends.

### To sing our National Anthem, here is Long Island's own, Billy Joel!" Grey projected as he was drowned out by the crowd.

### The Central players puffed their chests and muttered, "Stupid crackers," but were secretly excited to see Billy perform. If it was their home game, Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky, Mike, Ralph and Johnny – New Edition – would have been the featured attraction in white suits and classic white hats, doing their smooth synchronized dance steps.

### Once the hype calmed down, it was a tale of two teams in the first half. Central had vengeance on their mind for their devastating loss they suffered a decade prior, but Bailey Woods was just happy to be competing in front of a crowd again. Their lack of focus on the game showed, as Central raced to a 36-28 halftime lead.

### The players calmly filed into the locker room with barely a whimper. Dave stopped and talked to Coach Doherty outside of the locker room.

"Hey coach, remember that time you yelled at me during halftime of that holiday tournament?"

"Yeah, what about it?" the now apprehensive coach replied.

### Dave smiled, "Do it again," and then walked into the locker room with a long face.

### Doherty waited a few seconds to give the appearance that Dave's entrance was in no way connected to his own. Once inside the pungent room, he surveyed his players who sat motionless as a group of statues.

"What the hell is going on in here? Did someone die?" He turned his sights to Dave, "Mr. Abrahams! It looks like father time has finally caught up with you! I even thought about sitting you and playing Brady! Do us all a favor! Either get your head out of your ass, or admit to the entire town that you can't play anymore! You might as well be sitting next to Mayor McCheese than letting Central come into our house and embarrass us in front of our celebration!" He then panned out to the rest of the team, "I don't care if I'm 90 years old and you guys are about to collect social security! I will never let this team quit! You are my guys. You will always be my guys." He smiled, "I've seen you guys play all year. You can beat these guys in your sleep. Two points at a time." He looked around the room, "Let's get it in here."

### The six guys gathered around their coach. "On three," Doherty said and then the group yelled, "HARD WORK!"

### Dave hung back for a minute with his old coach as the rest of the guys took the floor to warm up for the second half.

### Steve Brady turned to Tony Dorio and said, "Do you think I'll see some light in the second half, coach?"

### Deep-voiced Tony, with a straight face replied, "I sure hope not, Brades."

### SIXTEEN

### Dave walked out of the locker room and looked up in the stands at Sarah, who returned his look of steel with her own Supergirl stare. She knew right then and there that her man was set to explode and it would be a long 16 minutes for Central High.

### Walter Abrahams was trying to control himself, but he wasn't sure if his son could pull through without his council. Although he appreciated William Doherty's contribution to his son's career, he felt the man's coaching wasn't the reason for the team's success. The two men had clashed at times over the years but had come to a peaceful understanding in more recent times. It also didn't hurt that they were rarely in the same place at the same time in the previous ten years.

### Walter watched Pete scoop up a ball, dribble out to the deep left corner, and hoist a smooth jumper. The ball splashed through the basket and the spun back in his direction like an obedient dog. The corners of Walter's mouth turn up slightly, which was about as much positive emotion as the man would show during the heat of the battle. Game on.

### The mood was completely euphoric in the Central locker room, as if they already won the game. Their coach, Harold Bunning, had retired five years following the initial game, and had little success in getting his team's attention.

"The game isn't over, gentlemen, was one of the many clichés he tried to interject between boasts and jokes by his team. No strategy was discussed and the only thing that was decided was the night club they would be rockin' after the game.

### Calvin Brown once again started the second half inside of Dave's jersey, the location where he took up residence when Central played Bailey Woods.

"You ain't getting off tonight. This, right here, is our house now. Make sure you move your shit out by the end of the game," Calvin preached to Dave.

### The phrase "Let sleeping dogs lie" immediately came to mind as Dave replied, "Just wait 'till I get the motha' fuckin' ball!"

### Cameron Breslin saw Dave's inflamed eyes as he jockeyed for position with Brown. It was time to feed the big guy – Dave used his left forearm against Brown's chest to create some space. He then pooped out to the three-point line as Cam threw a speedy chest pass that Dave caught and quickly turned to shoot. Brown quickly made up the gap as Dave head-faked, eliciting the eager defender to jump in the air in an attempt to block the shot.

