The Campbell-Savona Meet Part III

Title: The Campbell-Savona Meet

Part III

Reese Draper has been a MAJOR force in the league this year!  He’s number two in D for High Jump and only drops to eighth place when you add in two more classes (C and CC)!  He’s seventh in D in triple jump and eighth in D for long jump.  On Tuesday night Reese brought this skill level into the meet and walked away a triple winner in high jump, triple jump, and long jump! 

Quincy Cornell threw a forty the first meet and told me, “I hope that wasn’t a fluke.”  It must not have been because he nailed a 39 the other night!  Quincy is top five in Class D for shot and twelfth place when you add in Class C and CC.  You have to understand that in D, C, and CC represent 56 schools and they will list every athlete you have!  Quincy won the meet for shot and we swept the rest of the shot event!  Caleb Hulbert has been a rock in this event the last two years!  Caleb is eighth place in D and usually comes in second but he was out thrown by teammate Devon Hawkins on Tuesday!  The Lord has really blessed our team:)

Devon Hawkins had a huge throw on Tuesday!  That throw has put him to the number one slot in D and twelfth for D, C, and CC!  Obviously it won the meet:)  Devon really struggled at the JC meet, so it was nice to see him come back so strong on Tuesday!  Dylan Draper is sitting in third place on the D leader board and grabbed second place as well and Quincy launching a third place finish!  It is nice when your guys sweep an event against two teams.

In pole Leland was in a battle with a really nice guy named Will from Arkport and ended up losing it but it was a great match between them!  Leland has been very consistent in pole vault this year and is one of the top vaulters in D right now.  The battle for Leland is mastering the FX pole and going higher.  The other day Leland came over shaking his head.  “Brigand really hates me!” he growled.  I smirked and replied, “Don’t take it personally, Brigand hates everyone!”  (Brigand is Autumn’s 145 Pacer FX pole).  Brock Miles has been working hard on bending the pole and came in third with a nice vault!

The track didn’t go quite as well for us on Tuesday but we were missing our big gun team Captain Aaron Flint!  He’s been very sick for the last several days and we would appreciate prayer for him!  As good as Aaron is though, he does not run every event, and my hat is off to some of the talent on the Arkport boys side!

Matt Geffers is an Arkport athlete that was a teammate of Autumn’s this winter under the Hornell track program.  Matt is a great guy and those few meets where Matt and Autumn competed separately from Hornell, we brought JT blocks that we shared with him.  Former JT powerhouse Parker Groff had a huge impact on Matt giving him tips on three stepping.  During those long cold months I would be cheering for Matt and Autumn in the 55 hurdles.  Now we were facing him.  Lance is skilled at the hurdles and he is very fast but Matt is a three stepper and he’s mastered it.  That is game over!  Still Lance has been working on three stepping and so as we walked in I explained he was up against someone very good and not to get discouraged or be surprised after the gun went off.  In D, C, and double C Matt is sitting right now in fourth place!!  Yipe!  Lance brought his A game three stepping in the beginning of the race and then he hit a hurdle and it threw him off.  Matt blasted to the finish line for the win BUT Lance got a great PR!  It was good enough to put him in tenth place in D, C, and CC!  Lance and I have a lot of work to do and the season is going to go fast but hopefully he can give Matt a run for his money at the County and Sectional contest!

In the 400 relay a hero emerged.  Camden Miles stepped in for Aaron and did a great job!  JT boys are sitting in third place on the D leader board and it is really quite a group of boys!  You’ve got Lance coming off the blocks, Tristan Stone the second leg, Tommy Flint as the anchor, and of course Aaron Flint who Camden went in for!  The boys won! 

Arkport-Can (I keep forgetting they merged with Canaseraga, no disrespect intended) had a huge cross country team this year full of hard working guys.  We totally got outmuscled in distance events.  But we fought them hard in middle distance and short events!  On the track it was the boys night for second place overall.  Tristan got us second in the 400 (it was tough to have Aaron out of that!), Dylan got second in the 800, Leland got us second in the 400 hurdles (losing to, you guessed it, Matt:), and Tommy Flint scored second in the 200 dash! 

