The Meet

The day of the City High School Championships was hectic and I was not about to let go of the fact that I had gotten special privilege to go for the entire day. I wasn’t the only one as I needed Jim for the whole day so both of us had permission to cut class.

“Jim does that thing of yours have a full charge?” asked Brad.

“Of course… My camera is always charged. Besides, there are backup batteries if I remember in the bag.” said Jim as he went over the procedure for putting the flash card in the camera.

“Did you bring the extra bag? The one with the new video camera in it?” asked Brad as he thought of how Jim could get an action shot of the big final event.

“Yes, I have it in the car. I brought the camera in with me and am loading the flash card into it.” said Jim as he completed the task and proudly displayed the small video recorder to Brad.

“Nice, I didn’t see it in your hands it’s so small. I remember the first one my father bought when I was six. It was big and clunky.” said Brad as he surveyed the room watching the various events going on around him.

“Our bruiser is up next. Derek Dickinson from the Heavy Weight Division of the wrestling team. I’m ready when you are.” said Jim as he double checked the unit and turned the power on.

“I think it’s over there, near the bleachers where the wrestling is going on. Let’s get going” said Jim as he started toward the bleachers.

Brad followed behind, but close to Jim. They weaved their way over to the stands and found an excellent spot to view the match.

“Look there he is.” said Jim as he pointed at a taller, well built muscular guy wearing a wrestling uniform.

“I see him now. I got my opener… Derek Dickinson stands tall defending his school’s honour, proudly wearing his singlet of our colors.” said Brad thinking it would be okay, assuming Derek won and he was the heavy favorite in this competition.

Derek strode into the ring with Jim aiming the camera at him, hoping he was getting good footage. He wanted to make sure he had a good clip for the website. Jim silently watched as the opponent squared off with Derek. Jim noticed that the opponent had a couple of inches on him and his shoulders were slightly wider. He thought the extra muscle on the opponent would mean danger, but from past interviews with Derek he learned that it meant you weren’t as flexible and couldn’t contort to the extent that the smaller man could. This worked in Derek’s favour, thought Jim as the referee signaled the timekeeper and then called, “Wrestle” while blowing his whistle.

Derek moved like lightning and grabbed the bigger guy by the shoulders. The other guy responded by trying to get an arm around Derek’s torso. Derek noticed an opening as his opponent”s feet shifted. Taking advantage of his leg speed, Derek tripped his opponent and took him down fast. He was on top of him, trying for a pin just as quickly. His opponent was stronger on the ground than Derek had foreseen and he regretted taking him down. Derek thought quick and rolled on to his stomach. The guy got the upper hand through the use of his strength and got Derek in a Half-Nelson. Derek broke the grip and grabbed at his opponent, gaining the upper hand, getting on top of him for a change. With a little skill, some luck, and a lot of determination, Derek pinned his opponent for the two count. The away crowd cheered for Derek as the home crowd scowled on.

“Did you get the pin on tape?” asked Brad as he mentally thought through the match already planning his article.

“I got the complete match on tape. It was a good one, and we won!” said Jim.

“Need help? I can take stuff out to the car if you want.” asked Brad.

“Nope. I’ll be fine. I’m already packed up and ready to go”

***

They were in the office back at the school and were just putting the finalizing touches on their article. Jim was on a computer editing the video into a two-minute segment and Brad was coming up with the voiceover. They had a deadline of five pm to get it done and it was now four forty-five. The pair was ready to put it online and finish their day.

“There, the voiceover is ready to merge with the video. I’ll send it over to you.” said Brad.

“All right.” said Jim.

Brad attached the file to an email and hit send. A couple seconds later there was a ding at Jim’s console and he grabbed the attachment. Brad attached the file to an email and hit send. A couple seconds later there was a ding at Jim’s console and he grabbed the attachment and landed it into the editor. A few minutes later Jim had the voice over in place and saved the file, and in a few seconds they would go live on the website. Their day was soon over and the pair could leave.