Football
A Cronc Short
"I'm glad you could come with me, Cronc." Jessica says with a smile as they enter the stadium. Thazar's magic did a good job of making Cronc look more human. He still towers over everyone else, but at least he doesn't look like an orc.
"Y u wan Cronc coom?" Cronc looks around at all the people. He never heard of football. The closest thing he can think of is goatball. A game played with the hide of a goat stuffed with rocks. You throw it as hard as you can at the other player hoping to knock them off their pedestal, normally a giant rock in a river.
"I just wanted some company. I have never been to a football game before. Well, I have never been to any sporting event before. I just felt awkward doing this alone." Jessica clings to her entry ticket with both hands. She is hopping with each step she takes.
"Y wan see gaim?" Cronc scratches his head. He's happy that Jess invited him, but big crowds and sitting ... and watching ... are not something he is comfortable with.
"Well ..." Jessica slows down and pulls her hands in close. She looks down at her feet then turns to look directly at Cronc. She takes a deep breath and says rapidly, "Two guys from school invited Isabelle and me to a football game next week but I don't know anything about football and I don't want to look like a fool in front of my friends so I wanted to go to a game and learn about it but Isabelle doesn't want to go with me and I don't know who to invite and ..." she pauses to take another breath.
"Wat?" Cronc's face goes blank.
"I just want to learn about the game before I go with my friends next week." Jessica says plainly.
"Oh kay. We goe wuch gaim." Cronc says with a smile. The aroma of grilled hot dogs and burgers finally hit him and he starts to drool.
*****
"Oh, look. We are right behind the goal posts, or are they called uprights?" Jessica pulls out a book and starts flipping through the pages. "It looks like both are correct."
Cronc sits down with a mountain of food in his arms. He drops it in the space in front of his chair and starts shoveling snacks into his mouth. "CWUNK WIK FWUT BWAL!"
"See, I knew you would enjoy yourself Uncle Cronc." Jessica steps up onto her chair so she can wrap her arms around Cronc's neck. "Thank you, again, for coming. I would have been too embarrassed to go alone."
Cronc swallows down his food. "No beggy."
People start filling in the seats around them. One person with no shirt and a giant G painted on his chest takes the seat directly behind Cronc. "For Christ's sake! I got to sit behind the mountain." He waves his hand at Cronc. "Hey! GOLIATH! Can you sit on the floor or something? I can't see the game."
Cronc, who is not unaccustomed to sleeping on the floor, says, "MEH," swallows, "... Oh kay." He stands up to let the folding sit return to the up position and sits on the floor, with his food still spread out in front of him.
"Great ... now I can see the back your head instead of just your back." The shirtless man throws both hands in the air.
"He can't help being tall, sir." Jessica tries to defend Cronc. "Maybe we can switch places," she says to Cronc.
"Why don't you shut your ...," the shirtless man thinks, "Actually, I like the idea, why don't you do that."
Cronc shrugs and moves his food over to Jessica's side as Jessica tip toes around the mass of food and Cronc to take her new seat. She sits down at the same time as another man takes the seat next to her. A middle-aged man in with a Trojan's t-shirt on.
"That guy is a total loudmouth, huh." The man laughs and points his thumb at the guy behind her.
"I'm sure he is just frustrated. I don't hold it against him." Jessica looks down at the floor and kicks the ground with her feet.
"So, who are you rooting for?" The man asks.
"Well, I guess the Trojans. I'm from L.A. so they are the," Jessica pauses, "home team, and you are supposed to root for the home team, right?" Jessica glances between the floor and the man next to her.
"You have never been to a football game before, have you?"
"No, sir."
At this moment the crowd in the stadium erupts with shouts of passion as the players take the field.
"Oh, the game is starting." Jessica quickly starts thumbing through her book, trying to find the pages detailing the start of the game.
The man next to her speaks up and says, "Hey kid. Don't worry about the book. I'll help teach you."
Jessica smiles and closes her book. "Thank you so much, sir."
"It's no problem. My name is Don Hayes, but my friends call me Donny."
"Thank you, Mister Hayes. My name is Jessica."
"Please kid. Call me Donny."
*****
The first quarter is almost over. Cronc has finished his food and Donny and Jessica are enjoying the game. Jessica is picking up the rules pretty fast. All the while the guy behind them has been a complete nuisance. He swears at every play and throws his popcorn out in anger.
"So the big guy isn't actually your uncle?" Donny points at Cronc.
"No, I just call him my uncle. The only real family I have is my father. He encouraged to look at his friends as an extended family. So I made up how they are related when I was young. So I call him Uncle Cronc." Jessica beams a smile at Donny.