The boys beat CS but came up short by one point against Arkport-Canaseraga!  The boys groaned that if only they had run the 1600 relay they might have won!  Hindsight is always 20-20 but Coach Laurens is doing a GREAT job with the boys and I look forward to seeing what they will accomplish yet this year!!  Speaking of Coach Laurens, to run pole vault I had to turn second place over to him, a very stressful job for a new coach.  (I used to love the later places when I was a newer coach:)  Coach Laurens managed the watch perfectly! 

In fantasy it is okay to come up short at times, even if you have many great and talented heroes!  That is life!  I think that is what made Avengers Infinity War so good in that the heroes came up short.  “What if Thor had cut Thanos arm off with his new axe weapon?”  Do you always make the right call every second in your life?  Like the boys, don’t you sometimes groan, and say, “If only I had....”  We all do.  Marvel raised the stakes but will probably undo the damage with time travel or some such thing (I haven’t seen the next movie so I don’t know:)  When I was a kid I really liked the Dragon Lance series put out by TSR.  I doubt I would like them so much now but I was riveted then.  It was very formulaic BUT the good guys lost sometimes and paid a price when they did.  When the knight dies heroically I cried.  (I cried in the hobbit when the lead dwarf died too).  If the bad guys are powerful than the good guys should lose sometimes (unless God is on your side!  If that happens it is game over for the bad guys!)  In “An Assumed Risk” (a blending of science fiction and fantasy genre) several heroes have died.  I don’t kill them lightly and have cried over some of their deaths.  Actually, the one I cried about the most is coming up in book eight!  It raises the stakes for the reader if they know beloved characters can die or pay horrible prices for being heroic.  I think this is why so many people like the Ambulance sequence in “A Distant Boom”!  In the chaos of a base under attack C-3 is roaring through an overrun area heading for the hospital.  Jack Pascel is close to death and they are doing everything they can to keep him alive!  A pregnant woman in the ambulance is having a baby and Heavy has to help her even though he is only a teenage boy.  Crazy Mop is driving the ambulance through the streets dodging tanks and enemy deployments as the bases mini city teeters on falling.  When they make it to the hospital they find the dark is already there!  The boys have to muscle their way in and blast their way into the hospital to find a doctor.  The reason it works is that the readers have seen loss before!  They’ve also seen characters like Mop heavily scared by being heroic.  Mop’s very grip on reality is extremely questionable and that is the character they must lean on the most in the nightmare they find themselves in.  Here is the scene....

Excerpt from Book Three in the C-3 series “A Distant Boom”

(Note: Weapons are spiritual and do not operate quite like ours do.  The swords, daggers, and bullets the heroes shoot represent the Bible)

* * * * * * *

Doctor Eshe did not know what to think.  When she became a royal physician she knew she might have to go into a war zone, but she hadn’t thought it would be with a bunch of kids doing really, really crazy stuff!  She clung to the boy, trying to fathom the fact that her life was in the hands of a fourteen-year-old boy.

As they drew closer to the city, she saw an abandoned ambulance on the city outskirts.  “Thank you, Master!” she breathed.  To Six she shouted, “That ambulance is just what we need to keep your friend alive!”  Six skidded up to the vehicle.  Its lights were on, flashing incessantly in the growing dark.  The driver’s door was open, but no one was in the front.  A rocket flew by them.  As if by magic, a pistol appeared in Six’s hand.  A goblin was yelling to his comrades when a bullet pierced his eye, misting him.  Spinning, the other goblins began to shoot, sending bullets everywhere around them.  Six dropped goblin after goblin, his accuracy a contrast to their reckless shooting.  The goblins broke, fleeing, cursing as they went around a building down the block.

Mop roared up with the others.  “It’s going to get worse as we get in the city!  We need to keep moving!” 

“Doc wants an ambulance,” Heavy nodded lifting Two and carrying him gently toward the back doors.

