Second Down - Chapter 40

The next week flew by and before I knew it, it was Christmas morning and I was waking up to the sound of muffled voices downstairs. I loved Christmas and was excited, although a lot of that was tempered by how things had been around the house since Thanksgiving.

Mom and dad had started talking to each other again, but everything had been tense. The worst part was, there was nothing I could do about it. Except for that first night when dad had slept in the guest room, they hadn’t been sleeping in separate rooms, so I guess it could have been worse.

But it made everything at home a little more muted, made worse by the fact that Joshua acted like he’d won, instead of being the cause of all the strife in our family.

Still, it was Christmas, so hopefully today everyone would decide to be on their best behavior and get along.

As I made my way downstairs, I could smell the canned cinnamon rolls dad had bought a few days ago mixed with pine from the Christmas tree.

A big step over our normal plastic Christmas tree that stayed in the attic for the first time in my life. Dad had gone all out with the decorations this year, probably trying to compensate for how everything else around the house.

I stopped in the living room door and paused, trying to just enjoy the moment. The tree was lit up and there was a serious pile of presents under it.

Mom was curled up on the couch, clutching a steaming mug that gave off a pungent odor. One of her herbal concoctions that she’d been drinking more and more. She looked pale, squinting at the twinkling lights as if they hurt her eyes.

“Merry Christmas, Mom,” I said as I walked into the room.

I had been overcompensating a little over the last month. Mom still sided with Josh way more than was fair, but I’d hoped that maybe I could do something to ease the tension around here.

It hadn’t worked so far, but I kept trying.

“Merry Christmas,” she said, her voice strained.

Dad emerged from the kitchen, carrying a tray of cinnamon rolls.

“Last one up as always.”

“Not the last one. Josh isn’t here.”

“He went up to his room for a second.”

Like the demon he was, Josh appeared, summoned by his name, bounding down the stairs, nearly knocking me over in his rush to get to the presents.

“See, he’s up. Can we open them now? Please?”

“Hold your horses. Let’s all get settled first.”

Dad put the rolls on the coffee table and started handing out presents, one at a time, just like he always did while Josh and I ate our rolls. Once they were all handed out, we began to tear into them.

Josh was, for once, a normal kid instead of a psychopath as he revealed a brand new Super Nintendo, along with some games, clothes, and a remote-controlled car from me.

“Heather, this one’s for you,” Dad said, handing Mom a small box after she had already opened some dresses, books, and a perfume I’d picked out for her out of the small amount of gambling money I’d had dad hold back for presents, but clearly this was a special present he’d saved for her.

She opened it slowly, revealing a delicate necklace. I didn’t know much about jewelry, but this looked pretty expensive. For a moment, her face softened, and she looked up at Dad with a hint of a smile. But just as quickly, her expression soured again. She set the necklace box aside without a word.

Dad was clearly annoyed by her response, but he shifted back into happy Christmas mode, I guess not wanting to ruin it for us. He got some golf clubs, a sweater, and a cookbook from me, part joke and part necessity since he’d been doing most of the cooking lately.

I was pretty happy with my presents. Some new running shoes, which would help with the running Coach Greer had me doing in my free time to build stamina, a pretty hefty gift certificate for clothes, and a Discman, which I’d asked for so I had something to listen to on long bus rides to games.

About when the last present was opened, mom stood up shakily and said, “I think I need to lie down for a bit. Enjoy your presents.”

Dad and I both looked at each other worried, but Josh seemed to not even notice.

“Can I hook up my Nintendo now?”

Dad frowned but said, “Sure. I’ll help you set it up.”

As they busied themselves with the new game system, I started gathering up the discarded wrapping paper and hauled it all to the outside garbage can before grabbing my stuff and taking it up to my room. I wanted it all locked away while Josh was excited and focused on his game rather than being a pain in the ass.

When I made it back downstairs, Dad was in the kitchen, cleaning up dishes while Josh was loudly playing his games in the other room. I leaned against the counter, watching him work.

“That was quite the Christmas haul this year,” I said, trying to keep my tone casual. “You really went all out.”

Dad glanced over his shoulder and said, “Well, we have you to thank for that. Your latest round of bets paid off big time.”

“Yeah? How big are we talking?”

Dad dried his hands on a dishtowel and turned to face me. “Let’s just say we did extremely well. Enough to pay some money back to you, put a chunk in savings, and still splurge on gifts.”

