Nat had filled three long sheets even before the lesson had ended, while Tom barely managed a page. As they left the classroom at the end of the lesson, Elliot brushed quickly past them.
‘He already looks like a worthy adversary,’ remarked Tom.
Nat didn’t comment.
What he couldn’t know was that he and Ralph Elliot would be adversaries for the rest of their lives.
7
The annual football game between Hotchkiss and Taft was the sporting highlight of the semester. As both teams were undefeated that season, little else was discussed once the mid-terms were over, and for the jocks, long before mid-terms began.
Fletcher found himself caught up in the excitement, and in his weekly letter to his mother named every member of the team, although he realized that she wouldn’t have a clue who any of them were.
The game was due to be played on the last Saturday in October and once the final whistle had been blown, all boarders would have the rest of the weekend off, plus an extra day should they win.
On the Monday before the game, Fletcher’s class sat their first mid-terms, but not before the principal had declared at morning assembly that, ‘Life consists of a series of tests and examinations, which is why we take them every term at Hotchkiss.’
On Tuesday evening Fletcher phoned his mother to tell her he thought he’d done well.
On Wednesday he told Jimmy he wasn’t so sure.
By Thursday, he’d looked up everything he hadn’t included, and wondered if he had even achieved a pass grade.
On Friday morning, class rankings were posted on the school notice board and the preps were headed by the name of Fletcher Davenport. He immediately ran to the nearest phone and rang his mother. Ruth couldn’t hide her delight when she learned her son’s news, but didn’t tell him that she wasn’t surprised. ‘You must celebrate,’ she said. Fletcher would have done so, but felt he couldn’t when he saw who had come bottom of the class.
At the full school assembly on Saturday morning, prayers were offered by the chaplain ‘for our undefeated football team, who played only for the glory of our Lord’. Our Lord was then vouchsafed the name of every player and asked if his Holy Spirit might be bestowed on each and every one of them. The principal was obviously in no doubt which team God would be supporting on Saturday afternoon.
At Hotchkiss, everything was decided on seniority, even a boy’s place in the bleachers. During their first term preps were relegated to the far end of the field, so both boys sat in the right-hand corner of the stand every other Saturday, and watched their heroes extend the season’s unbeaten run, a record they realized Taft also enjoyed.
As the Taft game fell on a homecoming weekend, Jimmy’s parents invited Fletcher to join them for a tailgate picnic before the kick-off. Fletcher didn’t tell any of the other boys in preps, because he felt it would only make them jealous. It was bad enough being top of the class, without being invited to watch the Taft game with an old boy who had seats on the centre line.
‘What’s your dad like?’ asked Jimmy, after lights-out the night before the game.
‘He’s great,’ said Fletcher, ‘but I should warn you that he’s a Taft man, and a Republican. And how about your dad? I’ve never met a senator before.’
‘He’s a politician to his fingertips, or at least that’s how the press describe him,’ said Jimmy. ‘Not that I’m sure what it means.’
On the morning of the game no one was able to concentrate during chemistry, despite Mr Bailey’s enthusiasm for testing the effects of acid on zinc, not least because Jimmy had turned the gas off at the mains, so Mr Bailey couldn’t even get the Bunsen burners lit.
At twelve o’clock a bell rang, releasing 380 screaming boys out into the courtyard. They resembled nothing less than a warring tribe, with their cries of, ‘Hotchkiss, Hotchkiss, Hotchkiss will win, death to all Bearcats.’
Fletcher ran all the way to the assembly point to meet his parents, as cars and taxis came streaming in past the lake. Fletcher scanned every vehicle, searching for his father and mother.
‘How are you, Andrew my darling?’ were his mother’s first words as she stepped out of the car.
‘Fletcher, I’m Fletcher at Hotchkiss,’ he whispered, hoping that none of the other boys had heard the word ‘darling’. He shook hands with his father, before adding, ‘We must leave for the field immediately, because we’ve been invited to join Senator and Mrs Gates for a tailgate lunch.’
Fletcher’s father raised an eyebrow. ‘If I remember correctly, Senator Gates is a Democrat,’ he said with mock disdain.
‘And a former Hotchkiss football captain,’ said Fletcher. ‘His son Jimmy and I are in the same class, and he’s my best friend, so Mom had better sit next to the senator, and if you don’t feel up to it, Dad, you can sit on the other side of the field with the Taft supporters.’
‘No, I think I’ll put up with the senator. It will be so rewarding to be seated next to him when Taft scores the winning touchdown.’
It was a clear autumnal day and the three of them strolled through a golden carpet of leaves all the way to the field. Ruth tried to take her son’s hand, but Fletcher stood just far enough away to make it impossible. Long before they reached the field, they could hear the cheers erupting from the pre-game rally.
Fletcher spotted Jimmy standing behind an Oldsmobile wagon, its open tailgate covered in far more sumptuous food than anything he’d seen for the past two months. A tall elegant man stepped forward. ‘Hello, I’m Harry Gates.’ The senator thrust out his politician’s hand to welcome Fletcher’s parents.
Fletcher’s father grasped the outstretched hand. ‘Good afternoon, Senator, I’m Robert Davenport and this is my wife Ruth.’
‘Call me Harry. This is Martha, my first wife.’ Mrs Gates stepped forward to welcome them both. ‘I call her my first wife — well, it keeps her on her toes.’
‘Would you like a drink?’ asked Martha, not laughing at a joke she had heard so many times before.
‘It had better be quick,’ said the senator, checking his watch, ‘that is if we still hope to eat before the kick-off. Let me serve you, Ruth, and we’ll let your husband fend for himself. I can smell a Republican at a hundred paces.’
‘I’m afraid it’s worse than that,’ said Ruth.
‘Don’t tell me he’s an old Bearcat because I’m thinking of making that a capital offence in this state.’ Ruth nodded. ‘Then Fletcher, you’d better come and talk to me because I intend to ignore your father.’
Fletcher was flattered by the invitation, and soon began grilling the senator on the workings of the Connecticut legislature.
‘Andrew,’ said Ruth.
‘Fletcher, Mother.’
‘Fletcher, don’t you think the senator might like to talk about something other than politics?’
‘No, that’s fine by me, Ruth,’ Harry assured her. ‘The voters rarely ask such insightful questions, and I’m rather hoping it might rub off on Jimmy.’
After lunch had been cleared away the group walked quickly across to the bleachers, sitting down only moments before the game was due to begin. The seats were better than any prep could have dreamed of, but then Senator Gates hadn’t missed the Taft match since his own graduation. Fletcher couldn’t contain his excitement as the clock on the score board edged towards two. He stared across at the far stand, to be greeted with the enemy’s cries of, ‘Give me a T, give me an A, give me a...’ and fell in love.