“You can’t be serious!” Mop yelled angrily.  “Why not just put a huge target on our back and....”

“I don’t think he’s breathing!” Heavy cried out.  Eshe ran to the doors yelling, “Get him inside, fast!”

Mop sighed, “Big target it is.  Two had better appreciate this!”

Ripping open the back door Eshe found a woman moaning in pain.  “Guys, get her on the floor, I need that stretcher!”

“I’m having a baby!” the woman screamed.

Eshe glanced at her with a practiced eye and groaned.  The young mother was obviously in the final stages of labor, and she might deliver in minutes.  But she also knew that babies keep their own timetable and that the boy in her care was fighting a count down of his own.  What a nightmare! She groaned.

The boys looked at the moaning woman uncertainly, but Eshe minced no words.  “Boys, your friend is dying right now! She can have the baby on the floor!  Move!”  The boys jumped into the back, gently lifted the woman and placed her on an empty space near the door.  Water spilled everywhere, and the woman started wailing.

“Um,” Heavy said, putting Two on the stretcher, “There is water all over the floor.”

Grabbing the paddles nearby, Eshe shot back, “Congratulations, kid!  I’m promoting you to doctor.  Get us out of here!” she screamed.

Mop jumped in the driver’s seat and Boom rode shotgun.  Opening the glass, Mop said, “We’re rolling!  Keep him alive, please!  The other guys are running interference for us.”

The paddles were charged.  “Clear!” Eshe yelled, slamming them down.  A jerk, but no other response.

As the ambulance took off, Heavy declared, “They need me up front in the cab!”

“Well, I need you here more!”

“But I don’t know anything about women, much less one having a baby!” he protested.

“Time to learn, big boy!” Eshe said through clenched teeth, ramming down the paddles again.  The woman yelled in agony.  “Hand me your dagger, kid!”  Heavy did so, and Eshe promptly rammed it into Jack’s brain.

“Isn’t that kinda extreme?” Heavy asked, wringing his hands.

“He’s dying, kid.  It doesn’t get much more extreme than that!”  Again the paddles came down, the body jerked, and still, nothing.  Turning up the voltage, Esha ordered, “Check and see if the baby is coming.  Clear!”  Another jerk.

“How am I supposed to do that?” 

Without answering, she grabbed a shot from a bin and popped the cap.  “Hey, you can’t do that!” Heavy protested.  “He’s not supposed to have any more shots!”

“Thank you, Doctor Heavy!” Eshe snarled ramming the shot into the boy’s chest.  “When I want medical advice, I will certainly seek it from someone other than a fourteen-year-old.  What I want YOU to do is to look between her legs to see if there is a baby’s head in the birth canal.” 

Heavy almost fainted.  He looked at the groaning woman and wanted to throw up.  “I’m NOT looking between her legs!” Heavy said miserably.

She hit Jack was with the paddles again.  This time a faint pulse could be discerned.  “Praise the Master!” she cried out joyfully, and feverishly began hooking the boy up to machines.  “Heavy, you seem...” the vehicle swerved sideways and skidded to a halt.  Mop and Boom leaped out and a massive amount of gunfire could be heard nearby.  “...seem to be a godly young man, and I applaud that.”  Pulling open the window, she reached for the communicator.  “There’s nothing dirty about helping a woman have a baby.  Relax.  Please look, OK?”  With the push of a few buttons, she activated the system.  Grabbing the wireless headset, she went back with the boy.  “What is this lad’s name?”

“Two.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I am,” Heavy laughed in spite of himself.

“It’s coming!” the woman yelled.

“Shhh....” Eshe said gently, moving to the woman.  “Move aside, Heavy. I’ll do it.”  But as she knelt down, the machines on Two went wild.  Eshe leapt back.  “Heavy, please check her.”

“Um...” he glanced down with one eye open.  “Ya, it looks like the baby’s coming.”

Mop jumped back in the driver’s seat.  Angrily he yelled at Boom, “Next time, don’t freeze like that!  You almost got us all killed!”

