Football singularity
Chapter 539 539 Hand In Your Jersey

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[7th day, Date: 26/02/2020, Time: 10:12 AM – Rose Church, Orlando, FL]

[What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus, what a powerful name it is, The name of Jesus]

"Whooo, have a blessed Sunday," Pastor Elijah exclaimed as he took the stage, thanking the worship members. "Thank you all for your attendance. I always find it heartwarming to see how far our congregation has come."

"Remember—Friday night prayer kicks off our new series on reconciliation, and our ranger teams raised $50,000 towards the California wildfire efforts. I'd love to see you back here at seven sharp." He announced giving the congregation news on what the church has planned for the upcoming months.

He stepped down from the stage a couple of minutes later after giving them the last of the announcements, dismissing the congregation. Rakim and his parents joined the crowd heading out of the hall, though he was moving more slowly with the stabilising boot strapped to his foot. His recovery had been progressing well, allowing him to get around without needing crutches now.

Slipping on a pair of gloves, he followed after them, greeting a few familiar people on the way. Most wished him a good and speedy recovery before engaging him in short conversations. Just as he reached the coffee hall, a firm voice with a slight southern accent said from behind, prompting him to turn to face the person.

"How are you doing, son? I hope the injury hasn't been too hard on your spirit." Pastor Elijah, a man dressed in suit bottoms and a navy cardigan, stood before him with a warm smile.

"It was a shock at the moment, but I have a great support system around me who made sure I was okay, pastor Elijah." He responded to the older man with a warm smile, thankfully as he was one of the first to come check on him once he arrived home. "It's also been good to be back home, so I'm not too annoyed at the situation.

Pastor Elijah nodded, his kind eyes resting on Rakim's boot. "It's often the forced pauses that let the Lord get a word in edgewise," he said with a quiet chuckle. "Anything you need, just say so. In the meantime, we'd love to have you help with Friday's breakout night — I know the younger kids would prefer to hear from you young ones than us oldies."

"That might be a good idea," Rakim began, shifting his weight off the injured foot. "By then, I should have the boot off and can comfortably move around. I should be able to wrangle a small group of kids."

"That's all we'd ask," Pastor Elijah assured him. "We've split the kids into service teams. Yours would prep care packages for firefighters and write thank-you cards."

"Sounds perfect. Count me in," he told the man as they continued talking about a few other topics before the man of God was called away by someone else.

~~~

[16:00]

Hours after returning from church, Ben Michael Rex can be seen sitting at the dining room table, working on his laptop. His entire focus was on answering the emails he had received from his company staff. Unlike most businesses, they opted for minimal staff on Sundays unless it was a major sporting event like the World Cup, Olympics, Euros, NBA Playoffs and so on.

He was content making steady growth each year, and putting competent people in the right position allowed him to do that. His philosophy has naturally led to a workplace culture that is top-tier in the industry. Anyone within the organisation could bring forth ideas for review, which, after evaluations, could be adopted.

Other than store clerks, most permanent employees were allowed a free schedule, which they could swap with other staff in their system. Ben made an effort to hire locally when opening branches, from management down to part-time staff. He specifically made it a priority to hire high school or college students while offering competitive wages. This was for the sole reason of giving kids in those communities a great opportunity to earn money doing something people of their demographic are already interested in.

Encouraging those locally to participate in the store design process has allowed him to create quite a few unique stores. One example being the stores in Boston, which had a more Irish vibe with hits of sophistication. While the ones along the West Coast, especially in Los Angeles, had each store looking distinctly different from the other.

Smiling as he looked at the mock-up of the next TitanFit line set to release at the start of summer, he was interrupted by a ring on the doorbell. Not minding the interruption, he glanced at the indifferent Zeus, who couldn't care less and made his way to the door. "Hello, does Rakim Rex live here?" The UPS delivery driver asked almost immediately after he opened the door.

"Yes, he does, he's my son," Ben responded, assuming his son had ordered something.

The Jamaican-looking driver nodded the proceeded to eye him as if he had just told him the sky be purple, rubbing his dreads in thought. "Ja man, you sign here," He finally said, handing out his work pad, prompting Ben to sign with his finger. "Ben'son this be the right house? Help me unload the shipment, I beg,"

"No problem, man," Another voice resounded from inside the truck and before Ben could even process the two men, one Jamaican and the other of Puerto Rican descent, started carrying boxes into his house. One, two...12 5x5x5 boxes were stacked inside his foyer as if someone was building the Great Wall.

Acting like he knew what was going on, he nodded at the two men in thanks. "Thank you, have a blessed day," he told the two as he handed them 20% discount tokens for one of his stores and $20 each as a thank you. He had heard of some delivery drivers who would leave the deliveries in the driveway simply because they couldn't be bothered to help carry stuff inside.

Five minutes later, he was standing at the doorway of his children's game room, watching with incredulity as the culprit was engaged in a shouting match within as he was locked in a game of 2K. "Bro, you need to hand in your jersey, because you're a disgrace to the game," Rakim exclaimed in a mocking tone as his My Player hit his opponent with a post-dunk to end the game 21:5.

"(Cough) Son, is there something you want to tell me?" Ben fake coughed just loud enough to get his son's attention.

"Hmm, not particularly, well, I did scam my way into an influencer Fortnite match the other day," Rakim responded with a tilt of his head, looking as if he was genuinely considering what his father could mean. "That's all that I can think of. How did Zeus get into Mum's closet again and get into one of her bags?"

"Don't even mention that your mother only cares to spend money on her shoes and bags. Despite the last bag Zeus destroyed being a common one from Walmart, she sulked for days before as if she had lost her precious." Ben responded in dismay, remembering how his wife refused to talk to him after he had left the closet door open. "That's not it, why are there enough boxes to stock a store in my foyer. If the delivery drivers didn't look legit, I would have thought someone was trying to prank me."

Hearing his father's words brought a sense of realisation to Rakim as he spun his chair around. Directly turning off his PS4, he jumped up, already used to balancing with his new ankle accessory. "Oh, there, here, let's go and check it out." He responded as he led his father down the stairs, quickly spotting the blocks of packages.

Opening one up, what greeted them were 500 packets of masks, each containing 50. Stupefied Ben opened the next box, and he was yet again greeted with another box of masks. Only on the third box did something different appear, a case of 100ml hand sanitisers in various fragrances. Three boxes of hand sanitisers with roughly 5,000 individual bottles greeted the two.

Opening the rest of the boxes, Ben was greeted by more bizarre items that could only be seen in a hospital or a campground. "Alright, son, you better explain before your mother gets home and you have to face the music alone."

"Too late for that," Lisa's unamused voice was heard from the side door, which connected the Garage with the house.

It was arguably the most guarded door in the house, consisting of two doors separated by a short corridor. Just to get in, one requires two different keys and thumbprint authentication; it would be much easier to just blow the front door open if one felt inclined to a robbery. "Ehm, it's for the pandemic."

"Wife, I think he might be going crazy after being sidelined,"

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To Be Continued...