Chapter 44

August 13, 2017

Dear Ms. Diary,

[Written August 14]

I woke shortly before 7:00 in the middle of the bed. I laid there, marveling again at how wonderful it was to wake to the warm feeling of my two lovers snuggled into me. I also thought that it was a good thing that we had turned on the AC last night, because Rhee is a furnace. She’s the most-wonderful bed partner in winter, but summer requires AC to survive the nights with her.

I pondered life for a little longer, until Heather began stirring, so turned my head to the left to watch her wake. She is just so angelic when she is asleep, which is quite a different appearance from the crackling wit and gamine grin of much of her waking hours, features that create an incredibly cute girl. While I watched, her mien went from angelic to pixie-ish in a flash, as her sparkling blue eyes snapped open and, as she found my eyes looking at her, that grin jumped onto her face. She picked her head off the pillow and moved toward mine, then lightly kissed my lips while our eyes continued looking into each other.

I started to talk, but she beat me to it.

“I love you, Beth. I love you both. I love waking up in bed with you two.”

“I was going to tell you much the same thing. I was so enjoying watching your sleeping face, but I also love seeing those gorgeous blue eyes of yours so happy.”

“Thanks. I love seeing your ice-blue eyes and Rhee’s burnished-walnut eyes when I wake, because it means that I’m happy, I’m with my heart’s family.

“I’m sorry about last night’s bit of downerdom.” When I tried to interrupt her, she said, “No. let me get this out. I don’t know from where that came. But I’m happy now, I’ll be happy tonight, and I’ll be happy tomorrow morning. Yes, I’ll be less-happy tomorrow afternoon, but I’m good. I’ll be back with my family on Friday, when the three of us will sleep in our Devlin-house bed, where we can wonder how Gracey’s night is going. That should be really fun! We can imagine what she and Dad are doing and get ourselves worked up and give each other great orgasms. What could be better than having sexy fun and fun sex with my two ... wives.”

Rhee said, “Oh, Heather,” as she rolled partly over onto me and wrapped her right arm around Heather and me. “That sounds so wonderful, me being one of your wives. Hey! What do you think about having a ceremony? One just for family? I’d love to trade vows with you two. I know Heather has said that she feels we’ll always be together in some fashion, and I feel that, too.”

Both of them looked at me, of course.

“Let’s talk about that further, at home. I don’t know that I like the idea of getting engaged in a hotel room. I’d rather do that somewhere where our love is embodied in the place that it comes about.”

“Beth, I love you, so much,” Rhee responded. “You are...”

The alarm interrupted her and us. She reached over and turned it off.

“I’m glad I woke before that. Indeed, let’s discuss the topic at home. For now, we need to take over the world ... or, at least, win the 12-15 girls’ state championship.”

Heather and I chuckled.

We met the rest of the team, including Liya, Civia, and Charlize, in the hotel’s small meeting room, where we had an arranged breakfast buffet.

Right on schedule at 8:15, Coach, with Civia and Charlize beside her, called out “Settle.”

“Our scouts will give us their report on Centerville.”

Civia, with notebook in hand, took one step forward and began.

“Centerville is very good. Very good. They played a 3-4-3 yesterday against Dripping Springs, but Charlize and I heard talk in the stands behind us that they also regularly play a 4-3-3. We would not be surprised if they play that configuration today, given the strength of our offense. Their three-girl back line is quite good and has some speed. We do not know what their four-girl back line looks like, though it must incorporate at least some of the players of the three-girl line. Though their goalie played well up the field when they were strongly on offense, that may change if Centerville plays a 4-3-3 today.”

She looked at her notebook briefly, then looked back up.

“Their midfield, too, is quite good. That midfield enabled that 4-1 lead around the 60-minute mark, as they dominated possession. Their front line is adequate given how good the rest of the team is. Their right wing has a rocket, but she missed on both rockets that we saw, once well wide, once barely high. The center striker’s dribbling skills are good, and she is the primary ballhandler, but not by all that much, given how much whichever center half is devoted to offense handles the ball. Charlize and our four or five best ballhandlers surpass their center forward’s skills. As Charlize said last night, our offense is the single biggest difference between the two teams.”

