Chapter 16: Dad Says It Out Loud

My father called the league commissioner himself at six that morning, before I got back to the house.

He did not ask me.

I found out from Luca's text, which said only: He's doing it. Wear something you can stand up in.

By noon the Garden's press room was full again.

Cameras lined the back wall, and above the podium the five championship banners hung from the rafters.

I sat in the front row with Paolo on one side and Luca on the other.

Paolo had sewn the captain's patch back on in the car, badly.

My father walked in alone in the same black suit.

The commissioner stood by the podium with his arms folded, and he did not look at the cameras.

My father put both hands on the wood.

"My name is Aldo Brescia," he said. "Last night a man read my wife's letter to the whole country, and every word of it was true."

The room stopped moving.

"For my last two seasons I took banned drugs. I won two titles on them."

A flashbulb went off, then another.

"When the league tested me, my wife changed the sample. She did that to protect me, and she carried it for the rest of her short life."

His voice cracked, and he waited, and it came back.

"I let her carry it alone. I let a lie stand for twenty-two years. I let my sons build their names on it."

He looked straight at Paolo.

"I am sorry to you most of all."

Paolo's jaw worked, and he nodded once.

"My daughter's mother wrote that I should come and get them when I could say it out loud," my father said.

He turned his head, and he found my eyes.

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