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.
âCan you read the line at the bottom of the chart, Frank?â Coach Meyers barked. âCan you read it?â
â
M
â¦
I
â¦
N
â¦â
âItâs
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
âYes, sir.â
âSo I want to see some hustle out there. Got it?â
âYes, sir.â
âGood.â Coach Meyers turned and slapped up another list. It stuck to the blackboard. It was the team from Delaware. âThe Delaware team,â he said. âEasy to beat? No.
Non. Nein
.
Nyet
, my friends. They are multiple-time state champions. They are fierce and hectic as tigers. Letâs go over a few strategic points.â 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 hadnât 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 teamâs players.
âAll of you will get to stare twice this match. Once in each half. Youâll all have two chancesâunless you all lose your first round, all eight of you, in which case there wonât even be a second round.â The coach knocked the board next to a name. âDelawareâs Number Four, Garret Squarmus. Lester Imai, youâll 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 donât want to see you so much as purse your lips.â
âIs it really funny, sir?â asked Lester. âOr is it just cheap humor?â
âImai,
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?
â
Lester quivered and shrank. âNo, sir.â
âThatâs right, Lester.
THERE IS NO HUMOR IN THIS GAME BUT THE VITREOUS HUMOR. Got it?
â
âYes, sir.â
âGood. Now: George Wurst, Delawareâs Number Two. Brinsley, youâre going up against him first round. I checked his medical records: wears contacts. Use that against him.â Coach Meyers tapped another name. âJaggy Funkstein. Number Seven. Astigmatism in his left eye, and the right one can wander. Be on your guard. Donât get led astray. Are you listening, girls, or are you too busy combing your dollsâ 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
?â
There was an embarrassed silence. The concrete walls of the locker room boomed with the coachâs voice. A faucet dripped in the bathroom.
Jasper wished the coach wouldnât 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 teamâs intimidation tactics just made Jasper more determined to win fairly,