When the day arrived for him to leave for spring training, he felt a great sense of relief. He loved his sister – perhaps too much – but he hoped that during his absence she would find herself a boy friend, and get over her ideas of fucking her brother.

It was also very difficult leaving Brenda. She stood in the airport, holding onto his arm, large tears welling in her eyes.

"Oh, Brian!" she whispered over and over, clutching his arm. "I'm going to miss you so much!"

"And I'll miss you too," Brian answered, kissing her tenderly on the mouth, "at the end of the summer, I'll be back for a week, and we'll take up where we left off!"

He shook hands with his beaming father, who had practically announced to everyone in the airport about his son leaving for training. Brian looked back at the three of them and joined Gary, who had just said goodbye to his folks, and three of his girl friends. Soon they were skyward, each lost in his thoughts, heading for the most grueling summer either would ever spend.

Texas summers are murder. And Coach Freemont was the biggest bastard who ever lived, and he was proud of that fact. The combination of these two things proved to turn hopeful boys into aggressive, fearless men – for those who made it. The first two weeks, however, saw the number of freshmen divided by half, but both Brian and Gary were among those still with the team.

At night, Brian could name each muscle in his body by its distinct ache and throb. He hadn't realized the limits to which a body could be tortured and brutalized. But somehow he made it and when he was recognized by the coach as having special talent, he was brutalized even further as a reward. The idea was to make or break you. But even Coach Freemont realized that Brian was special material, and treated him with detached respect. He had even called Brian by his name instead of his number, which was a small miracle in itself.