Dream Catcher Dreams

Tecumseh

Tecumseh

After my family and I sat down to eat supper, I went to my room to call the Lacrosse Legacy League to let them know that I accepted their offer.

After about four rings, a gruff voice answered the phone. “Hello, this is Coach Spotted Eagle with the Lacrosse Legacy League, how may I help you?”

“Uh, yeah. This is Tecumseh Riverwater. I‘m calling about accepting your offer….”

He was silent for a moment before I heard the sound of shuffling papers. “Hmmm…. Yes, Riverwater. From the Navajo Rez, right?”

“Yes sir, that‘s me,” I replied as I laid down on my bed.

“Well, congrats on making the team,” he said as I heard papers shuffling once again.

“Thank you, sir,” I smirked proudly to myself.

With a chuckle he added, “Okay, so I know you want to know how we‘re going to be doing things, so I‘ll go ahead and fill you in. Since the team consists of nothing but players from reservations here out west, we‘ll all be meeting at the Four Corners. Our team ‘boot camp‘ I guess you could say, is less than a mile from the center of the Four Corners and we have a few cabins out there that we‘ll be staying in for our first few weeks of practice before we start traveling for our games. There are three other coaches besides myself. There‘s Many Howls - he’ll be working with our defenders. Then there’s Old Man Coyote - he‘ll be working with the midfielders. And last, there‘s Plenty Crops - he‘ll be working with the goalie. I‘ll be the head coach and I‘ll be working with the whole team for warm ups and work outs.”

As he finished explaining everything to me, my eyes were wide with shock and excitement. “Many Howls?! As in the best Native defender that ever played professional lacrosse?”

A deep rumbling laugh came through the line, and he replied, “Yep. That‘s him.”

I shot straight up in my bed, and said with disbelief, “We‘re going to be working with a lacrosse legend!”

Another chuckle filled the line, and only then did I realize I had said that out loud. I hit my hand to my forehead and shook my head slowly. I can’t believe I said that out loud.

Coach Spotted Eagle got my attention again by saying, “Oh and before I forget to tell you. Since all of you will be getting out of school for the summer next week, you will need to get to the ‘camp’ no later than the twentieth and no earlier than the twenty-second.” My eyes automatically flew to my calendar on the opposite wall, and I saw that I had about ten days before I had to leave.

“Okay, sir. I‘ll be there!,” I said as I returned my attention to the call.

“We‘ll send you some more information about the camp and the address and everything, and we‘ll send you a bus ticket to get here,” Coach Spotted Eagle added.

“I‘ll be looking for it,” I replied.

“See you then, Riverwater,” and with that, he hung up.

I hung up my phone, and laid back down on my bed looking at my ceiling. “I‘m going to be coached by THE Many Howls!”

After laying there for a few minutes just staring at my ceiling, I sighed and got off my bed and walked into the living room to tell my parents what the coach told me.

“I call and accepted it,” I said as I sat down in the recliner while my parents were watching TV.

“That‘s great, honey,” my mom said as she smiled at me with pride.

“My son‘s going to be a chick magnet!,” my dad said with a chuckle.

“Too late, dad,” I muttered under my breath as my mom hit him in the back of his head.