Award

Tuesday eventually got there and she complimented me on my improved mobility as I got to the table. We continued as though we never had a riff, and talked through lunch hour. As we got up, I told her, "Vicky, I missed you, too." That earned me a big smile.

I got another Friday invitation, but, when I arrived I was surprised to see only Vicky at the house. Carol and Jimmy were both at the Mooreville game with their new friends. I marveled at the way they transitioned to their new surrounding. Yet, Vicky was still stuck in a Twilight Zone of languishing her senior year of school with me as her only friend.

We just sat and talked as the radio once again played in the background. Vicky refrained herself from breaking the conversation when Will Akers was mentioned on the air and I diplomatically left right after the game, so she could talk with Will when he called.

Sunday, she sat by me in church again, and we talked at length in the parking lot. I could tell she was a little nervous, but, she never said what was bothering her. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on. I figured she would tell me in due time. Monday, I got the same vibe from her. Tuesday, I asked her what was going on that was bothering her.

She told me a favorite band of hers was playing in Mooreville this Friday night and did I want to go. I asked her what was the name of the band and she told me it was Angelfire. I must have shown some surprise on my face, but, she reassured me that even though it was an all girl band that I would enjoy it. I told her I was sure I would. I made a note to make a special call that night.

Friday came and I drove my truck over and picked her up. We got to the small venue and got a table on the front row. Vicky was perplexed. She explained she could only get standing room audience tickets, not a reserved table. I told her not to question our good fortune.

It wasn't all peaches and cream. The table next to us had four of the biggest, ugliest lumberjack lesbians I had ever seen and they let me know in no uncertain terms that I wasn't welcomed there. I kept ignoring them and eventually the house light dimmed and the band came out to thunderous applause.

They did a three hour set of hard rock, with a few acoustic ballads interspersed throughout the set. The lead guitarist and singer paid a lot of attention to our table, looking and smiling at us. Once during a song break she addressed us with the question of how we were enjoying the show. That even got the lesbians attention of why we warranted such notice.

When the band came back out for their encore, the singer went to her mic and said, "We want to bring up a helluva guitarist for this song, so come on up here Shoe!"

The stunned look on Vicky's face quickly gave way to delight and cheers from her as I stood up and went to the stage. They already had a Gibson Les Paul tuned and plugged in for me. Once more, the singer turned to me and said, "Think you can keep up with this one?" with a grin, as the drummer counted it down.

Then, the bass player began the opening riff to "Whipping Post" and then I began the rhythm guitar intro, and we were off to the races, as the singer whipped her audience into a frenzy all the way through the song. As I concentrated on the crescendo guitar lead mixing with the piercing lead guitar slide, I chanced a glimpse of Vicky staring enthralled at me. Then came the final climatic pleading wail of the singer being tied to the whipping post and the fade of the notes signaling the end.

For a few brief microsecond, there was dead silence; then an explosion of sound filled the building as the roar of applause and cheers echoed everywhere. The guitarist came over to me as I unstrapped the Gibson and gave me a big hug and kiss, which gave rise to another round of applause, as she shouted into her mic, "Shoe Andrews!"

As I passed the stunned lumberjack lesbians, I thought, Take that, you bitches! Vicky was hopping up and down as I approached and said, "OH MY GOD! You were fantastic!!!" as she hugged me in a tight embrace.

I grabbed her hand and said, "Come on, we have to go backstage!" and I led her pass the now envious lesbians. As we got backstage, the singer spotted me again and shouted out, "Shoe!" and ran to me and gave me another hug and kiss. "Did you enjoy that, little brother?"

That last comment must have explained a lot of questions Vicky had as the realization kicked in. I introduced Vicky, to my sister, Mary and then to the rest of the band. Vicky gushed as she told them they were her favorite band.

Mary told her, "Yeah, Shoe told us that, so that's why we wanted to make this a special time for you." as she sipped on her honey laced hot tea to soothe her throat.

"I have to ask, why do you call him Shoe?"

Mary smiled with a gleam of mischief, "When Jim was a baby and was teething, he somehow got ahold of our mother's favorite dress shoes and chewed one of them so bad that she had to throw them away. So from that point on, we always called him Shoe!"

