Page 24 of His Hungry Wolf

Nero said, “Oh, we know him. Which is why we’re all a little confused.”

“What do you mean?” I asked unsure what was going on. “Are you all joking again? I can’t tell.”

Nero looked at Cage and then Cali. All three guys’ mouths were hanging open.

“Am I missing something?”

Cage gathered himself and explained.

“It’s just that a few of us in this room have some experience in football. Even Cali set a record last year in yards kicked.”

I turned to Cali, stunned.

“And, we all know Claude,” Cage continued. “Some of us better than others. But none of us would know why there would be a recruiter from the Cougars meeting with him.”

I stared at everyone confused. “You’re joking again.”

“No!” Nero confirmed. “I played with him in high school and we’ve hung out a few times since he’s been back. And I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

I looked around baffled.

“None of you know about his records?”

Everyone looked at Cali who responded, “I didn’t even know he played in college.”

“So, you don’t know?”

“Know what?” Cage asked.

I turned to Cage. “With all due respect, you were a good quarterback. If it wasn’t for your injury, I’m sure you could have been the starting quarterback on most NFL teams. But Claude is a quarterback with generational talent.”

“Claude Harper?” Nero confirmed.

“Yes.”

“In high school he played wide receiver,” Nero pointed out.

“I know. At tryouts I saw him throw and told the coach to test him at quarterback. He took us to three straight D2 titles.”

“Claude Harper?” Nero asked again.

“Yes! You don’t know how good he is. He is probably the most amazing quarterback I’ve ever seen in my life.”

When no one responded I continued.

“Once in the conference finals, we were down by 6 and there were 20 seconds left on the clock. My dad, I mean, the coach calls out a play. He waves it off, calls different audibles for the offensive line and the receivers, and then, in the middle of everything, invents a play on the spot.

“On the sidelines, we’re like, “What are you doing?” But then they hike the ball, Claude dances between the defensive line that pours through the offense like a sieve. We’re thinking, he’s gone. But as if a miracle, an opening the size of the red sea parts.

“How? We don’t know. All we know is that Claude is suddenly running through it. And he’s going and going. We thought he was gonna go all of the way until, out of nowhere, a cornerback is right on top of him.

“That’s when an amazing thing happens. He fumbles the ball from contact with his own body. The ball pops up and our wide receiver, who is somehow there, scoops it into his arms and runs it into the end zone.

“The crowd went wild. The receiver was given the game ball. He became a legend for rescuing our disaster of a quarterback.

“But the thing is, the coach and I studied his play. The play Claude called would have put the receiver exactly where he needed to be to pick up a fumbled ball by a quarterback who had run the field and had accidentally made contact with the ball because of pressure from an approaching cornerback.

“The entire play was intentional! He had come up with this on the fly with 20 seconds left and the game on the line. It’s beyond incredible! And that isn’t even the only time,” I said feeling my eyes burn and my nose getting stuffy.

---