Coach - Walt Sautter (book club suggestions txt) 📗

I can’t just let him say stuff like that about him. All the guys in the locker room heard him say it too.
Then after the game we was ridin’ home down by the field and we saw these two guys along side the road. Somebody in the back seat, I don’t remember who, said ‘There’s those two. Let’s teach that one a lesson for what he said’.
Everybody in the car was pretty pumped. We just won the game, so I slammed on the brakes and we all got outta the car and just did what we did. That was it.”
“And what do you have to say about all this?” Robertson pointed to me.
“Pretty much true, what he said” I responded.
“And you”, and pointed to Ricky.
“Pretty much true” came the answer.
Again Robertson sat back and thought.
“I can understand why you would call this boy a name after what he said to you” he started as he pointed to Howie, “but why did you drag Coach into it?
What’s he got to do with this? Unless you were just mad because you weren’t starting. Could that be it?”
Ricky hesitated and then looked up.
“No, that aint it Mr. Robertson. That aint it at all.”
“Then what is it?”
With that, Ricky blurted out the entire story of Mischief Night.
Everyone in the office sat agape as the words slowly left his lips.
I myself was stunned, because I never expected that he would disclose the events of that evening so openly. But he did!
Several times during the account he was interrrupted.
“That’s a lie. That’s a fuckin’ lie” shouted Howie.
“None of that language here” Robertson shouted back silencing Howie until his next outburst.
“Go on” he addressed Ricky and the story continued until the next eruption by Howie had to be quelled.
At its conclusion, Robertson addressed me.
“Is this all true?”
“Yes” I answered solemnly.
At long last the Chief, who had said nothing during the entire meeting, finally spoke.
“I hope none of you boys were telling any lies. This is all very serious stuff.
Not a word is to be said to anyone, and I mean anyone about what went on here today. I don’t want a word said about any of it. If I hear that any of you say anything there will be real serious consequences for you, of that you can be sure” he emphasized sternly.
The meeting ended and we each were sent back to our classes five minutes apart.

