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“If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive.”
—Barry Lopez
(as Badger, in Crow and Weasel)

 

To be nobody but yourself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you like everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting.
- e. e. cummings

 

           
The "Bud" Bowl

-------Some people just can't seem to stand on the curb and watch as the big parade passes by them. They have to get in on the act while the getting is good. You can't help but admire them for choosing action over idea - fulfillment over wishes - life over nothingness! Homer "Bud" DeWolfe is certainly one of them!
-------In the midst of a high school intramural flag football season, my team found itself without the service of Bud, our biggest and best lineman, due to a broken ankle he received while playing basketball. With a plaster cast up to his knee, he showed up at practice a few days before a big game. He watched and coached from the sideline, wanting to play in the worst way.
-------Before the practice was a half hour old, he began to throw and catch the ball. My attention was drawn his direction as I heard a powerful thud followed by uproarious laughter from several of the players. He demonstrated again the feat that had amused me teammates so, punting the football with the cast. How he managed to swing his leg with such velocity is a mystery to me, but I'd have been proud to have one of my healthy-legged punts travel so far.
_____At practice the following day he continued his antics, and by day's end had challenged us all to a fifty-yard dash. We graciously spotted him a ten-yard head start and some of us were able to barely edge him out at the finish line.
-------Game day arrived! We showed up in our jerseys a bit early and noticed an attractive lady jogging around the public track that surrounded our playing field. Feeling a whimsical urge, we decided to quietly fall in behind her as she passed, running single file in her lane. We wondered how long we could go unnoticed, and might have made an entire lap if not for the laughter that was inevitable when we noticed Bud, on crutches, keeping up the pace at the rear of the line.
-------When the game began, Bud was on the sideline chomping at the bit. As the opposing team racked up the points it was all he could take and he trotted into the game, cast in tow. The look on the faces of all those on the field was priceless. He took his place in the interior of the defensive line, and did his best to reach the ball carrier on each play. Several plays after he entered the game, the opposing running back made his way through a hole in the line and was off to the races. He met little opposition as all but one member of our defense was literally rolling on the ground in laughter. I will never forget the sight of their running back sprinting forty yards to the end zone in a frenzy. Hot on his heels was a boy twice his size sporting a full leg cast.
-------Bud's season ended the following day when he had his routine doctor's office visit. Seeing the worn out remains of a cast on the bottom of his foot, the doctor found a creative way to shackle our fearless lineman with his new cast. He might have put a muzzle on Bud's mobility, but there wasn't a doctor alive who could quell his determination.

© 2004 - The Trill House