Adam Blake - 12. Chapter 12

Billy was all smiles as he left the lockers. He gave his dad and mum a hug, while he jumped on me, almost knocking me over. “That was a fine run. Who was the kid that almost beat you?”

The look on Billy’s face said a thousand words, “I had him all the way. He’s a good runner. Did you notice his warm-up, it was just like mine? I knew he’d be my competitor.”

“Do you know why the guys in the green uniforms didn’t make it in the top five?”

“No, I wasn’t watching their warm-up. The only reason I noticed that other guy was because he was next to me and we were doing the same thing.”

“Adam said they would drop out or slow up because they didn’t pay enough attention to warming up their hamstrings.”

“Adam, I followed your warm-up with Dad helping. I’m glad I did. Do you remember telling me to ignore the kids who would laugh when I did warm-ups? Well, they did, until I beat them three races in a row. Then I noticed them watching me and trying to copy, I asked the coach why didn’t he tell us about warming up. He said it was too much trouble and we never won anything anyway.”

“Teachers can deflate the best and brightest. There are a lot of teachers who shouldn’t be teaching. Sometimes I think they got their degrees because it was the easiest but if you want to do the job right, it isn’t.”

“Tell him what you did Billy.”

“Well, since the coach wasn’t going to tell them, I did. I showed them like you showed me and guess what, we started to win some races. Not all because even with warm-ups some weren’t really into running.”

“What happened to the coach?”

“After we started to win, he had more work to do, the school expected training schedules and exercise schemes. He said it was too much for him so he took retirement. Our new coach has been out of school for only two years. He was an assistant coach at Newbury but here he is the head coach of track, assistant coach for basketball and football. Everyone likes him and he makes us warm-up before any games we play.”

“Bill, how many times have we said a teacher can make or break a student.”

“We were lucky and so were a lot of jocks because you tutored them.”

“I only tutored three even if the kids thought I tutored all of them. Actually, that is what led me to get my doctorate in education. I realized that teachers taught to a standard that excluded both ends of the curve.”

“Adam, you know what my winning means?”

“You get to buy lunch?”

“No, when are we going on vacation?”

“You have a few weeks of school left don’t you?”

“Yes”

“Ok, I’ll be here for two weeks, when I leave I’ll tell you what we’re going to do.”

“Aw, why can’t you tell me now?”

“Because tomorrow we race and your dad is going to join us at 5 am. Like old times Bill.”

“Same route?” I just nodded yes.

Later that night at home, “Dad, does your friend still have that cottage at the beach?”

“Yes, I think he does.”

“Could you call him and see if I could use it for two weeks. I think I’ll take Billy there and teach him how to run on sand. Probably the only time I’ll be able to beat him.”

“Bill said you help him a lot when they visited you.”

“Not really, I didn’t do anything that Bill couldn’t have done. We ran, I taught him about warming up and showed him how. We went sightseeing which ended up him getting some books to read. I think, between you and me, Bill was too busy to spend time with his son. I gave him something to occupy his time and solve a problem at school. Bill could have done the same but I’m glad he has now stepped up to the plate.”

Dad called his friend and he let me have the cabin for the two weeks I wanted. The next morning we ran, Bill included, and as predicted I lost and had to pay for the pizza.

The morning of the last day of school, I told Jennifer where we would be. I asked her to be sure he had a swimsuit but she had to do it so he wouldn’t know. She was in on it. “You know you’ll have to do something special with Scotty. He’s a little bashful but anytime Billy talks about you he’s all ears.”

“I can do that. How about a week at Disney?”

“Would you consider taking both boys?”

“Yes, but I’ll need to do something with Scotty without Billy.”

“No, I think he’ll be happy with Billy tagging along. Just make sure you emphasize that this is Scotty’s vacation with you.”

“Ok, we’ll do that. After we leave you can tell Scotty. Tell him it’s a secret.”

On the last day of school, I met Billy at his school. In the morning I picked up his bag so we’d leave as soon as school was out. I watched as he left school, he looked around and when he saw my car he came running over. “Where’s Mom? I expected her to pick me up.”

“She didn’t want to come so I was told to pick you up. Do you mind the switch?”

“No, I just need to drop off my book bag, and then we can go.”

“I just kept driving to the interstate. When he realized we weren’t heading toward his home, he looked at me with a question in his eyes.

“I stopped at your home before coming to pick you up at school. Your bag is in the trunk along with mine. So sit back we’ll stop for a snack as soon as we get on the interstate.”

He just smiled, “Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise”

“Give me a hint?”

“I’ll beat you running.”

Now a confused look on his face, “Relax, you’re going to have a good time and we’ll run every day. Only this time I’ll win and you can buy lunch.”

“I don’t have any money.”

“Open the glove box. There’s an envelope there from your mother.”

He took the envelope, saw the note his mother had written and the money. I looked at him and he had a smile on his face. “I guess you do have enough money to buy lunch if you lose.”