On the Devil's Court

On Saturday afternoon, Joe goes to the outdoor court to shoot baskets. Ross shows up and they play one-on-one, with Ross winning five straight games, after which it begins to mist. Joe hoped they would talk out their differences but comes to realize basketball is all they’ll ever have. As they walk home, Ross asks Joe if his mother really has naked men in their home.

Once practice resumes on Monday, Raible elevates Joe from shooting guard to point guard, meaning he will run the team’s offense. He immediately commits himself to learn their individual capabilities. They play their first league game the following Sunday. Their opponent is a poor team, the Hebrew school, which the players cannot take seriously. Joe quickly perceives the weaknesses of the other team and guides his teammates to exploit them. Their opponents are overwhelmed by the basketball players as well as the setting and are blown out, allowing the starters to leave the game late in the third quarter. While he only scored eight points, Joe is most enthusiastic about the team stats, especially the way he enabled all the other starters to score in double digits. As he leaves, the Hebrew coach stops him and asks about the source of his abilities, saying, “You play with such confidence, such knowledge. You look invincible, like you have some secret power. Do you have some secret power, young man” (146-47).

Eastside defeats two league teams in a row. The first game is a blowout, though the second is close. Joe manages the game throughout. Impressed by his statistics, Raible calls on the other players to match Joe’s assists, steals, and rebounds. Joe receives his grades in the mail, confirming straight A grades. Joe’s parents are thrilled and take him to his favorite hamburger joint and then an ice cream store. He says, “An outsider looking at us that night might have said we looked like a perfect family, a family nothing terrible could ever happen to” (148). 

Their next game is against the previous year’s league champion, Bellarmine, as visitors. Bellarmine has lost only two games. Eastside had not won a game on their court in 12 years. The Eastside players are extremely nervous. When both teams start slowly, Joe realizes their opponents are wary of them. He begins to work a physical, inside game. Though they take the lead, Eastside gets in foul trouble in the third quarter, and Bellarmine takes the lead back. Bellarmine scores on the first play of the fourth quarter, and Raible calls a timeout. Joe sizes up the team and realizes they are ready to give up on the game and escape the pressure of a perfect season. He is willing for that to happen as well. However, when Joe takes the ball from the referee, he finds himself mentally transported to the moment alone in the Boys Club and the 10 straight baskets. Instantly the fire to win is restored. Joe singlehandedly takes over the game, scoring on every possession. The gym grows quieter and quieter. Bellarmine sets up a box-and-one defense to try to stop him. They cannot stop his onslaught. Joe goes 10 for 10, setting several records in the process, leading to a 77-70 victory. After the game, Joe feels as if he is emerging from a spell. It is the first time he feels as if the power to accomplish all he did came from outside himself.

The following Saturday morning, Joe takes the SAT exams in the Loyal cafeteria. His father is extremely anxious. Joe notes that the brighter students took the test in the fall and other students like himself were hoping to benefit from extra study time. Once he begins the test, he finds the answers coming to him quite easily. He finishes ahead of all the other students with an hour left in the test session. It occurs to him as he looks over his scratch sheet that his handwriting appears differently than it usually does. The degree of perfection stuns him and he asks, “When would something in my life go wrong? I’d had enough of success, enough perfection. It wasn’t real, none of it” (153). Arriving at his home, he sees an ambulance in front of the house. His distraught mother backs out of the door, followed by his father on a stretcher. Joe’s mother tells him that his father has had a heart attack and they are taking him to the university hospital. At the hospital, they are told that Joe’s father is not out of danger. Joe recognizes the reality of his father’s mortality for the first time. He blames his deal with the devil for his dad’s sickness and wonders how he can back out of it. The next day he and his mother visit with his father in the intensive care unit. The doctor says Dr. Faust has to remain there for the time being. The physician asks if Joe’s father has been under any unusual stress, and Joe’s mother says that he was but it has eased.