Chapter 6
The phone rang. I rolled over and looked at the clock along side the bed, five A.M. Minutes later Mom came into my room.
“No school today” she announced and shut off the alarm clock setting.
“What?” I replied with surprise.
It certainly couldn’t be a snow day, not with the temperature being five-five as was predicted. I sat up in bed and looked out of the window to be sure. No snow!
“Why? What happened?”
“I have no idea. The caller just said ‘this is the high school calling, no school today’ and hung up. That’s all I know, so go back to sleep and we’ll find out later, I’m sure” and she closed my door.
I reawakened at about nine, washed and hurriedly dressed. I was eager to find out why school was closed for the day. I left the house and raced up town to Snookie’s. As I walked I noticed a gray overcast even though the sun was shining brightly through a crystal blue sky. It wasn’t the weather that was gray; it was an aura that seemed to hang over the town. There was solemnity in the air.
When I arrived, several guys were in the luncheonette. All sat like statues in forlorn poses. No banter, no smiles, no matchbook football on the tables, just somber stares met me.
Tojo sat in the corner with his chair back tilted back against the wall.
“What the hell is goin’ on? It looks like somebody died,” I asked.
He looked up at me for an instant and then immediately cast his gaze downward without a word.
“Is anybody goin’ to tell me what’s goin’ on?” I announced in a raised voice.
Silence continued. I left Snookie’s more perplexed than when I had entered.
As I walked, I spied Flash inching down Main Street. I waved and yelled as he approached attempting to flag him down. He continued to look straight ahead, both hands glued to the upper portion of the steering wheel, completely ignoring my gestures. I continued my unheeded frantic beckoning until at last, I stepped into the street forcing him to stop.
“Flash! Come on open the door and let me in. I gotta talk to ya.”
If any body knew what was going on, he would know. He always had the town gossip on the tip of his tongue. He made it his business to know everyone else’s business. He had the title “Hedda Hopper of Highburg” and he wore it proudly. That and his driving style were his claims to fame.
He maintained his straight-ahead gaze pretending not to hear my pleas.
“Come on Man, just for a minute” I persisted.
Then, without a word, he reached over and unlocked the passenger side door. I raced to the side of the car and slid in.
Without a word, still staring ahead, he took his foot off the brake, set the car in gear and we began to ride.
“Flash, what the hell is going on? Everybody looks like somebody died and nobody will say a word to me. What happened?” I began.
“Somebody did die” came his somber answer.
“Who?” I bursted.
“Coach!”
“Are you shittin’ me? Coach!” I repeated.
“How?”
Flash took a deep breath and sighed.
“Well, they found him late yesterday afternoon, about six oclock, in his car in his driveway. He was just layin’ in the front seat with the engine runnin’. From what I heard his wife was at Bingo over at Saint Clare’s all afternoon and when she came home she found him.”
“How’d he die?” I asked in a consternated voice.
“Don’t know yet. Guess the cops are tryin’ to figure it out. Could be he just died. He wasn’t any kid and he did like the booze. He use ta be down at Sally’s Place all the time. I use ta see his car there a lot.
They say he use ta get really shit faced. I heard the cops stopped him lotsa times and one of them would get in his car and drive him home while the other one followed in the cop car.
A couple times they found him in the car pulled off the road, passed out and they would just drive him home again like usual.
So who knows what killed him, it coulda been the booze or somethin’ else. Who knows?”
“Man, that’s some shit. Coach is dead. Hard to believe” I replied.
“How come nobody would tell me?” I added.
Flash hesitated and then looked over at me.
“Guess they all heard about the story you was telling’ about Coach. You know the whole of Highburg loved Coach and when you and your buddy Ricky start tellin’ stories about him like you did, well, most people don’t take to kindly to it. Some of ‘em might even think that the things you said might had have somethin’ to do with him dyin’”
“Something to do with him dying?” I repeated.
“What the fuck could that have to do with him dyin’?”
“I don’t know. I’m just telling ya what I hear. That’s all” he answered.
“Hear where?”
“Well” he started, “I was over at the Hayloft Bar, over on Route Twenty last night and I ran into Minnie Moose and she told me a lot. She works at the police station in an office right next to the Chief. She’s a clerk there; been there ever since high school. She said that cops picked up Coach night before last and brought him in for some questions, I guess about what you and Ricky said to Mr. Robertson the other day.”
“How did she know about Ricky and me meetin’ with the principal?” I interrupted, with surprise.
“That’s what I said. I asked her who told her all this stuff.”
“And she said?” I interrupted again.
“Chief Simpson”
“Jesus Christ” I muttered to myself.
“He’s the guy that told us not to say a word to anybody,” I said out loud.
“Well, he didn’t really tell her straight out. The heat in the station doesn’t work so good. The Chief’s office is always hot as hell and hers is always cold so they leave his door open all the time to kinda balance the heat out. She hears a lotta shit.
She just kinda heard it all through the door” answered Flash.
“Alright, then what’s the rest of it?” I queried.
“Well, according to her, they asked Coach a bunch of questions about the whole thing and he just said it was all a lotta bullshit and that was it. They said they believed it was bullshit too and told him the only reason that they hadda bring him in, was CYA for them. Then they drove him home.”
“And that was it?” I continued.
“No! Chief said he knew it was a lotta shit right from the get go. Coach could never be a homo. He was sure of that he said. He played for Coach and so did the other two cops in town and they all knew Coach was the best. He’s never do that kinda queer stuff, never.
Minnie said he was pretty pissed at you and Ricky for spreadin’ that story and if he even sees you guys spittin’ on the sidewalk he’s gonna bring yas in and arrest yas.”
“How does any of that get us involved in Coach’s dyin’?” I asked.
“People said that maybe what you guys said got him so upset that he had a heart attack or maybe even that it caused him to kill his self. I don’t know if that kinda thing could be true or not and I didn’t think so but that’s what some people are sayin’.”
“Some people - who?” I questioned.
Flash paused.
“Most people, I’d say.
You know when a guy like Coach that everybody loves, just dies all of a sudden like that, everybody gets pretty upset. Maybe they just gotta blame somebody to get the upset out.
I don’t know, maybe that’s it or maybe that’s really what they think or maybe it’s true, who knows?
I’m just tellin’ ya what I been hearin’. That’s all.”
“So what’s gonna happen now?” I replied.
“Minnie says the cops are investigating. When they found him they took a shit load of pictures and then called the County Sheriff to come down and look the whole thing over before they even moved him.
I heard they might even do an autopsy on him. They asked his wife about it and she said okay.”
“Hey man, wanna do me a favor? How about drivin’ me over to Ricky’s. I wanna tell him about all this. I’m sure he doesn’t know.”
“Okay, I guess so,” replied Flash and we headed towards Henderson Town.
“Bang! Bang!” I knocked on Ricky’s front door.
“Bang! Bang!” again.
The curtain at the porch window parted open ever so slightly.
“It’s me, Beamy. Is Ricky home?” I called at the unopened door.
“Not home” came the muffled voice of Ricky’s sister.
“Don’t know where he went. He went with my dad,” she added.
“Okay” I replied and walked back to Flash’s waiting car. Together we rode back to town. He dropped me off at home where I spent the rest of the day pondering all Flash had told me.

Chapter 7
School reopened the next day. When I