This is part 5 in the Fox Lane series. We left off with Lawler confronting me about the location of his Camels. I say "I don't have them. What do you want to do?" Lawler says " We'll talk about this later." He walks away and I exhale in relief for the temporary stay of execution. Practice is revving up in response to the nearness of the 1rst competition. It seems the only possible spot open is on rings. John and I will be battling it out for this chance to compete and receive our uniform. John is a much quicker learner and has more raw talent than I do. What I do have is equal or better physical strength and a drive to excel 2nd to none. I can only hope this will be enough. Our friendship is turning into a rivalry that escalates with each practice. John learns a back uprise on rings, while I develop the strength to support my self above the rings without shaking. I am the first to perform a strength move. It's one Lawler has taught me, a back lever. Imagine yourself on the rings in an inverted hang. This would be with your head pointed to the floor and your arms straight at your sides. Now slowly lower your body backwards in a straight position and stop for 3-5 seconds in exactly a horizontal plane beneath the rings. The sensation is that to having nails driven into the back of your elbows. From here you relax letting your body lower into what's referred to as a "skin the cat". This is when your body is hanging vertical with your arms behind your back like a prisoner being handcuffed and hung up by his wrists. See above photo for a better visual reference. The tide turns when John learns how to do what is called a chute. Now the sequence in the photo shows in to a handstand, just imagine it to a basic support position for us beginners. The first meet came and went . John was competing on rings and I was on the bench. John received regular coaching and attention while I was ignored. He even has a uniform. Will I ever get a uniform? I was still trying to learn a chute. It was like no matter what, my body wouldn't rise above the rings. One day I was watching Lawler perform what appeared to be a slow motion chute. I took a chance and ran up to him and said "Please teach me that. I'm sick of being the only one who doesn't compete." Lawler looks at me and stares. Finally he says " You need to be a hell of lot stronger if you want to do what I do. Take a look at just what it takes , and that's if you even have the potential. So far I'm the only one I know who can do it." He walks to the chin up bar and bangs out 30 pull ups. Dropping down he kicks to a handstand against the wall and bangs out 30 handstand pushups. From their he goes to the rings and jumps up and does 10 muscle ups to handstand. He jumps down a little tired and out of breath saying "Don't talk to me until you can do at least 1/2 of that. Go on you got work to do bench boy." He laughs and goes back to training. I go to the low set of rings and stand there a minute. I think of every bad unfair thing that has ever happened to me. I start to get angry, really angry! John comes over and says " You going to go or just stand there keeping them company." I say " Fuck off Semenetz wait your turn." I pull my self to an inverted hang and with all my might I bend my elbows by turning my wrists out and doing what would appear to be and upside down body curl with my arms. I start to rise and feel if I lean back hard enough I could flip over and be in support. No swing, no technique, just plain old angry, ball grunting strength. Not realizing I just did a straight body back roll to support, a move even harder than Johns' chute I jump down to see everyone staring at me. I look to see if there's something on me and say " What" Mark Weldon strolls over and says "Don't move from that spot 1/4 wit. I think jeez what kind of shit am I in now? Mergardt comes briskly walking over and says " Well?" I say " Well what? Weldon told me to stand here, so I 'm here" Mergardt says " Look Jody I don't have time for games. The competing gymnasts need all the attention and time I can give them. So if you have something to show me do it already." Lawler pipes in " Yeah Shultz show us what you got. Like you did in the smoking area tough guy." I say to myself under my breath " God I hate this fucker . Why doesn't he just die already?" Weldon walks to me and whispers " Remember the kip. Just do it like that. You got a chance to blow these yahoos out of the water here. Please do it for all our sakes." I'm beginning to realize that Weldon isn't liked very well either. I now feel like in a way I am sticking up for him and myself. I say " The thing on rings I just did?" Mark nods I say " O.k. but it ain't nothing fancy. Here goes." I pull to an inverted hang and get this weird tingling sensation like when I bowl really well. I pull and roll over easily to support this time and smile while I'm doing it. I hear " Whooa! Fucking wit, will you look at that shit." I hear Lawler say " Yo wit What the hell do you think your doing stealing my move. I ought to kick your ass Whooa!" Mergardt says " Jody you can come down now. We need to build a routine around that wonderful opener you got there. Let's go to the big gym." So suddenly the tables turn and I get a uniform the same day. The meet is in 3 days and it's an away meet at Lakeland High school. It's the 1rst away meet of the season. John pouts and won't talk to me. I train really hard the next 2 days doing the routine Mergardt put together for me. My hands look like hamburger meat and throb constantly. Today's the day of the meet. The one cool thing is that you have to wear a suit and tie to school. That shows everyone you are having an athletic competition that day. It's like a rite of passage. Kids in your class find out you do a sport and become interested. Teachers show support and ask about what todays' event will be. Everyone has respect for the gymnasts except the football players. Everything is packed in a Fox Lane bag and after school we board the bus