“Sorry!  I’m not some combat soldier, OK?  I’m just a kid!”  Boom shot back and began to cry.

“You’re a member of C-3, buddy!  Start acting like it!”

“I’m supposed to be changing diapers and watching little kids!  I’ve almost died several times tonight, and I’m getting sick of it!”

“Stop whining and feeling sorry for yourself, ya big baby!  Is that GPS finally warmed up?”

As if in answer, a female voice said, “At the next light, take a left.”

Nervously watching the machines, Eshe thumbed the communicator switch.  In her ear a frazzled communications officer barked, “Command,”

“This is Royal Physician Eshe, I have a critical patient that I am transporting to your hospital.  I need the hospital to....”

“I don’t care if your patient is King Storm himself, no one is to go to the hospital...or anywhere else without armed escort.  You need to divert to shelter F, which is....”

Eshe shot back, “I have irregular troops with me, so I have the escort thing covered!  I need you to call the hospital and....”

“Please hold!”  Elevator music actually started playing in her ear.

Boom yelled, “One of those FEAR things is coming!”

“I see it!”  Mop hit the accelerator.  Bullets ripped through the ambulance, tearing holes in the sides, popping cabinets open and scattering their contents everywhere.  Grabbing on for dear life, Eshe looked out the window only to see a tank coming right at them.  She screamed and pointed as Mop wrenched the wheel, swerving wildly out of the way.

In Eshe’s ear the comlink chirped.  “Ambulance four, Royal Physician, are you there?”  Before Eshe could respond, the tank fired and the loud roar stunned her.  Shaking her head to clear it, Eshe glanced over at Heavy and nodded approvingly as he held the woman tightly through the last two sudden swerves. “Ambulance four, Royal Physician, do you copy?”

Mop shoved the gas pedal to the floor while the GPS stated calmly, “In three lights, take a left.”

Eshe spoke into the comlink, “This is the Royal Physician, go.”

“Ma’am, the city is under attack, and we have lost contact with the hospital.  We have sent two squads from two different directions, but both are bogged down at the moment.  Your irregulars must hunker down somewhere until we can get some extra help to you.”

Boom started firing out the window as machine gun fire bracketed the ambulance.  A goblin rocket hissed into the air, exploding off a building beside them.  Bullets began to spiderweb the windshield. 

Mop yelled, “You hit one out of FIVE?  Come on, Boom, you’ve got to do better!”

“Well, excuse me, Mr. Perfect.  I’m firing from a moving vehicle, and I wanted to make sure I got the goblin with the ROCKET LAUNCHER!”

Eshe clicked the communicator and responded, “Negative base.  The irregulars are determined to get through.  Please notify city security forces that irregulars are operating in theater.  Designate the group as C-3.”

Heavy suddenly pleaded, “Doc, this lady is about crushing my hand!  I think the baby’s....”

“You’re doing fine!” Eshe snapped. “Just keep encouraging her.  We’ll be to the hospital soon.”

A crackle and then in her ear she heard, “Ambulance four, I must advise you that there is heavy fighting in the hospital.  Your irregular unit should exercise extreme caution and not do anything crazy.”

“No promises on the crazy part, command, but we appreciate the warning!”

Mop barked, “Looks like Calvin cleaned up your mess back there, Boom, but you can’t always trust hotshots like him to save the day!  You need to keep it together!”

“The guy with the pistols is not Calvin!  He’s Alexander Sutton or Six.  Go is driving a motorcycle around outside.  His real name is Pablo, and he has a great sense of humor! My name is....”

Mop shook his head in disgust.  “It’s just your speed, Boom, to cover up your failures with your big mouth!”

Heavy called out desperately, “What I’m trying to tell you is that this lady is pushing my hand.  I think the baby’s coming!”

Alarms went off around Two who flatlined.  “No!  No!  No!” Eshe cried snatching up the pads only to find them dead.  The bullets had destroyed the shock paddles.  Eshe, started manual CPR, praying for all she was worth.

“Turn left now,” the GPS said without a care in the world.  With a squeal of tires, Mop made the turn.

