Page 253 of The Locker Room

grab your ass.”

Coach came out at that moment, and called them all to attention.

The music started to shake the floorboards; the entrance to the tunnel

went dark with strobing lights to punctuate the darkness. The crowd

noise became thunderous and deafening, and the announcer began their

intro. And the players were suddenly all about the purity of the game.

The Locker Room 219

They took a deep breath, bumped fists, and started the cold-bowel

adrenaline dump that Xander always associated with the game.

“"Kay, guys,” Xander breathed, loving the way his heart thundered,

loving this moment until his atoms quivered with it. “Just remember. Get

the fucking ball—”

“Down the fucking court and into the fucking net!” the team

finished, and that was their cue to run up onstage, underneath the

strobing light and the adulation that awaited them.

THE bench team almost lost their lead, and Xander strained his voice,

screaming his mantra at them.Get the fucking ball down the fucking

court and into the fucking net! Fuck!(That last word came out on a fit of

desperation as the twenty-point lead that the starters had sat down with

was narrowed to two points because the bench lost the rebound for the

fivezillionthtime.) The starters were up and into position, dying for the

buzzer, pushing against the invisible barrier of time like dogs pushing

against a window to get a bone.

The buzzer rang, the coach waved them in, and—

Xander had the ball, in what was usually their classic team

position, and Xander looked up, saw Aames waiting for the bounce pass,

and said, “May I?”

“Do it!”

And Xander blew past the defense and down the court and one-

two-up for a dunk, the kind where the basket was about at his waist.