The Christmas Tree: A Short Christmas Story of Hope and Belief in One's Dreams...by Mark Arnold

Part V

(Twenty years have passed)

T

he roar from the Super Bowl crowd was deafening. The quarterback had been having trouble with it the whole game and was hoarse from having to yell the signals loud enough for the ends and backs to hear. To make things worse, that last sack had rung his bell. The right tackle had missed his assignment and a linebacker had broken through clean and had a free shot. The quarterback was glad for the time out. It would give him time to clear his head and figure out what to do.

Trailing 24 to 21 with a 3^rd and thirteen on their own 35 and 21 seconds left in the game, the quarterback’s team was in a tough spot. The quarterback had already met with the coach on the sideline and had gotten the play; a deep out route to the split end who would then step out of bounds and give the team a shot at a field goal to tie. The quarterback did not like the call but he did not tell the coach. Number 43, the cornerback on the opposing team, had been blanketing the split end all day and had already intercepted him once. And, if the end was covered, the second and third options likely would not get the yardage needed. Yes, it was a tough spot to be in, but the quarterback had seen plenty of those.

He returned to the field, the team milling around him waiting for the TV time out to end. The crowd was roaring in anticipation of the coming play. The quarterback turned away from the team, looked up at the now darkening sky and closed his eyes. Shutting out the crowd noise, the situation, the other players…everything… he returned to that cold Christmas Eve so long ago, when as a boy he had met the kind man and gotten his first football. He thought of the Christmas tree he had created in his mind and the lesson he had learned about the future. He still had that note. It was his most treasured possession.

Twenty years had passed since that Christmas Eve and the boy from that time was a boy no more. At 6 feet 4 inches tall, 225 pounds and with a cannon for a right arm, he was cat quick and on the verge of being one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. He had been drafted in the first round out of the University of Washington 7 years earlier and had become the starting quarterback by his second year in the pros. Now he had his team in the Super Bowl with 21 seconds to go and 65 yards from a win. The quarterback had overcome so much in his life; the team had come so far to get here… and he knew in his soul this was no time to be cautious…deep out route be damned!

To be continued...

Copyright © 2012 by Mark Arnold

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