We started out short stories in English class. The assignment was to create a five to six page story that included dialogue and conflict. My inspiration for my story came from my love for sports.
The Decision
As the sun rose, Tom Rodgers III sat up in bed in his second story bedroom in his family’s Chicago suburb home. The sun was already shining through his window onto his desk and in his face. He could hear his family talking downstairs when his Mom called,
“Are you awake yet Thomas?”
“I’ll be down in a few,” replied Thomas.
Thomas slowly got up and out of bed, made his way to the bathroom and into the shower. The warm water hitting his face he thought about the day ahead. His whole family including his dad who was always on the road and his grandfather from Wisconsin were in town. Everything Tom had worked for had lead up to this day.
Thomas made his way downstairs where he was greeted by his family.
“What’s up champ,” his father, Tom Jr, said. “You know where you’re going to go?”
“Yeah dad, well maybe.. I’m not quite sure yet. I wanna talk to Pop first”
“Sounds good, I know he’ll have some advice for you.”
“Why would you want to go anywhere but Wisconsin?” blurted out his mom.
“I’m just not sure it’s the right choice for my career. I want to explore all my options before I make any decisions”
The room became silent and everyone turned to Thomas. Up until this day everyone was sure he would chose to play for The University of Wisconsin. Thomas’ mom Rachel looked puzzled. Saturday morning breakfast was usually a time for the family to talk about what was on their mind. However this morning, even with a lot on their minds, the family sat quiet.
“Can you pass the eggs” said Rachel.
Thomas looked at her with anger and hesitated to comply.
“Pass your mother the eggs Thomas”, said his father.
Thomas slowly passed the eggs down to his mom. The room was so silent you could hear a pin drop. Everything appeared to be moving in slow motion.
“Morning”, a deep voice from the base of the stairs said, breaking the silence.
“Pop! How’s it going!” replied Thomas.
“Good, just came down for my morning coffee. Gotta start the day off right, know what I mean champ?”
“Why don’t you join us for breakfast dad?”, said Rachel.
“Sure”
“We’ve been discussing Thomas’ big decision on where he wants to play college ball.”
“He’s not going to Wisconsin?”
“He hasn’t made his mind up yet. He’s thinking about Wisconsin and Alabama.”
“Ah… Bama. That’s where McCarron played. Right Champ?”
“Yeah, he got drafted to the Bengals last year, explained Thomas.
“I don’t understand the big deal about him? Why don’t you wanna play where your grandfather played Thomas?”, begged Rachel. “You’d also be much closer to home, so we could come watch you.”
“As much as I’d love to see him follow in my footsteps, it’s up to him Rachel. I know how big a fan he is of McCarron. Playing for Alabama would mean a lot to him.”
“Don’t you want to continue on your grandfather’s legacy Thomas? Doesn’t that mean a lot to you too!”, yelled Rachel as she rose from her chair.
“Rachel, calm down.”, said Thomas’ dad.
“Why don’t me and Thomas talk in the other room.” offered Thomas’ grandfather. “We’ll come back and announce his decision in a few. C’mon Thomas, let’s go upstairs.”
Thomas followed his grandfather up the old wooden stairs and into his bedroom. As they went upstairs, silence fell over the breakfast table once again. Thomas sat on his bed while his grandfather took a seat in Thomas’ leather chair.
“Thomas, I’ve told you about my college football career before, right?”, asked Tom Sr.
“It’s been awhile but I remember most of it Pop.”
“Did I tell you why I chose to go Wisconsin though.”
Thomas looked puzzled. He always assumed that Wisconsin was his grandfather’s’ only Division I scholarship.
“Where else did you have offers from Pop?” asked Thomas.
“UCLA and Texas A&M”
“Why did you chose Wisconsin over those”
“Well, similarly to your mother, my mother didn’t want me to be far from home.” explained Thomas’ grandfather. “At the time I was the first in the family to play a sport at the college level. My siblings had no reason to be far from home so naturally my mother assumed I would just play locally too. I never told her that I wasn’t a fan of playing in the cold and snow.”
“Isn’t that why you got injured Pop.” interjected Thomas.
“I wouldn’t put all the blame on that, but yes”, answered Thomas’ grandfather. “I never told my mother that’s how I got injured because I didn’t want her to feel guilty about keeping me from playing in a warmer climate. I know how much you want to play at Alabama and although it would be cool for you to play locally at Wisconsin, I want you to play where you’ll be happy.”
“I can’t believe I’d never heard that story about your other college offers before and how you got injured”, snapped Thomas.
“I’d never told anyone that story before. I didn’t wanna come off as blaming others for my injury.”
“To be honest, the only reason I was considering Wisconsin in the first place was because I thought you’d be disappointed if I went anywhere else.”
“Disappointed in you? Never.”
“How do you think mom is going to take this news”
“She’ll be fine, I think she was worried about you not wanting to follow in my footsteps as you were.
Thomas headed back downstairs to find his mom, dad and sister laughing and having a good time. As he reached the ground floor the room fell silent once again.
“How was your talk with Pop, champ?”, asked Thomas’ father.
“Great, I learned something new about Pop and came to conclusion on where I’m going to play ball next year.”
“Wisconsin?”, asked his mother.
“Well, after a long talk about his own college career I decided I want to play for Alabama. Although I’ll be far away I think it’ll be better for my career and so does Pop.”
“He doesn’t want you to go to Wisconsin?”
“He said he wants me to go where I’ll be successful and we both agreed that I would be better off playing for Alabama”
“Okay, well if you’re happy and he’s happy, then I guess I’m happy too.”
“Thanks mom, and I know, I’ll be pretty far away but maybe you guys could still drive down for a game.”
“Of course, we’ll be at at least one game”, exclaimed Rachel.
Thomas’ sister, Cassidy, finally looked up from her phone and joined the conversation.
“So if Thomas is moving to Alabama does that mean I can have his room now”
“You’ll have to talk to your brother about that”, said Rachel”
“Well! Can I Thomas”
“Sure, but I’m not moving out for a couple months you know”, chuckled Thomas.