A New World Begins

A sporting chance…

Travis nudged Shane’s elbow to warn him as Jackson spotted them drinking their coffee in the ante-room after lunch and broke away from the group of officer cadets he was with to home in on them.

“Jackson’s heading over here,” hissed Travis. “We haven’t done anything wrong have we?” By the time Shane had lowered his cup and looked around, Jackson was by their side.

“Cadet Lundgren, I’m told you’ve requested an appointment to see me. I can spare a few minutes right now if you’re happy to chat here – we can use those chairs over there for a little more privacy if you like, or is it something you’d prefer to do more formally in the office?”

“Er, no, it’s fine here, Captain, Sir” said Shane, a little flustered. “It’s nothing too important. Sir. Here is good.” Looking relieved, Shane passed his cup to Travis and allowed Jackson to steer him towards the two empty armchairs in the alcove by the fireside.

“Take my cup too back to the counter too, Cadet Larson,” said Jackson, handing his cup over to Travis and cutting him off from Shane. “I’m sure Cadet Lundgren will be just fine on his own for a moment.” Jackson sat down opposite Shane as Travis reluctantly headed off to the serving area and then smiled at Shane. “He seems to be a good friend, always watching your back. Congratulations, by the way, on your squad’s performance at the first of the Military Skills tests, that was quite outstanding. Lieutenant Masters has clearly set a very high standard for the other dorms to try and match, it’ll be interesting to see how the competition goes.”

“Sergeant Bauer too,” added Shane quickly. “He’s making sure we get the best tuition, possible.” It wasn’t necessary to say exactly how.

“Yes, Sergeant Bauer deserves some credit, I hear he’s doing well in taking up the reins as a dorm senior from Kyle and showing that he’s genuinely earned those sergeant’s stripes. Now, Shane, what can I do for you? Something about golf, I believe?”

Shane relaxed a little, noting the Jackson was now using his first name, being less formal. “Yes, Sir,” he replied, being careful not to be too informal himself. Craig wouldn’t have approved of that even if Jackson was seemingly more relaxed. “It’s just that there used to be a golf team, but now there isn’t. I think there should be again.”

“Go on,” Jackson encouraged as Shane appeared to stall for a moment, “Why Is that?”

“There are some good players here. You saw some of them at the barbeque we were invited to at Sergeant Bauer’s house, and there are quite a few more. I think we could actually put a really good team together to be competitive in the Pennsylvania schools’ league. Maybe even win some prizes.”

Jackson nodded. “I’m not a golf expert, Shane, but yes, I did think some of the players in that tournament seemed fairly good, and there was certainly no lack of competitive spirit. However, it takes more than just a group of people that want to play golf in order to have a capable team. That’s partly why it folded before. It wasn’t just a lack of talent, it was a dearth of the support needed to make a functioning team. People prepared to do the work behind the scenes. To organise fixtures. To arrange transport to venues. To keep the whole effort going. Those playing in the competitions are just the spearpoint Shane, the ones who get the glory. Behind that gleaming spearpoint you have the wooden shaft, long and dull but supplying all the effort needed to deliver the final effect. People credit generals with winning wars, but it’s the logisticians who get them over the finishing line. Do you understand what I’m saying, cadet?”

Shane leaned forward and agreed. “Yes, I get that. But I’ve thought about it, I really have. I was thinking of asking Nat, err, sorry, Sergeant Bauer, if we might be able to persuade his dad to let us use their country club course as the college’s venue occasionally. That would be prestigious, lots of schools would want to play against us just to get to use that course, plus we’d not have to worry about the upkeep of a course here. I’m sure Sergeant Bauer could be persuaded to ask his dad for a good deal for us. Plus it would attract people to join the golf squad if they thought they might be able to go to the country club now and again. Not just golfers, but people who’d help out on all the other tasks even if they didn’t actually play. People like Cadet Larson. He can’t play golf at all but he’d join in and help organise stuff. And we’d need some officer cadets of course to be in charge of the squad.”

Jackson was still looking at Shane, expecting more.

“And, err, I was thinking of asking Lieutenant Masters if he might agree to be the founding President of the club. He’s not good at golf but he’s the Honor Student this year and people respect him, he’d be a great figurehead.”

Jackson sat back in his seat and looked deep in thought. After a few moments he smiled and leaned forward towards Shane again. “You seem to have put a lot of thought into setting up a golf squad. Real thought, doing it properly, not just wanting to get a team together so just a few people can play golf to amuse themselves. I’ll think about it, raise it with the Sports Committee and, if they agree, I’ll bring it to the attention of the Commandant. Obviously, he’ll have to approve it too, especially if it needs a budget allocating. Is that okay for you?”