### Dave absorbed the contact and then released the shot. The crowd raised their collective hands and chanted, "Three."

### The referee blew his whistle as the ball floated through the air and into the basket. The crowd went crazy as Dave strolled to the foul line without saying a word to the opposition.

### The referee approached the scorer's table and the yelled over the crowd, "Basket's good! Foul on number 35, green! 44, white, shoots one!"

### Rodney Harrison looked at Brown with inflamed eyes that said, "Why did you have to wake him up!"

### The momentum pendulum swung fully toward Bailey Woods' way by the end of third quarter. They flipped an eight-point deficit into a five-point lead in the blink of eight minutes. Coach Doherty noticed a difference in his team and he didn't like it. He was more into double-digit advantages and emptying his bench than sweating out every victory.

### Dave and his teammates didn't train for months so they could sit on the bench and watch the game. With three minutes left, the comfortable Bailey Woods lead shrunk to a single point. Then Mike Mitchell hit a three-pointer for Central. Before Doherty was able to call a timeout, Dave stepped behind the line and put Bailey Woods back in the lead. Mitchell hit another three and then Dave sunk a jump-hook from the baseline to tie the score.

### The clock ticked past one minute as Central planned to use most of the 45-second clock. Doherty was a bit confused by the strategy because it meant that his team would get the ball back with more than 10 seconds on the clock. Taking the lost shot of the game was definitely a real competitive advantage.

### Central held the ball until there was 35 seconds left on the clock and then went ahead with a play. Coach Bunning grew tired of being ignored by his team, and decided to rest his weary bones on a plastic chair on the bench. There would be no time-out called on this day.

### Calvin Booth threw a bounce pass to Devin Berry that Tom O'Malley deflected off of Berry's foot and out of bounds. All five Bailey Woods players pointed toward their basket and the referee agreed, "Ball deflected off green! White ball!" he said as he signaled toward the far basket to the delight of the crowd.

### Doherty turned to the other referee, made a "T" with his hands, and the said "Time out."

### Twenty-seven seconds was too long a stretch of time to run a play, so Cameron Breslin dribbled near half-court and then signaled for another time-out with 15 seconds left.

"We could run that double pick play again, but they'll probably be expecting that," Doherty said as he knelt down on one knee in the huddle.

### In the other huddle, Calvin Booth yelled, "They're gonna' run that motha' fuckin' pick play again!"

### Dave started laughing, "Well, it didn't really work last time. Maybe if we run it right this time we can get something out of it." He then squeezed the water bottle toward his mouth and passed it over to Tony D as he stood up.

"Keep your hands up, bro. You're gonna' be open," Dave said as he walked onto the floor.

### Tony looked at Dave with amazement, and still thought his friend would take the last shot. Dave, however, had other ideas.

### The crowd went from the edge of their collective seat to standing up, as Mike Finnegan took the ball from the referee. Tony Dorio and Tom O'Malley came together to pick off Calvin Brown, who yelled "Not this time!"

### Although Brown had gone on to become a successful computer programmer for Computer Associates, he never stopped thinking about the foul he committed on Dave.

### Finns threw the ball into Cam, who dribbled to the left side of the floor where all of the action was set to take place. Then seconds left. The clock ticked down to eight and Doherty yelled, "Go!"

### Ten years had made a huge difference in Dave's life and thoughts. No longer was he the single-minded, tunnel vision hoops junkie. While basketball was still a big part of his life, images of Sarah floated through his mind as he tried to get some space from Booth by rubbing him against the Herculean frame of Tony D.

### The gym seemed to lean toward Dave as Cam rifled a pass toward him on the left wing. In fact, everyone was so used to him taking the last shot that the Centrals defenders naturally flowed toward him. Six seconds.

### The middle of the lane, near the foul line, was clogged as a gas station toilet, so Dave took a dribble with his right hand and then spun toward the baseline. Four seconds. Dave picked up his dribble with his back to the basket, and it looked as if he would shoot a fade-away from the right baseline. Three seconds.

