“Don’t ask me to put her down,” Cassidy said, tearing up.
“Uncle John and Aunt Bonnie are meeting everyone at Granny’s West for breakfast, and he took Satan’s Spawn.
Convince him to take Precious, or I’ll drop her off at the pound. There’s a no-kill one near the airport, and I’ll make a big donation so they take her,” David offered.
Satan’s Spawn was Precious’s kitten, who no one else would take because he was too much like his mom. Hence the name. Uncle John had initially said he was going to rename the cat, but he and Aunt Bonnie decided that it fit the beast too well to change.
Cassidy burst into tears. David just started the car and drove to the restaurant. He must have become desensitized to crying girls because the old David would have crumbled at the sight of her tears.
“You’ll help me talk to John?” Cassidy finally asked between sniffles.
“I’ll help.”
She hadn’t told him that the reason for the visit to see Precious was that Brit had called her. At first, Precious had been doing fine, but then something happened. Brit said she suspected her roommate’s boyfriend had done something. Suddenly, Precious’s only purpose in life was to end his, and any man’s, when he entered the apartment.
David had told her he suspected that Brit’s brothers had abused her when she was a kitten. It had taken Precious a
long time to warm up to even him.
She’d agreed to pick the cat up when Brit admitted it might be time to put her down for safety reasons. Maybe Precious would calm down enough to live on David’s uncle’s farm.
◊◊◊
David felt like he’d gotten off easy when his uncle had finally agreed to take Precious. He’d only had to give up his condo near the Whistler Blackcomb resort for two weeks.
His mom hadn’t wanted to do it because it was during prime skiing season, and they would have to bump a couple of people to make it happen.
She’d been on board when Option B was to have Precious come live in Malibu.
When the plane reached cruising altitude, he left the cockpit to check on his children. He found they were all doing much better now that they’d learned how to fix the air pressure in their ears.
As he headed back to the cockpit, Coach Thomas stopped him.
“Do you have a minute?”
“Yeah. I’m just sitting up front to collect the hours I need to qualify to fly bigger jets.”
Ron Pennington was sitting across the aisle and joined the conversation.
“Coach Thomas and I were talking about Coach Harrington and Coach Styles and had a few questions because you know them both. We’ve asked Coach Thomas to make some behind-the-scenes inquiries in our preliminary search for the next head coach. We used your trip as an excuse for him to be able to talk to Coach Harrington,” Ron said.
David had noticed they’d sat together in the stands to watch Phil and Roc.
“What do you think of the two of them?” Coach Thomas asked, referring to the two coaches.
“Coach Styles took over a Kentucky team that was 2–10.
By year four, he’d built them into a bowl team. And they’re in the toughest league in the land, the SEC. Granted, they are in the weaker division, but he has to get past Georgia and Florida to win it. Coach Styles is a good recruiter and knows how to build a program.
“Coach Harrington started out as a quarterback fixer.
My booster club hired him to help me become a quarterback. I later hired him to develop my game over the summers as I went to various camps. So, I have firsthand knowledge of what he can do. He made me a much better player,” David said.
“I agree with the development part,” Coach Thomas said. “I recently saw video highlights of Travis Barry, who transferred from USC to Western Michigan. He’s now starting for them, and he looks completely different. I’m embarrassed to say that if he’d shown that kind of ability when he was here, both you and Matt would be riding the bench.”.
“Not to speak ill of our former head coach, but that’s on him,” David said. “Coach Harrington told me that Travis was doing well for them.”
“Okay, okay,” Ron said. “It’s been well documented that talent development has been a major issue. If Coach Clayton hadn’t been fired this summer, he would’ve been this fall. We need a proven winner who can make players better to reach their full potential, and we need a coach to take us to the next level.”
“I think either of them can be that guy. I would lean toward Coach Harrington slightly because he’s a product of the Alabama coaching tree, and he’s younger. That said, when Alabama finally needs a new coach, Coach Styles’
name will be on the short list,” David predicted.
“Coach Harrington is the one who got me to offer your brother. He said he’s a hidden gem and pointed out how much better Phil is this year than last. He said Phil finally took football seriously and has had to catch up. Coach Harrington also told me your brother is friends with Colt,”
Coach Thomas said.
“Phil worked with Bud Mason over the summer. As you know, I had Colt and Phil as my campers at Elite Camp in Houston. There were times when Phil outshined Colt, so I get what Coach Harrington said,” David said.
“Are you just saying that because Phil’s your brother?”
Ron asked.
“That plays a part in it. I would love to have my brother at USC. But I would never recommend him if I thought it was to the team’s detriment. If I didn’t think Phil could cut it, I wouldn’t be recommending him.”
“That’s good enough for me,” Coach Thomas said.
“Thanks, David,” Ron said.
“By the way, David, I talked to your reporter friend, Jeff, after the game,” Coach Thomas said. “He asked a lot of questions about how you’re doing. Don’t worry, I didn’t say anything bad. He told me about the documentary he made about what you did at Lincoln and sent me a link. Though I don’t know if or when I’ll get to it; we’re kind of busy now.
“Oh, and I visited with a couple other recruits while I was in the area. You may know them,” the coach said.
They spent some time discussing the pros and cons of the ones David knew, and then he went back to the cockpit.
◊◊◊
David and Cassidy rode back to his house in Malibu to pick up Cassidy’s new car; Manaia had retrieved it from the airport earlier that day. Lucky them, they got to ride back in what David called the short bus. It was what his family used to transport his children to daycare and the like.
Somehow, he was voted the adult who had to go with them, so he made Cassidy join him.
“Master Cassidy?” Allen asked.
David gave her a sideways look.
“Yes, Ninja Allen.”
Obviously, he needed to pay more attention to what Cassidy was teaching his children.
“When you get better?”
“It will be a while yet. I’ll start coming to teach you all to be my little ninjas once I am.”
“Coby beat up Tevin,” Carol tattled.
“He deserved it,” Dave said to come to his brother’s defense.
When David figured out his son hadn’t done any damage to Tevin, he tuned them out and let Cassidy entertain his little monsters.
When they got off the bus, David asked, “Who wants to sit in Cassidy’s new car?”
While David got them all organized, Cassidy walked around her new metallic-silver Mercedes S-Class sedan.