Even in the cool of an autumn morning, Danny was dripping with sweat. He had really given it his all, and he knew that sweat wasn’t unattractive to girls, not when it had been earned by real exertion, not when the guy doing the sweating had an athletic build. It was only sweaty fat kids and geeks that turned high school girls off. Danny had learned this from his reading of young adult novels during the years he was studying to prepare to be a normal high school student.

“Hi,” he said to Nicki when Lieder beckoned him to the porch. She gave him a little wave and a shy smile.

Lieder ignored the exchange between them and began reading off the times. “And you ran here, right?”

“Yes, sir,” said Danny.

“So the idea is to have these sprints in you at the end of a long race. To pace yourself so that you stay in contention but you don’t have to lead.”

“You know that I don’t care about leading,” said Danny.

“But the team needs you to win. To rack up points. So not for yourself, but for the team. You stay close enough to be in contention, but sprints like these are still inside you.”

“Why not just have me run the sprints?” asked Danny.

“I’ve got guys who can do the sprints. They’re not as fast as you, but they win enough. I need you in long distance. You’re a coin I can only spend once or twice in a meet. I’m not going to use you up on the short stuff.”

“You want me to be a quarter, not five pennies, is that it?”

“Yeah, smart guy,” said Lieder. “I want you to be a damn Susan B. Anthony dollar.”

“But fifty cents will do,” said Nicki. “He wants you to try for the dollar so you might make the fifty cents.”

Lieder reddened. If any other kid had said such a thing, he would have been angry. But it was his daughter, so the redness went away quickly. “She thinks she sees through her old man,” he said with a smile. “But I want the buck. I want a buck fifty.”

“Well, I better get home and shower,” said Danny.

“Oh,” said Nicki. She looked disappointed. Then, realizing that Danny was looking at her curiously, she stepped back and turned away, embarrassed.

“Nicki’s going back to school today. She was kind of hoping you might ride with us.”

Danny indicated his dripping shorts and tee-shirt. “I can’t go like this.”

“You could shower here,” said Nicki. Then she covered her mouth as if to keep more words from coming out.

“And put these back on?” said Danny, laughing.

“Look,” said Lieder, “Nicki’s right. I’ve worn you out with sprints. Now if you run all the way home and shower and change you’ll be late to school.”