Australians

Perhaps you heard me on Friday, griping about the other high school's having a team of Australian basketball players staying with them. Alison had invited me to see a game after school, but walking there in 20-degree weather wasn't appealing.

Hence the impromptu Saturday-night arrangement to see a game between Alison's school and the Australians. This game was being held at yet a third high school, half an hour away. So, Alison, her friend Angela, and I, waited in Alison's room. We read Seventeen, talked about Australia, dogs, matricide, nail polish, and that crazy sign I made for Skater K on Monday night.

Sherry and Dana arrived at last, Sherry's mother being our ride to the distant school. Sherry's mother's van is modified for a wheelchair. Alison and Sherry rode on the floor, an arrangement that did not please the righteous Dana. The van's GPS system guided us to our destination ("Half mile, right turn").

Figuring we'd manage to find the gym, we ducked out like a group of secret operatives and tried some doors. They looked like the school's main doors, but were locked. We got ourselves back into the van and drove around the building. "Maybe those weren't the main doors," reflected Sherry. "Maybe that's just where they like to put their signs."


So we tried some more doors. And then some more. No dice.


More. And some more. Still no dice. So we tried some more.






Alright! It was almost half over.

Halftime. This kid standing around doing nothing started talking to us. He said he was half-Australian, the only the half-ethnicity in his school, no, the only half-ethnicity in the freshman class at his school, no, the only half-ethnicity among his friends. Then he told us that, no, he was "a nobody" and didn't have any friends. He also wasn't sure if he'd been born here or there. Creep. It must have been Sherry's Nerds Rope. Yuck.

In the end, only Alison actually got to talk to an Australian, and hers wasn't much interested. But those other four or five girls - the ones sitting with them, stomping their feet and yelling "whoosh" with every free throw - they created a publicity mêlee after the game. Even though the Aussies lost by some fifty points.

So we waited for our ride home, talking about Shelby on top of a parking garage, hobos with laptops, and why distant vacuums sound like emos singing. The Australians and Americans went out to their buses together. None of the adults looked at us, but almost of all of the players glanced our way. Sherry called, "Bye!" at the Australian team.

One of them said something back, either, "See you" or, "Cheers".