"James Patrick Kelly - Don't Stop" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kelly James Patrick)

only reasons she survived her senior year. He didnтАЩt care that kids thought she was
weird; all he cared about was that she could run a mile in 5:11. After she graduated,
Lisa used to see him all the time around town but they rarely met on the run. She
liked to work out in the morning and he preferred afternoons, a habit left over from
three decades of after school practice. She has told him several times that sheтАЩs
sorry she missed his funeral. He just shrugs.
тАЬWant company?тАЭ he says. тАЬWhere you headed?тАЭ
тАЬAll downhill from here.тАЭ
тАЬAlways the wiseass.тАЭ He takes off down the other side of BrideтАЩs Hill Road.
They trot easily, shoulder to shoulder. Coach Ward runs slower than Lisa
would like, but she lets him set the pace. He cuts off onto Aberdeen, which drops
down the steepest part of Oak Hill.
тАЬRace you to the stop sign.тАЭ Coach isnтАЩt even breathing hard.
 Suddenly they are galloping, each long stride a rebuke to gravity. The houses
flash by. Lisa glances over at Coach and recognizes the expression of fierce joy on
his face. This is his classic training strategy: speed play. Interspersed through each
practice run must come several bouts of sprinting. He always made a distinction
between running and jogging. Jogging is a mental activity. You do it because you
ought to. Running is a physical activity. You do it because there is no choice. Ought
doesnтАЩt win races. You win the race because thereтАЩs a tiger chasing you or because
you absolutely have to get home in time or maybe just because itтАЩs a beautiful day
and youтАЩre seventeen and life is impossibly sweet. Coach no longer looks
sixty-eight. He is seventeen all the way to the bottom of the hill.
Lisa can feel the bulk of the entire planet in her knees as she slows to the stop
sign on Howell. She and Coach arrive at the stop sign together, but he slaps his open
hand to it a beat before she does. тАЬDonтАЩt stop, Schoonover,тАЭ he says, bouncing in
place, his feet never leaving the sidewalk. тАЬNever stop.тАЭ They eye each other,
breathing hard and grinning. This is where they must part. She has to get ready for
work. HeтАЩs buried in Old St. MaryтАЩs. She has put flowers on his grave several times
since the first time he appeared to her.
Crispin pulls up behind them and reaches over LisaтАЩs shoulder to tap the stop
sign. Coach stares at him with his usual disapproval and Crispin retreats to a
respectful distance.
тАЬYou still have the legs, Coach,тАЭ says Lisa. тАЬI hope IтАЩm still sprinting like that
when IтАЩm your age. How old are you anyway?тАЭ
тАЬSeventy-four on November fifteenth.тАЭ
тАЬAnd you were what, sixty-eight, when you died? They still keep track of
birthdays in heaven?тАЭ
Billy Ward licks his forefinger and draws a check mark in the air. тАЬSee you,
Schoonover.тАЭ He winks at her and a smile lights his craggy face. тАЬDonтАЩt forget to
stretch.тАЭ
тАЬWill do, Coach.тАЭ Lisa waves and takes off for home.
Lisa has lost six jobs in five years, although a couple of the layoffs werenтАЩt
her fault. Dolly Hitchens had closed Best Kept Secrets when she got divorced and
CarlsonтАЩs Hardware burned down. These days Lisa works at the DVDeal on
Grandview at the Dover end of the Squamscott Bridge, although business is
ominously slow. But thatтАЩs where she met Matt, who will sit through just about any
movie about sports. When Lisa quoted AnnieтАЩs speech from Bull DurhamтАФhis
all-time favoriteтАФabout the Church of Baseball, Matt asked her out on the spot.
Lisa had started at the DVDeal just a week after she had checked herself out