The game was scheduled at five. Vic’s team had been practicing at the field since two. Matt tried to corral his team together sooner, but he was the only one to show up before four, so he spent an hour watching Doug and Vic toss the ball to each other in one corner of the field. Next year, Matt decided, if their gym got to participate again? He was definitely showing up for that staff meeting. There’d be no “members” team or “staff” team. A few of the other gyms did that, but it wasn’t mandatory. Matt would play on Vic’s team—the winning team, in his mind, even as he tried to psych himself up for their game—or he wouldn’t play at all.
By four-thirty, the members of Matt’s team finally began to arrive, but it was too late to practice—they hung out in the locker room instead, changing into
