Down On My Knees by Victor McGlothin Read Free Book Online Page A

jogging off from center court. “You’re welcome,” Grace mumbled softly, knowing that it fell on deaf ears. Pervert!
    Grace’s previous speculations proved correct. The stands were littered with slightly more fans than players, so it wasn’t difficult finding a seat. She spotted André in the team’s huddlejust before the game started. Her chest swelled with pride. She couldn’t have been more delighted if the bleacherswere filled with people chanting her child’s name. With the stack of damp reports sitting next to her, Grace decided to review them during intermittent breaks in the action and make the most of her time.
    â€œHey, Miss Hilliard, I thought that was you,” Skyler Barnes yelled as he climbed down two rows to greet her. Despitebeing a senior, a celebrated talent, and touted as one of the top recruits in the country, he always found time to talk hoops with André and map out maneuvers explaining how to break down an opposing team’s defense with a deadly crossover.
    â€œSkyler, I’m surprised to see you,” Grace said evenly. “I know you’ve got to be very busy, with college scouts beating down your grandmother’s door.”
    â€œYes, ma’am, that’s why I’m here,” he confessed. “The phone won’t stop ringing. Plus it’s Dré’s first time to shine. Wouldn’t miss that for the world, Miss Hilliard. He’s gonna be good before long, you’ll see. The boy’s got heart.” Grace smiled at the baby-faced man-child, with his six-five frame and basketball sneakers long enough to cross the Atlantic. Skyler was a thoughtful young man and thought a lot of his protégé. It was obvious his grandmother had raised him right.
    As soon as the game began, André streaked down the court. He sprinted faster than Grace knew he could, and then he caught a deep pass and laid the ball in for the first basket. “Yeah!” Skyler cheered. “I told you he got game, Miss H, told you.” Grace blushed over the next three quarters until the coach pulled André out for the remainder of the game. His players were ahead by twenty-five points, and there was no sense in embarrassing the visiting team. When Dré pulled on his sweats, Skyler nodded his head approvingly. “Eighteenpoints, seven assists, and five rebounds,” he rattled off, from memory. “He’ll be fight’n them off with a stick.”
    Before Grace opened her mouth to question the young man’s idea of a compliment, he’d picked up and made it halfway to the snack bar. Fighting them off, she thought, not sure how to take it. Fighting who off? I know he wasn’t talkingabout those fast-tail little girls writing their business on the restroom walls. André isn’t ready to deal with these overexposed,overdeveloped high school hoochies. Better not be anything on his mind but hitting the books. No sooner than the game ended, two of the cheerleaders were all up in André’s face, batting their eyes and shaking their pom-poms at him.
    â€œOh God,” Grace huffed. “I know she didn’t just slide him her phone number on the sneak tip. That used to be one of my best moves.” Before her very eyes, her baby was growing up, too fast for her taste, and those young hussies were acting too grown for their own good.
    â€œHey Ma,” André hailed gleefully, walking up in a cool, slow, bobbing manner. “I’m glad you made it.”
    â€œUh-huh, I made it all right.” She was looking at him sideways.
    â€œWhat? I hit eighteen.”
    â€œI saw, and the seven assists with five rebounds.”
    â€œDang, you caught all that?” André was noticeably impressedthat she’d paid attention. “I didn’t know you’d be keeping stats, or I would have gone for thirty.”
    â€œI was enjoying the game too much to keep up,” she admitted,“but Skyler