Unanswered Prayers
by Jeremy Ray Logsdon

October 21, 2016
Friday Night

The atmosphere was intoxicating. It was the biggest game of the year, Angel Grove's Football homecoming. The metal stands were packed, full of old faces, new faces, and the same teenagers who were there for every game. Tommy Oliver felt right at home. The cool night air, the smooth blue satin AGH wind breaker he wore, the smell of the concession scans, the cluster of moths who were still hanging on around the light poles, the upbeat chants of the cheerleaders, the school band's music... it all merged together to make an experience that was every bit as addictive as any drug.

"Over here, Tommy!" Adam shouted.

Following the noise's source, he saw Adam and Tanya Park and his wife, Katherine, sitting in the middle of the stands. His gaze traveled straight out to the fringes of the football field, where young Olivia Park stood next to her fellow Ranger and close friend Hillari Oliver. They were dressed in blue and silver cheerleading outfits, Hillari's different only in the Captain logo embroidered on the left breast. He quickly worked his way over to the three parents.

"How is Olivia doing?" he asked.

"She's a nervous wreck," Tanya said, pointing at her trembling daughter. "Hillari's trying to calm her down."

"I think she would actually welcome a diversion," Katherine murmured, noticing that Olivia was continually toying with the pink communicator on her wrist.

"I'm gonna go get myself something to drink," Tommy said. "Anybody want anything?"

"If you're going," Tanya started, reaching for purse.

"I got it," Tommy volunteered before he bounded off up the stands.

"Sorry I'm late!" Silver Ranger Jacquelynn Taylor cried as she ran out with the other cheerleaders. Turning around and flashing her friend in tow a wicked smile, she added, "Corry held me up."

"Hey!" Corrianne Cranston protested. "I don't know my way around here. What's your excuse?" Corry and her parents had just moved to Angel Grove, but when she joined the Ranger team as the prophesied Green Ranger, fast friendships had been forged. Although she had never been evil, the Green Ranger had become a quick friend with Red Ranger Hillari, just like Tommy and Jason had several years before.

"Jac's always late," Monika Hammond, football team's "water-boy," quipped.

"Get out, squirt," her mother Ashley said, shoving her across the field.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the young Black Ranger grumbled as she ran off.

"All right, girls!" Ashley called, clapping her hands. "C'mon, let's group up!"

Coach Rocky DeSantos was guiding his two star players, Yellow Ranger Montana Scott and Gold Ranger Acer Trueheart, through a brand-new play. Meanwhile, parent volunteer Andros Hammond was telling Rocky's son, Blue Ranger Raph, the other team's weaknesses. Andros had an uncanny ability to find his enemy's Achilles' heels, and Rocky had no qualms in using Andros' abilities in the football games.

"Number forty-seven," Andros said. "His right leg is weaker. See how he favors his left. One good hit on his right hip, and you can take him down."

"Dad, that's cheating," Monika commented as she strolled past them.

"Hush, Mon," he said. To Raph, he said, "Don't listen to her."

"I never do," Raph said, earning a sneer from his fellow teammate.

"Barring Dark Spectre, I think you guys actually stand a chance tonight," Andros remarked with a grin.

"I sure hope so," Raph agreed, thumping the blue communicator on his wrist and praying it wouldn't go off. "You gotta win homecoming."

"It seems like ages, Billy," Kimberly muttered.

"It has been ages," Billy said. Barring the occasional visit to his parents, the two hadn't conversed much with their old friends from Angel Grove in some time. When Billy's job had taken him out of Angel Grove, his wife had, of course, followed. Unfortunately, contact had been unintentionally cut off to a few letters a year.

"Oh, excuse me, Miss," a strangely familiar voice said as he almost collided with her.

"Tommy?" Kimberly asked.

He stopped and turned to look at the woman he had just narrowly missed hitting. "Kimberly?" Tommy asked, his eyes wide. Glancing over, he saw Billy standing a few feet away. "And Billy! I was wondering when I was gonna run into you guys! What've you been doing, avoiding us?!"

"It's really good to see you, man," Billy told him as they firmly shook hands.

"It's great to see you both," Tommy sighed. "You couldn't have picked a better night to show up. Practically everybody is here. Me and Kat are sitting with Tanya and Adam. If you're here for the game, you all should sit with us."

"We just came to give Corry moral support," Kimberly admitted. "She's on the cheerleading squad."

"Yeah, I know," Tommy said. "My girl's the captain." He looked at two of his oldest friends and said, spreading his arms wide, "Can I have a hug?" Without asking for permission, he grabbed a Cranston with each arm and pulled them close to him.

"Well, we gotta sit somewhere," Billy remarked.

"It really is good to see you again, Tommy," Kimberly said with a smile as she looked up into his eyes.

It was a toned-down version of the look she used to give him, and the same look she probably gave Billy every night. Kimberly was such a caring person; she gave practically everyone that look. He could remember wondering if he'd ever see that look meant for him again, praying that he would.

Just the other night at a hometown football game
My wife and I ran into my old high school flame
And as I introduced them the past came back to me
And I couldn't help but think of the way things used to be

She was the one that I'd wanted for all times
And each night I'd spend prayin' that God would make her mine
And if He'd only grant me this wish I wished back then
I'd never ask for anything again

"I have to run to the Concessions Stand," Tommy said. "Wait right here and I'll show you to where we're sitting."

"Look up there," Olivia said, pointing into the stands. "Why are our parents acting like that?"

"Who is that with them?" Hillari asked, mostly of herself. "They look familiar..."

