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.
