Page 1 of Summer Message

Prologue

Matthew Collins

Three years ago

“Matthew Collins pulls back for the snap. This kid has an arm on him and is going to be in the Super Bowl someday. As he throws the ball to wide receiver Al Jennings, he goes down.” The announcer tells the world watching the game. “Oh no. It was a late hit with a penalty against the away team. Collins isn’t moving. The referees surrounded Collins after Jackson ran for thirty-two yards. This doesn’t look good folks. The medical staff is now on the field evaluating Collins. They’re bringing in the gurney. Oh, look at this kid’s face. He’s in a lot of pain, tears coming down his face. This is breaking my heart.”

“They’ve stabilized his left leg, and he’s off to the locker room to get checked out. We will keep you updated on the situation.”

“Tom, this doesn’t look good. If he comes back next year, it would be a miracle. His knee has to be trashed the way the players landed on him. We will have to watch the replay to see what happened, but it isn’t good.”

I turn the tv off as I lay in the hospital bed. He was right that it wasn’t good. This is my third surgery to repair my leg. The defensive end and one of the linebackers came at me from two different directions, and my leg went snap, crackle, pop. And now my career is over.

I can’t stop getting frustrated then pissed off all at the same time. My teammates, my brothers, have all been by, and my coach is coming over to talk to me about my options. I don’t know what I’m going to do now without my football scholarship.

The nurse comes in to check my vitals and look at my leg. They didn’t put it in a cast yet because they might need to go back in. The ACL is torn, kneecap is shattered, and I’ve got rods in my shin. I’m a mess right now. There was a psychiatrist who came in on the advice of my coach. I’m thankful for that, but not ready to talk.

“Are you in any pain? Do you need anything?” Tina, the nurse, asks me.

I run my hands through brown hair as I flop my head back onto the pillow on my hospital bed. “Yeah, I’m in pain.” I tell her. “Can I get something?”

She tells me that she’ll be right back.

I’m looking around my room and it’s flooded with flowers and balloons. My mom is flying in from Florida. She saw it happen on the TV, so she booked her flight right away. My dad said the last time he talked to her, she was on her last connecting flight and should be here around tomorrow morning at one. The nurse finally comes in and gives me something in my IV to help with the pain.

“There’s the champ.” Coach walks toward me and sits down in the recliner.

“Hey Coach. So what’s the word?”

“The football scholarship is gone because you’re done for the season.” Coach avoids eye contact with me.

“Fuck. What am I going to do now?”

“You still have your academic scholarship. You’re a smart guy. What do you want to be if you can’t be a football player?”

“Nothing. I’ve always wanted to play in the NFL.” I slam my fist down on the bed. “Now I have nothing. I might as well go back home to Florida.”

“Don’t talk like that. You could do anything. What are you majoring in right now?”

“My grandfather always taught us that sports is a wonderful career choice but it can be taken away at any time, so you need to make sure that you have something to fall back on. I declared a history major so when I retired, I could teach history.”

“You need to think about it.”

“I want to play football. It’s the only thing I’ve ever dreamed of doing.” I cry and am not ashamed of doing it either. This is one of the hardest things I’ve ever faced.

“Okay. Calm down. I don’t want to get your blood pressure up. It isn’t good for you. What if you continued with your history degree while maybe trying to see what you need to do to be a coach? You’re talented, and the kids at the youth center love when you come over to teach them how to play.”

“I’ll take that under advisement.” I stare at him.

“Okay, enough talk about that. How are you feeling? What is the doctor saying?”

“I need to do some more testing to make sure everything is set right, then I can go home. I need to do physical therapy over the summer once it’s completely healed. I don’t know what I’m going to be doing for classes. Will they offer online, or am I done for the year?”

“Let me talk to admissions and see what we can do. You’re too bright not to finish school. Are you going to go back to Florida?”

“I think so. My dad is a physical therapist. I’m going to see if I can transfer my credits there, so I don’t miss anything.”

Coach doesn’t seem to understand.”No. You need to stay here, because if you go back there then you’re done. I know you.”

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