Friday Night. Photo, JMN.
Darrien and Derrick Wortham were twins. They looked as much alike as any two children could look. Played varsity ball together under Spunk McGruder. Spunk replaced Moon Wattles after Moon had that little problem in the locker room. Nice boys. Juneau thought she had a crush on Darrien, but it turned out to be Derrick.
Longhorn graduated before Spunk took over. His knee was just too messed up for him to play ball at Tarquin like he wanted to. He said, “Momma, what am I gonna do? All I’ve ever wanted to do is play sports.” I said, “Well then, honey, see if you can get a degree in education.” Sure enough, he switched his major from Agricultural Economics to Sports Psychology and Marketing. He’s applying for the assistant coach opening here at Stag High. He’ll have to teach Social Studies, too, but that shouldn’t be a problem. Heck, gimme the book and I could teach it.
Juneau has her heart set on rushing the Gamma Omicrons at Tarquin — that’s the cheerleading sorority. I said, “Sweetheart, Juneau darlin’, that’s just fine, but I’m gonna suggest you wait until your sophomore year to rush the Gamma Omicrons. Freshmen have a lot of adjustments to make. Plus — and I told her this point blank — you need to help raise this baby girl of yours. She’s just three months old now, but Bree Lynn needs her momma on weekends and holidays. I expect you to come home and help me out, especially until Derrick gets paroled. Hopefully he’ll lend a hand to raise the fruit of his loins. And it wouldn’t hurt if ya’ll got married while you’re at it!”
That’s what I told her. Juneau went off and sulked for awhile about it, but I think she’ll come around. There are too many mommas in this town who are raising their grandkids. I wish I’d put Juneau on the pill sooner, but that’s spilt milk. Thank goodness for modern medicine.
[Stag Country, Copyright (c) 2018 James Mansfield Nichols. All rights reserved.]