A horn is blown and an announcer declares that a flag was thrown on a play.
"OH! COME ON!" The shirtless man throws the whole bag of popcorn this time.
Jessica's smile fades and she starts to look at the floor. Donny places his hand on Jessica's shoulder and says in a calming voice, "Don't worry. Jerks like that guy there isn't common. Don't let him ruin your fun."
"Thank you, sir ... eh ... I mean Donny." Jessica gives a weak smile. The crowd suddenly explodes with energy, people start standing up and Jessica copies. She starts swaying back and forth trying to peek between the people in front of her. "What's going on?"
Cronc notices that Jessica is having a hard time seeing. He quickly gets up to his feet and leans over to her. With one arm he hoists her up to his shoulder. Sitting on Cronc's shoulder Jessica can see that the Trojan's now have possession of the ball. The quarterback is running across the field and there is no one in his way to prevent a touchdown.
"Yes," the adrenaline is starting to flow through her, "Come on," the roar of the crowd, the shouts, the pure energy, "YES! TOUCHDOWN!"
The quarterback spikes the ball into the end zone and pumps his fists in the air. Jessica almost falls off of Cronc's shoulder as she waves her arms in excitement. Cronc not as amused by the whole thing steadies her as he sets her back down on the ground.
"Crunc no git et," he shrugs and starts to rifle through the wrappings to see if he missed anything.
"Argh! You stupid bitch." The man in the shirt shouts, "I knew there was something I didn't like about you. Damn Trojan girl."
"Wha ... I ..." Jessica stares at the shirtless man pointing at her with a scowl on his face.
"Screw you! You should be back at home learning to cook from your mommy in the kitchen." The man throws his bag of peanuts at Jessica.
"I ... I ..." Jessica looks at the ground, her voice weak.
"Shut up, *******." Donny stands up and glares at the shirtless man. "This is her first game. Don't give her a hard time just because she doesn't like your team."
"You keep out of this prick, this is between me and teen Barbie bitch here." The shirtless man clinches his fists.
Cronc turns his head to look at the argument. He sees something that disturbs him. Something that makes him boil red hot. Jessica looks straight at the ground, with tears falling from her face.
Not wanting to start something in front of Jess, Cronc does his best to restrain himself for even a moment. He grabs some money from his pocket and hands it to Jess. "U go git u snakks. Wi," Cronc pauses looking for the right word, "tawk. Wi tawk, yah." This is the most restraint Cronc has ever used in his life. To him, it is painful.
"I ... I, just ..." Jessica tries to compose herself, but is failing.
"Do what your uncle says kid." Donny puts a hand on her shoulder, "We will talk this out with the man here. It will be okay when you get back."
"Oh ..." she breathes deeply, "Okay." She walks slowly away.
"Yeah, you best leave bitch. Football is not for you valley bitches anyways." The shirtless man sticks out both arms then beats one fist across his chest.
As soon as Jessica is out of sight Cronc jumps up to full height.
"You loud mouth punk. I should knock your teeth out." Donny starts to remove his shirt and start a fight.
Cronc turns around and slams one fist into the shirtless man, pinning him into the back of his seat. "U MAEK JESS CRIE!"
"Come ... on ..." the shirtless man chokes out the words, "It's just ... compe ...tition."
Donny watches and starts to back away slowly.
"U MAEK CRONC ANGRY!"
*****
Jessica stands at the back of the line to the concession stands. She looks at the wad of money in her hands and then looks up to the TV screen showing the game.
"Maybe, I'm just don't fit in with these sports games." Jessica tries to hold back the tears.
Suddenly everyone around starts to stir. She can hear gasps and shrieks of terror. She looks around trying to see what has caused this when she looks up on the TV screen.
"Is that ...," Jessicca says in disbelief. She sees a shirtless man flying between the goal posts.
*****
"Well, that was an interesting first game." Jessica says walking out of the stadium with Cronc.
"U awl gud noa, yeah?" Cronc says for the hundredth time.
"I'm fine now," Jessica answers for the hundredth time. She is glad that he is concerned for her, but if he got her anymore junk food she will explode. "Thank you for standing up for me. I don't quite approve of the method, but I'm glad you did."
"NO WUN MESS WIT CRONC ... eh ..." he looks for the word, "NICE!"
"Niece," Jessica corrects. "I heard from Donny that the guy is going to be okay. He will be in a body cast for a year, but he will be okay."
"U megik hem awl gud?" Cronck wiggles his fingers to illustrate.
"Ummm ... nah. The recovery time will do him some good. Oh, Donny told me I should look him up on Facebook."
"Wut Fassbuk?"
"I don't know."
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