The look on his sister’s face was a complex mix of emotions, amusement, anger, surprise, such a wide range of human feeling can be broadcast with a simple glance. Marley froze then quickly tried to cover himself with his hands, which he realized was kind of useless, he wasn’t exactly naked anyway. “You’re supposed to be at scholar bowl,” he spit out.

“Yeah, I wish I was, it was canceled, So, what’s going on?” Ann asked with a wicked smile. Marley was trapped, his sister blocked the door, he made a useless glance at the window and thought about jumping through it.

“Geeze, this show is kind of lame, there’s no action, no guns, no giant robots, it’s just people talking,” Mike said. From his position in the reclining chair.

Returning to school is never fun, especially after the weekend that Marley had. At least he got to relax most of Sunday after doing some homework and getting a short ride. His morning classes had flown by and now Marley sat down to lunch with his friends. Bent Fork School was small, the middle school was attached to the High School and shared most of the same facilities, including the cafeteria. The 7th graders were all eating now and there were less than 40 of them. Small classes like these tended to be tighter, everyone knows everyone, but social groups still form.

Marley and his Mom walked across the school parking lot and across the school’s front lawn until they reached a bench, Lisa double checked to make sure no one was around then said, “OK, so Marley, I’m going to ask you something, why do you want to go to dinner with Paul and his family so bad?”

FLASHBACK: April 3rd 2001

“Come on here we go, another bite, yum yum yum,” Lisa May snuck the spoon into her daughter’s mouth. “Come on little Annie, you’ve got to eat these yummy carrots.” Little Annie was not amused as orange goop ran out of her mouth, she swung her little arms in anger and gave a look that could melt ice. “OK, I get it, not your favorite,” Lisa laughed.

The door opened and Tom May walked in, dirty from head to toe in coal dust, he dropped his lunch bucket on the counter and dropped heavily into a seat. “What’s for supper?” he asked.

Marley for the Win Part 4

With numbers pinned and hugs all taken care of the May family entered the starting area right when the announcer called for the junior girls. “OK, you too, best of luck,” Lisa said as she rejoined the other parents around the starting area. Ann and Marley stood silently and tried to hide their nervousness as the other racers all filtered up to the line.

“Hey you guys, Marley and Ann?” an older girl said wearing a BikeTech jersey.

“Yeap, that’s us,” Ann replied.

Marley for the Win Part 3

Marley paused before turning the corner and entering the busy downstairs bathroom corridor again. He was losing his nerve, he was feeling a bit dizzy and grabbed a railing along the wall. Marley was a shy boy, he didn’t like drawing attention to himself, and he had always harbored a great fear of humiliation. “I can’t do this,” he said and turned around to head back up and get out of this ridiculous costume.