The band, their entourage, and Vicky all cracked up laughing with Mary's explanation. Then Mary, in an act of sheer devilment offered to tell Vicky more embarrassing tales about me. To forestall the utter destruction of my reputation I told Vicky we had to go. As we retreated from backstage, Mary told Vicky to call her and she would tell her everything. I groaned at this unforseen consequence.

All the way home Vicky raved about the evening and I was happy that for at least tonight I saw Vicky totally happy. Another side benefit was the specter of Will Akers did not appear. For once, I had Vicky all to myself.

When we got to her house, I walked her to her door. I leaned down to kiss her and she stopped me. "Jim, I can't cheat on Will."

The euphoria I had felt before deflated and I bumbled through an apology and left. Saturday, I tried to call her and I got her voice mail. Sunday, she sat with her family at church.

Come Monday, she was sitting at our table. As I sat down, she looked away from me. When she gathered the courage to look at me, she found me staring in her beautiful green eyes.

Before she said anything, I spoke.

"Vicky, Friday night I made a big mistake. My mistake wasn't trying to kiss you. It was apologizing for wanting to kiss you. You are an incredible and beautiful girl. The only happiness I have in my life is when I'm around you. Every hour I'm with you makes me want to have another hour with you."

"With that said, I understand how you feel about your boyfriend, Will. I wish he wasn't in your life, but, I have to accept that he is. I won't try to take advantage of you, but understand this, if you ever need me, I'll be there for you. Because I care deeply for you and that feeling is growing every day I see you."

I got up and limped down toward class. Approaching me was Ricky and Katie in all their glory, riding high on an undefeated season. I heard some derogatory remarks from their entourage and laughter erupting as Ricky made a comment. It made me wonder, did the same thing happen for me when I was riding high? Did people actually hang on every word I said? Had I been that big a jackass?

That evening, I got a call from my sister, Mary. She asked me what I was doing Saturday evening. I told her I didn't have any plans. She asked if I wanted to sit in with Angelfire for an entire show. I enthusiastically agreed to do that. She asked me if Vicky would be with me and I told her I would ask her.

When I saw Vicky at lunch the next day I asked if she had plans for Saturday night. She reddened and mumbled about having a prior commitment. I understood that meant that she and Will had something planned. I quickly changed topics and we bumbled through the rest of the lunch period. We continued our uneasy alliance the rest of the week.

Saturday, I found myself on Angelfire's tour bus as Mary went through the repertoire of songs we would be playing tonight. Even with the impromptu rehearsal, I apparently met the band's satisfaction as we wheeled onto Carden, the city we would be playing at. Between practicing the songs, Mary launched into an unending interrogation about Vicky and I continued to deflect her enquiries.

Soon we were set up on the stage and ran through a sound check. As we waited backstage for the show to begin, the owner came back pleased to announce a standing room only crowd of 2,500 awaited us.

"Nervous, little brother?" my sister asked. I smiled and reminded her that I was used to playing football to crowds more than 10,000. But the truth was, I was petrified doing something out of my comfort zone, but, I didn't want to let Mary down.

After we were announced, we entered from offstage and the first thing that caught my eye was the same four ugly lesbians sitting in the front row. I think they were just as shocked as I gave Mary a rueful grin as I plugged into my amp.

We cranked through the first set and I apparently played well enough to satisfy even the lesbians as they began to cheer my playing. I began to really enjoying myself as we finished the last song of the set and we moved offstage for a short break.

"Jim, Jim Andrews!" a voice shouted from the crowd. I peered in the crowd and quickly made out Vicky and her boyfriend, Will Akers. Will was holding Vicky's hand as he negotiated his way to the stage. I could tell Vicky was uncomfortable and reluctant as he led her toward us.

"Hey man, great to see you here!" he exclaimed as he held Vicky close to him. I knew Mary was watching us trying to figure out what was going on. As far as that went, so was I. It wasn't as though Will and I were friends.

"Vicky has been telling me that you've been taking care of her for me!" he said with a shit eating grin. Too bad about your knee, I was looking forward to beating you this year. I guess I'll have to settle to being All-State and Champion without your help. Maybe, you can come watch me play when I start playing college ball!" Will continued to taunt me. "At least, you've got something to fall back on now that you can't play ball." he sneered.

