Lake Pathos Beach,
Memorial Day 1989
Jessie stood in the hot sand with her hands on
hips surrounded by the three football players from KU and watched the ongoing
two-on-two volleyball game, a guy and girl matched against another couple. The
score was tied, the sets were tied, and the two teams continued to battle for
the two-point lead required to win the match.
“Do you know who’s playing?” Jessie said to her
buff entourage.
Rodney nodded. “The server is Marinko. His
blocker is Merkeyta. Brother and sister. Marinko is a tight end for KU. I don’t
know the other couple.” Jessie looked to Sling and Marcelo. They shrugged their
shoulders.
Merkeyta signaled with a closed fist behind her
back to indicate she would pull-off and not attempt to block the opponent on her
side of the court. Marinko, with a bronzed shaved head glistened with sweat
reflected the bright rays off his muscular torso. He tossed the ball up with a
leap and drove a bullet serve just above the net. The setter dove, his arms
extended with double fists and popped the ball high for a set to his girl at
the net. She spiked the ball, but Marinko had position to bump set the ball to
Merkeyta who scrambled cross-court to intercept it just as it crossed the
height of the net. She sent the ball to the rear court where the setter leaped,
his arm and fist a hammer that volleyed the ball deep to Marinko’s corner
untouched.
It was that last move that caught Jessie’s
attention. Familiarity crossed her mind. This was the man who threw the
thunderbolt—Zeus. His girl was Aphrodite, athletic and toned, with long,
marathon-groomed legs and a slight chest, her top tight and flattened.
One point to win the match, and the serve passed
to Zeus. Aphrodite signaled with one finger against her flat bikini-clad butt
indicating she would block the opponent’s line attack—a ball
hit towards the nearest sideline. Zeus with his thick, white gold, wavy hair
combed back from his forehead and draped behind his ears, eyed his opponents,
and palmed the ball in his left hand. His taught trapezoids twitched as he
leaned back and tossed the ball high then leaped and pummeled a bullet straight
down the sideline. Merkeyta peeled and dug and batted the ball up and towards
center court. Marinko bopped a two fisted hit over the net that allowed Merkeyta
to regain her position. Zeus set the net and hit high. Merkeyta was poised to
launch as soon as Aphrodite struck the ball. With a leaping thrust, Aphrodite
pummeled Merkeyta’s forehead that brought her crashing down on her butt and
back. The crowd moaned. The ball rebounded off her head, up and over the net
mid-court. Zeus took the lob on the run and hammered a return to the opposing
deep corner. The crowd cheered as Zeus’ power hit closed the set and match.
Aphrodite ducked under the net and knelt in the
sand by Merkeyta. The bill of her cap had saved her face from harm, her injury
no worse than a bruised ego. Aphrodite helped Merkeyta to her feet and they,
arm in arm, walked off the court to the applause of the crowd. Zeus ducked
under the net and shook Marinko’s hand, and then both attended to their girls.
Aphrodite gave Zeus a double high five with a jump and kissed him while she was
midair, obviously a routine stunt done by this dramatic and dynamic Vballer
duo.
Jessie had her work cut out for her, the bigger
the ticket, the tougher the conquest.
A thirty-minute break between matches allowed
the new challenging team to warm up. Since Jessie had not played with any of
these men and this would be her first competitive game in the sand, she soaked
up all of the advice they offered while they watched the completion of the
previous match. Jessie was confident; she was a skilled blocker and Libero—a
defensive specialist in indoor volleyball who needs to dig well and get a hand
on every ball she can to keep the play alive. There was no such designated
position in the two-on-two sand volleyball. The setter assumed this role while
the front player blocked.
Rodney and Jessie scrimmaged against Sling and
Marcello, and Jessie displayed her talent and experience on the court. A
whistle blew that signaled the start of the match. Zeus and Aphrodite
approached Rodney and Jessie on their court. The two men shook hands and Jessie
gave Aphrodite a tight squeeze across her knuckles. Jessie glared with her coal
black eyes into Aphrodite’s for a brief second, and then switched to look up
with a demeanor of recognition at Zeus that caused an element of curiosity to
cross his face as though he had seen her before. Her eyes softened to their
natural sultry invitation for him to look within.
“Totally tubular match. We should play sometime,
Zeus. Winner’s choice?”
“Have we met before?” he asked, confused by her
reference to Zeus. “My name’s Brad.” His eyes showed a hint of familiarity as
he peered into her coal black ones. “My partner is Jan.”
“Does it matter?” She glanced at Aphrodite, and
then gave him a tooth-filled smile. “I’m Jessie. Show me your game.”
Jessie ducked under the net and called after
Rodney, “Come on Rod, you take the strong side, and I’ll serve.”
The first set was lopsided in favor of Brad and
Jan. They were still hot on their game, but Jan was furious with Jessie’s
introduction, and anger got the best of her game as emotions overrode trained
reflexes. Her timing was off for mid-air adjustments, and she was unable to
block Jessie’s spikes. Brad and Rodney played their game as both competed well
at the net and as the setter, but it was obvious to the crowd that the battle
was between Jessie and Jan. Jan’s composure was tense and gritting, while
Jessie countered with a taunting smile and eyes that laughed at her opponent.
