4. Not Short Where It Counts #2
“Well,” Ronald continued, cautiously, testing the waters of trust. “I love basketball, but the reason this is really breaking my heart is because I… I thought if I got on the team, I’d have that.
My people. That’s what a great team like the Globetrotters can be; your boys, but also like your family. ”
Japheth’s voice softened, understanding settling in, “Oh man, Ronald, we’re so sorry. What a stupid rule! If they only saw how amazing you are. The way we see you. Those giant dumb asses would realize what a mistake they’re making by not letting you audition.”
Ronald’s lips twitched at the corner. “Try-out,” he corrected.
“Yeah,” Japheth nodded enthusiastically. “Listen, maybe you’re only five foot… two?”
“Three!” Ronald corrected, standing a little straighter.
“Five foot three!” Japheth echoed, nodding as if this extra inch was obvious. “But I bet you’re really not short where it counts.”
Rebekkah chimed in, vouching her support, “Exactly!”
Ronald’s chest puffed up slightly as he confirmed, “I’m not!”
“It’s all about perspective,” Japheth assured him.
Ronald, still fiddling with the edge of his shorts, glanced at them both. “It looks big to me,” he said with a flirty smirk.
Japheth leaned in conspiratorially, grinning, “And when we look at a guy like you…”
Rebekkah leaned in with a playful smile, “Sure, we might think, what a snack!”
“But we’re also thinking,” Japheth continued, his voice dropping to an exaggerated whisper, “what’s he packing? A great, big…”
“Secret,” Rebekkah finished, her eyes sparkling mischievously. “But it’s no secret to us!”
Japheth nodded, his grin widening, “We can see it a mile away!”
Ronald laughed, shaking his head as Rebekkah added, “When you’re flying through the air on the basketball court…”
“Or just standing there,” Japheth interjected. “Confidently singing and letting it all hang out.”
“When we see that,” Rebekkah said, motioning toward Ronald with a sweeping gesture, “we’re not thinking, what a munchkin!”
“Definitely not,” Japheth confirmed, folding his arms and shaking his head for emphasis.
“We’re thinking, he’s not short at all. Not where it counts!” Rebekkah declared with conviction.
“Ronald, you’ve got a great, big…” Japheth paused dramatically, then added, “... talent!”
Ronald’s eyebrows raised, “Oh. I thought we were talking about…”
“And you know what, Ronald?” Rebekkah interrupted with a laugh. “We’re not short where it counts either.”
Japheth suddenly stood taller, filled with resolve. “Screw those Globetrotters!”
“I was gonna…” Ronald started, but Rebekkah cut in again.
“Yeah, screw those Globetrotters!”
“I was gonna!” Ronald laughed, finally catching their energy, though he did sound a bit like a kid on Christmas morning disappointed to not get everything he’d wished for.
Rebekkah wrapped an arm around his shoulders, “Well, they’re just missing out on a really big thing–you.”
Ronald’s expression softened and caught off guard by their mix of humour and genuine admiration, he let out a small laugh, “You guys are… something else.”
Rebekkah shrugged, a playful smile spreading across her face, “We know. But, Ronald, you don’t need the Globetrotters to find your people. You’ve already got us.”
The ticket booth agent’s voice crackled over the bus station intercom, “Bus two-thirty-six to Los Angeles is now boarding. Have your tickets ready.”
“This is us, Rebekkah,” Japheth said, shouldering his backpack.
“Unless we’re going to Toronto?” Rebekkah ping ponged indecisively.
Ronald, still frustrated by his rejection from the Globetrotters, had a different idea. “Wait a minute!” He blurted out. “Would you two think I’m a big jerk if I… well, if I asked you to stay?”
Japheth’s eyes widened in disbelief, “Are we having a romantic comedy moment right now?”
Rebekkah gasped, grabbing Japheth’s arm, “It’s happening!”
“Is he… asking us both?” Japheth sputtered and let his backpack slide off his shoulder to the floor so he could comb his fingers through his curls to parent them into place.
“Shhh!” Rebekkah waved her hand dramatically, adopting a Mid-Atlantic accent. “Don’t interrupt the moment. I think I’m swooning already.”
Japheth grinned, “Go on, Ronald.”
Rebekkah, leaning in as if she were in an old black-and-white picture, purred, “Yes, doooooo go on.”
Ronald fidgeted and reset the shoulder straps of his pinnie. He took a deep breath, “Well, I was just thinking that… Well, I’ve been selfish. Just thinkin’ ‘bout me. And all this time, you and you. You’re both standing right in front of me. And you really see me.”