### Tony D slowly rolled toward the basket and the line between he and Dave was as clear as the New York Stock Exchange on a Sunday morning. Dave raised his right arm with the ball as a group of defenders committed to the air. He quickly transferred the ball to his left hand and flipped a pass behind his left ear with his back still to the basket. Two seconds.

### The crowd moaned, "Whoa!" as Tony D drifted toward the ball and the basket. He caught the ball and headed up toward the basket without hesitation. One second. He released the ball against the backboard as it fell through the net as time expired and the buzzer sounded.

### Three of the Central starters were clueless to where the ball wound up and were startled to hear the huge roar of the crowd and then the onrush of all of these elated people. Calvin Brown looked up at the scoreboard and shook his head in disbelief. He thought to himself, "Ten years from now, we'll play again in our gym."

### Sarah was one of the first people to get to Dave after he hugged Tony D, who yelled "You're crazy! I can't believe you threw that pass!" Bianca and Sarah hugged their men, and then fans came out of the stands to slap hands and talk to the players.

### Doherty smiled and looked across the gym at Dave, who nodded at Dave that it was time to keep the goodwill flowing. He picked up the public address microphone and started talking.

"Can I please have your attention for just a moment?" Doherty yelled as the excited crowd slowly settled down. "Wasn't that a great game?" The crowd cheered loudly for a few seconds. "I first wanted to thank Coach Bunning and the Central High team for being such a worthy opponent in this wonderful rivalry. Win or lose, they will always be champions!" The Central High guys smiled as the crowd chanted "Central! Central! Central!"

"We now have a few special presentations. The first is a painting commissioned by Bailey Woods High School to be hung just outside the gym in our Hall of Fame. The painting was done by our own Cameron Breslin off a photograph that was taken 10 years ago by Jeremy Goldberg."

### Cam removed the white cover off the painting to reveal a colorful depiction of the classic Bailey Woods-Central championship game as viewed from the stands. All ten players could be seen along with the Bailey Woods bench.

"Cam's a painter?" O'Malley said in a shocked tone.

"I didn't think he could even write," Brady stated.

### Finnegan finished, "He spray-painted a car once."

"Everyone in this gym will receive a special commemorative print on your way out." The crowd cheered as people came up to congratulate Breslin.

### An official-looking woman came up to Cam and said, "The mayor would like to speak with you next week about commissioning an entire series of historical painting for the town," and she handed him a business card and said, "Give me a call on Monday morning." Cam looked over to the mayor, who nodded and smiled.

"Before you run out and get those posters, we have one more announcement. For that, I will call on Dave Abrahams." He looked at Dave and said, "David."

### Dave stepped in front of the scorer's table and before he could speak, the chant of "D.A.!" was ignited. He smiled and looked through the crowd at his proud parents and sister, his teammates, Coach Doherty, and the Matt Phillips, who was instantly five years-old again and chanting for his hero.

### He put his right hand in the air and then turned his undivided attention to Sarah, who was glowing at first and then felt her stomach drop in knowing her man.

"Thank you. Thank you. We all left here 10 years ago eager to conquer the world outside Bailey Woods. What I discovered was that life is Bailey Woods. To be with our friends and family is a gift that is more precious than I can even put into words. Dave reached into his left sock and pulled out an object that he hid in the palm of his hand. He looked straight at Sarah, who was standing about 10 feet away. Her knees started to buckle like she was a freshman in her first game. He handed the microphone to Doherty, who followed Dave until he got to Sarah.

### Dave continued, "Just about everything special in my life has happened on this court, including meeting you. There's no sense in changing that today."

### He got down on one knee, his left, and said, "Sarah Elaine Lindman, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

### She started crying and emitted a barely audible, "Yes," as she struggled to stay aloft while extending her left arm. Dave slid the sparkling engagement ring on her left ring finger. The crowd erupted and congratulations became the order of the day for Dave, Sarah, and Cameron. Even the central High players got caught up in the emotion of the after-game festivities – so much so that the two teams went out together to O'Malley's after the game and partied to early the next morning, when Calvin Brown finally stop shadowing Dave.

### SEVENTEEN

Dave and Sarah were married the following year, but not in the Dolphins gymnasium. A new restaurant called The Ocean Grille opened up and Mayor McCheese knew someone, who knew someone, so they got the wedding for an insider's price.