Over the last two weeks of January, Joe and his mother fall into a daily routine of going to the hospital. Joe endeavors “to turn myself into a machine” (156), one that only studies hard, practices hard, and behaves himself without distraction. He wakes every night wondering if, in return for the power and good fortune he has received, the devil intends to take his father’s life as payment.

While his father is recuperating in the hospital, Eastside wins four more games. With Eastside now ranked ninth in the state, the student body and the basketball team are riding a tremendous high. Students are even speculating about winning the state tournament. Joe’s father comes home with a caretaker and lots of medications. Joe and his dad assure each other that he will be well soon and able to watch Joe play again.

At the beginning of basketball practice, Raible introduces Joe to Roger Bonner, a scout from Eastern Washington University, who asks if he can speak to Joe after practice. Bonner tests Joe in some agility and speed drills and measures his vertical jump. He asks Joe to consider speaking to his parents about the university and coming to meet the team to consider the possibility of a scholarship. For Joe, this is a dream come true. He sits alone in the gym as the janitor turns out the lights. The shadows remind him of Ballard, and the euphoria is replaced with regret and a wish to turn back the clock to the time before he made his deal with the devil.

Joe shares the news about the college offer with his mom. Neither of them was familiar with the school. Noticing that Joe doesn’t seem all that excited, his mother tells him he is feeling down because of his father’s illness, but he should not allow that to stop him from pursuing this dream. He decides to hold off telling his father about the scholarship since his father is hoping Joe will go to Stanford.

Eastside crushes Hebrew Academy to achieve 23 straight wins. Joe reflects on the stress he feels at all times except when he is playing basketball. The team is ranked seventh in the state, with Loyal ranked first. With one more win, Eastside will go to the state tournament. After his shower, Joe finds John sitting alone in the locker room. John is ecstatic in talking about the team, its accomplishments, and its ability to continue winning. He says Joe is the heart of the team: “Yeah, that’s right. The heart. You’re the one that keeps the whole thing pumping” (162). He encourages Joe to take care of himself. That night in bed, Joe has an imaginary conversation with everyone in his life, including Ross and Miss Mitchell. He explains how he sold his soul to the devil. Each of them expresses that the deal is “all a figment of my imagination” (162). That night he dreams of his grandfather’s funeral, which transforms into a celebration at Eastside where he is called forward to receive a trophy. He turns to see his mother clapping beside his father’s empty seat.

The 24th game of the year, and theoretically the final game of Joe’s agreement, is a rematch with Bellarmine. Joe is anxious and does a great deal of busy work around the house and yard until it is time to leave for the game. Joe knows his father will listen to the game on the radio, even though the doctor told him to avoid any stress. Although the fans and his teammates are pumped up for the game, Joe is not. He plays poorly, and his teammates pick up early fouls, giving Bellarmine a lead they keep as things go progressively wrong for Eastside. Outside, a tremendous thunderstorm brews, pounding the metal roof of the gym. One starter is injured, a second is ejected, and John has four fouls. Bellarmine has a 44-39 lead at the end of three quarters. John fouls out, and Joe is the only starter left in the game. When Raible yells at him to get his head in the game, Joe wonders if his subconscious plan was to lose on purpose to void his contract with the devil. For the sake of his teammates and all they have gone through, he commits himself to give his best in the game. He leads the backup players back into contention, and, seeing four Eastside starters on the bench, Bellarmine eases up. Eastside wins by a single point. During the locker room celebration, Raible tells Joe to get dressed because his father has suffered another heart attack.

Raible drives Joe to the hospital, where his mother went to be with his dad. Joe feels certain his father is dead, a feeling worsened when the admissions attendant cannot find Dr. Faust’s name listed among the patients. Finally, Joe is given a room number and runs up the stairs to find his father is all right. He did not have another heart attack. Joe goes to a restroom and sobs. That night in bed, for the first time since November, he feels free, that his deal with the devil is completed and behind him.