APATCHABLUE STUDIO: Home For Christmas

Red must have been watching me and decided I was homesick with the holidays coming on. I was feeling a little low because it looked like there wouldn’t be enough of a break in the basketball activity to allow my traveling home. The varsity had a tour of preseason games scheduled over the holidays and the B squad would only take a couple days off at Christmas, so that didn’t give me enough time to travel to Montana. Red approached me with an offered to give a couple extra vacation days on either side of the B squad break providing I would settle down when I returned and play smart ball. I took him up on the offer, but wondered since if it slowed down my movement to varsity. I think Red was wise to see how I felt and realize a few days at home would do more for me than the practice time.

The train ride was familiar by now, but seemed slow. I imagine the shortness of my leave from campus had something to do with my impatience. I received a warm welcome at home and told them all about life at college and playing basketball. They were surprised at the shortness of my vacation, so I broke it to them that if I were on the varsity, I would be in southern California playing basketball on a tour that would last most of the holidays. In reality it looked like I wouldn’t be returning home before summer break in the future and that would be all. That was a sobering thought for all of us, but I wanted to tell them now so we could adjust to it. The rest of my days home were filled with fun and activity. We had the Christmas tree as usual and card games at night. I looked at every thing differently now. I didn’t want to waste a minute of being with my family and I was proud of all of them. Fortunately the weather was good and the trip back into town uneventful. I allowed one extra day to travel back to school in case there was a problem. I used some of my home time doing a few maintenance things around Mom’s house.

I was back on the train heading to my new world, which I was beginning to like, but I couldn’t help but think it would be summer before I would see my family again. My home time had gone quickly, but I felt renewed; just what I had needed. I thought of Red’s words, “Settle down when you return and play smart ball”. I promised myself I would try with all my might to do just that. If I didn’t show Red some improvement, he would have less faith in me and I didn’t want to get into that situation.

Practice with the B squad was grueling after my holiday and the coach started me on a sweat box routine to help me shed a few pounds. My increased intensity of play helped get me in shape and didn’t go unnoticed by Red.

When the basketball season started a familiar face had appeared. Larry Price was one of the fellows that gave me the Spokane tour last spring when I visited EWC for the first time. Now he was a sophomore and had moved up to the varsity from the B squad. As I recall he was from Oregon. I lost track of him, as he didn’t survive on the varsity for long. I wonder what happened to the girl I was with on the Spokane tour. I watched, but never did see her in all the students on campus. The other fellow with us on the tour must have gone another direction as he never surfaced. That’s life, always full of changes. It made me wonder what would have happened had I taken Gonzaga’s offer. When they played Eastern they had some big men. The striped stockings they wore made them look even taller. They had a good team that was hard to beat.