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  Cody’s brother, Kenny, had pumped gas at

  Mr. Batra’s station since he was fourteen. Now he was an apprentice mechanic at a garage in Ridgetown and lived with a friend of his there. Cody knew his mother was right. They did just fine together when his mom was being his mom and a bookkeeper. But Cody still didn’t know what he thought about her being a coach. His coach.

  “That’s the great thing about being your own boss. You can make your own hours,” his mom added.

  “I guess.”

  “Plus the job comes with an honorarium.”

  “What’s that?”

  “A small amount of money. Not much, but we know every little bit helps, don’t we, paperboy?” Cody’s mother insisted he keep all the money he made delivering the Daily News so he had what she called “fun money” and a start on a college fund.

  In the summer, Cody and Talal were hoping to get jobs in the fields de-tasseling corn. It was hot, hard work, but he knew they could do it.

  “How about we give it a try?” asked his mom.

  “Okay.”

  “You’re sure you don’t have a problem with it?”

  “I’m sure.” Cody wondered if the others would. Never mind that his mother was starting as a coach after the team had already been picked. What if they thought the only reason Cody was on the team was because Coach Evans wanted his mom’s help?

  9

  Game Speak

  The day of the next practice, Cody and his mother walked through the school doors together. They could hear the music from where they stood in the hallway. “What is that?” his mother asked.

  “Rap. It’s supposed to help us find our rhythm.”

  “Well, it sounds like that’s where the action is. I’m pretty excited about this. You?”

  Cody shrugged.

  She paused and gave him a long look. “You just do your thing and I’ll do mine.” She held up her hand for a high-five. “Deal?”

  “Deal.”

  Coach Evans blew hard on his whistle when he saw them walk in. “Boys!” he called. “Gather round.” He waited for everybody to come to the bench. “Let me introduce Mrs. Janet Wallace, your new assistant coach.”

  Cody glanced around the circle to see the response. There were mostly just polite nods.

  “Hey, Mrs. W. Good to see you,” said Talal.

  “You too, Talal. Hello, everyone.”

  “Your mom, Wally?” Nick asked.

  Cody nodded.

  Nick didn’t say anything more. He just smiled.

  “Let’s get to work,” said Coach Evans.

  During the drills, Cody held back until Nick joined a line, so he could join a different one. His mom was careful to work with groups Cody was not in. So far, so good. Cody felt that, if that crazy music wasn’t playing, he might even be able to relax.

  “Scrimmage time,” called Coach Evans. “Cut the tunes. Here we go.”

  Jump ball. Lucas tipped it to Jamie. Jamie sent a quick pass over to Raj, who started toward the corner. Cody moved in to stop a pass going to centre, but then Raj turned suddenly and just about ran Cody over. Coach Evans pulled Cody up from where he lay pancaked on the gym floor.

  “Ooh, are you hurt, Wally?” called Nick, grimacing.

  Cody shook his head. He rolled his shoulders and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m good.”

  Coach clapped him on the shoulder. “Take your two shots, Cowboy.”

  Cody made his way to the line.

  “Remember to kiss that backboard,” said Nick.

  Some of the guys started making smooching sounds again.

  “Okay, okay, pipe down now,” said Coach Evans.

  “But Coach, that’s what you told us,” said Nick.

  “I know, I know.” He shrugged in Mrs. Wallace’s direction.

  Neither of Cody’s two shots went in. As the boys broke from along the key, Nick walked over to Cody, a concerned look on his face. “Are you sure you’re all right, Wally? It’s too bad you missed both of those, with your mom watching and everything.” Then he laughed. The rest of the team laughed, too, and someone slugged Cody on the shoulder to get him to join in, just like they were one big, happy family.

  Cody knew his mother could tell what was going on. Each time Nick had something to say, her eyes would go dark and she would put her hands on her hips. In his head, Cody begged her not to say anything. It would only make things worse.

