By Ragdoll
This week's episode picks up right where we left off last week, in the middle of Luke's second basketball game. Whitey calls a time-out. The Ravenettes cheer their little, ahem, hearts out. Saucy. Eighteen seconds remain on the clock. The score is fifty-seven to fifty-five for the other team. Whitey barks, "We run Black and Nathan." He turns to Nathan, "And if they double you, fight through them." Woda points his saber of a forefinger: "And take your shot when you have five seconds left." The team nods in consent. Someone yells, "Ravens on three!" The hands go in for the three-count. The team's undefeated record is at stake. Where the hell is the mystery announcer? And does the high school have a radio station, and what happened to Tweedledum and Stinky? Any. Way. Karen bites her nails. Dan seethes in his seat. Peyton fiddles with her pom-poms. The game starts back up again. Nathan tries to take a shot, even though he's totally double-teamed. (That seems so dirty when I write it down here. It's making me blush.) He misses, and the ball sails right up and over the basket. Jake grabs the rebound and passes to Lucas. He takes the three-pointer, and just as the buzzer goes off announcing the end of the game, the ball slips effortlessly through the basket. The undefeated season remains intact. It would be an understatement to say that the crowd erupts -- but that's sort of what happens. Even Peyton displays an emotion approaching happiness. And that's hard when you're made of wood. Jaglieski jumps on Luke. In fact, the entire team jumps on Luke. Dadzilla gets up, disgusted with Nathan's performance. The Mystery Announcer screams, "And if you're going to play the Ravens this season, you'd better take note: There's a new Scott in town!" Heh. Nathan stands back from the rest of the team looking like a sucky-baby; what a sore loser, even when his team just won.
Karen and Keith greet Luke after the game with big smiles and even bigger hugs. Keith says, "For a kid that was about to quit that was some save." Luke makes some excuses about his earlier performance in the game, but Karen plays the mom-must-give-props card: "You were great." Luke turns to leave, telling his mom as he goes that he'll be home later; she tells him not too late, and Keith calls out, "You did good, Luke." See -- nice, normal parental interaction, from nice, normal parental-type people. What a difference some healthy perspective and a bit of emotional baggage makes! Keith envelops Karen under his arm as they walk off and says, "You did good too." Karen replies, "I can breathe now!" They walk off into the sunset -- well, actually, they walk into the path of a sunny blonde named Sherri. Sherri wants to let Karen know that as the mother of a varsity player, she can join the Boosters. Sherri says, "It's not required or anything, because I know you're really busy with that little café of yours." Karen tilts her head back and says, "Right. When do you meet?" Sherri replies, "Well, it varies." The more specific Karen gets, the less Sherri seems to want to give it up. Sherri ends the conversation thusly: "It's really good to see you, honey! Go Ravens!" Keith hisses at her as she goes, but Sherri doesn't see that -- you go, Keith.