My Stepfather Shoved Me Headfirst Into A Trash Can After I Beat His Son In The Championship Game.
/
Chapter 13 / 20
Chapter 13
Coach Martinez got sick my junior year.
Cancer.
The word knocked the air out of me.
He called the team into the locker room and told us like he was announcing a rain delay.
“I’ll be out for treatment. Assistant Coach Lee will step in.”
Nobody moved.
Then Mateo, who was visiting, said, “That’s a terrible speech.”
Coach laughed.
We all cried.
I visited him in the hospital between games.
He hated it.
Which meant he loved it.
One day, I brought the championship ball.
He stared at it.
“Why bring that old thing?”
“Because you ran toward me when everyone else froze.”
He looked away.
“I did my job.”
“No,” I said. “You did more.”
His eyes filled.
“Then do more for someone else someday.”
That became another kind of inheritance.
May you like
Not money.
A command.
