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The Big Game

Lynne looked through the glass panes around her front door. “Daddy, Toby is here!”

Steve strode down the front hallway to shoo his daughter into the kitchen. “Can you bring some more pretzels? He likes pretzels.”

“I know.” She said, scampering into the kitchen.

Steve opened the door and stepped out onto the porch. “Wow! What happened to you?”

“Low-hanging tail pipe.”

“Sounds bad. Should you be driving?”

“Doc said it’s okay. I just need to change it before I go to bed and put on some ointment.”

“Well, come in and sit down. First quarter’s over already. Lynn’s getting a refill on the pretzels.”

“Oh, great. How’s it going?”

“Miners are up ten to seven.”

“Boo-yah.” Toby took his coat off.

Steve hung it up for him and followed him into the living room. “Better late than never! Toby in the house!”

The guys turned and waved.

“Oh, wow!” Ian said, bouncing Bradley on his lap. “What happened to you?”

“Professional hazard. Doc said it will be okay. Got a couple of stitches and some medicine for it. No biggie.”

Frank turned for a closer look. “That’s a really big bandage. Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Looks worse than it feels. I’m good.” Toby worked his way around the couch to find a spot.

“Here you go, big guy.” Steve said, handing him a mug of mulled cider. “We saved you a spot.”

“Great, great.” Toby said, seeing the open seat between Frank and Meredith. ‘Meredith?’ He chugged his cider and handed the mug back to Steve. “Um, hi. I’m Toby, Toby Belzer.”

“Meredith Blake. Nice to meet you.” She said, darting a nervous glance at Ivy. “I hear you’re a Sentinels fan, too.”

Toby squeezed into the gap on the sofa. “Oh yeah, definitely. I hear you have all their autographs.”

“I don’t have either of the Foxfires. Well, I do, but I didn’t get them in person. I really only count them if I got them directly.”

“Sure, that makes sense.” He folded his hands in his lap.

“Are you sure that doesn’t hurt?”

“Well, it smarts a little. Probably not as much as Mary’s did.”

That made her smile. He had hoped it would.

“I was out with Ivy and the kids this afternoon at the Animal Factory.”

“That sounds like fun. I haven’t been in there.”

“It was a little chaotic, but the kids had fun. I made this.” She pulled up an overstuffed bear with a red Sentinels jersey on. “Looks like maybe you need this more than I do.”

Toby’s jaw dropped. “I have this jersey!”

“Me, too!”

“That’s incredible. Really? Don’t you want to keep this for your collection?”

“No, it’s alright. I know he’ll have a good home.”

“Definitely, thanks.” He studied the bear a moment until he realized everyone was looking at him. “I… uh…”

“The Miners squeezed a field goal in just before the quarter ended.”

“Do you like football?”

“I don’t really follow it, but I recently edited a book on coaching advice. I understand the basics.”

“Oh, that’s great.”

“Did you play football in school?”

“Defensive line. I got knocked around a lot worse than this.” Toby looked upwards.

“Sounds harrowing.”

Toby shrugged. “It’s easier to recover when you’re young and stupid.”

“Oh, I doubt that you’re stupid. They told me you’re a car mechanic. You have to know all kinds of different skills to do that.”

What was that on her face? Admiration? She really meant it. He looked around for the pretzels and grabbed a handful. Best if he munched a few to keep from disillusioning her.

“My dad’s a mechanic. He taught me how to do an oil change, but yuck. I’m glad there are guys like you who can do it for me.”

“Really?”

“Mm-hmm, certified grease monkey. He said it was a lot easier before they started adding all the electronics.”

“Yeah, kinda. Older cars are simpler because there are only so many things that can go wrong with them. The electronics help with diagnosing and fine tuning. Six of one, half dozen of the other. Y’know?”

“Sure, that makes sense.” She took some pretzels. “Looks like we’re ready for the next quarter.”

He turned to see the players gathering on the field, but he’d rather keep his attention on Meredith.

“So, how’d you get to be an editor?”

“I was always a bookworm. I love reading.”

Toby choked down some pretzels. So much for common ground.

“I got the oh-so-useful English Degree.”

“Did you want to be a writer?”

“Kind of. I wanted to write Manga like The Angel and The Elf, but I can’t draw and I haven’t found an artist to partner with.”

“Those were based on her actual adventures with Mary Christmas. Right?”

“Loosely. She had to clean them up a lot to make them safe for kids. Turns out, Mary’s a real piece of work.”

“No kidding.” Toby was captivated. Her wild hand waving and the fire in her eyes seemed to cast a spell on him.

“Yeah, she mellowed a lot after the Chaos War, but she’s still pretty standoffish.”

“They have a decent con at Electric City, but I haven’t been to one of yours yet.”

“I was wondering if they had them outside the city.”

“They tend to double up with comic cons or sci-fi events, but you might get one or two of them to show up out here.”

“I like Megaman. He’s so nice. So is Phantasm.”

“I haven’t met her, but I totally agree about Megaman. You wouldn’t think a guy who can turn into a hundred foot giant would be so down to earth.”

“I know, right?” She nodded enthusiastically.

Toby started as everyone yelled at the TV. “What the…”

“Miners just snatched an interception and ran it back eighty yards.” Frank said excitedly.

“That’s great.” Football could wait. He wanted to hear more about Meredith. “What else do you have in your collection? I’ve got a shoulder plate from Hellion’s armor.”

“Ooh! The photo-adaptive suit or the warlord black?”

Girl knew her stuff. He definitely had to give her that. “Warlord. I’ve got the pauldron, a certificate of authenticity and a clip of the video where it came from.”

“No kidding?”

“Mr. Awesomeness did a whirling hook kick and sent him flying through a delivery truck. You can see the shoulder plate fly off as he rips through the engine block. It’s such a great video.”

“I can’t wait to see it.” Meredith said breathlessly.