“Centerville passes well, but they did not show anything like our tiki-taka ability. They seem to rely on beating defenders one-on-one, then making medium-length passes forward or to the side, in order to advance the ball.”

Civia looked back at her notebook. Since I had both Civia and Coach in my field of view, I could see Coach’s facial expression change with that last bit. I nodded my head to myself.

“As one can expect from a 3-4-3, one of the center halfbacks focused on offense much of the time. In the 60 minutes that we watched, that right-center halfback took a breather once. When she was off, the left-center half became the offense-focused midfielder, rather than the other girl’s replacement. Her dribbling skills were not quite as good, but she might be a better passer. Charlize will finish the report.”

Civia stepped back while Charlize stepped forward.

“Yesterday, their center back, who is tall and stocky and seems very strong, seemed to be their target on offensive set pieces. She scored a header goal off a corner kick; it was a very good header. We did not see either of their wing fullbacks make sideline runs, though that might change in their 4-3-3.

“The girl that was their right-center halfback yesterday seems to be the team’s best ball-handler, and she generally went hard on offense, as Civia noted. I presume that if Centerville plays a 4-3-3, she will be their center half. In their 3-4-3, the left halfback would make occasional runs up that sideline; the right halfback made such a run only once that we saw.

“As I mentioned last night, their center forward has a dribbling move that she shoots from. Watch for her to quickly swivel her head to the left as she approaches the box and be prepared to move to your left to cut her off, as she went that way all three times that I saw her do that, scoring on one shot.

“From my own experience playing against you, I believe that your team’s overall ball-handling skills are better on average and better to much better position-by-position for most of the positions. That’s what I have.”

“Thank you, Civia and Charlize. In the upcoming discussion, if either or both of you have suggestions, please do not feel bashful. In fact, Civia, in the talk you heard about their 4-3-3, was their anything about strategy?”

“No, Coach.”

“Pity that, though I do appreciate knowing about their 4-3-3. Greatly. I have some thoughts, quite a few, about how we play this game. However, I’ll be requesting suggestions from various of you, starting with Beth.”

I stood, feeling that that was proper for the situation.

“I suggest our usual offense, with a couple of minor ... additions or changes. Certainly, Centerville had someone watching us yesterday, at least the second game. If we’re lucky, which we should certainly not plan on, they’ll have seen Rhee only in the false 9 role. She should probably be a true 9 today. Rhee, Heather, and Tonda should streak when they get a chance.

“Rathi should be assigned their ball-handling midfielder, whoever that is, and whatever formation they use. Wing midfielders should take advantage of chances to do runs on offense. I think that Centerville’s ‘adequate’ front line gives us as good a chance as any to switch Ann and Gracey and give Ann the option to do runs. We will have to wait to see if their goalie comes well forward on offense. If she does, our midfield and back line boomers, Ann, Zala, Rathi, should consider trying for a long shot as Charlize suggested. I also think that if the goalie does play forward, Heather should stay as far upfield as their back line allows when Centerville is on offense. She might be able to run underneath an errant long shot. Finally, in that vein, if Rhee trails the play by 10 yards or more, she might provide for a surprise for a back line worried about a deeply penetrating Heather.

“While we do tiki-taka when we need it, if Centerville doesn’t do it, and we can’t know for sure that they don’t, they may not be used to defending against it. We’ve shown it very little here; we might consider using it extensively in appropriate situations.”

I sat down.

“Ann?”

“I agree with Beth, entirely.”

“Rathi?”

“I cannot think of anything that Beth didn’t talk about other than we should push counterattacks.”

“Okay. Beth covered most of my thoughts on how we play Centerville. I do have a couple of additions. Zahira, you picked a wonderfully opportune moment to make a run yesterday. Feel free to repeat that if you see an opportunity. I’m sure Gracey would cover your butt were you to pick a bad time.”

There was much chuckling.

“The other point that I wanted to stress, and Rathi beat me to it, is counterattacks. Our offense handles the ball well and we have some speed. Get the ball to them, particularly off interceptions. Again. We want to force them to make mistakes. Keep the pressure up. If our offense is that much better, let’s use it.

