Free Center Courtship by Liza Brown

“Does this have anything to do with Brandon Rogers?”
    Before any of the men had a chance to reply, Millard appeared from the guarded hallway. “Millard?” I said, shocked.
    â€œMae, why are you sitting out here?”
    â€œI don’t know, they told me to sit. I sat. What are
you
doing here?”
    â€œCome on, I’ll show you to Brandon’s room,” he said and held out his hand to me, which I did not take but followed him down the hall.
    Once at the nurse’s station, I saw four unfamiliar faces all dressed in Whoopsters warm-ups. Tall and strong, I had no doubt they were members of the team. I continued to follow Millard to Brandon’s room. Once inside, I saw it was packed with people. Four familiar faces were standing around the hospital bed. Brent, Saul, Peter, and Casper were talking to Brandon whose face was glowing. Gina was standing in the corner with tears in her eyes as she watched her son. My brother, Max, stood holding my nephew Mitchell’s hand as they watched the scene unfold.
    Casper was the first of the men to see me. “MAE!” he came to me and gave me a hug.
    With that the other three came to me and each gave me a friendly hug in turn.
    â€œWhat are you guys doing here?” I asked as I tried to recover from the hug overload.
    â€œElsu said he was putting a care package together and we decided the little hero man needed more than a care package. We gathered up as many guys as we could and came on over to cheer him up and some of the other kids in the hospital, too,” said Saul.
    â€œThat is so sweet of you. What do you think Brandon? I bet you never expected this!”
    Brandon looked at me with the biggest smile I’d ever seen on anyone. He had bruises on his face, his arm was in a sling, and his casted leg was done up in orange and black. On closer examination, I saw that it was filled with signatures from the team. Thank goodness for silver markers. He was in heaven.
    Mitchell finally saw me and came running. “Aunt Mae!” I hefted him up and gave him a big hug and kiss.
    â€œHow are you, big guy?”
    â€œI’m good,” he said in his sweet little boy voice.
    â€œYour brother is pretty awesome, isn’t he?” I asked.
    â€œYeah, he’s the best!” I gave him another hug and put him back on the floor.
    When I stood up I realized I had the basketball balloon’s string wound around my wrist. I pulled it off and handed it to Brandon. Gina stepped away from the corner and I saw what looked like a bouquet of basketball balloons floating off weights in the corner. “Great minds!” I said as I leaned down and gave Brandon a kiss on his forehead. He wrinkled his nose at me but I didn’t care.
    I was impressed by the show of affection for my nephew, but the small room with nine people was not doing my claustrophobic self any good. I could feel the sweat start to bead on my forehead. Max came over to me as if on cue. “Let’s step into the hallway.”
    We walked out of Brandon’s room and to a small waiting area across the hall to have a seat. “That’s a lot of people, I’m surprised Brandon is handling it so well.”
    â€œMe too,” said Max. “He’s kind of bummed, though.”
    â€œWhy?” I asked.
    â€œJust about the whole team is here except for the one he wanted to meet the most,” he smiled.
    â€œOh, where is Elsu?” I asked, finding myself feeling strangely upset.
    â€œThey said he’ll be by a little later.”
    I nodded and sat back as I looked through the door into Brandon’s room.
    I sat quietly for a few moments when someone appeared at the doorway behind me. “Mae?”
    â€œCarl? What are you doing here?” I asked him.
    â€œI’m the team’s PR guy. This is what I do,” he said as he pointed to Brandon’s room.
    â€œOH, this was
your
doing? I thought Elsu did