The Sneakers by Ariel Molina Gonzalez
Coach calls timeout. Four seconds left on the clock. My feet feel like they are drenched in blood right now, but that doesn’t stop me from begging Coach to give me the ball for this last play. “I can make the last shot Coach, please trust me with this. You know I’m not gonna let us lose.” Then my teammates start chiming in. “Coach, I think it’s best to give him the ball. I know he can make the shot,” Markus says while looking at me with faith in his eyes. The crowd is chanting my name so loudly that I start to become deaf to everything else in the room. My feet are still killing me. My legs are sore. My wrist is in pain again. Everything and anything can go wrong right now, but I want to win. Actually, no. I need to win. Ten seconds left in the timeout and we need to make a decision. I look Coach dead in the eyes and say, “We will go to the state finals, trust me.” “Okay. You guys know what to do.” He looks at the team. “Give it to him.” After he says that, I know it’s my time. Everything I went through to get here, is finally going to be worth it. Timeout’s over now. Ref gives the ball to Markus to inbound it. Before I step on the court though, I look at my sneakers, and I think about where it all started, and how far they have taken me. “JUSTIN,” I hear, as I look up. “How many times do I have to call your name for you to answer me?” my mother says. As I pause the song I’m listening to and take my headphones off, I say, “Sorry Mami, I was listening to music, I couldn’t hear you. Qué pasó?” “Te dije que lavara los platos antes de llegar a la casa, y no los hiciste!” I forgot that she told me to wash the dishes before she came home. I knew I should have gotten off the game after that one game, but of course, me being me, one more game turned into 5 more games. “Sorry Ma, I’ll do them right now.” I then get up and wash the dishes like I said. When I finish, I go back to my room and look at the time. “It’s already 8?!?” I say. I didn’t think I was in the game 238
