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Chapter Three

When we git up to the university, coach Bryant he coyin makin a speech It bout the same kind of speech Coach Fellers would make, cept even a simpleton like mysef could tell this man mean bidness! His speech short an sweet, an conclude with the stateet a ride there not on the bus, but on Coach Bryant’s shoe instead Yessiree We do not doubt his word, an stack ourselfs into the bus like flapjacks

All this was durin the ust, which in the state of Alabama is somewhat hotter than it is elsewhere That is to say, that if you put a egg on top of your football helmet it would be fried sunnyside up in about ten seconds Of course nobody ever try that on account of itnobody wish to do, because life was almost intolerable as it was

Coach Bryant have his own goons to show onna stay, which is a nice brick building on the caoons escort me over there in a car an lead ht of looked nice from the outside was not true for the inside At first, it appear that nobody had lived in this building for a long time, they was so much dirt an shit aroun, an es an bashed in, an most of the winders are busted out too

A few of the fellers is lyin on they cots inside, wearin very little cause it about 110 degrees hot in there, an flies an things be hu stack of newspapers, which at first I afraid they gonna e an all, but soon I learn they are for puttin down on the floor so’s you don’t have to step on all the dirt an shit when you walk aroun

The goons take me to my room an say they be hopin to find my roomate there, whose naet my stuff unpacked an shohere the bathrooht expect to find at a one-puo, one of the goons say Curtis an et on fine cause both of us have about as oon what said that, cause I be tired of hearin all that shit, but he tell ive him fifty pushups After that, I just be doin what I’m tole

I went to sleep on my cot after spreadin a sheet over it to cover up the dirt, an was havin a dream bout settin down in the parlor with my mama like we use to do when it was hot, an she’d fix me a limeade an talk to me hour after hour - an then suddenly the door of the room done crashed in flat an scare me haf to death! A feller be standin there in the doorith a wild look on his face, eyes all bugged out, no teeth in front, nose look like a yeller squash an his hair standin straight up like he done stuck his thing in a light-socket I figger this be Curtis

He come inside the room like he expectin soht over the door that he just caved in Curtis ain’t very tall, but he look like an icebox otherwise First thing he axe me is where I’m from When I say Mobile, he say that is a "candyass" town, an informs me he’s from Opp, where they onna open up a jar hissef an butter my butt with it! That were the extent of our conversation for a day or so

That afternoon at football practice it be about ten thousan degrees hot on the field, an all Coach Bryant’s goons runnin roun scowlin an yellin at us an in down like it was a necktie or so Finally they divides up everbody an puts me with backs an we start to run pass patterns

Now before I coe which contain about a million different football plays, an I done axed Coach Fellers what I’m spose to do with it an he jus shake his head sadly an say not to try to do nothin - jus to wait till I get to the University an let theer somethin out

I wish I had not taken Coach Fellers’ advice now, cause when I run out for oon come rushin up hollerin an shoutin at me an when he stop shoutin he axed me don’t I study the plays they send me? When I says, "Uh, uh," he commence to jump up an down an flail his arms like hornets is upon hio run five laps aroun the field wile he consult with Coach Bryant bouttower lookin down on us like the Great Gawd Bud, I’oon cliet to the top an say his piece, Coach Bryant crane his neck forward an I feel his eyes burnin hot on aphone for everbody to hear, say, "Forrest Gump, report to the coachin tower," an I seen Coach Bryant an the goon climin down All the time I be runnin over there I am wishin I were runnin backwards instead

But iine my surprise when I see Coach Bryant smilin He motion ain if I’d not learnt thein to splain what Coach Fellers had tole it back in the line an start catchin passes, an then I tole hiuess he didn’t want to hear, which was that I had never even caught a pass at highschool, cause they figgered it hard enough to get oaline is, let alone runnin aroun tryin to grap the ball outta the air too

At this news, Coach Bryant get a real odd squint in his eyes, an he look off in the distance, as if he was lookin all the way to the o fetch a football an when the football come, Coach Bryant hissef tell me to run out a little ways an turn aroun When I do, he thowed the football at me I see it coers an fall on the ground Coach Bryant be noddin his head up an down like he should of figgered this out earlier, but soet the idea he is not pleased

Fro, ot to be careful, cause they gonna put you away" I was so scairt of bein put in this "away" place I’d always try to be better, but I’m damned if there’s a worst place they could of sentI’m livin in