Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware Read Online Free Page B

Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware
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locker-room wall in front of the team, except that on his copy, the letters got smaller and smaller toward the bottom of the chart.

    â€œCan you read the line at the bottom of the chart, Frank?” Coach Meyers barked. “Can you read it?”
    â€œ
M
…
I
…
N
…”
    â€œIt’s
your name
, Frank! Your name is at the bottom of the list. You know who stays at the bottom? Catfish, Frank. Catfish stay at the bottom. They eat muck.”
    â€œYes, sir.”
    â€œSo I want to see some hustle out there. Got it?”
    â€œYes, sir.”
    â€œGood.” Coach Meyers turned and slapped up another list. It stuck to the blackboard. It was the team from Delaware. “The Delaware team,” he said. “Easy to beat? No.
Non. Nein
.
Nyet
, my friends. They are multiple-time state champions. They are fierce and hectic as tigers. Let’s go over a few strategic points.” With his pointer, he rapped on the list of stats.
    Jasper sat, dressed now in his regular uniform, preparing mentally for the big game. Hewished he were wearing his hydraulic, cushionized Stare-Eyes suit. He was astonished his team members hadn’t thought it was as top-gun as he had. Still, despite their chaffing, he was determined to play his best game, to work with his fellow players, to stare, to win. He listened intently to Coach Meyers talk about each of the Delaware team’s players.
    â€œAll of you will get to stare twice this match. Once in each half. You’ll all have two chances—unless you all lose your first round, all eight of you, in which case there won’t even be a second round.” The coach knocked the board next to a name. “Delaware’s Number Four, Garret Squarmus. Lester Imai, you’ll be facing him in the first round. Keep cool. He does a thing with his eyebrows that makes everyone crack up. When he does it, Imai, I don’t want to see you so much as purse your lips.”
    â€œIs it really funny, sir?” asked Lester. “Or is it just cheap humor?”
    â€œImai,
is this a laughing matter? Can youjust tell me: Do I bust my butt with you ladies every day of the week because this is a laughing matter?
”
    Lester quivered and shrank. “No, sir.”
    â€œThat’s right, Lester.
THERE IS NO HUMOR IN THIS GAME BUT THE VITREOUS HUMOR. Got it?
”
    â€œYes, sir.”
    â€œGood. Now: George Wurst, Delaware’s Number Two. Brinsley, you’re going up against him first round. I checked his medical records: wears contacts. Use that against him.” Coach Meyers tapped another name. “Jaggy Funkstein. Number Seven. Astigmatism in his left eye, and the right one can wander. Be on your guard. Don’t get led astray. Are you listening, girls, or are you too busy combing your dolls’ hair? Huh? Are you too busy wearing dresses and having tea parties with your pandas for a little
life-and-death thing we call Stare-Eyes
?”
    There was an embarrassed silence. The concrete walls of the locker room boomed with the coach’s voice. A faucet dripped in the bathroom.
    Jasper wished the coach wouldn’t be so harsh with the team; it was making his heart sink. He did not like one bit all the jokes about girls because girls were just not like that, and it felt like Coach Meyers was making fun of Lily and Katie and his mother and every other woman he knew. Jasper believed in winning but even more in sportsmanship. He believed that people would do their best if you just pointed out to them that they were on the side of right and goodness. He imagined sports of the future, which would be played out beneath the oceans of the world by people in finned helmets who would act as chivalrous as knights of yore.
    Jasper could tell that Coach Meyers was only being mean to the team because he was scared. The Delaware team had them all frightened. The Delaware team’s intimidation tactics just made Jasper more determined to win fairly,
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