A Goal for Joaquin Read online

  “Do they have a soccer team at Willowdale?” he asked cautiously. “Maybe I could play soccer again if I went there.”

  “Well,” his mother had that sympathetic smile with the strained eyebrows, “your dad called the principal to ask about that. They don’t have a soccer team yet.”

  “But,” Mr. Lopez interrupted, “there’s a chance they will start one next year. There is a group of kids that tried to get a team going this fall, but they just didn’t have enough players interested. But the principal said if there was enough interest, the school board would probably go along with the idea.”

  Joaquin smiled at his family. He realized that he was the only obstacle standing in the way of the move. He felt pressured to say something even though he knew his parents weren’t putting pressure on him to agree. “Well, I like the idea of moving,” he finally said. “I think it sounds like fun living in the country. And I don’t mind leaving Lakeshore.” He paused and then smiled, “Of course, I may get lonesome for Coach Sommers.” Everyone laughed.

  “You don’t have to decide right this minute, Joaquin.” His father said. “We did put an offer on the place and it was accepted by the seller, but we have three days to change our minds. That’s part of the deal we made. We wanted to give you kids a chance to tell us how you feel. I don’t want to push anyone into this move unless it’s really what you want to do. I want everyone in the family to have a part in the decision.”

  “I’m for it,” Joaquin announced. “I can’t wait to see the house and the land. Maybe I can go camping with my friends this summer. Is there a woods?”

  “Yes,” his father replied. “There’s about eight acres of oak trees, and there’s a creek that runs through the back end of the property. I don’t think there are many fish in it, but the realtor told us that deer come down to drink almost every evening just before the sun goes down. And there’s a big flat garden, almost a half an acre where I can grow vegetables and melons.”

  “And I want to see the horses. Maybe I’ll give riding lessons to my friends from town.” Maria interjected.

  “Maybe I can play high school soccer again,” Joaquin added with a hopeful sigh. “Like Grandpa used to say—‘if you can’t join a circus, then start one.’ Maybe that’s what I can do for a soccer team.”

  The talk continued until the waiter finally came over and announced the restaurant was closing. Mr. Lopez apologized for staying so long, and then the family laughed about how time had slipped by while they discussed their dreams for their new home. When they walked out of the restaurant, the entire family was smiling.

  Chapter 9

  The following two months raced by. The deal on the farmette was closed, and the Lopez family started the familiar process of packing in preparation for another move. Of course, this one was only ten miles instead of two thousand. Still there was much work to be completed.

  For Christmas all of the gifts exchanged in the family were geared toward their new home in the country. Miguel Lopez received rakes, hoes, water hoses and sprinklers for his new garden. He also got a large wide-brimmed straw hat from Maria. “Hey, a sombrero!” he shouted when he opened the box. “Now I will be able to work all day in the hot sun, or maybe I will lie down under a tree and cover my face with the hat and take a siesta.” He pulled the hat over his eyes and his voice sounded like Pancho on the old Cisco Kid television show. Everyone laughed.

  Joaquin’s mother got patio chairs and a year’s subscription to Country Home Magazine. Maria opened a small box with a catalogue of a Western style saddles. Mrs. Lopez said, “We didn’t know what kind of saddle to buy, so we will take you shopping after we move, and you can show us what kind of saddle you want.” After a short pause she smiled and continued, “Within reason, of course. So don’t get your heart set on the most expensive one in the book. We want to know for sure that you’re going to learn to ride before we invest too much.”

  “Oh, I’ll learn to ride all right.” Maria was beaming. “Thank you. I can’t wait to get out there. How many more days till we move?”

  “Three weeks from Saturday,” her father answered. “That’s the day after your semester ends here. The following Monday you’ll be in your new school.”

  “I wish it was tomorrow,” Maria said. Then she looked at Joaquin. “Come on, you haven’t opened your presents yet.”

  “I haven’t had a chance the way everybody else has been ripping through their packages.” He picked up a box with his name on it and peeled off the stick-on red bow and tossed it at his sister. He could tell from the shape that it was a pair of shoes. He felt a little disappointed. It wasn’t really what he had hoped for, but he didn’t want to let on. He tore open the red and green striped wrapping paper and removed the lid from the box. Inside he found a pair of red leather indoor soccer shoes. It was a style he’d been wanting. He pulled one shoe out of the box and slipped it on. The fit was perfect. He started lacing it then remembered his manners. “Thanks. These are great. If I get on an indoor team, I’ll be all set, and if I don’t, then I’ll wear them to school. But I’m going to save them until we move.” He didn’t want to spoil a new pair of soccer shoes by wearing them to a school that had created such depressing memories of his sport.

  “Well, I guess that’s it,” Mr. Lopez said with a foxy grin. “That’s all the gifts I see under the tree.”

  Joaquin felt embarrassed. He was sure his parents were hiding another gift for him, but he couldn’t be sure. He didn’t want to let on what he was thinking because he didn’t want to make them feel bad if they really didn’t have another gift for him. He smiled, but he could feel a warm embarrassed blush move across his face.