As Jackson rose to signal the interview was over, Shane quickly scrambled to his feet. “Yes, thank you, Captain, that would be good of you.”

“I can’t promise anything of course,” said Jackson, “But I’ll set the wheels in motion.” Jackson half-turned towards Shane again before walking back to the group of officer cadets. “There’s no need to bother asking Lieutenant Masters if he’ll help out, I’m sure he’s got quite enough on his plate being the Captain of the football squad. If the Sports Committee agree we should put the idea to the Commandant, I’ll ask around and see if I can nominate a suitable President for you.”

“Thank you, Sir. That would be good too.”

Jackson smirked as he saw Travis hovering nearby, trying hard both to hear what was being said yet remain unnoticed. Not much chance of that given the shock of bright orange hair atop his shoulders. “Just one last thing, Cadet Lundgren,” Jackson said in a stage whisper, “I trust I don’t need to check my trousers before heading back to classes?”

* * *

A few hours later, as the guys in the dorm sat at their desks working on their day’s set tasks for private study, Nat wandered over and sat down on Shane’s bed. “So, Shane, I hear your interview with Jackson took place after lunch, how did it go?”

Shane grinned. “I think I did well, Nat. He caught me off guard because I wasn’t expecting him to just walk up and chat with me. I thought I might have to go and do a formal interview. I was a little worried about that.”

“Jackson’s not an ogre,” smiled Nat. “He’s good at getting the best out of people. It’s what makes him a good leader.”

“I said all the things you suggested, Nat,” continued Shane. “About maybe using your family’s club and about setting up a proper committee. He liked that idea.”

“I thought he might.”

“But he wasn’t totally convinced. So I had to go off script a bit and improvise. I think he really got sold on it when I suggested I might ask Kyle to be the President of the golf club. He quickly decided he might be able to think of someone for that role…”

Nat stood up and ruffled Shane’s hair as he headed back to his own desk and worksheets. “Great thinking, Shane, that was a good move. And Craig’s right, there’s smart under those curls, Goldilocks. Well, there would be if you hadn’t had them all shorn off last week.”

* * *

“I’m completely stuffed,” said Will as he slipped off his jacket and flopped down onto his bed after returning from dinner. “Don’t think I want to move again until lights out. Those braised ribs were superb tonight.”

“Got to agree,” said Shane, “I had the sockeye salmon and rice and that was just as good.”

“How do you always get an extra helping without asking?” asked Travis. “I had to ask for an extra couple of ribs, but the server just popped two fillets of salmon on your plate right away.”

“It’s his killer smile and those sparkly blue eyes, Travis,” laughed Nat, “Everyone wants to mother him and feed him up.”

“Doesn’t seem to work for me,” said Kyle. “I have to ask too, and I have exactly the same looks…”

“Yes, but you and Travis are already muscled,” said Shane. “I look as though I need building up, so they take pity on me.”

“Travis,” said Nat, “While everybody is like a captive audience of bloated whales floundering on a beach, do you want to break the news about the Thanksgiving travel arrangements? All the permissions are in now. Sorry it took a while to confirm them but Will’s parents were hard to track down, it took Mrs Woodleigh a day or too longer than we thought.”

Travis turned around in his chair to face into the room and paused for a moment, ensuring he had everyone’s full attention.

“Okay,” he began, “You know that college had some problems with getting us all on commercial flights. That’s been sorted now. We’re all flying to my place the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. And we’re not going by airline either.”

Will looked up. “Oh, and how’s that, genius? Are we all going on the back of one of Noah’s dragons?”

There was a ripple of laughter as Travis glared at Will.

“No,” said Travis. “We’re going in our plane. My dad is sending it for us. It’s down in Florida right now for its 3,000-hour engine overhaul and dad’s had it refitted too, bringing it right up to the latest standard. It’ll pick us up from Pittsburgh International on Tuesday afternoon next week and take us right to my house.”

“That’s right,” said Nat, “So all of you make sure to thank Mr Larson when you arrive there. Also, the college minibuses are going to be real busy on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving ferrying people to the airport and railway station, so Kyle has also very kindly offered to take you all to the airport in his truck.”

“Thanks, Kyle.”

“Mainly just to be absolutely certain we’ve gotten rid of you all at last,” joked Kyle as he turned from his desk to face them, “I won’t be happy until you are just a little vanishing dot in the sky.”