### A few months after the Abrahams' wedding, Tony D and Bianca were married in a small, family ceremony in Italy. Bianca's father, a big olive oil importer from Italy, paid to fly the entire wedding party of ten people, including Dave and Sarah, to Italy. The 10-day trip occurred between the end of the school year and the start of the new Dolphin Summer Basketball Camp.

### The improvement in the Bailey Woods boy's and girls' basketball teams continued to be steady and strong. Sarah's team showed improvement, advancing to the second quarterfinal rounds of the playoffs in successive years. Pete's team advanced to the quarterfinals and semi-finals in years two and three.

### The real magic happened in year four, which was in line with Dave's self-imposed, four-year plan. This also coincided with Matt Phillips' first full year on the varsity team. He was moved up to the varsity squad near the end of his sophomore year, but saw only spotty minutes down the stretch before he "came out" during the team's playoff run.

### The team's starting small forward, Jimmy Powers, was saddled with four fouls mid-way through the fourth quarter of the quarterfinal game. The team was having trouble scoring, so Dave looked down the bench and noticed the confident smirk of Matt Phillips sticking out like a pair of wing-tip shoes.

"Matt! Get Powers."

### The young apprentice struggled to get his warm-up top off but quickly ran to the scorer's table. The buzzer sounded and Dave put his arm around Matt and said, "Get into the flow. Take your time."

### The team was down four points to East Wembley with three minutes to play. East Wembley committed a turnover and Matt ran down the court and took his place on the left wing. East Wembley sat back in a 2-3 zone defense that was as tightly packed as a pint of Baskin & Robbins ice cream – please insert your favorite flavor.

### Matt had been busting zone defenses since he played for his dad as a ten year-old in a local league. He had always been able to channel a little Dave Abrahams when the situation called for it. The ball swung around to Matt after a few passes and the defender shouted, "Shoot it, rookie!" as he backed up, daring Matt to shoot the ball.

### Matt didn't need any incentive to take an open 22-footer, so he turned and took the shot without hesitation.

### Dave's eyebrows rose as he muttered, "That's one way to get into the flow," as the three-pointer found a home in the bottom of the net.

### The team's policy was always to feed the hot man, so junior point guard, Jake Flowers, did just that. Next time down – same spot, same result – Bailey Woods up two.

### East Wembley missed again and Matt set up on the same side of the offense, but the defender was in his shirt this time. He instantly took what the defense gave him, and passed the ball under the basket to a wide open big man, Bobby Newton. Game over.

### Dave thought long and hard about starting Matt the next game, but decided to reinsert Jimmy Powers, a senior swingman, back into the lineup. But, Matt wound up playing the entire second half, while Powers split time with three other players in the team's heartbreaking three-point loss. Their new/old nemesis Central High heaved a desperation half-court shot at the buzzer and the Bailey Woods season was over.

### Sarah's team was fundamentally sound and refused to get rattled no matter what the circumstance. Their quarterfinal match-up against eventual champion, Grady, was the only game Grady was challenged the whole tournament. Grady's margin of victory was 35 and 32 points before the Bailey Woods game, and 27 and 22 to close out the championship. Sarah's team lost by only two points, and had a chance to tie the game with its last possession. The shot looked good out of the hands of Megan Grillo, but the ball clanked off the back rim and ended the year for the Lady Dolphins.

"Next year is our year," Dave said to Sarah as he flipped some vegetable on the grill in their backyard.

### Sarah sat under an umbrella in a chair of their patio set.

"Do you think we can beat Grady?"

### Dave looked at his wife and smiled, "If that game was two minutes longer, it would have been the biggest upset in Long Island history. Next year there will be no surprises."

### Sarah took a sip of her lemonade in a tall, pink plastic cup. She nodded and softly stated, "I think it's time."

### Dave turned off the barbeque and then arranged the colorful selection of peppers and mushrooms on an oval serving platter. He sat down on a chair across from his wife and poured a glass of lemonade.

"Yeah, I agree," he said as he sat back in the chair. "Time for what?"