Maneuvering together more fluidly and responding
to each other signals, Jessie and Rodney rallied each other with cheers and
calls and squeaked by with a win for the second set. They double high fived and
whooped a “Hoorah!” as the crowd hailed these underdog winners.
The third set was a duel to the finish. Jessie’s
quads were hot and flexed, her calves pulsed—a leopard poised for each block.
Brad sent a serve cross-court, and Jessie spiked it behind Aphrodite for a
score 13-14. Down by one with three consecutive scores needed, Jessie smiled
and shrugged her shoulders and arms down, as though they were in the lead. Her
serve. Rodney signaled with an open left hand and wiggled with his right finger
to indicate a right sideline serve and that he would block
to match up with the hitter. Jessie served a lob over Jan’s head. Jan peeled
and dug but lost her footing and fell face down in the sand. It was truly an
embarrassing loss of point, and the sand stuck to her sweaty body, her face
coated except for the hollows of her eyes. She gritted sand in her teeth, and
seethed at Jessie.
“Simmer, Jan. She’s got your goat, and you’re
showing it,” Brad coached as they took positions again.
Jan fired back— “Watch your own balls! I'm going
to slice that bitch!”
Jessie offered another tooth-filled smile and
held the ball on her hip while they readied for the next serve. She served deep
crosscourt. Jan dug for the save, laid out an arm and passed to Brad and rolled
over her shoulder. Brad dug to midcourt to take the lob, and with his back to
the net, double fisted a high return. Digging for the net, Brad leaped like
Jordan for a dunk and roofed Rodney—blocking Rodney’s spike so hard that it
immediately rocketed to the sand. Brad was definitely the powerhouse of the
two—the score 14-15. Winning the third set required a two point spread once a
team reached 15. The two teams battled back and forth driving the score up with
Jessie and Rodney tying twice.
Jessie was blocker with Rodney serving—score
20-20. Brad serve received and set for Jan. Jessie and Jan reached the tape at
the same time as the ball fell down between their hands. Contact was
simultaneous. The ball grazed the net and fell at Jan’s feet. Coal black eyes penetrated
the net at the sand-faced, sweaty mess of frustration and humiliation.
“Fucking bitch!” Jan screamed.
The crowd responded with whistles and catcalls.
Jessie returned the outburst with a smile. Her
lemon drop scalloped globes glistened with pride. Her quads flexed, and their
four intertwined muscles sculpted her leg. Jan’s shoulders sagged from the
weight of her disgrace.
“Shake it off, Jan,” Brad attempted to soothe.
“Fuck you!” she hurled back.
The crowd reacted with chatter. A girl yelled
out, “Take a chill pill!”
Jessie
looked at them with her arms opened at her sides with an expression of what did I do? This caused some laughter
and more adulation.
“Totally rad!”
“She’s bitchin’ bad!”
Jessie gave them something else to feed on and
popped a bronzed bun with a snap of her bikini.
“Bodacious bod, girl.”
The two
teams settled into positions.
Score 21-20 with one point to win the set and
the match. Rodney held the ball to serve and sized up Brad and Jan. Jessie
wiggled her left finger and closed fisted her right. She was positioned on the
weak side and would block left and allow Rodney to defend the right side.
Deception was an art and gained her many strikes, stuffs, and roofs during
Jessie’s last season as state champs and her recognition as MVP. Blocking
became a game of cat and mouse, and Jessie was certainly the pussycat in this
game that had cornered the mouse. Rodney volleyed. Brad serve returned for a
set to Jan who struck it hard and deep. Rodney dug and double fisted it to
Jessie who bobbled it high on their side. Rodney leaped for a kill. The ball
grazed the net and deflected up over Jan’s hands. Brad dove for a beach dig and
bobbled it to Jan who set him up for a strike.
Jessie peeled and dug then spun a reverse, a
deceptive move that she wasn’t blocking at the net. But, Jessie sprung from the
sand and lunged for the tape. She faked a cross block with her right, and then
slammed her left fist down hard. The ball rocketed to the sand unreturned.
The crowd went wild. A new Vballer champ reigned
on the beach. Jessie just smiled. She did not hoot or holler or do anything
dramatic other than a double high five with her partner Rodney and a kiss to
his cheek. Jessie ducked under the net and extended her hand to Jan. Jan
grimaced and needed some much-needed grace from the crowd. Obliging, she shook
Jessie’s hand and then walked away from the court to the water to rinse off
sand and sweat. Jessie gave Brad a sidelong look, hands on her hips. Jan was
already wading out into the lake. He walked up to Jessie and placed his beefed
arm around her shoulder.
“So shall we play the next game together?” Jessie said.
Copyright 2017 © Jeff Cambridge
Excerpt from PURSUIT, a novel by Jeff
Cambridge.
Author of transformational fiction—
Real
characters in real life drama that tell the story of their transformation to
become more like Jesus.
This is a
pre-published scene.
To read the
scenes sequentially, begin with
“PURSUIT: A
Novel – Prologue”
You will find
the first episodes numbered sequentially
beginning with
the May Blog Archive. Click on them and enjoy.
Your comments
are welcomed and appreciated. Simply check one of the reaction boxes below,
write a comment, or email me at lightbycambridge@gmail.com.
This novel is a
work of fiction. Any references to real events, businesses, organizations, and
locales are intended only to give the fiction a sense of reality and
authenticity. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental.
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