“Lissa, I want you by my side today. You may be on the sidelines much of the game, but I want your help in assessing our offense and Centerville’s defense. Beth will probably play most of the game, unless it’s a blowout one way or another, but you are her backup. I want to give her breathers, so please figure out everything that she learns about Centerville’s defense. Tonda, I may well sub you in for anyone on the front line, so please pay attention and be prepared.

“Ann, pick your moments for runs and watch for their goalie coming up the field. Zala and Dakota, you’re going to have to fill in on D for Ann when she makes a run, so keep that in the forefront of your brain. Gracey, I believe in you. Be the rock that I know is within you.”

Charlize and Civia hung out with the team once we moved to the soccer complex. We watched some of the Dripping Springs-Sarnia game that would decide third place in the tournament. It was 2-2 at the half, but possibly only because the girl that broke her leg yesterday was Dripping Springs’ starting left wing, and she was supposed to be very good.

At the half, we moved to the east field, the field on which we played both games yesterday, to do warmups and drills, doing them in practice clothes. I was surprised by Charlize’s interest in joining us, though not in Coach giving her permission to do so. She even ran laps!

Charlize was particularly interested in and fascinated by a drill that we had been doing for a while that we’d picked up from Barcelona. They call it a rondo, and it’s basically one-touch keep-away, with 5-7 of us in a circle (of sorts) and two in the middle, the circle of girls having to make one-touch passes to someone else in the circle. If one of the middle girls gets control of the ball, she trades places with whomever was the one to make the pass that got intercepted. Charlize did spend some time in the middle.

After we quit our drills, we headed to our locker room by the central field. On the way, Charlize buttonholed Rhee and me.

“That rondo is interesting. I can see how you guys got so much better at passing. It really forces you to know where everyone is before the ball reaches you. I’ll have to see if I can introduce it to GV. Where did you get it?”

“Barça videos. They do it every practice.”

“That makes sense. I’ll have to look for that.”

Rhee said, “Yeah. It’s pretty fun and has greatly increased our capability at tiki-taka. Because everyone has to do it, it sharpens the skills of the back line, who didn’t generally get a lot of ball-handling practice before we looked into tiki-taka.”

“Yeah, Charlize. You can blame Rhee for our interest in better ball-handling, as she’s the one that suggested we look into it.”

Charlize responded, “I guess that I need to be ... more involved with ... strategy. You guys do things so much differently than we did. Our coach planned everything, and we did what we were told.”

Civia, who had just caught up to us, said, “That’s the single biggest difference between this team and every team I’ve been on. Coach has players teaching other players skills. You’ve seen the locker room, Charlize. Yesterday and today was no different than it is every day. Coach asks for opinions on how we ... yes, we do things, how we plan strategies against other teams. Beth is usually the first one that Coach asks, but she usually asks Ann, at least, and often Rathi, Rhee, and others. Like you, I was amazed the first time I saw that, so I’ve thought about it a lot. I think it gives the players more ... ownership, I guess, of the plan. I think that this also helps with ... what’s that ‘c’ word that I want?”

Rhee asked, “Camaraderie?”

“Yeah, that’s it. This team works together so much better than any team I’ve been on. Yes, they’re more dedicated, but I think they see that they can have a hand in how things are run, what the plan is for the day. I’ve seen even the 12-year-olds have suggestions accepted by Coach and Beth and others. And you saw that they accepted my scouting report on Sarnia, and I’m only 11 and not really on the team! This team is amazing! If I ever become a coach, I’m going to do it this way!”

Charlize stopped walking. Since she was in the middle of the knot of us, we noticed and turned to her. She looked at Civia, then me, then Rhee, then back to Civia.

“Civia, that makes sense. Perfect sense. If you do become a coach, I’ll bet you’re a good one. I guess I have some conversations to start with our coach. I don’t know how he’s going to take some of my suggestions. He’s a bit ... authoritarian.

