Chapter Thirteen: The Moment the World Stopped Moving

****Pamela****

Maybe my hatred of winter comes from the fact that I’ve spent years standing and sitting on sidelines in freezing weather.  It seemed a real possibility as I stood on the field watching the Bucks and Panthers play in the Conference Championship. 

From childhood, I’d gone with Mom and my sisters to watch Dad coach games and while I loved seeing him and watching the players, there’d been many times that I wished that the stadiums were indoor, something that I found myself wishing for at that moment as a teeth chattering wind blew across the field.

I stuffed my hands even further in my pockets, hoping that it would help me find some warmth but deep down I knew it wouldn’t do any good. The cold had seeped into my bones and wouldn’t go away no matter how many cups of coffee or cocoa I drank or how many layers of clothes I wore.  

The fact that I couldn’t move around didn’t help much either and I felt a brief flash of envy as I watched the players on the field who I knew were warmer because they could. But any envy soon turned to sympathy as I witnessed Trev misread the Panthers’ defense, almost throwing an interception.  

No, I don’t really envy any of them. I thought to myself as I watched Trev and the others return to the sideline. Both teams were under a huge amount of pressure to win the game, but the Bucks felt it more so than the Panthers. They’d met two other times, once during preseason and again during regular season with the Bucks losing both games. 


It was something that gnawed at Trev, and throughout the season he watched countless hours of video of the Panthers’ defense and offense, trying to get an advantage on them. He wholeheartedly believed in the team’s motto, We don’t win or lose games by what one person does, we win or lose as a team, but he also believed that each player was accountable for their performance on and off the field and I knew he would beat himself up about his mistake.

The roar of another cutting wind blew over the field, adding to the already deafening noise level of the crowd and players, which was why the sound of a single voice cutting through the thickness of all others astonished me.  “God damnit!! What the fuck was that?” The sound of Trev’s frustrations caught mine and several other reporter’s attention.

“Trev, chill! We’ll get them next time.” Tiny tried to reason with, him but it was no use. Once Trev made a mistake no one could convince him otherwise. He wouldn’t “chill” but would go over and over his mistake, figuring out a way to fix it, and then make sure it never happened again, willing himself to perfection. 

Chapter Twelve: Things Happen When They're Supposed To - Part Two

****Trev****

In all my travels with teams, friends and family one thing always held true: it never took long before you learned people’s quirks.  Like how Ryan didn’t want to sit next to the window on planes because it reminded him that only inches of metal were what kept him from plummeting to his death. Or learning that Coach White liked to pass time by doing crossword puzzles and whispered “yes” every time he successfully solved a clue.

It didn’t have to be a long trip either. Anything over thirty minutes and people start to get comfortable. Which was why I learned all kinds of interesting things about Pam on our hour and a half trip to ASU.

Like how she liked to remove her shoes and socks and put her feet up on the dash, curling and straightening her toes to the beat of the music. And if it wasn’t her toes moving it was some other part of her body because sitting still for more than a second seemed to be impossible for her.

There were other things besides bare feet and fidgeting that I learned about her during that trip, but the one that made me do a double take was her chattiness. With nothing else to do, she talked way more than normal. Which wasn’t a bad thing, it was just that before that trip I never would’ve put her name and the word chattiness in the same sentence.   

She started with telling me that I was acting suspicious and that it must mean that I had some surprise planned. It was completely laughable, since it was obvious that she was hiding things too and a debate followed about who was acting the most secretive.

Having no luck with prying surprises from me, she moved on to how Mom knew about us before we arrived at George’s. Providing evidence by pointing out that Mom greeted us, that I led her to sit between Mom and me and that I winked at Mom when we succeeded.

I worried for a second that she was upset about it, that she felt like I had betrayed her since we’d agreed not to tell anyone before. But her reassuring smile convinced me that she wasn’t and I let out a sigh of relief before revealing how it happened.

I told her about my talk with Mom in October, when I went home for Dad’s service. That Mom probably would’ve guessed who my guest was from that conversation. But it was my phone call to her a couple days before, when I recruited her to help make sure that introductions went smoothly, that she really learned the truth.    

When she asked me to tell her the embarrassing stories about my siblings, the ones I hinted at when we were at George’s, I was all too willing to share. Will’s first date was a disaster because he was running late and didn’t have time to look for his lost belt. Instead of changing his pants, which were too big, he risked wearing them and regretted it when they fell down around his ankles; right as he pushed his date’s chair in at a fancy restaurant.

George’s embarrassing story also involved his pants, but unlike Will’s, his stayed on. At least until he was forced to change them. In the months leading up to George and Charlotte’s fifth birthday, they begged for new bikes; ones that had removable training wheels. When Mom and Dad led them outside on their birthday and they saw the new, shiny bikes, George got so excited that he literally pissed his pants.


To say that Charlotte loved her favorite mirror would be an understatement. It was a handheld one that she carried around her room, talking to it like it was her boyfriend. But that wasn’t the most embarrassing part. The fact that she also used it to practice her kissing, was. I only knew about it because she left her door cracked open one day and I heard her making kissing noises. She had no idea I’d ever seen her until hours before, when I threatened to tell everyone.

My reward for sharing was Pam’s responses as she listened to each story. More than once it looked like she couldn’t decide if she should laugh or scold me and her facial expressions flip-flopped between disbelief, horror and amusement.

When I was finished, she mentioned how glad she was that her family didn’t go around sharing embarrassing stories or photos. I must have looked guilty because she started smacking my arm until I confessed the habit I picked up in the summer of skimming through photo albums in her parents’ family room.

Chapter Twelve: Things Happen When They're Supposed To - Part One

****Pamela****

He turned the wrapped present around in his hands, inspecting certain spots more than others, like he was trying to find a hole that would reveal a clue about what laid underneath the shiny, red paper. My wrapping skills were legendary. I could wrap any shape or size and was an expert at taping all gaps, making it almost impossible for anyone to open.

“Give it up, Trev. You’ll never figure it out until you open it.” Dad tried to convince him and Trev first looked up at him and then glanced at me. His raised eyebrow asked me if I’d give him any hints but I smiled and shrugged back, refusing to give in. It seemed so fitting that he’d approach opening presents like an excited child and as he began trying to find a corner or edge to rip, we all started to laugh at his theatrics.

The smirk that appeared on his lips gave away that he somehow found a place to begin ripping and I held my breath as more and more of his present was revealed. I thought my heart might explode from the anticipation when he released the last of the tape from the paper and bit my lip as his hand started to pull it back to see. . .

The images were instantly gone and I felt my heart sink as I realized that I’d woken up, again. Every single time, something would wake me up before I could witness his reaction and I wondered what the culprit was that morning.