The Finall Play novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: Day Sixty
Tanner arrives at the clinic in a sling and learns the man who will clear him is the quarterback he replaced; Elliot says he has not decided to sign.
Elliot Erickson heard the footsteps in the hallway and knew whose they were before the door opened.
Everyone at Halden State knew that heavy, easy walk.
Tanner Thurmond came into the athletic clinic with his right arm strapped tight across his chest.
He still looked like he owned the building.
"Where's my therapist?" Tanner asked the empty room. "Coach said the clinic had someone."
"You're looking at him," Elliot said.
He stayed seated on the treatment table with a clipboard on his knee.
He did not stand up.
Tanner's eyes landed on his face, then dropped to the name stitched on the blue polo.
Then they came back up, and the grin he had walked in with went away.
"Erickson," Tanner said.
"Thurmond."
Neither of them said anything for a moment.
Two years ago, Elliot had worn number seven and Tanner had stood on the sideline in number twelve.
Now Tanner wore number twelve and the whole town chanted his name every Saturday.
"No," Tanner said. "Absolutely not."
"I haven't asked you for anything yet."
"I'm not letting you touch my shoulder."
"Then you can try the sling and prayer," Elliot said. "That's the other option."
Tanner turned around and went back out the door.
Elliot listened to him stride down the hall toward the coaches' offices.
He wrote the date on his clipboard and then, under it, the number sixty.
It took ten minutes.
Tanner came back with Coach Gil Kestner behind him, the whistle swinging against the coach's grey sweatshirt.
"Erickson is the best soft tissue hand in the program," Coach Kestner said. "That's not up for a vote."
"Coach, he's the one who..." Tanner started.
"He's the one who knows exactly what a throwing shoulder feels like when it quits," Coach Kestner said. "That's why I picked him."
He said it lightly.
Elliot kept his face still, and his right shoulder burned under the polo anyway.
"Sixty days to the title game," Coach Kestner said. "The surgeon says it's the earliest, if the rehab is perfect."
"Then get me somebody who's not him," Tanner said.
"There isn't anybody else on staff who'll work nights," Coach Kestner said. "Take it or take the bench."
Tanner looked at the floor.
His jaw moved.
"Fine," he said at last. "Sixty days."
"Good." Coach Kestner clapped him on the good shoulder and left.
The door swung shut, and the room got quiet.
Tanner stood in the middle of the clinic in his sling, big and angry and hurt.
Up close, Elliot saw the grey under his eyes and how hard he was gripping the strap.
He had not slept either.
"Sit," Elliot said, and patted the table.
Tanner sat, because there was nowhere else to sit.
"Do you want to hit me?" Elliot asked.
"Yes," Tanner said.
"Okay. After the session."
Tanner laughed once, rough and surprised, and then winced and grabbed at the sling.
Elliot stepped in and put two fingers on the front of the joint through the strap.
Tanner's whole body went still under his hand.
"That's the separation," Elliot said. "It's a grade three, the bone sits too high. That one's why you can't lift the arm."
"I can lift it."
"Try."
Tanner tried.
His arm rose maybe two inches, and sweat broke out along his hairline.
"Right," Elliot said quietly. "That's day zero."
"I played the last quarter on it," Tanner said.
"I know. I watched."
The words slipped out before he could stop them.
Tanner looked up sharply.
"You watched?"
"I watch everyone," Elliot said. "It's my job to know how a guy gets hurt."
That was not an answer, and they both knew it.
Tanner kept staring, with his green eyes wide and a little too close.
Elliot took his fingers off the shoulder and picked up the clipboard.
"Here's how this works," he said. "You show up when I tell you. You do what I say, how I say it."
"Or what?"
"Or I don't sign the clearance form."
Tanner's mouth fell open.
"Coach said you'd only evaluate me," he said.
"Coach doesn't sign it. I do."
Elliot pulled a page off the clipboard and held it up so Tanner could see the empty line at the bottom.
"No one plays the title game without this."
"And you're going to sign it."
Elliot looked at him for a long moment.
"I haven't decided yet," he said.
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