“Regardless, Civia, thanks for your synopsis. Beth, I also see why you’re so happy where you are. You always were the quickest of the three of us to understand why we were doing things a certain way. I know that you’ll be a great coach, if and when.”

Charlize looked around at Rhee, Civia, and me.

“Thanks, all of you, for encouraging me to be a part of your team this weekend. I’ve never enjoyed soccer so much outside of when I’m playing. Maybe, I can do some good for the GV team and you guys won’t steamroll us next year.”

She grinned at the three of us.

I put my return grin away and said, “Charlize, you need to try. Despite your team’s disadvantage due to the small pool of talent that one can expect from a relatively small town, most of your players are reasonably good, and you’ve got a couple of very good teammates. While I like padding personal stats as much as anyone, I admit to liking well-fought games even more ... at least when we win them. In fact, one of my favorite games this season was our 2-2 draw. That was a well-played game on both sides, and one that could have gone either way.”

I looked around and noticed that the three of them were looking at me oddly.

“Yeah,” I said, “I know I’m weird. However, I think ... umm ... bear with me, as I’m trying to articulate something that I haven’t previously. I think that we learn more about ... how to win when games are close. Look at the Smithville game. It was too easy for us, and we did not learn much. We did things that we knew we could do and only rarely had to back up and rethink something.

“Then, look at our 2-2 draw with GV. When it came time to plan for the second GV game, we had learned some of GV’s strengths and weaknesses, which enabled us to figure out a way to deal with those strengths and take advantage of those weaknesses. Had we just run over GV in that first game, we would not have learned much because we wouldn’t have needed to do so.”

I looked around, again, and the three of them were looking at me oddly, but it was a different ‘oddly,’ a more-pondering ‘oddly.’ I was looking at Rhee when her face cleared, and she wrapped me in a Rhee hug.

“Girl, you are amazing! Not only did you figure out something important, you managed to articulate it plainly enough that even I understand it. And I agree with it!”

“Oh, shush, you. You are no dummy! Don’t denigrate yourself.”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re too easy, Beth.”

Rhee then turned to Charlize.

“I agree with Beth about GV. I don’t know your team’s ... how your team members interact with each other, but from my perch on the outside, it seems to me that your... ‘star power’ may provide the only chance for a change in how the team is run. However, unless it gets really untenable for you, don’t quit out of pique because your suggestions aren’t being given a fair shake. I would hate to see someone of your talents not playing. Hell, I’ve put in much more work this season, and part of that was because I wanted to stay ahead of you in goals. You make me push myself because I know I have to be as good as I can be to beat you, and I have a much better supporting cast. If our positions were reversed, I am certain that you would have outscored me.”

After a few seconds of staring at Rhee, Charlize said, “Thanks, Rhee. I appreciate that; I really do. However, it doesn’t make me stop wishing that we had never moved. I don’t know how you and I could have worked together on the same team, given how similar we are, but I would have liked the chance to try.”

“Charlize,” I said, “what are you going to do after next year, since GV doesn’t have a premier team in that age class?”

She shook her head and said, “I don’t know. I really want to keep playing, but Mom and Dad are both happy in GV and I just couldn’t be the one to get them to move again.”

“There’s always the national team. Have you gotten any feelers?”

“No, Rhee. Have you?”

“Nope. However, I gotta think that someone from national is here this weekend. It’s really too bad that you couldn’t have been here, playing. You’re going to go to college, right?”

“Yeah, but I’ve got to stay sharp and three years with no competition is no way to do that. However, I’ve heard rumors that what will be my high school may be starting a girls’ team. That would help, but we’d run into you, again!”

The four of us continued on our way to the locker room, catching up to Heather and Coach just before reaching the building as Coach said, “Surely, you could at least ask.”

Heather looked at her, then at us approaching, and nodded her head.

“Thanks, Coach.”

Coach nodded at her and turned to us.

“Charlize, you’re welcome to join us if you wish. I know you came with your mother, and if you’d want to watch the game from our bench, your mother would be welcome to join you there.”

Charlize stared at Coach for a couple seconds, then said, “Thanks, Coach. I’ll see what she wants to do. On another topic, may I say something to the team at some point before you leave the locker room?”

