Devin's missed championship

In my previous post, I included a clip from an earlier alternate chapter one. In addition to the coded letter, that chapter had a scene in which Devin faced what he considered one of the toughest decisions of his life. The purpose of the scene was to introduce the rivalry between Devin and Shane, and to produce some conflict that would be created by the flood - forcing a delay that would keep them in the canyon overnight. I was hoping that this would provide a compelling reason for the group to resume their hike earlier than they would under other circumstances. When I hit upon the idea of Shane's disappearance, this less compelling reason became superfluous. In any case, here is the clip:

“We won our game!” shouted Devin as soon as his dad opened the door. “Two more wins and we’re state champs!”

“That’s great!” answered Dad. “Did you pitch well?”

“I threw a shutout! And I also got two hits and three RBIs!”

“Well, I’m sorry I missed it,” sighed Dad.

“That’s okay,” said Devin, knowing his dad would have been there if he’d been in town. “How did your interviews go?”

“Really well. So when is your next game?” asked Dad.

“If we win on Thursday, we we’ll play for the state championship Tuesday evening.” Of course if they lost, they’d have to play again on Saturday – but Devin wasn’t planning on losing.

“You do realize that we have the family reunion this weekend,” Dad reminded him with a grimace.

“Can’t we go after my game on Thursday?”

“I suppose. That means we won’t get there until late Thursday night, but that’s okay. I’m more concerned about the Tuesday game. That’s the day we’re hiking the Narrows.”

“I thought we were doing that on Monday,” said Devin. He and his cousins had been looking forward to hiking the Virgin Narrows ever since they’d seen Uncle Darrell’s slides the previous summer.

“It’s a two day hike, remember? Monday we hike in halfway, spend the night in a cave inside the canyon, and Tuesday we hike out,” explained Dad.

“Can’t we just start really early Monday morning and hike the whole thing?” implored Devin.

“Uncle Darrell thinks that’s way too much for one day,” answered Dad, shaking his head. “I’ll talk to him, but I’m afraid it’s going to have to be one or the other. Either we go on the hike as planned, or we come back for your game. I’ll let you decide.”

“Hey wait a minute! What about me?” asked Shane, who was listening in on the conversation. “I’m not missing the hike just cause he has a baseball game.”

“We’ll figure out a way for you to go,” promised Dad. “Even if we have to take two cars.”

“But I want to go too!” declared Devin.

“Then you miss the game.” Dad shrugged. “I’ll talk to Uncle Darrell, but I can’t promise anything.”

Devin bit his lip, then turned and ran into his room. He plopped onto his bed and slammed his fist into the mattress. It wasn’t fair! This was supposed to be the greatest summer ever; but now he was being forced to make the toughest decision of his life: miss out on the adventure of a lifetime or miss out on a chance to be crowned state champs.

He rolled over onto his back and stared up at the trophy shelf above his brother’s bed. It was jammed full of trophies and plaques Shane had earned over the years. Shining brightly amidst them all stood Shane’s state championship trophy from two years before. Although he couldn’t read the placard from that distance, Devin knew that it proclaimed his brother as MVP of the championship game.

Twisting his head to look at his own shelf, Devin stared glumly at the four minor trophies that stood there. None of them meant much – they’d been handed out to anyone who participated. And although he knew that he’d get a nice one for being city champs, it still wouldn’t even come close to Shane’s collection unless he was able to win the state championship too.

He had to go to the game – as long as his team made it that far. He couldn’t let his teammates down. But the thought of missing the hike made him sick to his stomach. For months, he and his cousins had been writing letters back and forth about how awesome it was going to be – their first real DTB Cousin adventure.

“It’s not fair!” he shouted in frustration.