### Just then, the peacefulness of the afternoon was broken by an onrush of chatter.

### Dave couldn't let it go, "What do you mean?"

### Sarah waived him off as she greeted her neighbors, Tony Bianca, Steve Brady and his wife, Lindsay. Yes, Sarah's friend Lindsay from basketball camp. The two woman remained friends and Sarah had introduced her to Steve Brady, who decided to live in of his houses next door and was a frequent guest at their house. He also made Tony D and Bianca an offer they couldn't refuse on a house a few doors down.

### The couples had a real nice thing going on – Brades handled the real estate, Dave invested their money, and Tony was the neighborhood handyman and also led the subdivision's Neighborhood Watch program.

### Later that night, Dave was lying in bed watching TV while Sarah was washing her face and removing her makeup.

"I can't believe school is going to start again in a few weeks," Dave said as he clicked through the channels.

### Sarah walked out of the bathroom, wiping the water off her face with a hand towel. "I think we should have a baby," and then she nonchalantly walked back into the bathroom.

### Dave rolled his eyes back and forth, turned off the TV, and then set up.

"What? Is that what you meant by, 'It's time?'?"

### She came to the doorway with a sheer, black negligee and replied, "It's time."

### The lights dimmed and clothes were flying everywhere. Dave was so attracted to his wife that he didn't need to be artificially excited, but the negligee did drive him wild.

### EIGHTEEN

### Six weeks later, Sarah emerged with a white stick and a red line. She said, "I'm pregnant."

### The feeling of elation for the couple was higher than winning any big game, or making an impact on a previously indifferent student.

"I thought the random heaving in the toilet was a dead giveaway," Sarah said.

### She did her best way to stay awake in the first trimester. The demands of her classes and her team became a bit of a grind, but it always was a grind.

### Dave spent a lot of time during those three months reviewing tape – watching college and professional teams and their schemes – while his wife rested on their bed in a peaceful slumber.

### He also spent a lot of time thinking of how he made the transition from child, to teenager, to twenty-something, to adult. His relationship with Haley only seemed to be a warm-up for the real thing, and Sarah was the real thing.

### The season was a blur from both Sarah and Dave, balancing doctor's appointments on the weekend with a hectic schedule during the week. Both of them would say that it was the quickest and least stressful season they had experienced in their four years as coaches.

### Any lack of focus on either of their parts was equalized by two star players that were natural born leaders. Matt Phillips stepped up from day one, averaging 22 points, ten rebounds, and three assists per game, and added to those numbers once the playoffs began.

### Ashley Carter was not only Matt's equal, but she was also his girlfriend. She average 24 points, four rebounds, and eight assists per game at 5'10", but played like a point guard. She became a huge match-up problem for every team Bailey Woods played. No matter what defense opposing teams threw at matt and Ashley, they always seemed to have an answer.

### The two basketball teams combined to lose only three games all year. The girls lost two games and the boys lost only a single game. Both teams had winning streaks of at least ten games during the season and the boys ran the table in the conference, winning its final 12 games – starting the season with six straight wins and then losing to Highland Brook on a quiet Saturday Afternoon game before the Christmas break.

### Oddly enough, Bailey Woods had a bye in the first round of the playoffs and then was matched up against Highland Brook in the second round. This time around, the game was at home and the outcome was decided early in the 28-point romp. Both the boy's and girls' team cruised into the finals and faced teams they had been unable to beat in the past.

### For Dave's team, it was Central High standing between him and another championship. The Grady Lady Bears, who had won three straight championships, stood in Sarah's way from giving birth and winning a championship, not necessarily in that order.

### Sarah was quite the trooper – carrying her baby to term and almost ready to burst – she had surpassed her due date by two days.

"I'm not concerned. This is very normal with women in their first pregnancy," Dr. Marshall said to Sarah on the day before the championship game.

"I know the big game is tomorrow, and I've seen you excited on the sideline. If you want to get through this game, I would try to utilize the breathing exercises that you've learned."

### Sarah nodded in understanding.

"I'm going to be on call tomorrow. Oh yeah, I'm going to be on call and at the game, so make sure the little one stays inside until both games are done," the doctor stated.