“You won’t need a lot of luggage,” said Travis. “We can travel light just like Craig always said. Everything we need apart from clothes will be at my house. So just clothes really. Warm ones though, it can be cold already this time of year in Dakota. And we’re only going to be there a few days, we’re flying back again on the Sunday morning to get here in plenty of time for college re-starting on the Monday.”

“We’re really going on a private jet?” asked Shane, his eyes wide. “I’ve hardly ever been on an ordinary plane before, let alone a private jet.”

“Well, it’s not a jet,” said Travis. “It’s a propeller airplane. It’s called a Pilatus PC12. It’s sort of like a farm truck really, we use it for surveys and stuff like that. But it’s not bad. It certainly beats Amtrac.”

“Pilatus what?” asked Will, already reaching for his iPad. “PC12? What model year? I’ll look it up, guys…”

“See,” said Nat, “They have got modern out in Dakota. And you lot all thought Travis was going to be taking you there in a wagon train…”

“But even on those, we’ve done the upgrade from oxen to horses…” laughed Travis.

* * *

The water polo team were under pressure in the dying minutes of Wednesday afternoon’s match. The A team were playing away in Pittsburgh and the B team, captained by Nathan, was at home to the Harrisburg Hawks, a team from the state capital. The Hawks had been trailing by several points throughout the first three quarters of the match but were putting in a strong finish, clearly determined to even the score and possibly try and pull off a last-minute win. Most of Allegheny’s B team squad had been cycled through at least two quarters with Nathan himself having played every quarter. They were really missing Craig: his strength and commitment more than making up for his relative inexperience. He’d been a perfect defensive player, not afraid to make a hard stop when needed, but with the fitness and speed to sprint off on a counter-strike the moment he took possession of the ball.

Nathan was willing the clock to count down the last minute of the game, encouraging his team mates to retain possession of the ball, to keep it moving quickly between players, denying the Hawks the chance to grab it and score. They were definitely finishing more strongly than his own players but perhaps that was to be expected: the Hawks were fielding their A team. A win against the Hawks, even if only by a single point, would be an excellent, and unexpected, result.

Nathan caught a pass from behind, sold a feint to the Hawks’ player moving in on him, made it look as though he was intent on making a quick pass but in reality held onto the ball, twisted round, gaining an extra second, passed it forward to his wing man but then immediately received it back again. As Nathan kicked his legs powerfully and surged upwards out of the water to gain height, a Hawk slammed into him from behind, twisted round, ‘accidentally’ delivered a powerful kick into the small of Nathan’s back as he moved off and held up his hands to try and block Nathan’s next pass. Unbalanced, Nathan dropped back down into the water but slid sideways, protecting the ball, managed to retain possession. When he surfaced again the whistle was blowing. They’d done enough, Allegheny had won by a single goal.

Nathan tossed the ball up and then punched it hard into the small crowd watching from the stands. It was the B team’s third victory of the season. They weren’t just the training ground for the A team, they were beginning to do well in their own right. As Nathan shook hands with his opposite number in the Hawks and began to swim towards the pool side he noticed that Jackson was in amongst the crowd. Even as Nathan watched, Jackson was rising to his feet, moving towards the ladder from the pool.

The Hawks had had quite a journey to reach Allegheny college, well over four hours along the I-76, and would be staying overnight in the guest dormitory before travelling back the following day. The college prided itself on its ability to offer overnight accommodation to visiting teams along, of course with a very high standard of hospitality. This policy allowed the college both to be very selective in terms of the fixtures it accepted, as it had no shortage of schools keen to play against it, but also to demonstrate that it was, clearly, the predominant college New England.

Jackson was waiting when Nathan and the Hawks’ captain climbed up the ladder and out of the pool. Nathan stepped forward and made the introductions.

“May I introduce Tom Brady, captain of the Harrisburg Hawks water polo team and, I believe, Senior Class President?” said Nathan. “Tom, this is Captain Jackson Davis, the senior student here at Allegheny College.”

“That’s me,” said Brady, stepping forward to take Jackson’s proffered hand. “Pleased to meet you. I’ve heard you’re the man to beat for the New England Schools’ Heavyweight Boxing Championship this year. You certainly look pretty formidable.”

“I’ll be your host at dinner this evening,” said Jackson, carefully weighing up Brady in turn. “Your coach and staff will dine with our Commandant, and you and your team will be my guests. Sergeant Bauer here will show you to your accommodation once you’ve changed. Dinner will be at seven, but we usually meet in the ante-room from six-thirty to socialise. I’m sure Sergeant Bauer can be relied upon to arrange for someone to escort you to the dining hall. I look forward to seeing you there.”