  “Miguel, don’t be mean,” Mrs. Lopez teased. “Tell Joaquin about his other present.”

  “Joaquin has another present?” his father asked in his Pancho voice. “I thought we were all finished exchanging gifts.” He put his arm around Joaquin’s shoulders and gave him a rough hug. “Do you want another present, Joaquin?” Now he spoke in his regular voice.

  “I’ll take whatever I can get,” Joaquin laughed.

  “Well,” his father continued, “you have to wait till we get to the new house before you get the rest of your present.” He paused, enjoying the suspense that he was creating. “You know it is best to train a dog in one place. If you start him in one house then move him to another, you’ll get him all confused.” He laughed as he watched the expression on his son’s face turn from confusion to joy.

  “A dog? Do I really get to have a dog?” Joaquin shouted. “I want a Golden Lab just like Brian’s. I’ll name him Dorado, and I’ll teach him all kinds of tricks.”

  “Yes, we’ll get you a dog,” his mother said, “but we want to wait until we get settled in to the new place. Training a dog is a challenging job, so we want to wait until we’re ready to handle it.”

  “I guess I can wait, but I’ll start looking as soon as we move.” Joaquin beamed as he thought about a dog. He pictured himself running with a big golden lab through the woods.

  In a way the gift was a perfect idea for Joaquin because it made him more excited about moving and reduced his concern about leaving his friends and starting in a new school. Now he really had something to look forward to. Of course, Maria was already anxious to move so she didn’t need the incentive of a new saddle waiting for her.

  “This is a great Christmas,” Joaquin proclaimed as he gathered paper and ribbons from the floor.

  “I’m glad you’re happy,” his mother said. “We were a little worried about how you’d feel about going to a new school again. I know it’s not easy being a new kid, but you’ll do fine.” She started toward the kitchen, then turned back and said, “Now as soon as you kids get that room picked up, we can have fruit and cookies before we go to bed. Maybe you can talk your dad into getting out his guitar and singing some of the old carols that he learned from Grandpa Lopez.”

  Most of the children’s Christmas vacation was spent packing and preparing for the
move. Several times during the break, Maria talked her parents into driving over to visit their future home. The Jensens, the people who were selling the house, were very friendly and welcomed the Lopez family each time they pulled into the driveway. Maria always ran directly to the coral to look at the horses. Mr. Jensen, a retired insurance agent, gave her sugar lumps and carrots to feed the horses so that they would get to know their new owners. He called the brown horse Rocky and the pinto Chief. Maria liked the names and announced that she would not change them. Joaquin spent much of his visiting time exploring the creek and woods behind the house. He could imagine teaching his dog to scare up pheasants and grouse the way Brian’s dog could do. He had no interest in hunting the wild birds, but he did enjoy the idea of letting his dog track them down and chase them to flight.

  * * *

  The final two weeks at Lakeshore dragged slowly. Joaquin was anxious to get to Willowdale. Though he never discussed it, he had in the back of his mind a plan to organize a soccer team at his new school. He didn’t mention it to his parents because he didn’t want to let on how much he wanted to play again. The thought of developing a new team seemed exciting. He could see himself running down the field, scoring the winning goal for Willowdale.

  He also considered how great it would feel to have a chance to play against Coach Sommers and his old teammates from Lakeshore. He knew that the two schools belonged to different athletic conferences, but being so close together it was very likely the two teams would play a non-conference game before the league competition started. Or maybe they would meet each other in the regional tournaments that all schools competed in at the end of the regular season. Many times Joaquin imagined himself dribbling through the Lakeshore defense, racing past a glaring Coach Sommers, and rifling the winning goal past the keeper. He knew it was foolish to waste his daydreams plotting revenge, but he was unable to control these fantasies. What happened during the fall soccer season still hurt, and even though he rarely mentioned his pain to anyone, it was clearly still there eating at him like a slow working acid.

  Chapter 10

  The move to the new house went smoothly. Mr. Lopez rented a truck, and several friends from work helped with the loading and unloading of furniture and boxes. Many of the smaller items such as clothing, tools, and kitchen supplies were moved during the week preceding the actual moving day. Joaquin’s parents had everything organized, packed, and neatly labeled. Joaquin and Maria spent the moving day at the new house, directing the movers to the appropriate rooms and then unpacking boxes and filling shelves and cupboards. The entire process went without any serious snags, and by late Saturday afternoon, the move was completed.

  For supper that night, the Lopez family took all of the people who helped with the move out for pizza. It was a good meal because everyone was tired and hungry and because it was a huge relief for the family to have the job finished.

  It wasn’t until Sunday night that Joaquin really started to get nervous about attending another new school. Before that time there was too much other excitement to focus on. Monday morning seemed a million years away. But Sunday night reality set in, and he realized that the next morning he would be walking through new hallways trying to find classrooms. It was a feeling that was all too familiar. He wondered how kids at Willowdale would treat him. He knew he had friends in Lakeshore to do things with on weekends, but he definitely wanted to make new friends at his new school too.