  When practice was over, Cody’s mom helped clean up. She let Cody go out to the car on his own.

  “The team looks good, Cody,” she said when she finally climbed in the car. She put it in gear and pulled out of the parking lot. “Nice bunch of guys, although some of them smile so much you’d think they were in a toothpaste commercial.” She looked over at him. “I noticed it can get kind of loud in there sometimes, and I don’t mean the music. You let your game do the talking for you, okay?”

  “Sure,” Cody said. But he was afraid he’d forgotten how to speak, that he didn’t know the language anymore. He didn’t know how to explain it. He hoped his mom wasn’t going to ask any more questions.

  “I’m hungry,” she said as they pulled into the laneway. “You?”

  “Not really.”

  She shot him a look, eyebrows raised. “I’ll make us some dinner. Won’t be long.”

  As his mother hurried up to the house, Cody grabbed his basketball out of the garage. He thought about what he should do. He had to fix things with Nick before his mom decided she needed to do something about it. He had to do it before the game against Dresden. But what could he do? What exactly was the problem? Nick was always smiling, always nice, always joking. He often said things that even sounded helpful. Cody suspected Coach Evans could tell something was off, but wanted his players to work things out for themselves. Cody tried hard not to

  believe the coach just didn’t want to do anything that might jeopardize the performance of his star player.

  Cody had asked some of the other guys at school what they thought of Nick. All anyone said was how great he was at playing basketball. Nick had played for a big city school before his family had moved to Chatham. Malik had mentioned going over to Nick’s house and looking through stacks and stacks of glossy sports magazines. Izaak, Raj and Jamie had gone over a couple of times a week to play NBA Live. “He’s got his own PlayStation in his room,” said Jamie. “And a TV that takes up a whole wall!” Dan said Nick had half a dozen signed jerseys in his closet and shelves of trophies in his room, all of them for basketball. Shelves? Nick must have played a lot of ball before.

  Cody looked up at the tired, old hoop. He played a lot of ball too. He would play until he got better. He’d get so good, Nick would have to take notice and would let him be.

  Cody took a shot. Another. And another. It went in every time. That was more like it. Cody shot from the right. He shot from centre. He shot from the left. He kept shooting until he heard the screen door creak open.

  “Cody? Ready?”

  Yes.

  10

  Top Scorer

  It was game day. Cody knew it wasn’t a season game and didn’t count for the standings. But he was still

  excited. The Dresden Dragons warmed up on one half of the gym while the Chargers ran laps on

  the other.

  “Nick, Darnell,” called Coach Evans, “pull two bins of basketballs out of the equipment room, please. Just watch out for the wigglers.”

  With Nick gone, Talal was able to jog up next to Cody. Cody was met with a sight even more shocking than the clown shoes. Talal’s face was contorted into a strange grimace that pulled his eye sockets down,

  flattened his nose and made his lips disappear like they’d been sucked into a black hole. His neck muscles stood out like cords.

  Cody stumbled. “Whoa. Are you okay?”

  “It’s my
game face, dude! Where’s yours?”

  Cody stuck his fingers into the corners of his mouth and pulled.

  Talal shook his head. “That’s a lame-face game face. It needs work.”

  Cody laughed. “Well, yours is freaking me out. What are you planning to do, scare the Dragons off the court? Let’s go get a ball.”

  The ref stepped out to the centre of the court and blew his whistle to signal the end of the warmup.

  Coach Evans called the Chargers to the bench. “Okay, team. Let’s show them what we’ve got. Starters, out you go.”

  From the jump, Cody wished he was out on the court. The thump of the ball and the squeak of shoes on the gym floor sounded like music to him. Dresden started the scoring early with a left-handed lay-up. Darnell followed with a hard pass from the end line to Jamie, who popped it quickly up to Raj left of the net. His shot bounced off the rim, but Dan caught the rebound and put it through the mesh. Back and forth the two teams went. Bounce pass, off the backboard, off the rim, off a foot, swipe, steal, jump, basket. Basket. Basket.

