The Great Quarterback Switch Read Online Free Page A

at the usual time, 2 P.M. It was a warm day. Clouds hovered in the sky like balls of cotton, hardly moving. The grandstand, speckled with both Eagles
     and Scorpions fans, buzzed like a beehive.
    Michael, in his wheelchair, was at his usual place just left of the players’ bench. He had not asked for the privilege of
     watching the games from this vantage spot. Coach Cotter had granted it to him, a privilege Michael sincerely appreciated.
    He remembered that Ollie Pruitt had saidhe’d see them at the games. He looked over his right shoulder, and then over his left.
    Suddenly, Michael’s hand rose and waved, and he shouted, “Mr. Pruitt!”
    The old man was sitting in the second row near the end of the bleachers, his hat pulled down to shield his eyes from the sun.
    “Hi, Michael!” he answered. “Good luck, boy!”
    A couple of kids in front of Ollie Pruitt turned and looked up at him. And he smiled back at them.
    Good old Mr. Pruitt,
thought Michael.
Maybe with him close by, Tom and I will have luck in doing what we want to do.
    The Scorpions won the toss and chose to receive. The teams lined up. Vince Forelli kicked off. The boot was a poor one, slicing
     off toward the right side of the field. A Scorpion caught it and carried it to his own forty-two-yardline, where Butch Bogger smeared him.
    The Scorpions got into a huddle. Seconds later they broke out of it and ran to the line of scrimmage. Terry Fisher, their
     quarterback, began barking signals.
    Playing in the linebacker positions for the Eagles were Vince, Jim, and Angie. Tom was in the safety slot.
    The center snapped the ball. Terry got it, turned, handed it off to fullback Ted Connors. Ted bucked through right tackle
     for a gain of four yards.
    On the next play Nibbs McCay, the Scorpions’ right halfback, took a handoff and sped around left end. He got good blocking,
     then stiff-armed Rick Howell for a gain of four yards before Rick regained his balance, cycloned after him, and pulled him
     down with a flying tackle.
    A short pass over the right side of the line gave the Scorpions a first down. They were in Eagle territory now and hopping
     with total confidence.
    Michael looked at Tom and began to think of playing in Tom’s place. He didn’t know for certain whether intense, deep concentration
     and wishing— both on his part and on Tom’s— would really induce their thought-energies to let them exchange places, but then
     again, maybe Ollie Pruitt was right and switching places with another person whose interests and thoughts were attuned to
     your own was entirely possible if you concentrated hard enough.
    So Michael began focusing his thoughts; he watched Tom’s every move while he pictured himself making the moves. Only Tom,
     playing safety, wasn’t doing much on defense. He was just making sure no Scorpion got past him.
    The Scorpions had the ball on the Eagles’ thirty-four-yard line when Doug Morton was called on a clipping charge, a fifteen-yard
     penalty. The ball was spotted on the nineteen, and it indeed looked as if there would be no stopping the Scorpions.
    Ted Connors bucked for a three-yard gain, then again for five yards.
    Michael could almost sense what was being said in the Eagles’ huddle as they tried to anticipate what the Scorpions would
     do next.
    “Watch for a pass! Get Terry, you linebackers! Try to stop him!”
    The Eagles scrambled to their defensive positions, Tom in the end zone, his legs spread slightly apart, his arms bent at the
     elbows. Again, Michael tried to picture himself in Tom’s place, standing there as Tom was standing, feeling the electric excitement.
    Terry shouted signals. The ball was centered. He got it, faded back. Helmets crashed against helmets, shoulder pads against
     shoulder pads. And then there were black-and-red uniforms dotting the end zone, which was also sprinkled with the white-and-maroon
     uniforms of the Eagles.
    Michael felt his heart pound as he saw Terry throw the ball in a