Coach looked at her for just a moment before responding, “Sure. I’ll call on you at the start. By the way, I’ve got something for you. If you have a few moments, now, I could get it.”

“For me?” When Coach nodded, she said, “Uh, okay. I can wait.”

“Nope. Just come with me.”

Charlize looked a question at me. I shrugged, as I had no idea.

When Coach and Charlize wandered off, Rhee said, “Come on, Heather. You can tell us what that was about while we get into our kits.”

“I will tell you, but not yet. It’s ... a personal thing and I’d feel more comfortable getting your thoughts at home.”

Rhee looked at her for a few moments, then nodded her head. I looked around, but did not see Civia, and I thought that she’d been right there.

Most all of us were in our uniforms when Coach called out, “Gather ‘round.”

When I turned to face her, my eyebrows rose high in surprise, but Coach began speaking.

“To thank Civia, Charlize, and Liya for their help this weekend, you can see that I’ve given them tokens of appreciation. The jersey numbers are simply what I had on hand and have no meaning. However, the jerseys do have meaning and, at least for today, these three are honorary members of the best team that it has been my pleasure to coach. You are all dedicated. You have earned your spot in the final of the state tournament, a tournament that I have never reached before, much less the final, either as a player or a coach. Just as I have thanked these honorary team members for their assistance, I thank you girls for learning and for having the drive necessary to get this team here. Regardless of what happens today, I am so very, very proud of you all.”

Coach looked over us, one by one. When she reached the end of her scan of the team, she nodded.

“Play this game with as much focus, as much skill as you played yesterday’s games, and I will be even more proud. The team in the other locker room is very good. It is a worthy opponent for this team in this place. Although I know that you could, I don’t expect you to run away with this game. If you do, you will have continued your obstinate insistence on surprising me at how good this team is. If you don’t run away with this game, you will learn much more than you might think, even if you lose a squeaker. Of course, I’d rather you win.”

There was much chuckling.

“Charlize has asked for permission to address you. Charlize?”

Charlize stepped forward, seemed to gather herself, then looked over the team.

“Thanks, Coach, for allowing me this chance. I wished to tell all of you that I greatly appreciated spending time with you this weekend. I greatly appreciated your overcoming my membership on your rival team, Grass Valley. I came this weekend to watch some good soccer and to root for this team, which is the best team that I’ve ever played against. Though some of you know, others may not. Rhee, Beth, and I were teammates on a 9-11 team in Elkton before my family moved to Grass Valley. The three of us were friends then and have managed to remain, at least, friendly acquaintances since. I did not expect all of you to be so accepting of me, nice to me. I did not expect to be able to help scout Centerville for you. I did not expect to be able to practice with you. I did not expect to become an honorary team member. This has been the best, most-enjoyable soccer weekend of my life and I have all of you to thank for it. Thank you, very much.”

There was much clapping and voicing of “You’re welcome!”

“Charlize,” Coach said, “nicely done, and you’re welcome. Now, we’re going to do something different this time to remind us all of today’s game plan. Beth, Rathi, and Ann will note the plans for the offense, the midfield, and the back line, respectively. Brianna will then remind us of the plan for our goalie. I assume that it will involve, somewhere, her stopping any shots headed into our goal.”

There was much laughter.

“After that, Civia and Charlize will remind us of the facets of Centerville’s play that might not be noted by the others. Please listen to them, all of them, carefully, and be certain that you know what your individual role is in the overall plan. If you have questions, do not be shy with them, not that any of you have an overwhelming amount of shyness in you.”

There was much chuckling.

After the summaries and after we were all dressed, we headed out to the bench and typical pre-game drills and warming up. We then had to go through the rigamarole of each team member being announced to the surprisingly large crowd.

I called the team into our typical pre-game huddle.

“Put the announcer out of your mind. Put the crowd out of your mind. Put the hoopla out of your mind. This is a game against a very good team. We need everyone focusing on this game, on their part in this game, on what the other team is doing. We need that focus to be sharp ... for 90 minutes.

