Coach Losing His Daughter
She stares at his players who turn him into aging wood, make him sexless as his little finger. When he tries to talk to her, his sentences dissolve, the nouns and verbs all floating mute into the sky's blue ear. He knows why his players lift and curl. He sees them tightening their belts. Bodies that well built should build a house, knock a bully on his can. But after practice, Coach can only see his daughter getting in their cars, feel their muscles sweating on her skin.
From Losing Season by Jack Ridl. Copyright © 2009 by Jack Ridl. Used by permission of CavanKerry Press. All rights reserved.