“What about Mom’s medical stuff? I thought that’s what the money was for.”

“That was the original plan, but ... things have changed. Your mother’s decided to try other avenues.”

“You mean her ...”

“So,” Dad said, cutting me off abruptly, his tone making it clear he didn’t want to discuss it further. “Even with placing some losing bets to keep under the radar, we both came out way ahead.”

Part of me wanted to keep pressing, but it was Christmas. No reason to make everyone have a bad day.

“How much?”

“You ready for this?” He said dramatically. “You now have one hundred and ninety-seven thousand dollars. With the additional five thousand as pay back from me, that puts you just over two hundred grand.”

My jaw dropped. “Two hundred thousand dollars? Are you serious?”

“Dead serious. It’s a life-changing amount of money, son.”

I let out a low whistle, considering the possibilities.

“I want to start for the trainers we talked about. I want to really capitalize on the off-season for football.”

“I figured you might. We’ll begin the search after the holidays, but even if we get everything you wanted, that’s only going to be a part of what you earned so far. I really think you should consider investing a good chunk of this money instead of just continuing to gamble.”

I shook my head. “I want to keep betting for a while longer. Long run, this will eat up a lot, and I have college to think about after. I don’t know how long I’ll know what to bet on, but I want to ride it out as long as I do.”

“I get that, and I considering your track record, I’m not going to disagree on principle, but gambling with sums this large is going to attract unwanted attention, even if we keep putting in losers. I think it best to keep your gambling threshold low. How about we invest half and continue betting with the rest?”

“Okay, that makes sense,” I said, thinking hard.

I’d been working out what I wanted to put money into that wasn’t gambling since dad brought it up last time, but even then, I could only think of a few companies that would be worth a lot. Some didn’t exist yet, or at least I didn’t think they did, but I had gone by the library and looked at some newspapers, and found one that I knew was new and would be huge one day.

“Actually, I have a specific company in mind for investment.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, it’s a small business out in California. I think now is the time to do it, but I’m not sure how I’d go about it. I was actually thinking about talking to Coach Plummer.”

I’d spent some time thinking about this. I couldn’t just show up money in hand and tell people I wanted to invest in their company. They’d definitely have questions I couldn’t answer.

What I needed was someone who knew money and business, and Coach Plummer owned one of the largest businesses in town and knew about this stuff. If anyone knew what to do, it would be him.

“Are you sure about the company? How do you know about it, and how are you going to explain it to Mr. Plummer?”

“I’m not going to explain it. I’m just going to tell him I have the money and I want to do this and try and convince him like I convinced you. And yes, I’m sure about the company. It won’t take off right away, but in the next few years, it’s going to become huge. I want to get in on the ground floor if the guy is still working out of his garage.”

“How much are you thinking?”

“Maybe a hundred thousand? That leaves fifty for this year’s coaches and fifty to keep betting, which is more than I started with this last time, so I should be able to turn it into real money.”

Dad mulled it over. “I’m not sure bringing someone else in on what you’re able to do is a good idea.”

“It’s the only option. You and I don’t know how to invest in things like this. We need someone who does.”

“True. Still, it’s a lot of money to risk on an unknown startup.”

“Trust me, Dad, I know what I’m doing.”

He studied me for a long moment, then nodded. “Alright, we’ll talk to Mr. Plummer after the holiday. For now, how about we focus on lunch?”

“Sure.”

As Dad started pulling ingredients from the fridge, I felt a wave of satisfaction wash over me. I couldn’t believe it. I’d made this plan only a few months ago, I hadn’t expected it to work out so well so fast.

True, not everything was great. I still had Joshua’s increasingly disturbing behavior, Mom’s illness, and Raf’s promise that he wasn’t done with Eduardo and me to worry about.

Still, as I watched dad trying to navigate the kitchen, I felt a surge of optimism. My prospects for varsity football were better than ever. I had solid friendships, much better than the ones in the dream life, fixing my education, and a girlfriend who, despite our ups and downs, made me happy. Most importantly, Dad was safe. There was no way Eduardo would end up joining the gang and no way he’d end up killing my father.

No. On a whole, everything was working out great.

Dad glanced up from the cutting board, catching my eye. “What’s that smile for?”

“I’m just happy.”

To Be Continued ...