Japheth and Rebekkah replied in unison, their voices simmering with sincerity, “We do!”
Ronald paused, looking from one to the other, his eyes softening, “And what was I gonna do? Leave that all behind? Leave you and you behind?”
“How could you?” Japheth whispered plaintively.
Ronald shook his head, “I don’t know if I can.”
Rebekkah stepped forward, her eyes wide, “You shouldn’t.”
The bus driver, growing impatient, called from his seat, “Are you three getting on the bus or not?”
Ronald, still clutching his crumpled bus ticket, waved him off, “My ticket is for New York. But I’m not going!”
Japheth blinked in surprise, “You’re not?”
“No!” Ronald said, shaking his head decisively.
Rebekkah, grinning from ear to ear, repeated triumphantly for the aural benefit of the bus driver and everyone on the bus, as well as her own growing satisfaction, “He’s not going!”
“But Rebekkah, Japheth,” Ronald said, suddenly serious, “Please don’t leave me. Stay. Stay with me, right here in Greater Napanee. Maybe I don’t measure up to the man you need me to be…”
“You do!” Japheth and Rebekkah exclaimed together, their voices overlapping in impassioned stereo.
Ronald smiled at their enthusiasm, but his expression remained earnest, “I promise to always be big where it counts. And to be on your team, if you’ll still have me?”
Japheth beamed, “We will!”
Ronald looked at Rebekkah, his tone softening, “Rebekkah, you’ve only ever been with Japheth. I know this is a lot to ask, but can you handle two guys?”
“By golly, gosh, darn-it,” Rebekkah’s accent lilted with amusement and warmth. It had travelled from the Mid-Atlantic and ran ashore in a Texas twang. “Ronald, Japheth, guys, I’m willing to try.”
Ronald let out a small laugh, relief washing over him, “That’s all I can ask.”
Ronald stood there in his low-slung basketball shorts, self-titled jersey, and high-top squeaky-clean sneaks; his expression earnest as he turned to Japheth.
“And Japheth,” he began, looking deep into his eyes, “your Jesus ghost and those Globetrotters all had whole teams of men. I can’t be twelve men.
And I don’t expect you to be twelve men either. But can we promise each other…”
“Anything!” Japheth sputtered, almost breathless.
Ronald’s eyes locked onto his; sincerity on speed-dial from his soul, “Can we promise that we’ll give each other the endurance, support, and love of twelve men?”
Japheth’s eyes misted with emotion, “Yes, Ronald, oh yes.”
The bus’s air-pressure doors hissed as they opened and then closed, and the driver checked and then closed the cargo doors with a little shake of his head at the three people clearly not going anywhere, as they stood in a tight little triangle holding onto each other’s hands and ignoring him.
Rebekkah tilted her head, a hopeful smile creeping onto her face, “Does this mean…?”
Ronald nodded, a smile finally breaking across his face, “If you’ll have me.”
Japheth, his voice trembling slightly, responded, “Ronald, I also may not be twelve men…”
Rebekkah grinned as she chimed in, “And I’m gonna see if I can handle two men.”
“But what we lack in numbers,” Japheth continued, a hand on Ronald’s shoulder, “we make up for in heart. And we couldn’t be happier that you want us to stay.”
Rebekkah nodded in agreement, her eyes sparkling, “And that you want to join Trinity.”
Japheth then raised his fist in defiance, looking toward the ticket booth, “And screw that ticket booth authoritarian! Who needs a bus ticket refund when we have a Kia Rio?”
Rebekkah giggled, then added seriously, “Maybe.”
And with that, the trio stood together under the flickering bus station lights, knowing that they had finally found their dream team, each other. They didn’t need the Globetrotters, or Los Angeles, or even a bus ticket out of town. They had everything they needed right here in Greater Napanee.
The bus driver, clearly done with the theatrics, closed the doors and pulled away, the exhaust cloud drifting behind it as the bus disappeared into the night.
Rebekkah turned to the guys, her smile radiant, “So, what’s next?”
Japheth grinned, a gleam of excitement in his eyes, “Next, we save a radio station.”
“And then?” Ronald asked, his voice coloured with curiosity.
It was dusk in the bus station parking lot, the air thick with indecision and the faint smell of diesel.
Rebekkah, Japheth, and Ronald stood by their bags, staring at each other and hoping they’d made the right call.
For a moment, they had all considered leaving their small town behind.
But somehow, between the cheap coffee and shared existential dread, they’d decided to stay.
Not just stay but start a band. A band with purpose.
A band with a higher calling. A band for their brand-new throuple.