### Dave was more nervous about the birth of his child than he was about the championship game. Winning or losing a championship probably wouldn't materially change his life, but a child... well that would change everything.

### The 5,000 fans at the Nassau Veterans memorial Coliseum had one eye on the Grady-Bailey Woods match-up, and the other on expected-mother Sarah. Her mind was also split between her team and the escalating pain in her stomach and her back. By the time the second quarter buzzer sounded, Sarah was convinced she was in labor. Dave and Dr. Marshall could see the pain in her face, so they scooped her up and ushered her to the nearest training table at halftime.

### Sarah lost it, "I'm having strong contractions, doc!"

"Let me take a look, "Dr. Marshall said.

### He took his rubber gloves off and threw them in the closest garbage.

"What you're experiencing are Braxton Hicks contractions," he explained.

### He noticed the concern in Dave and Sarah's faces.

"This is normal. What you're having are false contractions. I still think you have about a five-hour window until the real action starts."

### Sarah stood up, thanked the doctor, and then walked into the locker room.

### Dave hung back and asked the doctor, "How will she know when it's time?"

### Braxton Hicks may not have been a player on the court that day, but the contractions were definitely rumbling around in Sarah's body. It was late in the fourth quarter and Sarah could see that Ashley Carter was running out of gas. This time around, Bailey Woods had an opportunity to take the last shot.

### Sarah drew up a play on the dry erase board, and then was helped back up to her feet by her players. She grabbed Ashley's arm, as the other four players walked back onto the floor.

### They were a similar height, which made it easier for Sarah to talk into her ear.

"I see that you're tired, but I'm about to give birth. You wanna' switch places?"

### Ashley took a step, looked back at Sarah, and shook her head saying, "No way."

### The clock ticked down from eight as Ashley waited like a cobra for the ball to be swung her way. Five seconds left.

### Ashley came from under the basket to the top of the left side of the foul line without slowing down. Ashley caught the ball on the move and dribbled once into the middle of the lane. Three seconds. Two defenders greeted her, so she rose and fittingly shot a baby hook shot. Two seconds. The ball floated toward the basket, as peaceful Sarah Abrahams started walking from her sideline to shake hands with Grady's coach, Gail Morton.

### She had seen her star take that shot a thousand times and was certain of the outcome. Sarah also wasn't sure if she would make it through overtime, being that the score was tied at the time.

### The fine members of the Nassau Coliseum security force lined the court to ensure that the fans would not create a melee on the high-priced floor. They braced themselves as Ashley's flip found a cushy home in the net, setting off a massive celebration. More than half of the crowd was from Bailey Woods – the town was only a three-minute drive from the home of hockey's New York Islanders.

### The uniqueness of the Class 1-A Boy's and Girls' Basketball doubleheader taking place on the same day for the first time ever, made Bailey Woods' participation in both games even that more special.

### Dave was ecstatic, but rush to his wife's side to ensure her safety. They hugged and she said, "I can't believe I'm having a baby today."

### He replied, "How do you know it's going to be today?"

### She grimaced, "A mother always knows."

### NINETEEN

### It had been 14 years since Dave made two free throws to give Bailey Woods the championship over Central High.

"If I go into labor, don't leave your team. Finish the game," Sarah said to Dave as building security was going to escort her to a more comfortable location on the ground floor of the building.

"You are my team. Tony has my back when you are ready," Dave replied as he kissed his uncomfortable wife on the forehead.

### It was one of those moments in life that completely split Dave in two. He kept looking over his shoulder the entire first half, waiting for security personnel to usher him through the bowels of the Coliseum to Nassau County Medical Center.

### The one comfort Dave had was knowing that the hospital was basically down the block, and only a few minutes by car from the venue.

### Halftime of the boy's game came and Bailey Woods held a four-point lead. Dave was escorted to an office where Sarah was lounging in a recliner. She had been watching the game on a closed-circuit feed and said, "If you call a time-out in the second half, I'm going to kill you!"

### She yelled, "One more thing!

### Dave turned around and Sarah continued, "When they go back to the press, the sidelines are wide open!"

### Dave replied, "One-three-one?"

### Sarah nodded, "One-three-one."

### Both coaches knew that the way to break Central's press was through a one-three-one setup, where the ball would go to Matt Phillips in the middle and he would pass to either side where two players were streaking down the sidelines.

