There was a long awkward pause as they contemplated that game, and all the mysteries around it. It was Messina's last title, and that alone was a source rich enough for years of analysis. Down 31-0 at the half, roughed up and manhandled by a vastly superior team from East Pike, the Spartans returned to the field at A&M where thirty-five thousand fans were waiting. Rake was absent; he didn't appear until late in the fourth quarter.
The truth about what happened had remained buried for fifteen years, and, evidently, neither Neely, nor Silo, nor Paul, nor Hubcap Taylor were about to break the silence.
In the hospital room Rake had finally apologized, butNeely had told no one.
Teague and Couch said good-bye and jogged away in the darkness.
"You never came back, did you?" Jaeger asked.
"Not after I got hurt," Neely said.
"Why not?"
"Didn't want to."
Hubcap had been working quietly on a pint of something much stronger than beer. He'd said little, and when he spoke his tongue was thick. "People say you hated Rake."
"That's not true."
"And he hated you."
"Rake had a problem with the stars," Paul said. "We all knew that. If you won too many awards, set too many records, Rake got jealous.Plain and simple. He worked us like dogs and wanted every one of us to be great, but when guys likeNeely got all the attention then Rake got envious."
"I don't believe that," Orley Short grunted.
"It's true. Plus he wanted to deliver the prizes to whatever college he happened to like at the moment. He wantedNeely at State."
"He wanted me in the Army," Silo said.
"Lucky you didn't go to prison," Paul said.
"It ain't over yet," Silo said with a laugh.