With two-and-a-half minutes left, David was in the shotgun. Tyrell was lined up on the wrong side of the field, so David called out to get his attention. Willy snapped the ball, thinking David was signaling for the snap. David never saw it until the ball hit him in the knee and went flying back toward the line. One of the Arizona defenders pounced on it.
USC’s offense had to go to the sideline and watch as Arizona finally came alive with a nice pass down the middle of the field to pick up fifteen yards. Then they threw a couple of short passes, which just ate up the clock. With only three seconds left, Arizona threw a screen pass.
With USC in a prevent defense, the play picked up good yardage, but time ran out to end the half. Or so David thought. There were flags all over the field.
After a lengthy discussion, the referee made his announcement.
“There are two penalties, both on the defense. Roughing the passer, which is declined. Personal foul, face mask at the end of the run. That penalty will be enforced, and there will be an untimed play.”
With the penalty tacked on, Arizona was in a position to kick a forty-five-yard field goal. Coach Stackhouse sent in both Willy and Bear to bracket Percy. They gave him enough room to break through and block the kick to end any momentum Arizona thought they’d gained.
◊◊◊
As the second half began, David orchestrated another nice drive, capped off with Marcus breaking a long run to put them up 24–0.
At that point, Coach Merritt told David he was done for the day. He’d had a good day, completing 16 of 24 passes for 197 yards.
With Jaden at quarterback, USC looked like a different team. Arizona mounted a comeback with the help of a mountain of penalties and two turnovers. They scored their third touchdown of the half with a minute left to make it 24–20. They went for two and failed.
On the ensuing onside kick, USC recovered it. Arizona had to watch with no time-outs left as USC took a knee to run out the clock.
Looking at the stats, USC had gained 281 yards in the first half compared to 116 by Arizona. The second half had USC at 169 total yards and Arizona with 214. Marcus had an exceptional day, gaining 173 yards with two touchdowns.
Next up was their bye week, followed by Colorado.
◊◊◊
Chapter 16
“I love my critical-thinking class,” David told his dad. “It challenges me to reassess my beliefs.”
After flying back from Tucson, David had come straight to his house in Malibu, and he and his dad were up early, drinking tea on the roof.
“I’m almost afraid to ask.”
“My critical-thinking professor challenged us to examine one of our beliefs and use facts to prove or disprove it. We were to ignore all the rhetoric around the issue and look at the hard data.
“He pointed out that government is probably the leading purveyor of misinformation, that politicians spout out either twisted truth or, in some cases, actual lies to fit their agenda. And the press isn’t much better.
“His point was that we have to learn to think for ourselves.
“You know how I got on my high horse and gave Governor Blackfarmer a hard time about not spending enough money on the homeless?” David asked.
Looking back, that might not have been one of his most shining moments.
His dad nodded that he’d heard about it. To make his point, David had turned his birthday into a fundraising event and given the money to various charities.
“Did you know that Los Angeles County has spent a conservative estimate of some $6.5 billion in the past ten years addressing the homelessness issue? During that time, the number of homeless people in the county increased from about 39,000 to more than 83,000. What does that tell you?” David asked.
“That funds aren’t the problem,” Rob said.
“The issues here are different from back home, where initiatives like rapid rehousing could help the newly
homeless as a bridge until they could get their feet under them. What LA is facing is the worst kind, the chronic homeless. By worst, I mean the hardest to solve.”
The chronic homeless included the drug-addicted and the mentally ill, neither of whom seemed to feel a need to get off the streets. The technical definition was an individual who’d been homeless for at least twelve months or had been on the street on at least four separate occasions in the last three years, totaling at least twelve months.
“So, what’s the answer?” Rob asked.
“I don’t know,” David admitted. “What I do know is what’s being done now isn’t working. I think asking the government to solve it is probably a bad idea. When was the last time the government solved anything?”
Rob chuckled.
“My dad used to joke that your biggest fear was when the government came to you and said, ‘We’re here to help you.’”
“I know I’m being flippant about it. The government will have to participate in the solution,” David confessed.
David’s mom joined them.
“What are you two talking about?”
“David is trying to solve the world’s problems.”
“How about he gets the kids up and gets their day started?” Carol suggested.
“I was enjoying the peace and quiet,” Rob said.
“Maybe you can wait another half hour,” Carol agreed.
David was sent to fetch his dad another tea and his mom a coffee. He also found the coffee cake Rosy had hidden in the pantry.
◊◊◊
In today’s scene, the cast was at the coffee house talking to Mick before Nikki showed up.
“You guys don’t understand that kissing is as important as any part of it,” Monica said.
Dexter snorted at that absurd statement.
“Monica’s right. A kiss will tell you everything you need to know about a guy,” Janelle said.
“I think for us, kissing is like the price of admission before you get to go on the E-ticket ride at Disneyland,”
Forest said.
“It’s not like we don’t mind paying for the ticket … it’s just not why we bought it,” Dexter said.
“Are you guys talking about sex?” Mick asked.
“And cut! Good work, everyone. Let’s get set up for the next scene,” Abigail called out.
The next scene had Mick explaining being married to Nikki.
“You’re married?”
“I am. To a wonderful woman named Nadia.”
Nikki looked like her head might explode.
“So, tell me, how will your wife feel about what you and I did at your apartment?” Nikki asked.
“Don’t worry about it. I imagine she’ll be okay with you because she’s okay with Kirsten.”
“Kirsten? There’s a Kirsten?”
“Kirsten is my girlfriend.”
Nikki tilted her head to the side to try to see if Mick was lying to her or not.
“Okay,” she drawled. “What kind of relationship do you see us having if you already have a wife and a girlfriend on the side? And how did you get a girlfriend when you just moved here?”
“A sexual one, and I met Kirsten in Germany,” Mick answered.
“In Germany? Huh,” Nikki said as she tried to wrap her head around what he’d said.
“Do you want to go back to my place or yours?” Mick asked.
“Mine. I don’t want to do the walk of shame knowing you have someone lined up for later,” Nikki said.
“Great! That’s probably for the best because Nadia might be home. Let’s go.”