Football, Fatherlessness, and Fishing (Ezzy's Education, Part 12), By Garrett Murch
Driving home after some of Trunk’s boys let her out of the student parking lot, Ezzy thought more about the competing sides in the race for student body president. Trunk wouldn’t know injustice if it sacked him for a twenty-yard loss. But even if he did, his character would lead him to go on offense with reckless abandon if he had power. He’d fumble or throw an interception, then his team would be back on defense. Who wants someone like that in charge? It really is like he’s secretly playing for Lucinda’s team. Why am I making football analogies?
Ezzy drove past the YMCA where she’d learned to swim at age four and swam competitively until high school. I miss that place. People working hard and getting ahead. And so friendly for the most part. She thought of how people at the “Y” would have reacted to Lucinda trying to stop them from doing push-ups, sit-ups, and playing competitive sports where not everybody wins. Ha! That wouldn’t have gone over well. I hope that hasn’t changed. Has it?
She thought about what Lucinda said in the cafeteria about helping the underprivileged. She doesn’t have anywhere close to a full understanding of privileged or underprivileged. I’m as privileged as anyone I know. More than most of the white kids at school. It’s the kids who have rough home lives who I feel the most sympathy for, not Lucinda’s “people of color,” her “people like you,” or Kayla Jennings for that matter. And Kelile Lewis. They’ve got great parents like me. I have to admit Mom’s been pretty good—until recently.
Ezzy had another thought. At some point before high school, Lucinda had mentioned she hadn’t seen her father since she was seven years old. He’d had an affair, her mother divorced him, and Lucinda said he was probably some college football coach somewhere now. That was the only time I have ever seen Lucinda look genuinely sad, not like that fake sadness she puts on all the time. Oh. My. God. Lucinda is underprivileged. She was raised by just her mother, and supposedly her mother is nuts. Is that what’s behind Lucinda’s crusade against toxic masculinity? Maybe? Probably? I wish I could get inside her head.
But what’s with Lucinda’s obsession with skin color? I mean, almost everyone knows the evil of racism hasn’t gone extinct, but the vast majority of people I know aren’t racist. Not even Trunk, I don’t think, although he certainly struggles talking about anything race-related. Lucinda would have us believing slavery still exists in America. What gives? And what’s with her comments attacking “merit?” Now merit is bad? Mom even criticized merit after watching some professor dismiss it on YouTube.
Does Lucinda just want to get people mad any way she can so they will side with her and put her in charge? That’s what Trunk does. It’s no excuse for either of them. Even if their upbringings somewhat explain why they are the way they are, they’re still unfit to hold office.
Is there a bigger theory behind everything Lucinda does? Can Lucinda and Trunk improve? No, they probably can’t. Or they won’t. They definitely won’t by election day. Maybe it really is just the simple belief stirring up anger and resentment is their key to gaining power. And maybe they’re right.
Less than two miles from her house, Ezzy thought of Trunk’s slogan, “Make Ebbing High Great Again.” Too cute by half. It’s looking backward while pretending to be looking forward. Although Lucinda’s “forward” looks pretty dark. I shouldn’t use the word “forward.” Forward can be forward in the wrong direction. And who defines progress, for that matter? Stupid words used by people to gain the upper hand. Maybe “improve” or “better” could work? I don’t know.
This was the first time Ezzy had tried tying together her thoughts on the race for student body president. I know I haven’t figured this all out. Maybe I’ve made some progress; or rather, maybe I have a better understanding now. Trunk and Lucinda seem so similar to many national Patriot and Justice politicians. Is our next generation of leaders going to be as bad as them? No wonder most people hate politics. She pulled into her driveway.
Inside, Ezzy slid her sneakers off with her feet and pushed them under the side table with the framed eye above it.
“How was school today?” her mother asked from the living room. “I like merit,” Ezzy replied. “Where’s Dad?”
“Is Merit a boy at school?”
“No, Mom.” Ezzy walked past the living room and up the stairs, looking for her father. Taking a break from studying that night, Ezzy set out her and her father’s fly fishing gear, which he had agreed to let Link use. Back in her bedroom, she sat at her desk. Her assigned reading for US history class was a section on World War II from A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn her teacher had given printed copies of to the students. When she read that the main motivation for America stopping Adolf Hitler in World War II may have been to advance “the imperial interests of the United States,” something smelled fishy. She did some online research and found an article that called into question the credibility of A People’s History. She thought it made some valid points.