  “Chargers!” Coach Evans called down the bench. “We’re going to give Jamie a quick break. He’s been speeding around like a pinball out there and now he’s starting to wilt like a sunflower in need of a sprinkler. Cowboy, get ready to ride.”

  Cody took his place on the floor, excitement

  flooding him like a fever. He wanted to score so badly that he took a couple of crazy shots. He threw a juiced-up jumper that almost dented the backboard, followed by an air ball that dropped straight into the hands of a Dragon player. Red-faced, Cody looked over at his coach and shrugged. Over at the sideline, Coach Evans frowned. But Nick, standing just outside the key, was grinning widely.

  “I’m here for you, Wally,” said Nick.

  “Settle down, Cody,” called Coach. “Think it through.”

  In the next few minutes, Nick scored twice. Eric came in for Raj. Malik subbed in for Cody. I’m going to warm the bench for the rest of the game, Cody thought.

  Just ahead of the half-time buzzer, Nick got a chance to go up for his trademark shot. No sitting for Spin-man. He was on a roll.

  “Beauty,” said Coach Evans, high-fiving Nick as he came off the court. He turned to the rest of the players. “Great work, everyone. We’ve got a nice lead going. You’re lining up those points just like radishes in a row. We want to keep that up in the second half now.”

  He reached for the sheet of paper Cody’s mom was holding out. “Here’s what we’re going to do. Darnell, Dan, you two stand up nice and tall under those nets. Your job is to swat their shots into the back forty and catch the rebounds for us on either end. Talal, Lucas, Cody, you three hop on out there after the break and see if you can bop a few more through the bushel. Nick, you take a breather.”

  “I’m good, Coach. I don’t need a break,” said Nick.

  “Don’t worry. We’ll get you and Jamie back out there in a little bit. Izaak, Stephan, stand by. You’re going in next.”

  Had Cody heard that right? Did the coach just tell him to go out and Nick to take a break? The whistle blew. Cody took a deep breath and found his place on the floor. Talal jogged past him with his eyes crossed and his tongue sticking out. “Game face,” he called. Cody laughed. He rolled his shoulders and shook out his fingers.

  The Dragons put the ball in at the sideline. They made a quick pass to centre, then one more pass up the right side. But Darnell was there to intercept.

  He sent the ball back out of the danger zone to Lucas. Talal and Cody each headed for a corner. Lucas looked left, then right, then popped Talal the pass. Defenders were all over Talal in an instant and he poked a bounce pass back out to Lucas, who took a long shot. Off the rim. Dan hooked the rebound and whizzed it straight over to Cody, who was still hovering in the corner. Knowing he had to get rid of the ball quickly, Cody took two steps toward the net, steadied the ball and launched it. In it went. Two points.

  “Well done, boys!” shouted Coach. “Do it again.”

  Dresden brought the ball up the right side and sent a long pass to their waiting centre. He shot, but it was blocked by Dan and tipped outside the key. Talal scooped it up and tossed it over to Lucas. The ball was passed back to Darnell, then over to Dan, then to Lucas. Lucas brought it forward, then flipped it over

  to Talal who took a shot from the left. Off the rim. The Dragons stole the rebound before Darnell could grab it. They sent another long pass down the sideline and a quick one over. Basket for Dresden.

  Izaak came in for Dan. Stephan came in for Talal. Stephan held the ball at the end line. Then he sent it quickly in to Izaak, who relayed it over to Lucas. Lucas looked left, then passed hard right to Cody. Cody knocked it back down to Stephan. A short Dragon

  defender stepped forward to block Stephan from

  giving the ball away. Cody snuck in behind him.

  He caught a high pass from Stephan, turned to the net and let go of the ball. The shot was a little bit soft and it hung on the rim for a second. But then it fell right in. Yes!

  Cody glanced at the bench to see if there were subs waiting to come in. “You’re doing fine out there,” called Coach Evans. “Hang in a while yet.”

