Page 47 of Personal Foul
Chapter Seventeen
Rush
“What do you want to check out first? We can do a tour of the players’ locker room and the Blaze Shop, or we can skip all of it and go straight to shooting hoops.”
Isaac crosses his arms and pretends to consider his options for a second before blurting out, “Let’s shoot some hoops!”
His smile is so wide it’s nearly splitting his face in half, and it reminds me why I planned this for him. He’s a good kid, and with the right influences, I know he’ll go far in life.
“I guess I should’ve known the answer, huh?”
“You should’ve.” He giggles, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Do you even know me at all?”
“Touché, kid!”
His hair has grown out quite a bit since I last saw him, twisted into little curls. He’s dressed in the Blaze jersey I gave him when I picked him up. His black athletic shorts and tennis shoes have seen better days.
If he cares though, you’d never know it. He’s never struck me as being someone who frets over materialistic things.
When you don’t have much, you find appreciation in what you do have. I must admit, it makes doing things for him even more special because you genuinely feel how grateful he truly is.
It took a lot of begging and pleading, but I was able to convince Terri at the Boys and Girls Clinic to contact his foster mom, Cheryl, for me. She wouldn’t give me her number, which I completely understood. It ended up working out in my favor when I ran into Terri with Cheryl when she came to pick up Isaac at the climic one day. I was able to talk to her face-to-face, and she agreed to allow me to spend more time mentoring him.
He needs more male positive influences in his life, any kid his age does, and I want to be that person for him. She didn’t seem interested in getting to know me, so it was concerning to me how little she seemed to care about who Isaac spent his time with and where he was. A lot like the day we found Isaac outside waiting by himself. I tried not to think too much about it though, because the more I did, the more it bothered me.
When I picked him up from where he stayed with Cheryl and tossed a jersey at his chest, telling him to lace up, his eyes lit up like it was the Fourth of July.
He shot me a quick glance, biting his lip. I flashed him an easy smile, told him he better hurry so we could get out of there. He took off down the hall, not caring so much anymore.
Sydney was great about making sure I got this whole day set up for him. Stepping out onto the court, staring out into where the crowd would be, I peer down at Isaac and smile seeing his eyes as big as saucers.
“You gonna play out here one day?”
His head tilts back as he looks up at the scoreboard, looking over at me and nods. The grin on his face says more than the words would though.
“You can if you keep your grades up, you stay out of trouble, and keep your head in the game.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah, buddy, I do! I think you can do anything you set your mind to if you never give up.”
“Yeah,” he sighs, hesitation creeping in once again.
“You have to keep practicing, though. Grab a ball, show me what you got!”
He takes off across the court to where the rack of balls is sitting near the seats and starts dribbling, jogging toward the basket. He passes it back and forth from one hand to the other, bouncing between his legs before pulling back and shooting. The ball hits the rim, from one side to the other, before you hear the swish of the net.
We spend the next hour shooting hoops, playing a game of horse, and talking through his jump shot. I coach him through his hand motions, following through his shot, and testing him to keep practicing after I do.
“I wish my dad could’ve been here with me today,” he says, stepping back and shooting the ball.
“I’m sure you do, bud. You know he’s looking down on you right now, he’s with you even when you may not realize it.”
“Yeah, Ms. Terri tells me the same thing.”
My heart aches for the kid. I know he must’ve been close with his dad. Although mine was never around, I can’t imagine what it would be like if he were, only to lose him.
“I wish he were here, so he could’ve seen me with you shooting hoops.”
