In My Head

Three Years Before The Move ~ Put Together ~ Russell

Kaden steps into my office doorway. He makes a face, like he suddenly realizes he shouldn't have bothered me. "Never mind," he says, and he spins away. I catch a glimpse of a bright green flyer in his hand before he disappears around the corner.

I turn back to the work at my desk, but I can't concentrate. What was Kaden going to ask me? I get to my feet and go on a search through the house for him. Kaden isn't in his bedroom, but Logan's in his room across the hall.

"Hey, did you see where Kaden went?" I ask.

Logan shakes his head at his desk.

"He had a green flyer. Do you know what that's about?"

Logan shrugs, but his face deflates. He keeps his eyes down, staring at the math textbook on his desk. He knows what it is, but judging from the look on his face, telling me would be torture. I leave his doorway and take the stairs down. Kaden isn't in the living room, the kitchen, or the dining room.

I take the stairs down to the basement, but Kaden is nowhere to be found. This is a waste of my work time. I trudge back up the two flights of stairs to my office. On the way to my desk, I catch a glimpse of Kaden out the window-playing with his basketball in the driveway. I only hesitate a moment before I leave my office and head back downstairs, out the front door, and across the small lawn to the driveway. Kaden shoots a free throw-swish.

"Nice shot," I say.

Kaden gets under the basket, grabs his ball, and shoots a hook shot. He rebounds and shoots again. And again. Every shot goes in.

"What was that green flyer about?" I ask.

Kaden shoots the ball-it bounces out. He moves to grab it and then finally turns to look at me. "Permission slip for the traveling basketball team." He tries to hide his excitement, but he sounds like a seven-year-old on Christmas morning.

"Wow! Kaden, that is great. They only pick the best players for that, right?"

"Yep, only five of us from Three Rivers made the team."

So that's what was bothering Logan. That is a crying shame. We might be a small place, but we have enough kids to justify having three middle schools. Surely, we have enough basketball players to have two traveling basketball teams.

"Can I see that flyer?" I ask.

Kaden nods, holds his basketball against his hip, and pulls the folded paper out of his back pocket. I take it from him, unfold it, and skim for the coaches' names.

Riley Keck and Jeff Teggy. I don't recognize the first name, but Jeff is Kaden's friend's dad. Typical. They must have played favorites when they put Kaden on the team but not Logan. Sure, Kaden is an amazing player, but Logan's gotten pretty good from all my personal training. Now, the only thing Kaden has that Logan doesn't have is experience playing against other players. Logan would benefit from a traveling team just as much as Kaden, if not more.

I wonder if any other dads are looking to put together a team.

Suddenly, I realize Kaden is staring at me.

I fold the flyer in half and rip it down the middle. "No."

Kaden's basketball drops to the concrete and bounces down the driveway. "No?!" He steps forward to grab the torn flyer from my hand, but I don't let him take it.

"I won't have my sons playing on separate teams."

Kaden stops and stares at me with his mouth popped open. "What?"

"This is not the team for you." I wave the torn flyer in the air. "You're going to be on my team."

"You're gonna coach a traveling team?" The skepticism is thick in his voice.

"That's right. I'm going to put together my own team, so that both of you can get the experience you deserve."

Kaden backs away from me. At a loss for words, he simply spins around and runs to the end of the driveway, grabs his basketball from the gutter, and takes off down the street.

"Kaden!" I call after him, but he doesn't slow down.

I crumple up the flyer. Do something for one kid and make the other one hate you. Why is it always so hard to make both of them happy?

At least I can go tell Logan the great news. I go straight up to his room and stand in his doorway. "Hey, Logan? How would you like to be on a traveling basketball team?"

Logan drops what he's doing and stares up at me. "What?"

I step into the room and lean back against the wall. "I'm putting together a team, Logan."

"You can do that?"

"Fathers coach traveling teams all the time. All I need is an assistant coach and a full roster of players. What do you say? Wanna be my first recruit?"

His face splits into a huge grin, and he jumps up from his chair. "Yes!"

I step forward and pull him into a sideways hug. At least Logan appreciates what I'm willing to do for him. There's no way I'll get that promotion now, with all the time I'll have to take off from work. But this will make it all worthwhile.

Maybe if I put Kaden and Logan together, they can finally learn to get along.