  “Wait,” started Nick, “you said —”

  “Don’t worry, Nick,” said Coach Evans.

  The Chargers on the court got to finish off the quarter. Somehow Izaak poked a bounce pass out to Cody from a swarm of Dragon players. Cody tore up the open court and scored. A few seconds later, Cody tripped in a tangle of players on another run to the Dresden net and was awarded two foul shots.

  He swished them both. The buzzer went and Cody got a high-five from each of his teammates, except for Nick, who was busy re-tying his shoes.

  “Good work, everyone,” praised Coach Evans. “Nice shooting, Cowboy. Take a short break, now. Then we’ll be calling on you again. Nick, Raj, Jamie, Eric, Malik, you’re up. Talal, Darnell, be ready to go in the next few minutes. Cody, Lucas, Dan, you’re up after that. Izaak, Stephan, we’ll sneak you in

  before that last buzzer goes. See how organized we are?

  It’s great having an assistant coach.”

  The Chargers won their first game easily. In the final quarter, Lucas scored a three pointer. Darnell caught a rebound and fired a long shot up to Malik, all alone at the Dragon net, who popped in an easy lay-up. With three seconds left, Cody picked up a pass from Dan and cut to the basket. “Kiss it. Kiss it,” he whispered.

  He snuck in a final two points just as the buzzer went. With ten points, Cody was the game’s top scorer.

  On the way home, Cody’s mom held out her fist. Cody pounded it with his own.

  “You found your game,” she said.

  “Yep.”

  “Nice.”

  Cody smiled. He felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. The pressure was gone. The test, if that’s what it had been, was over. He had shown Nick he was a worthy teammate. Things would be better now, he was sure of it.

  11

  Hoops-free

  Cody didn’t understand why, but things got worse instead. More than ever, every time Cody turned around, Nick was there. He was waiting for Cody at the gym doors, jumping to be his partner for the drills at practice, behind him in every line-up. He would even help when it was Cody’s turn to put things away after practice.

  One day Nick handed Cody some new shoelaces. Another time he gave him a basketball magazine with some tips on shooting. “We were lucky in the game against Dresden,” Nick said. “We had a nice lead. That’s why everyone got a chance to play. That may not happen every game.”

  Nick never called Cody names. He never outright dissed Cody’s gear or his game. He was just always there, helping, smiling. But he did it without any sparkle.

  Soon the shine left Cody’s game again too.

  Coach Evans took Cody aside one afternoon.


  In the free throw drill, nothing of Cody’s had gone in.

  Cody could have sworn there was plastic wrap stretched across the hoop, but everyone else’s shots found their way through the mesh. Especially Nick’s.

  “Cowboy, are you feeling all right?” Coach Evans asked.

  “I think so.”

  “Are you getting enough sleep? Is everything okay at school?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, well, I guess I’m looking for a little more from you then. Are you up to it?”

  “Sure,” answered Cody. But he wondered if he had any more. Nick seemed to be the guy who had

  it all.

  “Time for a short scrimmage,” yelled Coach Evans. “Listen up. Mrs. Wallace will call out the lines.”

  Cody’s mom was writing on her clipboard as the team came to the bench.

  “Mrs. Wallace,” asked Nick. “I was just wondering . . . how do you put the lines together?”

  She looked up. “What do you mean?”

  “How do you decide who’s playing when?”

  “Well, I consider who needs a break, of course. And I try to see who the other team is putting out and who might be able to best defend against them. But I also try to pair strength with strength.”

  “So you think certain players should play with certain other players.”

  “At times, yes.”

  “Do you also think certain players should not play with other players?”

  “Could you explain?”

  “I mean, I don’t ever seem to be on the court at the same time as say . . . Cody. Why would that be?”

  “Like I said, I try to pair strength with strength. It’s not about individual players. It’s the players on the court together and how they can work most effectively.”

  “I see.” Nick smiled.