I just looked at him and then a mortified Vicky as I excused myself and went backstage. An incensed Mary demanded, "Who was that motherfucker?" I looked my sister in the eyes and told her that was Vicky's boyfriend. She thought a few minutes and told the band there was a change in plans for the closing set.

When we came back out, I spotted where Vicky and a smug Will Akers were sitting. What the audience didn't know was I was going to be showcased the entire set as I blazed through one song after another whipping the crowd into a frenzy. When we ended the set, the entire band was drenched in sweat from the energy and the crowd insisted on encore after encore.

Finally, just Mary and I took the stage carrying Martin acoustic guitars. As the crowd settled, we both began playing the opening chords of Shake Russell's, "You Got A Lover"

"The clubs are all closed and there's nowhere to go and the sun won't show for hours. The streets have all emptied and lovers lay sleeping and dreaming of each other."

I sang the ballad with the heartache I felt.

I looked at Vicky as I addressed the next lines to her.

"You've got a lover but it's not me. He can't love you like I can. There will be others, yes I understand. Will they love me like you can?"

Mary took the next lines and her piercing voice gave reply to my anguish.

"There's acres and acres of heartbroken lovers, I know we're not the first ones. But sometimes it seems, that it's just like a dream that you try hard to remember."

We harmonized on the chorus consoling one another and then I sang the final stanza.

"The clubs are all closing, you know, I was hoping that time would hold me over. I pull up my collar, walk into the night, I'll be looking for an answer."

Once again, we sang the chorus, and when Mary's mournful voice soared on the line, "It's not me" opened the floodgate to everyone in the audience. It seemed like every female was weeping as we finished. The audience surged forward as the rest of the band came out to accept the final accolades.

While they signed autographs and had pictures taken, I found myself being hugged by the four charter members of the Shoe Andrews Fan Club. I thanked them for their compliments and reminded them that Angelfire's CD's were being sold out front. They promised they would all buy a complete set as they left. Vicky and Will did not come by.

Finally, we stumbled backstage and began recovering from all the effort. I got hugs and kisses from the band as they complimented my playing and told me that I was welcome to play anytime with them. Mary had me sign a release, so they could market tonight's performance. She assured me that I had increased the bankroll of everyone in the band. I fell asleep all the way back home.

Mary spent a rare night home and joined us for church in the morning. She gave a non committal stare at Vicky as she and Will went to sit with her family. After the service, I noticed that Mary had taken Vicky off for a private talk for a few minutes. I asked her what was going on as Mary drove me home. She just smiled andsaid she had just exchanged phone numbers with Vicky.

The next day at school signaled several changes. The big news at school was the upset loss the Eagles had suffered to a weak Parlington team. Coach Chambers had chewed out Ricky Wilson during the game on the sidelines. Ricky, in turn, threw a temper tantrum, blaming the defense for the loss. The upshot was the quest for an undefeated season was over and Ricky's star had a little tarnish on it.

I couldn't have cared less. Vicky had greeted me at lunch with a big smile and our discomfort from the past week was over. She told me how much she enjoyed my playing without ever mentioning Will. I accepted the compliment and decided not to bring down the conversation by mentioning his comments to me.

Then she gave me the surprising news that I would be hosting her dad and brother at deer camp this weekend. That was a shock because my dad and I hunted with a close-knit group of friends. Outsiders were rarely invited to hunt on the grounds and to be allowed to camp was almost unheard of.

It made me understand how close our families had become over the past couple of months. For Dad to invite Mr. Smith and Jimmy to our camp was the final approval of acceptance. I asked Vicky how often her dad and Jimmy had hunted in the past. She told me this would be their first time. She noticed right away my frown.

"Is there something wrong, Jim?"

I recovered and smiled and said, "Nothing that can't be fixed, Vicky."

Before I got to class, I made a quick call to the Smiths' household. When I got home, Jimmy and Mr. Smith were waiting for me as I loaded up the truck. I took them out to a shooting range and began instructing them on gun safety. I continued to stress over and over the need for care handling weapons.

