“That ain’t the game I’m talking about,” I said. “When Cal sent me out on the floor to play, I felt real good. I was telling myself I was getting even with Tyrone and that O’Donnel cat. Whole lot of crap like that was passing through my head. You know what I mean?”

“I think so.”

“Well, after the whole deal was down, and Cal got killed, I just went for a long walk. I had my warm-up suit on and the jacket we got. I just walked and walked. And the thing came to me just like Cal was running it. The game was over. I had done my thing on the court, copped a trophy, and I still had to get on with living. Cal said he gave his game away when he sold out to the gamblers. But you know he made a comeback. He had enough of his game left, his all-the-time, off-the-court game, to give some of it to me. I don’t even think he knew how real that part of his game was. Maybe ’cause it’s harder to deal with. They don’t be keeping score so you can check yourself out all the time.

“I figure there are going to be a lot of Tyrones and O’Donnels, you know, good guys and bad guys, that I’m going to have to learn to deal with. I know I can’t win all the time, but I got to keep myself in the game, got to keep my game together, so at least I have a chance.”

“You think I can get a piece of that game of yours?” Mary-Ann looked up at me.

“You can get a tryout,” I said. “I’ll check your moves out, mama. See what you got going for yourself.”

Mary-Ann smiled just the way I knew she would and held my arm a little tighter. I had a scared feeling in the bottom of my stomach, and a little voice that said, “Hey, maybe you won’t make it anyway.” I knew that was true, but I also knew I was going to give it my best shot.

There were two kids on the boardwalk. They had a wire trash basket with the bottom beat out tied against the fence and were shooting a basketball through it. They asked me to tie it higher, and I did. They were playing one-on-one, and we watched them for a while. One of the kids missed a shot and kicked the ball. It came my way, and I picked it up.

“Try shooting like this,” I said.

I shot and watched the ball bounce off the edge of the basket.

“You don’t know nothing about no basketball,” the smaller kid said.

He took the ball, and they started to play again.

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