The Page 69 Test: Head Fake

 Disclaimer: The Page 69 Test is not mine. It has been around since 2007, asking authors to compare page 69 against the meat of the actual story it is a part of. I loved the whole idea of it and so I'm stealing it specifically to showcase small press titles - novels, novellas, short story collections, the works! So until the founder of The Page 69 Test calls a cease and desist, let's do this thing....

In this installment of Page 69, 

we put Scott Gordon’s Head Fake to the test. 

What is the book about?

 Head Fake is a story about high schoolers and their coach creating a basketball team that may save them in ways therapy and medication can’t. It’s a tale about how we are more than our diagnosis and stronger together than alone.

 Head Fake received a Kirkus (starred review) that perfectly captured the novel. “An absorbing, uplifting tale of finding light and self-worth in adversity’s darkest depths.”

 

Setup for page 69:

 Page 69 finds Mikey, the coach and bus driver, talking to Donnie, one of the basketball players. The novel is told in first person, past tense, from Mikey’s point of view. 

 It’s Mikey’s first day as coach, which proves to be a disaster. He has no idea how to lead a bunch of juvenile offenders with mental illness. He has more issues than they do.

 Donnie has just quit and run away. The team only has five players. If Mikey can’t convince him to play, the season is over.

 The sounds of crying lead Mikey to his bus, where Donnie is sitting against the front tire, his head tucked between his lanky knees, counting his fingers. At first Mikey wants to just say forget it and bawl like Donnie, but he doesn’t want to be responsible for ruining something as important as being on the b-ball team for these kids. He must convince Donnie to play.

 Mikey sits beside him and begins counting his own fingers, the two working their digits like mad. Eventually, Mikey shares his personal struggles with Donnie, how he spent two stints in the psychiatric hospital attached to this very school for severe depression.

 Page 69 is the culmination of this conversation. 

Do you think page 69 gives our readers an accurate sense of what your book is about? Does it align itself with the book’s theme?

 Page 69 is a great example of what Head Fake is about. Here Mikey connects with Donnie through being vulnerable. Although Mikey is unaware of it, he shows Donnie that it feels good to help somebody. The page demonstrates the novel’s theme of how connection and humor can help assuage the most debilitating feelings of isolation and helplessness. 

 

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PAGE 69:  Head Fake

Donnie didn’t say anything.

“And my best friend just died, which makes me feel that much worse about the world. And don’t even talk to me about antidepressants because I’ve tried them, and they don’t do it for me, so I’m ruined.”

“That’s bad, but mine is worse.”

“It’s not a contest, Donnie. Let’s say you and I got some stuff going on.”

“I have more,” said Donnie. “Way more.”

“Maybe you do, but about this yelling—I’m gonna help you with that. If anybody raises their voice at you, they’re gonna have to deal with me. That’s done. Today. I mean how you gonna keep track of what you gotta keep track of if people are all up in your face, yelling at you? So, you’ll get me, right? If anyone yells at you?”

He closed his eyes.

“That I can help you with. It will make me feel good to help you, and I need to feel good about something.”

“OK, I’ll get you,” he said, opening his eyes and looking at me.

“You promise?”

“He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me,” said Donnie, holding up his hand as if taking an oath.

“OK. And, Donnie, you can’t tell anybody about my hyperventilating or being in the hospital across the street and stuff. I gotta rep.”

A little smile curled Donnie’s lip, and man, that smile filled the moment with lightness and simplicity, as if Donnie and I were just two normies sharing a light conversation on a sunny afternoon. 

“You don’t think I got street cred?”

“No.”

“That’s cold, Donnie. I got mad street cred.”

Donnie shook his head, his smile becoming a giggle. I reached over and patted his shoulder in camaraderie, prompting him to scream out as if he’d been attacked. 

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Scott Gordon’s fiction has appeared in the Green Hills Literary Lantern (GHLL), Modern Times Magazine, Pennsylvania Literary Journal, The Satirist, and Mobius Magazine. In addition to writing fiction, he has written and directed films and television series, including A History of Black Achievement in America, Great American Authors, and more. Scott spent years working as a Youth Advocate for juvenile offenders with mental illness. Head Fake is inspired by the strength and courage of the kids he worked with. Originally from New Jersey, Scott lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Samantha, and their two rescue pups, Mel Brooks and Khaleesi Bee.