(This is rather funny, depending on how you look at it) A tale in the life of a soccer captain: PART 2

The game was intense, but that was nothing out of the ordinary.

What was out of the ordinary, was that, in right after the second hour, coach got a phone call. "I have to go home right now, sorry. Pracitice will be same time next week, okay?" Yeah. Sure. Fine.

That didn't hide the fact that most of the parents stayed at the park with younger siblings, and left right after. My brother's friend Ian, and Evah walked home. (Well, Ian unicycled,  but that is a WHOLE other story)

Joe had to bike home, but he hung around for a bit.

The boys were talking paintball, so I had no choice.

Until, Matt mentioned shooting a squirrel with a paintball gun and watching it limp away. Then I got myself fired up. 

"Matt! That is so cruel! How could anyone in their sane mind do that?"

Matt was a good 5 inches taller than me but I was standing tall, and looking him straight in the

eyes.  

"Jillian...."

Mark started. "Mark, don't you dare butt in this time"

"I dunno, Matt shrugged.

Mark butted in.

"Jill, you don't know if that squirrel had sin in it's heart"

I looked at Mark like he was insane.

"Okay, preachers kid, that is taking it too far" I said. 

Then I turned, and walked back toward the wall where I'd left my bag against a wall.

And then I checked the inner pocket. And I froze.

My cell phone wasn't there. Or anywhere else in my bag for that matter....

I had a sudden vision of setting it down while I was tying my cleats.

OMG.

I had told Mom not to come until 6, and it was 5.

And I had a party at 7. I had forgotten all about it.

I went back and told Sam.

"Well, it's only 5:00, we just have to wait around a bit" he said.

 

But already a bunch of kids had left. All that was left was us FLCC'ers.

Mark, Matt, Misha, Abraham, Saegger, Sam, John, and myself.

But, then they had to go, except their carpool, Mrs. H wouldn't leave until my Mom got there.

I asked Saegger, "Does your Mom have a cellphone?"

He looked and me, kind of spacey.

"Hmmm, a cellphone? I'm not sure; she might". 

What? I was thinking. I mean, he doesn't know if his mom has a cellphone? Cellphones are, like, essential in my family. If you leave the house without your cellphone, or some other means of communication, you were as good as dead, as far as my parents saw it.

"Mrs. H, do you have a cellphone?"

"I'm not sure.... I think I might somewhere..." She started digging through a purse, which was almost as huge as a backpack, and looked twice as heavy.

Finally, at the end of the universe of her purse (aka the bottom), she said "Aha!" and pulled one out. But I watched her face slip into a sheepish grin, like a kid who admits to having fed the dog his veggies, as she tried to turn it on. "Sorry, it's dead" She said, although I already knew what she'd say.

As a kid, I was prone to panic attacks. I dunno. I just would freak out if my parents weren't answering their phones, or I couldn't find them in a store, etc etc.

I have since gotten over all that stuff, it was really ridiculously stupid.

But, as it turned 5:50, I felt panic rising in the back of my throat. Mom was always at least 15 minutes early, and she would just hang out with the other soccer moms. 

We had hung out at the park for the past 50 minutes, and just talked, and someone even suggested tag, and even though I gave my incredulous, "Aren't we too old for that stuff?" look, we played anyways.

Misha gave me a thumbs up from time to time and said that he was sure that she would be here any second. 

Except Abe had piano lessons at the university, and they needed to leave now.

Mrs. H looked at us for a second, then said: "Okay, Jillian, Sam, in the car now"

"But.."

I started to say.

"If you were my kids, and I was your mom, I would want her to do this"

"Mrs. H, she is 14" Mark said.

"Yeah, and I go to the park by myself all the time!"

"In".

And that was that.

But, I quickly realized that this was going to be one WILD ride, considering the fact that we there were 10 people in a mini van made for 7.

Before I was about to step in, Misha grabbed my shoulder: "Whatever you do, DO NOT sit in the back seat. WHATEVER YOU DO"

I looked at the fear in his eyes, and thought he was over reacting.

And I stepped into the backseat, cos I felt guilty about Mrs. H even having to take us in the first place. Sam had to sit on my lap; and Abe was in Saegger's; Matt was in the trunk; John was squeezed against the window; Misha managed to get the passenger seat somehow; and Mark and Victoria were in the middle bench.

I have never had that many people in such a small space in my life (other than the time we went camping in September, and it was 100 degrees in the shade, and my friends and I spent the afternoon sprawled across our mini van's floor, since it was the only place with air conditioning, yeah. At least then we had movies...)

Misha thought we should leave a note, and so he quickly found a wrapper, and scribbled something on it, then went outside to find a way. "I have chewing gum, but it's chewed" I offered. Misha looked like he might just except, which made me really feel like we were in a desperate situation, but he eventually worked it onto a wire.

Sam was getting nervous, but I told him, "This is one of those moments, that we are going to look back at, and laugh our heads off". And I was right.