“Those of you not starting, help Coach analyze what the other team is doing. Watch for their strengths, figure out their weaknesses. We need everyone involved, everyone paying attention, everyone helping, whether on the field or on the sideline.

“Let’s take it to the 800-pound gorilla. However, for us, that gorilla is just another team. Another team to figure out how to beat. Let’s do that for Ann, for Brianna, sending them to the next level with a crown, a championship. I know that we can do this, so let’s just do this.

“The kickoff plan, if we get it, is tiki-taka from the start. I know that we haven’t used tiki-taka to its fullest and I won’t ask that we try it now. However, let’s use it. Heather, Rhee, Tonda, judicious streaking. Midfielders, Ann, we’ll be watching for runs from you. Ann, Gracey, Zahira, Brianna, be our rocks. Let’s see if that gorilla can handle us!”

We won the toss and I took the north side of the field. The first half was something of a slugfest. We controlled the ball more and spent more time in Centerville’s half of the field than in ours. We also penetrated deeper and more frequently than they did. The only time the ball came close to going in either goal was a heartbreaking blast from Rhee that caromed off the crossbar at the right post. Centerville had two shots on goal, but both were weak and close enough to Brianna that she had no problems corralling them.

A quiet “Settle” got Coach attention from all of us in the locker room. She slowly looked around the room, spending a few seconds looking hard at each of us. Then, quietly, she began.

“I am so proud of you. You are all still positive, ready to keep taking it at them. You are not only holding your own against the reigning state champs, you are outplaying them. Yes, we’ve got a scoreless tie at the half, but the stats are all in our favor. They haven’t come close to scoring, while Rhee missed by only a couple inches. They made only a single substitution, while we got six of our starters breathers, including all midfielders. We are controlling the tempo and, as I’ve become accustomed with this team, the all-critical midfield. Their midfield could not even take advantage of either of our two 13-year-old backup wing midfielders. Kanda, Dakota, you were both superb, particularly considering that you were up against 15-year-olds. Ann, Gracey, Zahira, I did not feel the need to give you breathers as Centerville did not make you work hard, and you can thank all six of the midfielders for that.

“Tiki-taka is giving that team fits. If their back line weren’t so very, very good, we would probably be three or four goals up. However, we’re going to really take it to them in the second half. Charlize came up with an idea, a couple ideas and she, Lissa, Civia, and I have fleshed them out. The three of them will present them to you in the huddle.

“Tonda, you’ll be going in this half; I’ll know when and where once we get back underway. Padme, the officiating crew were wrong for calling you offside on your streak, so you did not let us down, did not mess up a great opportunity. You timed it perfectly, but we’ll not get that back, so put it behind you. You will go in again for Heather. Lissa you did a good job during Beth’s breather and that pass to Rhee for her oh-so-close shot was superb. Lana, you did a good job spelling Gracey, and I particularly liked your decision to come in behind Rathi and strip their striker of the ball. Your boot to Padme was perfect, and, well, you already know what I think about their calling her offside. You should have had an assist.

“Take it easy for the next ten minutes. Take a break from the game, both physically and mentally. You’ll be better for it if you do.”

[Again, Rhee absolutely insisted that I had to include this next bit. Heather backed her up in that.]

When we broke up, I chatted briefly with Lana, then began mingling. Rhee worked her way to me, then whispered in my ear.

“I saw that.”

“What?”

“You talked to Lana.”

“I’ve also talked to Haven and Ann. So?”

“Yes, but neither of them is Lana. Neither of them is liable to de-pants someone.”

I grinned.

“That was funny, you have to admit. And it had the desired result. You’re not still sore about that, are you?”

“You know very well I’m not and was not then, and you’re purposefully being dense.”

Her eyes suddenly went wider, and she quickly scanned the room. Her eyes stopped on Heather, who seemed to be holding court to a semi-circle of five of the younger girls, but with a ring of older girls around them. Right then, they struck.

Lana had been right behind Heather, and she managed to get not only Heather’s shorts, but her undies, too, down to the floor. As Heather and her young audience reacted in surprise, the older girls behind the audience de-pantsed every one of them, though only two also had their undies taken down.