### By the time Central High figured out they should go to a man-to-man defense, the game was already in hand. Dave listened to his wife and avoided calling a time-out the entire second half. The final buzzer sounded and Bailey Woods had its second championship of the day, following an eight-point victory.

### Dave was so intent on getting to his wife that he shook hands with the Central coaches and then bolted from the court to get to his wife. By the time he got back to his room, Dr. Marshall was standing next to Sarah.

"My water just broke," she said as she looked down to the floor to a small pool that surrounded her feet.

"It's time to go, kids," Dr. Marshall stated in a nurturing tone. "I'll see you at the hospital."

### A police escort to the hospital ensured that Sarah would be resting uncomfortably in the hospital within minutes. Once she went into labor, any thoughts or flashbacks of the day's events had been washed away with the efficiency of a bar of antibacterial soap.

### Once word spread about the impending birth, local News 12 crews dispatched and players and friends headed to the hospital. Two hours after they were escorted to the hospital, Sarah gave birth to a healthy nine-pound, five-ounce girl named Nicole Bailey Abrahams, affectionately called Nicky. As soon as baby and mom were cleaned up, the birthing room changed back into an upscale hospital room that could have doubled for a hotel room.

### Two guards had to be put in place outside of the room to regulate the flow of traffic. The procession of players, family, coaches, and media people seemed to be endless. The picture on the back cover of the Sunday edition of Newsday showed Dave holding both championship trophies and Sarah cradling baby Nicky with the headline, "AND BABY MAKES THREE!"

### Word had spread so much that Dave, Sarah, and Nicky were featured on the TODAY show the next morning, and then taped an OPRAH segment in the afternoon.

"That was a crazy day," Dave said to Sarah once the cameras were gone and Nicky went to the nursery for the night.

### Sarah affectionately squeezed Dave's hand, "That must have been torture for you."

"I couldn't think of anything else but you," he replied. Dave looked around and said, "We better get busy in a few months if we want to do this all again next year."

### EPILOGUE

The nest baby was three years in the making, giving mom and dad ample time to adjust to the many facets of Nicky. Andrew "Drew" Brandon Abrahams was born on May 15th, prompting Sarah to take the rest of the school year off.

### By the time Drew came into the world, both Sarah and Dave had won another championship each, with his coming in back-to-back fashion courtesy of Matt Phillips, and hers coming a few years apart.

### In all, when everything was said and done, Dave's teams won five Nassau County titles and one state title, and Sarah's team's won seven Nassau County titles and one Long Island championship. By the time their 32-year careers ended, their impact on the community was undeniable. Not only did they invigorate the junior basketball system in bailey Woods, they also gave the athletes a more balanced look at life. Every player in the league had to volunteer a few hours a week in the town – whether it was assisting seniors, repairing houses, cutting lawns or removing snow for the elderly, or raising money for local charities – the next generation would volunteer for more hours than asked.

### Being a Dolphins Basketball player meant a lot more than just throwing a ball through a hoop or playing tough defense, it meant being a productive, caring citizen.

### A 60 year-old Dave and a 58 year-old Sarah, along with Nicky, 24, and Drew, 21, witnessed the raising of banners at their retirement ceremony. These numbers were also shared by their kids, who shattered every record that was left standing at the school.

### Nicky decided to take over the women's team to ensure the continuity and integrity of the program, and Tony D took over the varsity boys' team for two years until Drew finished his Master's in Business Education. Tony D had transitioned through the years from head of security, to athletic director, to vice principal.

### Sarah and Dave retired from coaching and teaching, but they were appointed sports czars/directors for the district. It appeared that both sides were a little skittish about letting go. Retirement was definitely not an option for two vital people that still had so much to give.

### Dave had come a long way from almost marrying Haley, who had been divorced three times and wound up living and taking care of her miserable mother in the later years. Walter Abrahams' heart remained strong for 15 years after his heart attack, but died quietly while watching TV one afternoon. He happened to be watching a tape of his son playing basketball in high school and reportedly died with a smile on his face.