As Jackson departed, Nathan led Brady and the Hawks back towards the changing rooms at the far end of the pool. Normally the visiting team would have had its own changing room but because that was undergoing maintenance they were sharing with the college team. There was plenty of room for both and the two teams were in good spirits, recognising that the game had been hard fought and the result a fair one.

“So,” asked Tom as he dried off next to Nathan. “What’s with all the military ranks? I guess it’s because you are a military college? I haven’t seen anybody in uniform though. I thought you’d all be dressed up like you are on the front of your college brochure and website.”

Nathan laughed. “Normally, we are. Blue working dress most days and ceremonial greys and white on formal days. Wednesday afternoons though we change into civilian dress with it being sports. It’s a little concession and doesn’t over-awe visiting teams. You’ll see us in uniform at breakfast tomorrow.”

“How about dinner tonight? Will you all be in tuxedos?”

Nathan smiled again. “No, just jacket and tie. ‘Smarts’ as we call it. Visitors can wear whatever they like, it’s not unusual to see jeans and T shirts. Actually, that’s pretty much the norm for visitors. No-one here minds.”

“I was right about that Jackson guy, wasn’t I?” asked Brady. “He is the boxer they’re all talking about? Pretty much a dead cert to take the heavyweight championship this year?”

“That’s him,” responded Nat, “But don’t worry too much, Tom, even if you do have to sit next to him. We’ve almost house trained him, even got him using cutlery at the table rather than his fingers. Boxers can be civilised, just…”

Tom laughed as he finished putting his kit back in his sports bag and collected his overnight bag from the pile at the end of the changing room where the Hawks had placed them on arrival. Their coach had been held up in traffic and so there hadn’t been time to show them to the guest dormitory before the water polo match.

“I guess you’d better ‘escort’ us to our accommodation, Nathan. Are we going to be under armed guard with a sentry posted outside our room?”

Nathan smiled and went along with the joke. “No, you’re not actually prisoners here, you’re free to go wherever you like. Just try not to get shot.”

The visitors’ dormitory was over the old sports pavilion alongside the playing fields. It had once been a storage area for sports gear but had been converted into accommodation sometime in the eighties when the new college pool and gym complex had been built, rendering its original function unnecessary. It was an old, classically styled, whitewashed wooden building on the outside but very modern inside. Downstairs were a couple of lounges, a kitchen and a games room with a few pool tables and a television. Upstairs were two large dormitories, each capable of sleeping 20 occupants with slightly more space and comfort than the college’s freshman dorms, and two smaller dormitories each holding four people. These latter were generally used by the coaches or staff accompanying visiting teams. Visitors were thus well looked after, but kept at a little distance from the main college buildings. Tonight, the Hawks would have the whole building to themselves as they were the only visiting team staying on site.

Well, almost to themselves. As Nathan led the Hawks the short distance from the pool complex to the old pavilion he spotted Sergeant Quinn, in uniform, waiting just inside the front door to greet them. He too would be staying in the pavilion overnight, assigned by Jayden to be the firewatch required by college rules but also as the de facto general gopher for the Hawks should they need anything during their stay. Normally a couple of freshmen cadets would have been detailed for the duty, sleeping alternately in shifts in a small room by the front door. Not guards as such, just there to be hosts and make sure the building didn’t spontaneously combust. Nathan had had it mind to detail Travis and Shane for the duty when he had been finalising the arrangements for the Hawks’ stay but Jayden, who was the officer cadet in charge of the sports committee, had already filled in that part of the duty roster.

Nathan turned to Tom and the Hawks. “I’ll leave you in the capable hands of my colleague, Sergeant Quinn. He’ll show you to your rooms and give you a tour of the pavilion. Make yourselves at home and don’t hesitate to ask for anything you need. I’ll see you all again in about an hour’s time when Sergeant Quinn walks you over the ante room just prior to dinner. If any of you would prefer to go into the local township instead just let the sergeant know and he’ll organise a college minibus to take you.”

* * *

When Nat arrived back in his own dorm it was empty. Kyle had gone into town after his football match and taken Will and Noah with him as it was their turn for passes out. Shane and Travis would be somewhere around the college, unaware of the lucky escape they’d had from being fire pickets and gophers for the Hawks. Clearly Jayden had worked out what had happened at the Muster Sunday parade and apportioned extra duties accordingly.

Nathan sat at his desk and glanced at his watch. It was just a little after five thirty, so a little after ten thirty over in England. Not super late. It was worth taking a risk. Nathan woke his MacBook from hibernation and hit the quick dialler.