The footsteps of the soldier are the only sounds as he walks down the street in front of the house.
The neighborhood is unfamiliar to this soldier. This is the place where his mother stayed. He has never been here before. His only memory of this place is the place where he was born. He was born to this mother and that soldier who was killed. Ironically, he is now a soldier, lending honor to his father whom he has never met.
His mother was pregnant with him when his father died. She could not afford to keep him and the unborn.The Beginning
Of A Long Journey
"How big is your house?' the Dean asked.
"It's a four bedroom, two story house, with a basement, and a large deck on the back," said Liz. "I share it with my husband and three kids."
"And what do your kids do for a living?" asked the Dean.
"My oldest, Mary, is in marketing; she owns an advertising agency, and she's married. The middle child, Robby, he plays in a band, and he is also married, but they live in Canada. My youngest son, Philip, he likes to party, and he's married to a woman who is a school teacher; they're finally expecting their first child."
"And what about you, what do you do?" the Dean asked.
"I am a substitute teacher, and I also teach art," said Liz. "I am a single mother, so I have to work a lot, but I like to, it makes me feel needed."
"Do you like that? Do you like to feel needed?"
"Yes, I think I do," she replied, smiling."Your honored hosts for tonight are: John Roman, Nigel Skrypko and Ted Ortman"
The commentator said, and then the stadium goes dark. The announcer and the spotlight disappeared, leaving
solely six boys in the center circle, and three massive rows of three hundred cheering girls.
The six boys,, they were relatively short, wore the same outfit, a buckle belt to adjust the belt to their waists, and
single-colored unitard, black, red, green, orange, yellow or blue. On the unitard, the number they chose for this
game was written in white, and they also wore rubber shoes. On the shoes, though, it said "footwear" in black.
About the time when the announcer disappeared, some of the girls in the stands started cheering, and others started
herding the bouncy-ball throwers towards them.
After about ten seconds, four of the boys walked, and the other two walked on the field, into the center of the stadium,
and raised their hands up. The stadium became still again.
"I, your visitor for tonight's match, announce to you all, the teams will take the field," the announcer crowed, and
the words echoed in the stadium.
"They will be facing each other this evening. We will be vying for the Gold Eridium Coin."
The cheers were still echoing in the stadium when the six boys and the three massive girls walked slowly towards the
center of the field. They didn't talk at the game this time, because this team was not from Sweetwater, and the boys didn't know
the girls very well either, so they kept a long distance between their bodies.
This was the first time the boys had received the coin since the team started in the third week of January, and the only
reason they got it was because they scored more points than anyone else.
