Tangerine Part 2, Chapter 6 Summary

Saturday, September 23

  • It's the first football game of the season, and it's a home game. On the field where half of the bleachers have been condemned. Hee-hee.
  • The bleachers for the visiting teams' fans are roped off, but since there's nowhere else for them to sit, they eventually start ignoring the warning signs and sitting there anyway.
  • Mr. Bridges runs across the field to get them off, but they're not budging, so he delays the game and calls the cops on them.
  • With the bleachers cleared, the game can start. Erik's kick starts the Lake Windsor Seagulls off to a good start.
  • But Antoine Thomas is the only other really decent player they have, so the other team scores the first touchdown.
  • Just then, something completely and utterly unexpected happens (sarcasm)—it starts raining!
  • Mrs. Fisher runs back to the car, but Paul and his dad stick it out.
  • The Seagulls finally manage to score a touchdown, and Erik comes out to kick for the extra point.
  • Everyone had been expecting Arthur to hold the ball for him, but instead, Antoine is out there with Erik.
  • What happens next is like a scene out of Charlie Brown: Erik starts to kick, but at the last second, Antoine grabs the ball away and runs it across the goal line for a two-point conversion.
  • Now for the best part—the momentum of Erik's kick flops him into his backside into the mud. Ah, sweet justice.
  • The Seagulls win, and Paul and his dad head for the car.
  • Mr. Fisher explains to the Mrs. that Erik helped win the game.
  • This is cracking Paul up—seriously, his dad keeps harping on how much Erik contributed to the game.
  • At home, they turn on the news. Oh, my. Oh, my my my.
  • They have segment called "the Weak in Sports" (2.6.36).
  • Even we couldn't make a better pun than that, and we're professionals.
  • They show Erik's fall again and again. They show a close-up of Antoine laughing. Even the news anchors are making jokes about it.
  • Mr. Fisher turns the TV off, and they all sit in silence. Paul is thinking that if he were anywhere else, he'd be dying laughing. But not here.
  • Finally Mr. Fisher tells Erik he's just going to have to laugh it off. But Paul knows he won't. He also knows someone's going to have to pay for Erik's humiliation.