"Thanks boys," Jesse said. He turned and walked away.
* * *
At four o'clock Thursday afternoon the crowd parted at the gate to Rake Field and the hearse backed itself into position. Its rear door was opened and eight pallbearers formed two short lines and pulled out the casket. None of the eight were former Spartans. Eddie Rake had given much thought to his final details, and he had decided not to play favorites. He selected his pallbearers from among his assistant coaches.
The procession moved slowly around the track. The casket was followed by Mrs. Lila Rake, her three daughters and their husbands, and a handsome collection of grandchildren.Then a priest.Then the drum corps from the Spartan marching band, doing a soft roll as they passed the home stands.
Between the forties on the home sideline there was a large white tent, its poles anchored in buckets of sand to protect the sacred Bermuda of Rake Field. At the fifty-yard line, at the exact spot where he had coached for so long and so well, they stopped with his casket. It was mounted on an antique Irish wake table, the property of Lila's best friend, and quickly surrounded by flowers. When the Coach was properly arranged, the family gathered around the casket for a short prayer. Then they formed a receiving line.
The line stretched down the track and through the gate, and the cars were bumper to bumper on the road that led to Rake Field.
* * *
Neely passed the house three times before he was brave enough to stop.There was a rental car in the driveway. Cameron had returned. Long after dinner, he knocked on the door, almost as nervous as the first time he'd done so. Then, as a fifteen-year-old with a new driver's permit, his parents' car, twenty bucks in his pocket, the peach fuzz scraped off his face, he had arrived to take Cameron on their first real date.
A hundred years ago.
Mrs. Lane opened the door, same as always, but this time she did not recognizeNeely . "Good evening," she said softly. She was still beautiful, polite, refusing to age.
"Mrs. Lane, it's me, Neely Crenshaw."
As the words came out, she recognized him. "Why, yes,Neely , how are you?"