Game Changer

Sarah cannot hardly believe Teddy squeezed his father’s hand—it is the first good news since Teddy’s injury. She tells Jim the doctor thinks it might be good to keep visitors coming—the doctor is sure Teddy follows everything. The coach wants to visit, but Sarah is not sure that it would be a good idea. When he arrives, the coach offers encouraging words and promises if there was any problem, anything off about the injury, he will personally get to the bottom of it.

Meanwhile on the webpage, as the outdoor vigil for Teddy’s recovery fast approaches, students voice their support for the football program. “Football is total action” (74), one poster says. Furthermore, no one can guarantee the athletes will not get hurt. Camille tries to keep the message board positive and centered on Teddy and praying for his recovery. When Camille visits the hospital, she whispers to Teddy about a poster no knows named Clea who is raising questions about how he got hurt. She asks whether Teddy knows Clea or if Clea knows him. The football team visits on their way to the vigil. Will bends down and reassures Teddy that no one on the team is going “to say anything about what happened” (90). The last player to leave is Alec who tells Teddy that their friend Ethan is having a difficult time over what happened. Alec says that he believes Ethan needs to talk to somebody.

Teddy, helpless in the bed, struggles with his recollection of the football game, the practices, the incentives to get stronger, and the rhetoric of brotherhood that the team emphasized. The vigil service is held, and after the service, Clea posts that somehow something was missing, hinting again that something other than football hurt Teddy. Will quickly responds that the team is better, stronger than rumors. He says, “It’s more important than ever that we stick together” (98).

The following afternoon, Ethan schedules a meeting with the school therapist. He tells the doctor he did not attend the vigil service. He goes over what he has already said: The scrimmage was over and Teddy “like just collapsed from one second to the next” (105). The therapist demurs—the medical evidence showed that Teddy had suffered a savage blow to the head, far exceeding anything that would be delivered in a scrimmage. Ethan bristles at the suggestion and says everything would be better if everyone just stopped talking about Teddy.

Back at the hospital, in a moment of unguarded honesty, Sarah explains to Teddy why she left the family. She tells him the day she drove away was just another ordinary, busy day full of drop-offs and errands, and that suddenly, without warning, she began to cry. She tells him she loves him and his sister and loves being their mother, but she needed to pursue her dream of being a painter. “It was the only thing I could do to save myself” (114). She tells Teddy that at the vigil, some kids were acting weird, and she picked up on a feeling that some high school kids knew something about the injury, something they were keeping secret. “They are hiding something” (115). Teddy’s father dismisses the idea—he is planning Teddy’s return to the team. On the webpage, the poster named Clea asks whether anyone has talked to Ethan.

When Alec comes to visit, he tells Teddy how people suspect something more to his head injury than a terrible accident in a scrimmage game. “[I]t’s gonna come out at some point you know?” (120). Teddy has a sudden reaction registered on the machines that monitor his body. The doctor is called, the room is cleared, and the doctor calms Teddy, repeating his mantra: “Rest, relax, recovery” (122). Later the coach and his daughter, Camille, visit again. While the adults talk in the hospital corridor, Camille comes in and offers Teddy a sleeve of French fries, a reference to a time at the beach when Teddy asked Camille to bring him an order of fries, which she never did. Camille says now she only wishes Teddy would wake up and eat the fries she brought.