To Be A Geek, A Robot God

Jose is standing quietly in the corner of the pit next to Big Cat, holding on to Vivianna's stroller. He doesn't say anything and doesn't want to.

"Let's hear it for the coaches!" somebody cries, and the Leopards clap.

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"Let's hear it for the drivers!" yells Gina, and there is more clapping.

One of the team mothers shouts, "Let's hear it for one of our seniors, Jose!" And everybody claps the hardest.

There is nothing more to be said standing there in that pit. They will have to pack up Big Cat in his wooden, leopard-spotted crate. Anthony has to put away the tools. But nobody wants to think about that now. The elimination rounds are still going on inside, and the championship rounds will follow after that. Maybe they can't be on the playing field, but at least they know whichever team takes first will be full of geeks, just like them. They figure it's nice to see geeks triumph once in a while. So the Leopards pat each other on the back and quietly trek back inside to watch the victors.