Four precious words

Four Precious Words

By: Wilson Xie

October 17, 2017

I snuck into the United Stadium. It felt dark and a little bitter inside the building. I really could not acknowledge the fact that I, John Bardwell, have snuck inside one of the most secure stadiums there could ever be. And what was I going to do? Am I going to stay in here? What if I get caught in here? I snuck around the hallways quietly than I could even imagine and saw a door. On that door were the words of “Locker Room.” Just when I thought I was safe, I heard footsteps. Footsteps coming to closer and closer. I stared at the words “Locker Room” and the words “Locker Room” stared back. The words “Locker Room” wanted me to go inside. So I took the commands and began to creep to the Door. With my hands shaking and jumping, I heard the creak from the door while opening it, and snuck in.

The first thing I noticed when sneaking in was that the locker room was empty. The lights were open, but the whole locker room was empty. I began to look around naively and then I saw my favorite player’s jersey: Michael Jordan. It was lying on the bench and shined brighter than the sun. The numbers two and three joining together to make the number of Michael Jordan. It was too tempting to take, so I carefully laid my fingers on the silk jersey and quietly stuffed it inside my backpack. I pressed my ear against the door to hear that there were no footsteps. I creaked open the door gently and knew that I was safe. Now I was wondering where I would go.

Since there were no footsteps being heard, I was relaxing. I saw a mice scurry down the hallway. I tiptoed down the hall to see that there was a player’s tunnel. And out through that tunnel was the basketball court. The basketball court that I dreamed of. I decided to take my chances and go through that tunnel. One little kid who looked around the age of seven stared at me with a perplexed look. But other than that, there weren’t many people at the stadium yet. It was mostly empty. As I began to walk a little more casually, I noticed there were only a couple of people on the court. I quickly climbed above the stands and sat in a seat. As soon as my butt touched the wooden seat, I felt an instant relief. It felt so good.

After waiting a while patiently, the speaker came on. A man with a strong voice announced that Michael Jordan’s jersey had been stolen and said that whoever found the jersey would receive a cash prize of one-thousand dollars. He stated that Michael Jordan would have to wear the number twelve if it was not found. I had a thought of gaining one-thousand dollars, but figured that Michael Jordan’s jersey that he wears to games is worth more than ten times that amount. After waiting about another half hour, the announcer came up and announced that the police are investigating and whoever stole his jersey would be sent to jail. Now that brought the nerves up.

I enjoyed the game a lot. I saw Michael Jordan wearing the number twelve against the Orlando Magic. This game was fun! During half-time, I was going to just sit there, but I heard a ringing and vibrating from my pocket. I opened up my phone and saw that my mom was calling me. I decided to answer.

“How is the game, John!” My mom asked enthusiastically.

I paused for a moment and held my breath.

“It’s great! Michael Jordan just dunked!” was my response

“Oh! Did you hear that Michael Jordan will be wearing the number twelve because someone stole his jersey?” My mom asked

I began to speak but lost my voice. I cleared my throat and began to speak as if I didn’t have anything to do with this.

“Yeah” I responded.

“Okay, great! Have fun!”

My mom ended the phone call and I exhaled. Then, the second half was coming.

It was a great sight from my angle. Especially since I chose a random seat. The game was great, and the game went overtime. I was cheering at the top of my lungs. Michael Jordan ended up scoring 49 points, with a loss. It was pretty unbelievable that Michael Jordan scored 49 points. After the game ended, I felt pretty sad, but I thought about the fact that I had Michael Jordan’s jersey, and felt better. I was exiting the building when a security guard told me that he had to check everyone’s bag/backpack. I paused for a moment while seeing an image of me in prison. I immediately cried.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I took it, I was just-”

I took a moment to wipe some tears

“-tempted, sorry!

And then my idol, Michael Jordan, came over. And said four precious words that I would never forget.

“Let the kid go.”