The Boaz Scorekeeper, written in 2017, is my second novel. I'll post it, a chapter a day, over the next few weeks.
Things were much different during my Junior year. Five players, all classmates of mine since Elementary school, survived the sophomore season and were determined to return Boaz to basketball glory: Wade Tillman, James Adams, Randall Radford, Fred Billingsley, and John Ericson. They had spent their summer in the gym running, shooting, and developing dialog and plays. These five even organized Thursday night pickup games throughout the Fall, often having players from surrounding high schools and junior colleges form teams to scrimmage. These scrimmages were open to the public and drew an ever-increasing crowd even though it was football season. After the first couple of games I was asked to start maintaining the scoreboard.
I had always gotten along with these guys. This all changed Thursday night October 7th, 1970. After the scrimmage, I was leaving the gym when James Adams’s sister asked me to give him a message. I told her that he was in the locker room and should be out in a few minutes. She said it was urgent and handed me a folded sheet of paper pleading with me not to read it. I agreed and walked to the locker room. I found James and gave him the note. He looked at me and ordered me to sit down on a bench in the middle of the room in between two rows of lockers. I told him I had to go and started walking out. For an unknown reason, all five of them started taunting and pushing me around. I was strong and got in a couple of punches but I was no match for the five of them. They grabbed my legs and I fell to the floor. Two of them held my arms back over my head and the other three removed my pants. Then they removed my shoes and shirt and stood me up.
Fred Billingsley said, “Tanner, this is payback for costing us the Albertville game last year. If you know what’s good for you, you will make sure we win the real close games. Surely you can feed us a few points over the course of a game.” James Adams then told me to go home. I tried to get my clothes but Wade Tillman said, “You will remember our orders better if you go home naked. Now, get the hell out of here.”
I walked out of the gym and to my car. Fortunately, only James’ sister Loree, and her friend Kristie saw me. When I got home I went inside the barn and found a burlap bag to cover myself as I walked in the kitchen. Mom and Dad never heard me come in and never knew what had happened.
The Pencil-Driven Life 