Why on earth are we reading this Howard Zinn nonsense?
She heard her mother through her bedroom door. “I think Ezzy has a crush on a boy at school. His name is Merit.”
“Wrong!” Ezzy hollered. “I’m going to bed soon, so can you keep it down?” Every night this happens; don’t they know to quiet down?
She opened InstaTok and saw a new post that mentioned @Lucinda Barron, @Trunk Langston, and @Verica Navratil. The post was from Luci Lipps, a sophomore at Ebbing High School and an aspiring journalist with an independent streak whose passion Ezzy appreciated. The same Luci Lipps who Trunk Langston had made fun of for not being able to fully bend her arms due to a medical condition.
FLASH: Leaked Email Reveals Lucinda Barron Plotting to End Ebbing Football
By Luci Lipps 8:44 p.m.
An email obtained exclusively by Loose Lipps reveals the end goal of Lucinda’s “Ban Toxic Masculinity” campaign is to end the Ebbing football program. At 8:25 p.m. this evening, Loose Lipps received an email, apparently by accident, from top Barron campaign operative Verica Navratil. A screenshot of the entire email is below, but the relevant portion of the email reads:
Since Trunk keeps humiliating himself every time he opens his big mouth or makes insane InstaTok posts, you are going to win. Trunk proves the connection between football and toxic masculinity, so can we start talking openly about ending football at Ebbing? Should we reach out to the school board about it?
The email is addressed to “Dear Lucinda.” It continues:
It is going to look like you have a mandate for a bold Justice agenda to do what you really want to do. Thank you, Trunk!
Curiously, Navratil’s email concludes with:
Looking forward to talking more about how to punish the cowardly Ezzy Bello. She needs to get with the agenda.
Multiple requests for comment from Navratil and Barron have gone unanswered as of this writing.
UPDATE (9:32 p.m.):
Navratil to Loose Lipps:
How dare you publish my email! That was an accident! I was typing L-U-C for “Lucinda.” Stupid autofill. It was not meant for you, Luci!
We would like to remind readers here that three weeks ago, when Loose Lipps published a photo it obtained of Trunk Langston’s football cleats, showing they are a size nine, not the size fourteen he claimed, Lucinda Barron released a statement thanking Loose Lipps for the excellent journalism and saying the photo is proof Trunk Langston “lies about everything.”
UPDATE (9:33 p.m.):
Navratil to Loose Lipps:
You think this is funny? You’re supposed to be on our side. We’ll remember this.
UPDATE (9:42 p.m.):
Navratil to Loose Lipps:
STATEMENT FROM THE BARRON CAMPAIGN
At no time in this campaign has Lucinda Barron ever talked openly at school about planning to end American football at Ebbing High School. American football has been popular for a long time, and it remains popular for some reason. As such, do not expect Lucinda Barron to talk about ending American football before election day. The email in question, illegitimately obtained, is nothing more than an unproductive distraction. Toxic masculinity, as demonstrated in the person of Trunk Langston, threatens us everywhere. A bold Justice agenda is needed to fight this fascism. Lucinda Barron will stop at nothing to bring Justice.
Ezzy clenched her fists. Oh, they want to fight, do they? I can fight. Then just as quickly as it came, her fighting spirit disappeared like a trophy trout that lets itself be seen once, in a flash, only to vanish into the depths of the river. I’d end up looking like Trunk and Lucinda if I fought like them.
Something kept eating at Ezzy, though. It was stronger than her frustration with becoming a target of Lucinda’s unrelenting ambition. I don’t even like football. But this is too much. I wonder if Lucinda’s campaign is ruined by that email? It’s Trunk’s race to lose now. I’m sure she’s not giving up. Shoot! I should have run for student body president.
She closed her laptop, turned her lamp on, and grabbed the book on the side table, Even Brook Trout Get the Blues. It was written by her favourite fly fishing writer, John Gierach, who Ezzy dreamed she would fish with some day. She read the chapter about fly fishing for longnose gar, a prehistoric, scaly, scary-looking fish: skinny but powerful, a swimming dinosaur with a narrow, alligator mouth holding exceptionally sharp teeth. Most fly fishers would never attempt to catch a longnose gar. It was too gross, too hard, too dangerous.
Reading about longnose gar turned Ezzy’s thoughts right back to Trunk and Lucinda. I want to catch a longnose gar. I will. And I’ll hang it on a wall.