Free Unlikely Praise by Carla Rossi

him?”
    “Crazy story. He was on a crowded balcony at a college party. The thing collapsed. Nasty fall. The ironic thing is he was a college football star. That’s not how he got hurt, but it sure ended his promising career.” Max slid his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. “He doesn’t mind talking about it if you want to ask him.”
    Shade nodded.
    Max left the deck and peered down the street as if awaiting an ice cream truck. “C’mon, Rock, I need that pizza. Here he comes.”
    Rocky pulled his Ford Taurus off the road near the skinny Magnolia tree in Shade’s front yard. It took him just seconds to open the door and pull out his chair.
    Shade squinted. “Where’s the passenger seat?”
    “His parents took it out so he could get his chair in there easier.”
    “You better have my pizza,” Rocky called out as he pulled himself from the car.
    “Not for long,” Max yelled back. “Hurry up.”
    Rocky dropped the movies in his lap, slammed the car door, and, as Max predicted, rolled across the yard at an amazing clip.
    Max glanced up at Shade as Rocky took his position at the bottom step. “If he asks you to arm wrestle, trust me, don’t do it.”
    Shade laughed and noted Rocky’s muscular build. As an athlete, he was probably in great shape at the time of his injury. His constant upper body workout had just pumped him up more. “Not a chance,” Shade said and snatched the pizzas. He held the door as Max pulled Rocky up the stairs. “I don’t have much furniture so it shouldn’t be hard to find a place to park near the T.V.”
    Rocky did a wheelie/spin combination and landed flush with the end of the couch. “Nice curtains,” he observed. “Martha Stewart do that for you?”
    Shade set the boxes on the coffee table. “Yeah, I held up the old quilts while she nailed them to the wall. It was her idea.”
    Max laughed and made himself at home at the end of the tan leather couch. “Poor man’s sound-proofing?”
    “Yeah, don’t want to annoy the neighbors with my music just yet.” He headed to the kitchen for drinks. “I’ve got all kinds of soda.”
    “Just water for me,” Rocky answered. “And if you have any hot sauce that would be good, too.”
    “Got it.”
    “I’ll drink anything,” Max said and bounced a few times on the couch. “Hey, this is a nice sofa.”
    Shade tossed Rocky a bottle of water and set the hot sauce and a roll of paper towels on the table. “It’s from my parents’ den.”
    He bounced again. “Does it recli—?” His words were cut short as the foot rest flew out with a squeak and a thump, and laid him out into a full reclining position. He blinked several times as he stared at the ceiling. “I guess it does.”
    Rocky laughed so hard he lost his breath.
    Shade sat on the other end and popped the top on his Mountain Dew. “It also works if you pull the lever on the side.”
    Rocky took a long drink of water and replaced the cap. “Sorry, Shade, can’t take him anywhere.”
    Max struggled to get upright. “Does that end recline, too?”
    “Nah. It’s broken from my cousin bouncing on it. I think that’s why my mom gave it to me.”
    Max pulled the pizzas off the table and peeked inside each box before passing them on. “Sausage for Rock, extra cheese for me, pepperoni for you.”
    Shade took the box and slid Max a soda. “Kevin couldn’t make it?”
    “No, he had something with his parents.”
    “That’s a good thing,” Rocky added. “You think Max is hard on the furniture, Kevin never sits still.”
    Max folded over a small piece of pizza and put the whole thing in his mouth. “Sweet T.V.,” he said and ripped a paper towel off the roll.
    “That whole entertainment center is sweet,” Rocky added.
    Shade set down his drink and stood to snag the remote. “Yeah, well, I focused on the important things.”
    Rocky eyed the wall unit and then the door. “How did you get all that in here?”
    “One piece at a time. I even crawled under