Friends For Life By Gavin J., Grade 4 “Touchdown!” yelled Kyle from the makeshift football field in his backyard. “Nice catch!” said Liam as he ran over to give Kyle a high-five. “Boys it’s getting dark, please come inside for dinner,” said Kyle’s mom. “Let’s go, I am starving,” said Liam as he walked inside with Kyle. The kids promptly sat down at the dinner table and started stuffing slices of pizza into their mouths. “Slow down boys!” muttered Kyle’s mom as she put down a pitcher of water on the table. “Mom, Liam and I want to trade our football cards before we go to bed,” shouted Kyle as he put down his third slice of pizza. Kyle’s mom sighed hopelessly as she walked back into the kitchen. After dinner, they ran upstairs to Kyle’s room and threw their football cards on his desk. “Someday it’s going to be us on those football cards!” said Liam staring longingly at his prized Tom Brady card. All of a sudden, the boys heard a strange noise coming from the side of the room. They tip-toed towards the closet nervously to see what the sound was. “Do you hear that Liam?” Kyle said. “Yeah, it sounds like a lot of people cheering our names?” The chanting got louder and louder as they walked into the closet. Suddenly, the boys felt a cold breeze across their faces and they looked up to see thousands of fans cheering in the stands. “Are we at Sofi Stadium? And why do those players look so familiar? Is that us?” said Liam looking around confused at what was happening. “It is us!” exclaimed Kyle. “Wow, this is a glimpse of what we look like in the future!” “We made it Kyle! We’re playing in the Superbowl for real NFL teams! I can’t believe you’re number 12 just like Tom Brady!” said Liam excitedly. Liam was distracted by the black and red 21 on his Falcon’s jersey. Kyle turned his attention to the Chargers sideline where he was wide receiver for the blue and yellow. It was the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl and both teams were tied in a close game. The Chargers were on the twelve-yard line and the quarterback was getting ready to throw the ball to Kyle in the back of the endzone. Liam was watching closely from the Falcons sideline as Kyle went for the touchdown catch. As he jumped up to catch the ball, it was intercepted by the Falcons and Kyle landed hard on the turf. The crowd gasped as they saw a replay of Kyle go down on the game-winning drive. Kyle wasn’t moving and the medical staff rushed onto the field. “Oh no!” yelled Liam as he pushed past his teammates and sprinted over to his friend. Liam was the only player from the Chargers on the field. The boys watched the older versions of themselves as Kyle was being carted off the field and Liam walked by his side. He remembered their childhood saying “Friends for Life” and he knew that the game wouldn’t matter if he didn’t have his best buddy to celebrate with. Liam watched closely from the locker room as the Falcons threw a long pass to their tight-end for the game-winning touchdown. It was a bittersweet win for Liam as he missed the winning play. As the reporters rushed the field to interview the winning team, the boys overheard one of them say “Number 12 is going to be alright. That’s quite a friend that kid has by his side.” THE CLARION
23
