Athletic Shorts: Six short stories

Crutcher, C. . (1991).  Athletic Shorts: Six short stories. New York: Greenwillow Books.

This book has been on the list of Challenged Books.

"A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune" is a day in the life of a young boy whose life is messed up by his parents lifestyle, both sets.  His mother and father divorced and married same sex partners.  His aversion to this is only the tip of the iceberg.  He is a very large young boy.  Aside from being teased by everyone about his size he really doesn't like himself.  The thing he has going for him is his feelings for Melissa Lefevre.  He has to escort her onto the dance floor at the Winter Ball and dance with her.  He finds out that she is an OK kind of girl.  She has problems too, bulimia, and likely would be as large as he is without the disease.

"The Pin" is the story of a boy named John who is slowly becoming a wrestling champion.  Everyday he eats like a wrestler, trains like a wrestler and looks at his father the ex-wrestler.  His dad has no real sense of humor and John does his best to aggravate his father so much that his punishment gets worse.  He challenges his father to a wrestling match in front of all his classmates and their parents.  It is hard, but he pins his father.  His father was upset and slapped John.  Later at home after the incident, John's father apologized for being just like his father.  No matter how hard you try, you usually end up treating your kids like you were treated.

"The Other Pin"is a story about John's friend Petey.  Petey is a wrestler also but a lot smaller and less aggressive than John.  Petey's coach wants someone to wrestle Chris Byers, the reigning champion from another school in the area.  John somehow gets the coach to believe that Petey will willing wrestle this person.  What we don't realize until later is that Chris Byers is a girl, a very beautiful girl.  Petey gets on the wrong foot with Chris, thanks to John making jokes in front of her, and he wants to clear the air.  He drives to her house one day to apologize.  They have a long talk and they both realize that they like each other.  He devises a plan to help them both. Their caveman routine gets the crowd going and ends in a double pin for their pains, but it makes Petey's school lose.  The coach isn't happy but after he runs his bleachers for the day he can head to Chris' house to take her to the movies.  He is dating his wrestling opponent.

"Goin' Fishing" is not just a fishing story, but a story of great loss and an unforgiving young man who cannot forget nor forgive another for what happened on one fateful afternoon.  Lionel, "Lion" to his friends, goes fishing with his mom, dad, and brother, Kyle.  While there he argues with his father about almost everything.  They were heading closer to shore when Lion doesn't listen to his father about something and they start to fight.  Only Lion sees the approaching boat that is coming straight at them.  He yells, but it is too late for them all except him.  He jumps out in time to see his family all killed.  Lion's classmate, Neal Anderson, was at the wheel and drunk.  Three years later, Neal comes to see him, to make it right, but Lion will still have nothing to do with him.  Neal's mother calls him pleading for Lion to help Neal, but Lion refuses.  It isn't until Elaine, Lion's friend, convinces him that if we all did what was right all the time, then there would be nothing to forgive anyone for.  Lion does go find Neal and begins to mend all the pain.

"Telephone Man" is a story of racism and cruelty that is in the head of a young boy who is not mentally competent.  He gets banned from almost all the schools in the area.  His last hope is OMLC, an all black school in the Oakland area.  He doesn't understand that he shouldn't call blacks the "N" word or Chinese "Chinks" or other  ethnicites by degrading names.  It's just that is all he has ever heard from his father so he thinks it is OK most of the time.  One day he gets into a lot of trouble with a gang of Chinese kids who cause a lot of trouble around town.  He's really sick and gets knocked down.  He wonders why he hasn't been beaten really bad and opens his eyes to find a very large black boy named Hawk talking to the Chinese gang and telling them to let his buddy alone.  After this the boy wonders if his father could be wrong about the other colors too.

"In the time I get" is the story of ignorance of the complications of AIDS.  Louie befriends Darren, a young man with AIDS.  Louie has just lost his girlfriend, Becky, to a automobile accident.  He is not ready to be friends with someone who is dying of AIDS, but can't help but like Darren.  Louie's friend Carter is a jock Quarterback who is concerned only with what he thinks not what anyone else thinks.  Louie is afraid that if Carter finds out he is hanging around with Darren, their friendship will be over.  The best thing he did was to make up his mind to do what was best for Louie, not what was best for Carter.  He became a little closer to God in that time.

All of these stories are just a little bit about what life is all about.  Giving in to peer pressure in all situations comes all to easy to those around us.  Taking a stand makes you more of a hero.