“Boys!”  Eshe yelled in frustration.  “I’m trying to do CPR here.  Please take the corners a little more gently!”

The brakes slammed, smashing her up against the partition.  Heavy was yelling angrily from behind, and the woman was now shrieking.  “I didn’t mean you had to stop!” Eshe shouted.

Mop replied calmly, “We’ve got trouble ahead.”  Cars were lined up in a zigzag pattern across the road and lit on fire .

“It’s a trap!” Boom said.

Mop rolled his eyes.  “Thank you, Captain Obvious.”  Six and Go pulled into view.  They jumped off the bikes and began moving through the cars, weapons at the ready.  “Get out there and help them, Boom!”

Eshe was already back at CPR as she watched the boys.  Tears began coming fast and furious.  “Please,” she whispered.  “We’ve come all this way, Master, don’t let him die now.”

“The baby is coming!” Heavy yelled.

“Relax, Heavy I’m sure it’s not, OK?” gasped Eshe as she continued chest compressions.

“I can see the head!”

Eshe’s eyes went wide.  “Disinfect your hands, now!  Hurry!”

Heavy tore through the scattered supplies and cabinets.  “OK, got some disinfectant.  Tearing open the package, he wiped his hands.  “Hey, there is a box of latex gloves here, too!”

“Put them on!  Quick!”

Heavy ripped open the box, sending half the gloves every which way.  Pulling on a pair with a snap he said, “OK, what now?”

“Let her naturally push the baby out and wipe it down with something clean when it comes out.”

“Do I have to slap its bottom or anything?”

Eshes grunted, “No.”

“Do I have to cut the cord thing, because I don’t know if....”

“Just catch the baby, OK?”

Bullets slammed into the ambulance again, but the people inside were too busy to worry about it as they zipped through about them. 

“We’re almost through!” Mop yelled. 

Two started breathing again.

Boom leaped back in and Go climbed in, too.  Six hung off the side as the computer declared, “You have reached your destination.”  Ahead of them was a large building.  Across its large glass doorway were a few overturned vending machines with goblins peeking over them.  Although the goblins had noticed them, they did not start shooting because they were over 200 meters away.  Sounds of gunfire could be heard echoing from inside the hospital, but the parking lot was unnaturally calm.

Eshe leaned over the front seat and hissed, “I’ve been told this place is under heavy attack, maybe we should wait for backup.”  A man in a renaissance hat appeared behind the crouching goblins.  Eshe gulped.  “That’s a berserker!  I really think we should wait for help!”

Mop called out, “Don’t expect this next part to be as easy as smashing goblins in a street ambush.”

“Easy?” Boom retorted.

“Six, get off!  Everyone else, buckle up!” Mop ordered, slowing to a stop, but revving the motor.

“What are you thinking?  They know we’re coming!  There is no element of surprise here!” Boom wailed.

 “Sure, it will be a surprise!”  Mop growled impatiently.  “A small rag tag force would not be stupid enough to attack dark troops backed up by berserkers!  But they don’t know that we are dC-3.  Calvin could probably blow half of them away himself!” 

Boom stared at Mop in horror.  “We are not dC-3!” he cried, lunging for the wheel.

“Assume the position!” Mop ordered as he floored the gas pedal. The ambulance leaped forward into the hospital parking lot, speeding past parked cars and heading straight for the entrance.  Boom and Go screamed and threw their arms up across their faces.  The last thing they saw were the goblins’ eyes bulging from their sockets.  Eshe dropped down and wrapped herself around Two and the stretcher, shrieking, “Heavy!  Brace that baby!”  The boy cocooned the little body with one arm while wrapping the other in a harness secured to the wall.  He had just locked his legs around the young woman when the ambulance hopped the curb and smashed through the glass doors in a spray of glass and metal, crashing through the barricade.  Sounds of gunfire erupted about them as C-3 piled out.  Heavy handed the new mother her baby, stripped off the bloody gloves and scooped up his gun.  Fumbling with the back door for a second, he jumped out.