"That's my parents," Corry said as she walked over to the two girls. "Billy and Kimberly Cranston."

"Mum and Dad used to talk about them all the time," Hillari told them. "They all used to be really good friends."

"They still are," Corry said. "Trust me. My parents wouldn't have moved us back to Angel Grove if they didn't care about everybody here."

"Hillari!" Ashley shouted, pointing at the field. "Get your girls on the field!"

Casting one last grin at her parents, Hillari clapped her hands together and called out, "Tigers! Let's go!"

"Are you chilly, hon?" Tommy asked, sliding a hand around Katherine's shoulders.

"A little," she said.

"Here," he volunteered, removing his windbreaker and placing it around her shoulders. He left his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. "Better?"

"Much better," she smiled, leaning against him.

Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers
Remember when you're talkin' to the man upstairs
That just because He doesn't answer doesn't mean He don't care
Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers

With a final score of 33 to 9, the Angel Grove Tigers were victorious. All of the Angel Grove teens, and some parents, were waiting in clumps around the field and parking lot, although everyone had turned their attention to the field when Hillari and Jacquelynn had lifted Raph to their shoulders and touted him around for scoring the final touchdown. It wasn't technically the winning touchdown since they were already eighteen points ahead, but everybody was so hopped up, no one noticed.

"Hey babe!" Raph shouted, causing Hillari to break out into a fit of the shrieking giggles as he grabbed his girlfriend from behind. Close friend and fellow teammate, both on the field and in the world of Rangers, Acer was close behind.

"You will catch your death of a cold," Trini chided Acer, tugging at his long, damp locks.

"Mom," he whined. "I would have had to go to the dance with sweaty hair if I didn't shower."

"Not to mention some rabid b.o.," his father, David, quipped.

"You aren't helping," Trini laughed as she slapped her husband in the ribs.

"I don't think I'm gonna go to the dance," Olivia muttered to Monika. "I have no desire to watch a bunch of Seniors get all hormonal."

"Me neither," Monika agreed. "Wanna go to the theatre?"

"You have to go to the dance!" Montana Scott protested as he walked up to the two younger girls. He was a good four years older than Monika, but he still treated them like equals, just as his father would have when he was his age.

"Nuh uh," Olivia said firmly. Looking at Montana's mother, Emily, standing a few feet away and talking with Tanya, she realized she was going to get no parental support from either of the women. Asking Jason would have been a lost cause. Father and son were definitely alike when it came to the Scotts.

"Adam, Andros, I'm stealing your daughters," Montana informed them. Before either could say anything, he bent down and picked them both up, slinging one over each shoulder.

"Montana!" Olivia shrieked, laughing so hard she could barely say his name legibly. "Emily! Call him off!"

"Don't bring her home!" Adam shouted to him as Montana took off running to the gym with the two girls draped over him.

"Save me a dance!" Jacquelynn yelled, making her intentions well-known.

Hillari, wearing Raph's letter jacket, stood in front of him while he wrapped his arms around her. "You are going to the dance, right?" Hillari asked, looking at Corry.

"I dunno," Corry sighed. "I don't really know anybody."

In an almost silk-like slide, Acer slithered up to Corry's side and hooked his arm through her's. In a truly horrible French accent, he purred, "Wi' me on you' ahm, you sha'l be the envee of th' dahnce."

"Are you asking little ole me to the dance?" Corry said, mock swooning as she did so.

"That depends on your answer."

"If it's a yes?"

"Then absolutely."

"And a no?"

"Corry Cranston? Who's Corry Cranston?"

"Lucky for you, it's a yes," she said as he escorted her away.

"Tommy, stop it," Katherine chided good-naturedly as he wrapped his arms around her from behind. "We aren't teenagers anymore."

"So?" he asked, kissing her on the crown of her head.

"We need to be going," Billy said as he and Kimberly walked up to them, hand in hand. Zack and Aisha, Jacquelynn's parents, were close behind.

"You should stop by and visit some time," Katherine suggested.

"Yeah, don't be a stranger," Tommy insisted.

"Come on, Tommy," Katherine whispered. "Let's go home."

She wasn't quite the angel that I remembered in my dreams
And I could tell that time had changed me
In her eyes too it seemed
We tried to talk about the old days
There wasn't much we could recall
I guess the Lord knows what He's doin' after all

And as she walked away and I looked at my wife
And then and there I thanked the good Lord
For the gifts in my life

"You two could always come to the dance," Raph suggested. "Appleby is still looking for chaperones."

"My parents are going to be there geeking the place up," Jacquelynn snorted. "You all might as well come to."

"We couldn't punish Hillari like that," Tommy smiled.

"No, I think it would be fine," Hillari said. "So long as you don't fast dance or anything."

"What do you think?" Tommy asked.

"I think it could be fun," Katherine smiled. "Let's do it."

"Why don't you all come, too?" Zack asked, glancing over at Billy and Kimberly. "C'mon, it'll be like old times."

"I suppose we could," Billy said with a shrug. "Do you want to?"

Smiling, Kimberly backed into Billy and said, "We'd love to."

Tommy glanced over at his daughter, lost in Raph's arms. A few feet away, Billy and Kimberly were dancing, looking at each other with nothing but the deepest of loves. The looks Kimberly had given him as a teenager were nothing compared to the look she was giving her husband. Then, Tommy looked down at his wife, leaning against his chest.

Some of God's greatest gifts are all too often unanswered...

He placed his hands on her jawbone and tilted her face up, kissing her gingerly. "I love you, Katherine."

"I love you, too," she said.

Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers

The End