Sooley
- Автор: Гришэм Джон
- Год: 2021
- Язык: английский
- Год: Doubleday
- ISBN: 978-0-385-54768-0
- Жанр: Современная русская и зарубежная проза
Электронная книга - «Sooley». Краткое содержание книги:
Samuel’s forehead was on fire and he shook with the chills as Murray rushed him to the campus clinic. The flu test was positive. Murray called his mother and she demanded that he bring Samuel home immediately. Murray wasn’t sick yet but the bug was racing through campus and she wanted him away from his teammates. She took Samuel to the basement, gave him his meds, turned out the lights, and told him to close his eyes. In her opinion, the best way to fight the flu was with plenty of liquids and hours of sleep. The chills and fevers continued throughout the night, and sleep was impossible.
Down four players and one coach, Central hosted Morgan State the following Monday, and played like the entire team had been stricken with some awful virus. Morgan State was average and their coach was clever. He heard the flu rumors, noticed only six Central players warming up, and quickly changed his game plan to an all-out run-and-gun, up-tempo horse race. It worked, and by half-time the Eagles were dragging.
Sooley followed the game online, but felt so lousy he really didn’t care who won. Morgan State by 18. It was his fourth night in the dark basement and he still felt like he’d been run over by a bus. He was tired of the fever, the headaches, the tomato soup. Frankly, he was tired of his nurse, who checked on him every half hour, it seemed. During the day, she called. Ernie called. Murray called. How was anybody supposed to sleep?
Evidently, the strain that hit the campus was particularly virulent. Two of the four players, Roy Tice and Duffy Sunday, recovered enough to make the bus trip to Delaware State. Dmitri Robbins and Sooley did not. Coach Grinnell stayed home too, and it was just as well. Delaware State ran the Eagles out of the gym.
Two days later, the same bus hauled them back home after another bad game, another frustrating effort at South Carolina State. It was their 13th loss, fifth in the conference, and the mood could not have been darker. Coach Britt had stopped yelling.
He had also stopped dreaming of a fine new job at a bigger school. At the moment he was just hoping to keep the one he had.
Chapter 38
After a week of quiet mornings, Lonnie unlocked his office door early Saturday and stopped when he heard a bouncing ball. Sooley was back. And it was time for a chat. He watched him for a moment, then pulled him off the court. They sat in the empty stands as the first rays of sunlight peeked through the windows and scattered on the floor.
“The doctor says you’re good to go,” Lonnie said.
“I’m okay, Coach. It was a long week but I’m over it.”
“How much weight did you lose?”
“Ten pounds. Already putting it back on.”
“Are you weak?”
“I’m about ninety percent, Coach, and getting stronger every day.”
“Do you think you’re ready to play?”
“Sure. I mean, you’re talking about a real game?”
“Maybe, yes. I hate to burn your redshirt year, Sooley, and I won’t do it if you object. But the truth has become rather obvious, hasn’t it? We need some help. We need a new lineup. Maybe we need new coaches. I don’t know. I’m afraid the players are on the verge of giving up.”
“I’m ready, Coach. It sucks being a redshirt. All the practice and none of the games. When do you want me?”
“I’m not sure. We play here tomorrow afternoon. Should be an easy game but nothing is coming easy these days. Rontae’s out sick. You get mentally prepared and stay ready, okay?”
“Got it, Coach. Just put me in.”
The very thought of getting into a real game, for the first time since August, and his first college game at that, sent Samuel into orbit. He shot baskets with a new determination, and he did so for the rest of the morning. When he left the gym in search of food, a light snow was falling. He took it as a good omen. His first snow the day before his first game.
There was little accumulation, and the streets, though unplowed, remained passable. Still, venturing out on a raw, cold Sunday afternoon to watch two teams with losing records was not appealing to many fans.
Months later, thousands would claim to have been there for his first game, but the number was closer to five hundred.
The opponent was Maryland Eastern Shore. The teams were evenly matched and swapped baskets for the first 10 minutes. Just before the half, Roy Tice picked up his third foul, and a minute later Dmitri Robbins did the same. During the break, Coach McCoy whispered to Sooley to get ready.
At 6:20, Tice was whistled on a terrible call, one so bad that Lonnie lost his cool and drew his second technical of the season. Enter Samuel Sooleymon, with a knot in his stomach so large he at first had trouble breathing. To settle his nerves he sprinted down the court on defense and deliberately ran into his man. The contact felt good. Then he lost him and watched as he hit a wide-open jumper. Coach Britt yelled, “Relax, Sooley.”
He tried to relax, tried to keep up with his man on defense, tried to remember the plays on offense, and really didn’t want the ball. He was in the lane when their point guard drove hard to the rim and tossed up a floater. Sooley sprang from nowhere and slapped the ball out of bounds. Seconds later, his man shot a jumper from the free throw line, and Sooley slapped it over the press table.
The slapping and blocking was great fun and the Central bench came to life. Sooley’s first bucket was a perfect alley-oop from Murray, a play they had toyed with in practice. Eye contact, a quick hand signal from Murray, a sprint to the rim, a highlight reel slam.
Once he was sweating, Sooley realized his nerves had settled, he could play this game. The man guarding him was only 6'4", much too short to bother him. He took a pass from Murray, dribbled to the top of the key, and launched himself high into the air. The jump shot was perfect form, but the ball bounced off the rim.
He finished the first half without scoring again. The Eagles led by eight and the locker room was jazzed. After losing four straight conference games, the team was determined to win.
The legend of Sooley began with 15 minutes to go in the second half. He entered the game for Dmitri, at strong forward, and set up low. Murray lost the ball, clawed it back, bounced it to Mitch Rocker who had it slapped away. A scramble ensued as players on both teams dived for the ball. It squirted free from the scrum and Sooley scooped it up at mid-court with two seconds on the shot clock. Without hesitation, he sprang high and aimed at the rim. It was not a hopeless effort to beat the buzzer. It was not a Hail Mary. Instead, it was a smooth, confident, perfect jump shot from 42 feet that found nothing but net. The Central bench went nuts. The small crowd screamed. As Sooley backed away, skipping in celebration and smiling, always smiling, he glanced at Coach Britt, who stood frozen, his mouth wide open. He managed to nod, as if to say, “Do it again.”
The game was not being televised, but every game was filmed and “The Shot” was duly recorded. A manager would post it later and it made the rounds.
Melvin Montgomery, the junior center, grabbed a rebound and bounced the ball to Mitch Rocker, who took his time and set up the offense. Sooley shoved his man, peeled off a screen, and popped open deep in a corner. Mitch got the ball to him and he went up, far above his struggling defender, and launched one from 30 feet. Nothing but net.
A minute later, he hit his third straight bomb and Eastern Shore called time to regroup. The short break didn’t help. Sooley missed his next one, then faked his man out of his shoes and drove hard for a dunk.