Jamdown

Chapter 30

Nodelyn Johnson

A beep echoed amongst the crunching bite of my plastic slippers on the hole-ridden road. "Please leave your name a-"

I pressed the end call button and sighed. That was so rude. I already started making those calls to the other players.

Terry was right, Malt did not have reliable teammates. I had called some, and a good portion of them were making excuses, a few told me they were not interested in coming to the training sessions.

This was worrying. I told them if they didn't come to training, they would not make the team, just hoping that would put the fear of loss on the table.

They left it there without thinking about it.

Terry was right, they had to be removed from the team, but how should I break this to Donavan?

This one, John Williams, answered, and as soon as I told him who I was, he hung up.

He was not even answering the phone. I snorted in indignity and placed back the phone in my pocket.

Hopefully, that guy Vannessa recommended to me, Richard was it? I hoped he was going to turn out great.

My morning was not going well. If it was not annoying men I had to supervise, it was my brother.

Irwin and his incessant questioning, why the hell would Irwin care if I worked for Donavan? I was up all night watching videos on American Football, trying to understand this confusing game. My head was still swirling from last night, so I needed no brotherly troubles giving me a headache.

I sighed and parked myself in between the wading leaves of the trees.

My eyes took notice of the large wall of trees hugging the building ahead. It was the first time I realized I was in the middle of nowhere.

The sun staunched my flow of joy. I should have come out at night.

Why would anyone build a gym, so far off the grid? A small plaza was behind the hill this gym sat across from notched under the rigorous bulging mass of white rock.

Still, I was not sure why they placed this here. There were pots with tall green plants spurting outward from the open door.

The mats were colorful. A lot of makeshift punching bags, yet a few lifting weights laid about. In the center, there were huge thicker mats, separated by the concrete.

Two men were punching and kicking at each other at a steady pace. The third one had a thick beard and was doing pushups. It was less a gym and more a poor man's fighting ring.

My nose sniffled, yes, for it smelled like it too. May my soul be delivered from the aroma of too many men by nature's blessing.

Beyond them was the open passageway that led to tall hedge-like bushes. They were finally combed and lined with yellow and white flowers.

There were three men. On seeing me, all chatter was cut and I felt their eyes excavating through the clothes I wore. I breathed in and said, "Good morning."

"Morning," they said in unison.

"Hi, my name is Nodelyn, I come as a representative of the Berry Hill Assassins Football team and I would like to interest you guys in applying for the team, playing a lovely sport where you can beat your opponent with strength, intelligence, and tact."

They stared at me. The one who was doing pushups stood up. "Malt getting more servants to do his bidding?"

The other guys snickered. I straightened. "I am happily paid."