ambulance. As it drove away, ten thousand Messina fans stood and applauded with respect. The folks from Greene County, uncertain as to whether they too should applaud or boo, just sat quietly and tried to digest what they had seen. They had their touchdown, but the poor idiot appeared to be dead.
Rake, always the master motivator, used the delay to incite his troops. 'Rabbit's hittin' harder than you clowns,' he growled at his defense. 'Let's kick some ass and take the game ball to Rabbit!'
Messina scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter and won easily.
Rabbit survived too. His collarbone was broken and three lower veterbrae were cracked. His concussion was not severe, and those who knew him well claimed they noticed no additional brain damage. Needless to say, Rabbit became a local hero. At the annual football banquet thereafter Rake awarded a Rabbit Trophy for the Hit-of-the- Year.
The lights grew brighter as dusk came to an end. Their eyes refocused in the semi-lit darkness of Rake Field. Another, smaller group of old Spartans had materialized at the far end of the bleachers. Their voices were barely audible.
Silo opened another bottle and drained half of it.
'When was the last time you saw Rake?' Blanchard Teague askedNeely .
'A couple of days after my first surgery,' Neely said, and everyone was still. He was telling a story that had never been told before in Messina. 'I was in the hospital. One surgery down, three to go.'
'It was a cheap shot,' Couch mumbled, as ifNeely needed to be reassured.
'Damned sure was,' said Amos Kelso.
Neely could see them, huddled in the coffee shops on Main Street, long sad faces, low grave voices as they replayed the late hit that instantly ruined the career of their all-American. A nurse told him she had never seen such an outpouring of compassion—cards, flowers, chocolates, balloons, artwork from entire classes of grade- schoolers.All from the small town of Messina, three hours away. Other than his parents and the Tech coaches,Neely refused all visitors. For eight long days he drowned himself in pity, aided mightily by as many painkillers as the doctors would allow.
Rake slipped in one night, long after visiting hours were over. 'He tried to cheer me up,' Neely said, sipping a beer. 'Said knees could be rehabbed. I tried to believe him.'
'Did he mention the '87 championship game?' Silo asked.
'We talked about it.'
There was a long awkward pause as they contemplated that game, and all the mysteries around it. It was Messina's last title, and that alone was a source rich enough for years of analysis. Down 31-0 at the half, roughed up and manhandled by a vastly superior team from East Pike, the Spartans returned to the field at A&M where thirty-five thousand fans were waiting. Rake was absent; he didn't appear until late in the fourth quarter.
The truth about what happened had remained buried for fifteen years, and, evidently, neither Neely, nor Silo, nor Paul, nor Hubcap Taylor were about to break the silence.
In the hospital room Rake had finally apologized, butNeely had told no one.
Teague and Couch said good-bye and jogged away in the darkness.
'You never came back, did you?' Jaeger asked.
'Not after I got hurt,' Neely said.
'Why not?'
'Didn't want to.'
Hubcap had been working quietly on a pint of something much stronger than beer. He'd said little, and when he spoke his tongue was thick. 'People say you hated Rake.'
'That's not true.'
'And he hated you.'
'Rake had a problem with the stars,' Paul said. 'We all knew that. If you won too many awards, set too many records, Rake got jealous.Plain and simple. He worked us like dogs and wanted every one of us to be great, but when guys likeNeely got all the attention then Rake got envious.'
