Game Changers by Mike Lupica Read Free Book Online Page B

the kitchen table, Ben having gotten out of his church clothes as though somebody had a clock on him, and having just polished off two bowls of cereal. His mom was cutting up fruit for the big fruit salad she made every Sunday to go with lunch.
    She stopped for a moment, looked over at Ben. “I have tosay, though, sometimes I think sports is way too important to you boys.”
    Ben shook his head. “Sports are important, yeah, I hear you,” he said. “But I don’t think too important. You know how much I hate to lose, but it’s not like I come home and you can’t get me to come out of my room.”
    â€œThat’s just because no one would want to stay in that room for an extended period of time,” she said, smiling at him. “The smell of the dirty socks alone …”
    â€œGood one, Mom, no kidding, never heard that one before.”
    â€œGo on over there before you change your mind,” she said. “And make sure you’re back in time for lunch.”
    But when he got up he said to her, “Before I go, we need to do one more thing. So turn around.”
    â€œWe just did this yesterday.”
    Ben said, “I’m feeling taller today.”
    Beth McBain turned around. So did her son. They got back-to-back and then Ben put his palm flat on top of his head and moved it back until he touched his mom’s head. Measuring his height against hers.
    â€œGetting closer,” she said. “Definitely getting closer.”
    â€œNot close enough,” he said.
    â€œGo try to be Shawn’s friend,” she said. “You know what your old mom says about random acts of kindness.”
    â€œThey turn us all into giants,” Ben said, and then went to get his bike out of the garage.
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    Ben had never been to Shawn’s house, but he knew where it was, a few blocks from where Coop lived at the north end of Rockwell.
    Coop had seen the house, said he and his dad had walked over there to check it out one night after the O’Briens had moved in, having heard how big the place was.
    â€œMy dad,” Coop had said, “said he wanted to go inside sometime just to see where the gift shop is.”
    And every kid in school had heard about the fifty-yard turf field at the back of the property, with goalposts and yard lines and, according to Shawn’s buds who had seen the field, even an electronic scoreboard.
    But as big as Coop said Shawn’s house was, it was even bigger to Ben’s eyes. If there was anything bigger than this in the whole town of Rockwell, Ben sure hadn’t ever seen it. There was a gate near the road, where you had to be buzzed in, and what looked like a driveway that stretched nearly all the way to Darby.
    Way up in the distance, Ben could see Mr. O’Brien’s black SUV parked near the front doors.
    Ben knew that Shawn had two older sisters, one of them just a year older, so there were at least five of them living here. Yeah , Ben thought, and with enough extra room to maybe house our whole team.
    He pressed the button on the intercom, finally heard Mr. O’Brien say, “Who is it?”
    Ben gave his name, said he was here to see Shawn.
    The gates opened.
    Ben tried riding up the gravel driveway, gave up about halfway, walked his bike the rest of the way from there. When he got close he could see Coach O’Brien — he thought of him as his coach, even here — waving at him from the porch.
    â€œThere’s a part of the Boston Marathon called Heartbreak Hill,” he said to Ben. “That’s what Shawn calls this driveway.” He smiled. “Of course that was when my boy was still communicating with the rest of the human race.”
    Ben said, “I didn’t get a chance to talk to him after the game. I was gonna run after him, but he didn’t look like he wanted any company.”
    Ben didn’t say anything about Shawn throwing his helmet. As soon as Shawn had