Dave Casler
PO Box 98
Ridgway, Colorado 81432
Young Adult Novels by Dave Casler...
I've been told by publisher after publisher that there's no market for Young Adult novels. I think they're wrong! So I'm putting my novels on-line for you. Forget the publisher! Read to your heart's content--it's free! And, I'd like to hear from you, too! Contact Page.
You're reading About Dan. Be sure to check out About Phillip here.
Dan is a normal kid who loves his soccer. Except everything goes wrong. Everything.
About Series Home
About the About Series
Index to All Chapters
Here are all the chapters, disguised as asterisks. Hover your mouse over an asterisk to see the title of the chapter. Click on the asterisk to go straight to that chapter.
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(About Dan Home) (Last) (Next)
Peter Loses Face
"Dan!"
The cry broke his concentration. He turned his wheelchair around to examine the gathering crowd. There was Lisa, waving at him from the top of the portable bleachers. Justin also waved. Is Lisa holding Justin’s hand? No, just an optical illusion. Dan waved back. He forced himself to smile for her. Hey, a pep band today! Big crowd, too, he thought.
Cheryl was there as promised. There was Dr. Jensen up at the top, concentrating on the Anderson team. The Park team’s traditional war cry broke his gaze.
Oddly, the first penalty was against Park. Don’t lose your cool, folks; concentrate! Park scored the first goal. I kick with more grace than that!
The cheering suddenly gave way to an angry buzz. Play stopped as whistles blew. Coach Johnson ran onto the field to see who was hurt. The Anderson players wandered around, aimless and bored. Dan's anger rose. The downed Park player was helped to his feet. The crowd cheered. The Park player, whoever it was, raised his fists, but Dan still couldn't make him out. The pep band played the school song and the crowd cheered some more. The player wobbled toward the bench.
Dan finally saw through the swirling mass of red uniforms. Number twenty-two. Peter!
He swore. The rest of the Park bench was doing the same.
The blood made Peter’s face as red as his uniform. Dan clenched his wheelchair tightly, swiveling to face him. By the time he hobbled to the bench, guided by Coach Johnson, Anderson had already scored.
Peter's left eye was nearly swollen shut. There was a small cut on his forehead. His nose was still bleeding. He sat on the bench so heavily Dan thought it might crack. Coach Johnson looked him over and said something Dan couldn't hear.
Peter exploded. "No way! I'm staying here."
Dan saw Coach Johnson’s lips move again, but couldn’t hear because of the crowd.
Peter yelled, even more loudly. "I'm staying here and you can't stop me so stop trying!" There might have been an expletive involved; Dan couldn’t tell. Coach Johnson patted Peter on the shoulder and left him alone.
The game slid downhill. Try as Park might, they couldn’t score again. And the Anderson players were having a free-for-all with Peter’s replacement.
The rout ended 8 to 1 in Anderson's favor. Dan glared at the knot of Anderson players, who seemed to treat this as yet another game. Through the swirling mass of exiting fans and players he saw Ernesto get up slowly and head toward them.