Then, I went over and got my rifle, a Winchester Model 70, 30-06. I began to explain the features to my wide-eyed students. Then I let them handle the weapon and made them both recite back to me the things I had told them.

Then, I explained the power of the 30-06. This was a rifle that had a lot of knock down power, but, it translated back into having a hard recoil. I gave them both a pad to stuff in their shirt to lessen the recoil.

We moved up to the firing line and they watched as I carefully loaded the weapon. All the time I was explaining how to sight the weapon and to squeeze, rather than jerk the trigger. I took aim and fired at the target 100 yards away. They flinched at the explosion of the round as I moved the bolt and ejected the round. I quickly brought the rifle back up and fired again. Another cartridge ejected and another round fired. When the rifle was empty of cartridges, I had them look through the scope at the grouping of shots in the bull's-eye.

Mr. Smith was quietly determined as I reloaded and handed him the weapon. As he began to fire, I gave out pointers and soon he was hitting the target consistently. I did the same for Jimmy, but, I told him, if he didn't like shooting, to tell me. I didn't want to force him to do this. He was determined to follow the example me and his father had set.

When he fired the first time, I thought he was going to be knocked to the ground. He was game, however and insisted on being allowed to shoot. When we finished for the day, I drove them home and they asked if I could continue to give them afternoon lessons.

For the rest of the week, they target practiced on targets consisting of deer images and the vital points to aim for. I kept stressing safety to them and slowly introduced hunting etiquette and the various traditions of our deer camp.

Mr. Smith had done some homework and decided he would purchase a Remington 700, 243 caliber for the hunt and practiced extensively to get used to it. Jimmy was disappointed to learn that for this first year, he would not have a rifle. I continued to try to cheer him up as we prepared to go to camp.

Friday came and my dad introduced Mr. Smith and Jimmy to everyone and they fitted right in from the first moment. We were given our hunting areas and I told Jimmy he could come with me and his eyes lit up. Dad would accompany Mr. Smith so we would both be responsible for a novice hunter.

We soon got to bed, since we would need to be in our blinds before dawn. I woke up around 4am and went to build a fire in the old wood burning stove and put on the coffee pots that would fuel the hunters. One by one, they awoke and we silently did the chores to get ready for the hunt. I studied Jimmy's gear and made sure he had his hunting license as we went out into the forest of the cold October night.

We got to our blind and waited for the dawn to break. We were awarded with a gorgeous sunrise as we continued to wait in silence for the world to awaken. Soon, we were alerted to faint intermittent gunshots echoing through the woods. Still, we saw nothing.

After about an hour I felt a hard tug on my jacket. I looked and realized Jimmy had spotted a deer. Not just a deer, but, a trophy deer as I studied the large 14 point white tail. This was the type deer every hunter lusted for and now it was in my grasp. I sneaked a peek at Jimmy and the look of yearning as he stared focused on the deer was unmistakable.

I nudged him and his eyes widen in surprise as I offered him my rifle. I nodded at him to accept it and slowly, not to spook the deer he took it. As he took aim, I prayed he would make a clean kill, so we wouldn't have to track down a wounded animal. He fired and the deer went instantly down and did not get back up.

"Oh my God, Jim!" he yelled excitedly as he safety the rifle. I took the weapon from him and carefully prodded the deer to make sure he was dead. I didn't have to bother, Jimmy's shot had hit him dead center in the heart. All the practice at the shooting range had paid off.

"What do we do now?" he asked as he was still jumping up and down. I grinned at him and told him to take one of his tags off his license and attach it to the antlers. He did so and then asked the next step.

"Now" I said as I hoisted the front legs of the deer on my shoulders, "we go back to camp!" I started dragging the deer behind me. I continued to grin as Jimmy floated on air beside me carrying my rifle. I was pleased to see that he kept it pointed away from us at all time.

As I struggled to carry the big buck through the woods, it dawned on me that my knee was giving me no trouble. Perhaps, just perhaps, I might hope to recover fully I thought. When we finally came to the clearing at the deer camp, I gasped to Jimmy, "Next year, you're dragging your own damn deer!" His grin told me, he could've probably done it.

I told him, that the next part may be unsettling to him as I explained the need to dress the deer.