Free The Ravine by Robert Pascuzzi Page B

basis, and play for about two hours before calling it quits. Of course, these were competitive men who played to win, but the idea was to get some exercise and have some fun. Danny and Tony got involved with this group shortly after leaving Chillicothe, when they met Mitch Bianci. Mitch was a young architect who designed the interior of the first Steve’s Sporting Goods store and, as luck would have it, became a trusted friend.
    Mitch had graduated from Geauga High a few years before Tony and Danny, and had gone out of state to college, so he wasn’t around town at the time of the incident in Chagrin Falls. After school, he hadtaken a position with an architectural firm in Boise, and had recently moved back into the area. He didn’t know the first thing about the Turner brothers’ past when he met with Steve Turner to discuss the interior design of the store. When Steve let something slip about his sons’ prison time, Mitch noticed his embarrassment.
    “Look, Steve,” he said. “I don’t feel that I’m in a position to judge anyone. I’ve learned that I’m better off leaving that to God.” Mitch said this in a way that impressed Steve. Here was a young man who wasn’t afraid to come right out and talk about his faith.
    “That’s how I try to live my life,” Mitch continued. “I don’t always succeed, but I try. I’ve certainly made my mistakes, and I don’t expect others to judge me, so I try to stay away from that. In my business, you go into people’s homes and you learn a lot about folks, even if they are only talking about adding on a bedroom or something. If there’s one thing you find out, it’s that nobody’s perfect.”
    Tony came into the room a few minutes later as Mitch was packing up to leave, and Steve introduced them. Mitch took one look at Tony and knew he was just the sort of guy who would fit in at the basketball meet-ups.
    “Tony, if you’re ever looking for something to do on a Thursday night,” Mitch said, “a bunch of us have a pickup game of basketball every Thursday over at the gym at St. Francis on Mayfield. We start around seven, and play until we’re ready to fall over.” Mitch sized Tony up as a pretty good athlete, at first glance, and they could always use another player for hoops. “Give it a try sometime,” he said, as he headed out the door.
    So the following Thursday night, Tony and Danny went over to the gym and, frankly, wowed the other guys. If there was one thing the Turner boys knew how to do, it was play ball of any type. They immediately formed a genuine friendship with Mitch. Once they got comfortable with him, Tony mentioned something about their past. Danny always avoided the topic, but Tony took it for what it was. Like Mitch,he’d read several self-help books, and knew that hiding behind your secrets just brought you down.
    “Tony, can I ask you something personal?” Mitch said as they were toweling off one night.
    “Sure. Let me guess. You’re probably going to ask what it was like in prison, right?”
    “No, actually, I wanted to know what you’d learned from the experience.”
    Tony looked down for a minute, and laughed to himself. “You got about a week to listen to my story? I learned a lot, but it’s almost impossible to put it into words. I knew I was heading the wrong way for a long time, but, to tell you the truth, I think it started with simple things, like laziness and arrogance, or pride.”
    Mitch nodded. He knew what Tony meant because he had grappled with the same issues in his young life.
    “Things just came easily to me when I was young. I didn’t have to study much, but always got good grades. I was usually the best player on any team we had, and sports was pretty much my life. Then, when I discovered that the cute girls and the easy girls in school went for my bad boy act, I just played that up.
    “Before I knew it, I was out of high school. When I didn’t get an athletic scholarship, I was pretty surprised. So rather