Chapter 7

Jeff

It was like he was frozen there.

He wasn’t moving an inch.

Our quarterback, Joey Mitchell, had taken the snap and turned to make the handoff. When he realized the running back wasn’t there, he spun the other way. Still no running back.

By now the defense was breaking through the offensive line. Joey looked around frantically and finally found the running back in the exact same spot as where he’d started the play. Joey didn’t have time to figure out what was going on. He had two options: get crunched by our defense or get rid of the ball.

He pitched the ball end over end to Scooter . . . who still wasn’t moving.

I’m part of a lot of collisions—usually I’m the one who causes them. Bodies slamming into each other don’t make me flinch.

But this was different.

Scooter was like a deer in headlights. He managed to catch the football somehow, but his feet were still stuck in the ground.

I closed my eyes and heard the collision.

When I opened my eyes, I saw bodies sprawled on the field, just as I expected.

What I didn’t expect? The bodies weren’t Scooter’s. Two of our defensive linemen lifted their heads and looked at each other, dazed. Where had the little guy gone?

Honestly, it was like Scooter had disappeared.