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Journals: Book 2, Entry 11 “Ohio Players” "Here the good river runs north / Young fortunes are reversed in mock battle / Enslavement takes myriad focus / The key to them all is control" The Ohio River runs north on the eastern border of the state. In the Iroquois language Ohio means "good river." Sounded like a good place to start looking for a Gua experiment. Eddie checked for anything unusual in the region and came up with what looked like anything but. The Fairvale Falcons – a high school football team with a winning streak that the pros would love to claim – 11 and 0. It was an amazing turn around for a team that’s been in last place for nine years running. And it got me thinking. Could high school football be the mock battle Nostradamus was referring to? If so, the Fairvale Falcons have thrilled the state as they reversed their fortunes. As unlikely as it seemed, it fit. Had to check it out. Every dog may have its day, but I’ve learned that the alien race known as the Gua would stop at nothing to enslave humanity. I also know that in war, as in football, the best defense is a good offense. Posing as Cal U college recruiter Clyde Howell, I made my way onto the field at Fairvale High and quickly got the attention of the exceedingly proud Coach Jenkins. The coach wouldn’t take any credit for the teams wild turn around in skill and wins – he was only interested in giving credit where it was due. Quarterback Quentin Billup – Falcon’s superstar, the kid who’d single-handedly gotten the rest of the team up to par. Coach believed Quentin’s arm was kissed by the Lord above. I just wanted to be sure it wasn’t alien. Quentin was new to Fairvale; this was his first year on the squad. Coach asked me to take a look at another player – Trevor Jenkins – his son. Coach sold Trevor as the heart and soul of the offense and Quentin as the guts. No surprise, Coach Jenkins had the American football dream in mind for his boy. He also knew Quentin was the Falcons ticket to the state title. Thought Trevor might be able to answer some questions, sometimes the underdog wants to talk. Told Trev that I figured there was more to the Falcon’s turn-around than just one man. The kid said he wasn’t the reason for the lucky streak but neither was Quentin. Sounded like he knew more than he was saying. Trevor told me about another teammate, Lionel, a friend of his who went berserk on the field last week and then fell into a coma -- reason for the melt down – a bee sting. Thing is, Lionel had been stung before by a whole hive and he definitely wasn’t allergic. There was something else on Trev’s mind, but he wasn’t ready to talk. Eddie was in Pennsylvania checking out a Quatrain that came up empty. He cracked the usual jokes when I filled him in on the situation in Ohio – said he had trouble believing "E.T. was playing Q.B." Eddie didn’t think amateur ball was worth the Gua’s attention. Figured steroids were involved in Lionel’s freak-out. I wasn’t sure. Eddie agreed to meet me in Fairvale. Steroids and allergies just didn’t seem right. It was time for Clyde to do a little medical fact checking. I headed for the hospital. Lionel’s chart confirmed what Trevor said, the kid wasn’t allergic to bees – but that wasn’t my only discovery. Noticed something in the corner of Lionel’s eye. A honey-brown tear, thought it might have been an iodine stain but it was more sticky. Pocketed a sample and was getting ready to exit when Quentin showed up. Q.B. said he was checking on Lionel – seemed like a friendly kid, amped, enthusiastic – but then his tone shifted – Quentin wanted to know what I was doing in Lionel’s room. He got angry. Intense. Told me his game was up eighty percent this year, that I should ignore his junior year stats. He braced the bed. That’s when I saw the monitor. With Quentin in the room, the device set to read Lionel’s brainwaves went wild. Near flat-lines suddenly spiked off the screen. Quentin took off and the readings went back to normal. Didn’t know what to make of it. Time to get the sample to Eddie. While we were waiting for results on the sample I told Eddie my best hunch was that the Gua were running some kind of mind-control experiment – liking the brains of these kids. Eddie thought it was a possibility – we figured the aliens might be trying to get at us through our heads rather than through brute force. A football team was the perfect proving ground to see if humans could work in synch. Made a plea to Trevor to help me prove what was going on. Told him Lionel’s life could depend on it. It worked. Trevor explained that he didn’t need to read the game plays anymore, they were automatically in his head – something subconscious was telling him where to run, where to receive a pass – it was all perfectly synchronized. And he knew it wasn’t natural. Was Quentin an alien? Time to find out. Read Eddie's Paranoid Times Article: "Me and the Bee." “Ohio Players” Writer: Harry Victor & Dan E. Fesman Director: George Mendeluk Executive Producers: Francis Ford Coppola, Larry Sugar Created by: Chris Brancato Guest Stars: Nicole Robert. |
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