to go to Lakeland. It's so strange to see these guys all dressed up. Mergardt goes over the line up reading off the names and order of those to compete on that event. : Floor ex: Murphy,Smith,Kotch Andrews and Oliva -Pommel Horse: Berman,Andrew,Sobicinski,Weldon and Reed-High Bar: Kotch,Reed,Weldon,Lawler and Andrews-Rings-Shultz,Reed, Andrew,Sobicinski and Lawler-Parallel Bars:Reed,Berman,Kotch,Andrew and Weldon-Vaulting:Kotch,Andrews, Murphyi,Smith and Oliva. That's todays line up gentleman. We arrive at Lakeland high School and are greeted by a monster of a man named Mr. Roth. He says patting Mergardt on the back. "Here to take another beating I see Rod. Well it'll be a good practice meet for these guys. Follow me to the losers locker room. It's down here. If you need anything , like coaching advice you can find me upstairs warming up section ones's best team.Ha ha ha!" Mergardt doesn't reply. We follow this blow hard to the locker room and change. We go upstairs to stretch and warm up for the competition. I practice my routine and feel ready, Suddenly I'm glad I'm only doing 1 event and my score is only an extra since the top 3 scores count. I see Lawler get pushed out of the way as one of the Lakeland gymnasts cuts in front of him on the ring line. Lawler smiles and I know this will be good . The Lakeland guy jumps and just before his hands make contact with the rings Lawler jumps up and forward to yank him down slamming him into the crash mat. Everyone is laughing including guys from Lakeland. The guy jumps up and Lawler walks to him saying "If you're feeling froggy, then jump. If not crawl back into the swamp you came from. " The guy starts and then stops looking to his coach.. Mr. Roth comes running to grab Lawler and Lawler sticks his chest out not backing down an inch says " Please touch me, so my family has a reason to come back here and burn this shit hole to the ground." Mr. Roth yells " Rod keep your thugs under control or I'll cancel this meet right now you hear me?" Mergardt smiles and says "And miss out on that pratice meet of yours? Why that would be a shame." Mergart put his arm around Lawler and they take a walk. An air horn blows signaling warm ups are over. Mergardt calls us together and says " I don't need to tell you I would take great satisfaction in shutting this airbag up. That's not why we're here. We're here to represent Fox Lane High School and all of your families. So act like the athletes you've been trained to be. Hands in on 3 one, two three huh(loud team unity sound) We line up to hear the National Anthem. There is an announcer and two judges in blue blazers with patches on their breast pocket signifyng them as Nationally sanctioned. The first event is floor. With out going into a blow by blow, I will give a few quick highlights. Most of our guys hit there routines and score well. I am scared beyond belief as I walk in front of the judge and all these spectators. I don't even remember doing my routine. Everyone hugs me and says I did great. I felt like I was outside my body looking at someone else. We ended up losing the meet by 2 tenths of a point. Mergardt held his head up and said we did great. We went back home on the bus and it was late . Everyone has left and I forgot to make transportation arrangements with my mother. I start to walk home when this super cool car roars by and then suddenly pulls a 180 and starts coming back. I start getting ready to run when I see Lawler on the other side of the road saying "Get in we're going for a ride."I do and sit there as he starts to go the opposite way from where I live. I keep my mouth shut. Finally he says "So wit do you know what this is?" I think quickly back to all the cars I had learned about at the bowling alley. I say in a questioning tone " A late 1960's Ford Mustang that's been modified?" He replies " A better answer than I expected out of you. I'll tell you what this is. It's a car that not matter how rich you are you'll never own , because it's an original." I ask " An original what?" He smiles and says "The new 1967 Mustang was followed with a new Shelby. It featured a 1967 Mercury Cougar tail light panel minus the chrome trim, a flip-up spoiler, and two sets of air scoops on each side. This was also the first American car to feature a factory roll bar.The new GT500 featured a 428-in³ in a big block V-8. Only 2000 were made and they will never be made like this again because Carroll Shelby left Mustang. I work with their mechanics. This baby is mint and fast as all fucking hell." To learn more about this legend of a car check out link:http://musclecars.howstuffworks.com/classic-muscle-cars/1967-shelby-gt-500.htmWe're going slowly until Lawler sees a Camaro up ahead. He looks at me and I reach for the seat belt and say " I'm ready." he smiles and floors it. We come up on the Camaro fast and pull along side. Lawler says something I can't hear and then he laughs. We pull in behind the camaro and follow him to one of the side roads called South Bedford. The Camaro stops and Lawler pulls the Shelby along side. Lawler gesture for the Camaro to go whenever it's ready. The Camaro peels out leaving us standing still. Lawler says "Lets give Mr. Camaro a head start." The redlights of the Camaro are growing smaller and disappear around a curve. Lawler drops the hammer and away we go. My heart is pounding like it was at the meet. Lawler cuts the wheel skidding into and accerlerates out of the curve and then we go on the straight away. Just before the next curve Lawler floors it and we sling shot past him as we down shift into the next curve and slingshot out of it and we are gone. He's as relaxed as if we were taking a stroll. He exhales and says "Let's go get me my cigarettes." I say "Take a left up here and go behind the bowling alley on Armonk Rd. He nods and we drive there at a normal speed. We get there and I look around to see if I see anybody's car that I know. I see Buddy Banks'
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