Joshua


 I was visiting a friend nearby campus. His family had an orchard and they grew apples, pears and peaches. It was apple season and I was in the habit of stopping off and picking up two or three baskets of fresh apples to hand the guys after practice. When I was at school, back east, we had a guy that used to show up after football practice and hand out apples to us. I never forgot how we used to devour those little apples and how one of the guys, who I hardly knew at the time but I had a crush on, just walked up to me with his apple and took a big bite from it and then he had me take a bite from it. We ate that apple together and there was no shortage of apples either. That was the whole purpose of the practice - that was part of how we connected as a team. He and I went on to become close friends after that. 

Anyway when I showed up to pick up the apples my buddy introduced me to Joshua. He was sort of a character. He was sort of country but not really because he had some really nice silver jewelry on and a pair of boots that were not the typical mid-western work boots. You could see he was a hard worker because he'd worked up a nice sweat and he wasn't all tucked in and neat - his hair was a little out of place and he leaned back against the wall and took a little break from loading things into my truck. 

He didn't smell bad but you could smell his musky sweat without having to get to close to him. 

"This is my nephew - Joshua. Say hey to Coach Cooper Joshua."

 "Hey Coach." He didn't whisper but he was soft spoken for sure. 

"Hey Joshua. Nice to meet you. Your Uncle here has told me you might want to row for us next season. That true?"

"Well. I've never done that before but I've watched a few races and I'd like to try if I can get in there next Fall. I've heard a lot about the team too - it sounds pretty cool."

"How are your grades?"

"Good." He looked down a little blushed. 

"Good usually does the job for us. You just let me know if you wanna give it a shot and we'll sit it up. I wouldn't mind giving you a few weekend practice sessions before hand if you'd like." 

"You mean in the boat?" He perked up right away. 

"Yup. You can go single or I can introduce you to a few of the guys on the squad and they can show you the ropes. " 

"I'd like that. My Uncle told me you give some of the guys a special weekend tryout but I didn't think it'd come my way." 

"Sure. We'll sit it up. Give me your number - better yet - here." I handed him my business card with my private number and email on it. "Let me know what dates you have available and we'll put something together. You can stay at my place too if you want - or we can squeeze you into a dorm room somewhere." 

"Your place! That would be great." He put the card in his pocket and looked at his Uncle and his Uncle looked over and told him "you name it - anytime you want." 

"Thank you. Thank you very much." He came up to me and shook my hand but, quickly, it turned into a hug, of sorts. It was over as fast as it started but he left his scent on me and in my sinuses. I couldn't wait to hear from this fellow. I definitely owed his Uncle one. 


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