  * * *

  The first day of classes at Willowdale went pretty much the way he had expected. Everyone gaped at him when he walked through the hall. He felt like he was wearing a sign announcing that he was the new kid. Of course, in a school as small as Willowdale no sign was needed. Everyone knew he was the new kid. His classes went all right, though he didn’t feel comfortable entering in the middle of a school year. All of his classes were full year courses, so seating arrangements and classroom procedures were established long before he arrived. Everyone else was comfortably in the routine. He was the new fish in the pond.

  At lunch a boy who was also Hispanic stopped by Joaquin’s table and introduced himself. His name was Julio Rodriguiz. He seemed like a nice kid, and he made Joaquin feel welcome. Julio said that he was a junior, so they probably wouldn’t have any classes together, but maybe they could get together for lunch or do something after school. Joaquin enthusiastically accepted the offer.

  Joaquin’s first big surprise came at the end of the first day when he was looking for his locker. He was studying the numbers on the wall when he heard someone speak.

  “Hey, you play soccer?” It was a girl’s voice. At first Joaquin didn’t respond, never guessing that the question was directed at him. Of course, the word soccer did catch his attention. He heard a quiet giggle and felt embarrassed. He kept his eyes on the numbers above the lockers. “Hello, there,” the voice said again. “I asked if you played soccer.”

  Joaquin finally turned to find the source of the question. Two girls were leaning against the wall smiling. “I’m sorry,” he managed to mumble, “were you asking me something?”

  “I asked if you played soccer,” the taller girl said.

  “Yeah, how did you know?” Joaquin was confused. Could somebody from Lakeshore have announced his arrival. Were these girls going to tease him for what happened last fall? He stood awkwardly, not knowing what else to say. He swept the hair from his forehead and waited.

  “Your shoes,” the tall girl said as if that should mean something.

  “My what?” Joaquin stammered. He could feel the sweat starting to bead on his forehead.

  “Your shoes,” the tall girl repeated, this time pointing down at his feet. She and her friend were smiling. They appeared to be friendly, but they were making Joaquin get very flustered. “You’re wearing indoor soccer shoes. We thought maybe you were a player. We’re always on the lookout for people we can recruit for our so-called soccer program.”

  “Oh, wow, you had me all confused. It’s my first day here, and I feel sort of lost. I didn’t know if you were making fun of me or what.” He brushed his hair back again and then looked down at his shoes.

  “No way,” the tall girl smiled, “Meta just noticed you were wearing soccer shoes. She pointed them out to me, and I thought I’d ask if you were a player. We need players if we’re ever going to get a team at this school.” She smiled, waiting for a response. “So how about it? You a player or not?”

  “Yeah,” Joaquin said enthusiastically, “I love soccer. I’ve been playing since I was five. My dad heard that some kids were trying to start a team here, but I didn’t think I’d meet you guys the first day. Count me in!”

  “Great!” The tall girl patted Joaquin on the shoulder. “Now we only need three or four kids to say they’ll go out for the team, and we’ll be able to go to the school board with our proposal.”

  “Are you talking about starting a co-ed team?” Joaquin looked confused. “Do they have that in this state?”

  “No,” the shorter girl answered, “we’re going to try to start a boys’ team first. Under the state rules, if a school has a boys’ team but no girls’ team, then girls can go out for the boys’ team.”

  “Of course,” the tall girl cut in, “we plan on getting a girls’ team going in another year or so, but this would be a way to get started.”

  “Mr. Tobias, that’s our principal, says if we get fourteen or fifteen players to sign up by March first, he’ll take a proposal to the school board and try to get it okayed for next fall.” Joaquin could see the excitement sparkle in the shorter girl’s eyes. “With you, we’ll have ten players for sure and maybe eleven.”

  “By the way,” the taller girl said, “my name is Kari, and this is Meta.”

  Joaquin awkwardly reached out to shake Kari’s hand. “My name is Joaquin Lopez,” he said. “I just moved here from Lakeshore, but I only lived there a couple of months. Before that I lived in California.”

  The girls looked at each other. Meta had an embarrass
ed smile on her face. “You’re not going to move away before next year are you?” There was disappointment in her voice.

  “No, we just bought a house out in the country. My dad works for an insurance company in Madison.” Joaquin guessed what the two girls were thinking. They probably thought his parents were migrant workers. At first this irritated him. Why did everyone have to think all Mexican-Americans were migrants? But this irritation passed quickly. He felt bad for the girls because he could tell that they were embarrassed. He explained that his grandparents had come to the U.S. as migrants, and he was proud of them and everything that they had accomplished. He told Meta and Kari that he was proud of his Mexican heritage. “Hey, my ancestors were Aztecs. They had great cities and palaces six hundred years ago.”

  “Cool!” Kari said. The moment of tension was over. There was a triangle of smiling faces waiting to figure out how they were going to get three or four more kids to sign up for the team.

  “So where do you guys play if your school never had a team?” Joaquin asked.

  “We play for a club team in Madison,” Kari answered. “There are kids from all over the county that play. Meta and I are on the same team. So is Cocoa Mareno. She goes to school here too. She’s going to play on the boys’ team next fall.”