After dinner, Candy went inside to help their father do the dishes. Their mother went upstairs to work at her computer. Tully was relaxing on his favorite porch chair and Cap figured this was a good time to bring up the tricky subject. He sat next to his grandfather on a footstool.
“We're looking pretty good, huh, Grandpa?”
Tully tilted his chair against the wall.
“You're making good progress. It'd be nice if we had two more weeks, but then again, none of the other teams has any more time than we do.”
Cap thought about what to say next. “So, you and Mr. Cash go back a long way, I guess.”
Tully sighed. “In our high school days, he and I were the stars our senior year. Cowpen and Sandville, where he played, were the two best teams. Yes, we go a ways back.”
“But Cowpen was the champ, right?”
Tully nodded. “We were undefeated that year and beat Sandville after they'd been undefeated too. Course, Sable couldn't play, because he'd broken his leg, but I believe we'd have beaten them anyway, just not as bad.”
“Huh,” Cap said, and thought a moment. Then, just loud enough for Tully to hear, he went on. “I guess that explains it, then.”
“Explains what?”
“Well, you and he aren't exactly best friends, Grandpa. I guess it's because he still thinks about not being able to play in that game and losing the championship to your team.”
“I guess it bothers him,” Tully replied. “Although why, after all these years, is a mystery to me.”
“Grandpa, do you like Mr. Cash?”
Tully let his chair down.
“Like him? Why do you ask?”
“The two of you rub each other the wrong way. I mean, I understand him being sore about what happened back then, but you won the game. How come you're sore at him?”
Tully frowned. “Now, hold on a minute, boy. Who says I'm sore at him? I have nothing against Sable Cash. Nothing. Except… well, except he makes all these digs at me and tries to cut me down as a coach in front of you boys, which does get to me a little. You can understand that, can't you?”
“Sure I can,” Cap said quickly. “But—”
“And Sable wants Jimmy to be the starting quarterback, which is my decision to make, not his. And he keeps going on about it, and I don't like that, either.”
Cap nodded. “Jimmy's good.”
“Sure he is, son, but so are you. I won't deny it's a hard choice. But whichever one of you starts, you'll both get plenty of playing time. Thing is, if I pick you, I know Sable will tell everyone I did it because you're family, and I really don't like that.”
“Sure, I can see that,” Cap answered. “I just… I wish there was a way to … sort of straighten things out between you and Mr. Cash so the two of you could be friends. Or maybe not friends, but at least so you wouldn't get on each other's nerves as much.”
Tully's frown got darker. “Casper Wadell, you stop right there. You're talking to the wrong man. If you want to straighten this out, then you have a word with Sable Cash, because this is all his doing and none of mine. Is that clear?”
Cap felt miserable. “But I can't talk to Mr. Cash about this, Grandpa. It' s not my place to—”
“Well, I don't want to talk about it with you either. Like I said, it's Sable's problem and it's up to him to take care of it. Good night.”
Tully stood up and walked quickly inside.
Great, Cap thought. I probably just made things even worse.
Candy came outside. “Hey, bro, what's up? I just saw Grandpa marching through the living room, looking like he was going to bust. You guys have a fight?”
Cap sighed and sat on the porch steps. “I tried talking to him about Mr. Cash, and he didn't like it.”
“Oh. That.” Candy sat next to her brother. “Yeah, those two don't get along, do they.”
“It's bad for the team,” Cap said. “They're both supposed to be helping us, but they're always sniping at each other, especially Mr. Cash, but Grandpa too. Yesterday, when Mr. Cash wouldn't let Jimmy or Sam go to the Spot with the rest of us, it was … Everybody felt bad, especially Jimmy. He's a nice guy, and I—what can we do about it?”
Candy nodded. “Bobby Jo and I were talking about it yesterday. You have a problem, for sure, and I'm surprised at Grandpa. I'd never have thought he'd get into a feud, like a little kid. I wish I could tell you I had an idea what to do, but the truth is, I don't have a clue. Bobby Jo is real good about talking to people but she didn't have any ideas either. She says that when grown-ups start behaving like kids, they don't want kids telling them about it.”
“Guess she's right. Grandpa nearly bit my head off. What I don't get is it's all about stuff that happened even before our parents were born,” Cap said.
“Grown-ups can be weird sometimes,” Candy replied. “Hopefully they'll work it out themselves. They must see that it makes all of you guys uncomfortable.”
“Sure they do,” Cap said, “and I bet each of them thinks it's the other one's fault.” He looked at his sister and shook his head. “When Grandpa came up with this idea of six-man football, I was pumped! I was totally looking forward to it.”
Candy gave Cap a look of sympathy. “Guess nothing is ever as simple as you hope it'll be. But I still think everything'll work out all right. Mr. Cash and Grandpa are good people, after all.”
Cap nodded agreement. “Sure they are. They're good people who don't like each other much.”