I Woke Up 307 by M.P. Arsent
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We were all in the gallery and waiting for the morning session to begin.
Right on time, things got underway. Alex, when he came out, couldn't have looked prouder. Regardless of what was going on I was keeping my eye on Alex today. Karl had asked me last night if the kid had a chance. I hadn't seen him work out since I had first put him on the horse in my exercise room. The fact that he had made the team on his first try did promise that he had some moves, to begin with at least.
So now it was time to see the proof. The team's first rotation was the pommel. I watched them all to be sure, but I paid particular attention to Alex.
He had come a long way from that first workout and he moved along the horse like he had been doing it for years. If he kept going like this all day, he might well take home some medals.
Steve and Eddie were surely going to have something to say about that today. I did watch them on their horse routines as well. It was a good thing that not every participant did a routine on every piece of equipment or we would be here even well past bedcheck tonight. It was those who were after the all-around medal that had that task before them today. The morning session wore on and Alex was next in the high bar rotation. I had to say I was impressed this being his first time. He fairly flew through his swings and seemed to float through his release moves.
The teams moved on through the other rotations and Alex didn't do anything until they got to the rings. Once again he seemed to float through his moves. It was exciting to watch. As far as I was concerned Alex had a good chance to medal in the individuals, but there was still the afternoon session to go through.
We had gotten to the break at that point and my phone went off.
"Alex is looking damn good today."
"He sure as hell is. I'm thinking he might bronze in a couple at least."
"Think you'll get a chance to talk to him in the gallery?"
"I'm sure as hell going to try if I can even get near him."
"I'm betting the coach will let you through."
"Not the coach I'm worried about, but everybody else. Let me grab some lunch."
"Catch you tonight lover."
I was out to the concession stands along with everyone else and fought to get back to my seat.
It was not long after that I saw the morning teams make their way into the gallery. I started to move to get to Alex and finally made it there.
"Dennis!"
"Hey, Alex. You did outstanding work today!"
"Thanks! You think I have a shot?"
"In my opinion you sure do, especially at the high bar from what I was seeing, but we've got the whole afternoon to get through yet."
"Yeah, well I'm gonna keep thinking good thoughts."
"You do that and if I do halfway decent tomorrow, I'll probably see you at home late Monday afternoon or early evening."
"You think the press is going to want to get us all together?"
"More than likely. They did last year."
"That's going to be a real pain."
"From what I saw out there this morning, you'd better get used to it kiddo. Later."
I got back to my guys and settled in to watch the afternoon session. As the afternoon wore on, I was more and more sure that Alex was going to bronze at least in the high bar. The gold and silver? It was going to be a toss-up between Steve and Eddie across the board as far as I could see.
Finally, all of the rotations were done and the scores were in.
Steve had taken gold in rings, and Eddie silver. In the high bar it had been Eddie over Steve and Alex had taken the bronze. Vault had gone to Eddie and the silver had gone to one of the other guys and Steve got the bronze. Parallel bars went to Steve and Eddie ended up with the bronze. Pommel horse, much to my surprise, was a sweep with Eddie taking the gold, Steve the silver, and Alex another bronze, which left only the floor exercise. Gold here had gone to one of the other participants and Steve got the silver and Eddie the bronze.
The overall gold had gone to Steve, with Eddie taking the silver and someone from another team taking the bronze. There was going to be no getting near the guys tonight, so I got on the bus with the rest of the guys and headed back to the Y.
Karl and all of the family had gotten there before me. It was a few minutes with them all, a quick kiss for Karl and then it was into the team dinner.
When the dinner was over, we had about an hour before bedcheck. I still just headed up to my room as I knew the high school team floor would still be sheer chaos. What I found when I got to my floor was Alex sitting there waiting for me. He stood and proudly showed off his two bronze medals, which he had every right to do.
"Did you medal your first year Dennis?"
"As a matter of fact, I did not. But don't let this go to your head. It is still going to take a lot of hard work to keep up with this level of competition. Everybody keeps trying to get better, to do one more rotation on the somersault, go that much higher on the vault. It's a constant process Alex, and one you really have to work at to be good."
"I hear you Dennis, and I want to be good. I really haven't had the chance to talk to Pat yet about going to Edgeton."
"Not to worry, you've got the better part of a week once you get home. Now you had better make your way to your room for bedcheck if you want to be eligible this fall."
Alex took off and I headed to my room. I had no sooner gotten there when my phone rang.
"Just one more day lover."
"Yep, and it promises to be a hell of a day to boot."
"So did you get to see Alex tonight?"
"Just now and he is pumped, as he has every right to be."
"I can imagine. I know how you were the first time you medaled in the individuals."
"Yeah, I remember too. I walked around on cloud 9 for damn near a week."
"Get some sleep lover so you can gold all over the place tomorrow and do it again."
"I'm hoping lover."
"Love you."
"Love you more."
Shortly after Coach made his bedcheck and I crashed out.
The next morning we were off the watch the early session.
Chet Manning's team had gotten into the early session today, so I got to watch him and a good many of the other real contenders.
They all did some damn fine work, and I noticed that not a single one of them threw a triple in the rings again today.
When it came time to change over coach gathered up Josh, Greg, and me.
"Okay guys, I didn't see a triple thrown in the rings this morning. I won't forbid you from using them but I want each of you to consider saving them for next year. If you see any triple thrown in the rings before you're up, well then all bets are off."
Not one of the three of us said a word to the other two. We knew if it came down to between the three of us for the gold in the rings, having the triple would sure as hell make the difference.
I looked them both in the eye and stuck out my hand.
"For next year."
They both put their hand on mine.
"For next year."
We then had to get out to the floor.
As usual, I worked my way through every rotation with all of the concentration that they deserved and didn't once look to the scoreboard. I threw the triples that had already been displayed as did just about everyone else. It appeared that nothing had been held back by any of the other teams this year.
When it finally came down to it, I had taken 4 golds, a silver, and a bronze. Chet had taken the other two gold a silver and a bronze. Josh had taken 2 silver and 2 bronze. Chet had taken one each of silver and bronze and the other silver and bronze went to other participants.
When it came time for the all-around medals to be presented, I stood on the top platform with Chet to my right and Josh to my left.
When I saw who was presenting the medal, you could have knocked me over with a feather. It was of all people Doug Ambliss.
"I knew I'd get to do this someday Dennis. I'd like to talk to you later."
"If we can ever get rid of the press, which I'm doubting. Push comes to shove come see me at home."
"I'll do that if necessary."
When the press was done here, we got back to the locker room, and once the practicalities were taken care of, showered up and back to the Y.
The press was once again waiting for us all and again "formal" pictures were taken and interviews given. Then it was time for the "informal" pictures to be taken with friends and family. When I finally got a few seconds with Karl I gave him his kiss for the evening and then had to make my way upstairs for bedcheck.
When I approached my room two men were standing there.