Heroes

A crowd has gathered in Odyssey for the grand opening of the Lightning Sports Center, the new store owned by retired basketball star Lightning Livingston. While Bobby the photographer snaps pictures for the front page, Frank Malone, a reporter for the Odyssey Times, peppers Lightning with questions. Lightning explains that he wanted a small store in a small, quiet town, that he has a few friends here, and that he simply chose to quit the game in his prime. But when Malone brings up rumors about that early retirement, Lightning refuses to talk about it. He is much warmer with the kids in the crowd, especially Bruce Wilkins and a starstruck Jimmy Barclay, who is so nervous he can hardly get his own name out. Lightning promises to hold some basketball workshops with the kids real soon.

Malone keeps digging. While John Whittaker pours drinks for Jimmy and Bruce, the reporter presses him about Lightning, since Whit knew him from his publishing days in Chicago and has discussed Odyssey with him over the last couple of years. Whit reminds him that spreading rumors is a bad thing, but Malone asks straight out whether Lightning retired early because of a drug problem. Jimmy explodes, calling it a lie the big town newspapers tell, and has to apologize. Malone leaves with a promise: if there is a story behind Lightning's retirement, he is going to find it.

Lightning keeps his word about the workshops, coaching the boys to play as a team instead of hot-dogging to show off. Afterward Jimmy tells him he is the greatest, but Lightning disagrees - anybody who claims to be the greatest is lying, except God. Jimmy settles for calling him an alright dude. The day gets even better: they race to Whit's End, Lightning shows Jimmy videos of his games at his house, drives him home, and meets his parents. But when Jimmy tells Bruce all about it, Howard Wilby butts in and sneers that Lightning is a druggie and that is why he retired. Jimmy ends up in a fight with him, and Connie Kendall tells Howard his crack was real dumb. Stung by Howard's dare, Jimmy decides to ask Lightning himself, since Lightning would not lie to him.

At the sports center, the clerk sends Jimmy to the back, where Lightning is talking with Whit, and Jimmy overhears him insisting that he is clean and has stayed clean. Jimmy repeats what Howard said and asks if it is true. Lightning promises not to lie to him, and admits it: yes, he took drugs, and he made a terrible mistake. Jimmy refuses to believe it and runs out, while Whit sadly notes that things will get a lot worse when the paper comes out tomorrow.

It does. The Odyssey Times prints the untold story of Lightning's retirement, claiming he was heavily involved in drugs through his last year on the team. Whit is upset enough to think about canceling his subscription; true or not, he says, it is nobody's business but Lightning's and God's. Connie is confused - Lightning was the all-American with his face on cereal boxes - but Whit reminds her that even good guys make mistakes, and a star's mistakes get more publicity. Jimmy comes by to collect his schoolbooks, working through a list of people he owes apologies to: Howard, Connie, and Whit. Lightning is not on the list. Jimmy figures they are even, because he stood up for his hero and believed in him, and now he feels like a jerk and will never believe in anybody again. His parents, after reading the article, are not sure he should see Lightning anymore. Whit urges him to reconsider, even if the apology is only a note, because there is a lot more to this than what the newspaper said.

Soon afterward, Whit and Connie hear Lightning on the radio, speaking from City Hall. He admits the fame, money, and attention went to his head, says he is on the road to recovery with the support of kind friends in Odyssey, and declares that he owes everything to Jesus Christ and that the whole drug thing is a closed chapter in his life. Whit says it took a lot of courage and wishes Jimmy had heard it.

Jimmy has not - but when he gets home, his father tells him Lightning is waiting in the living room, and that after a long talk his parents think it is all right. Jimmy apologizes for running off, and Lightning, who became a Christian a little while ago, shares what he has found reading his Bible. Old Testament men like Abraham, Moses, David, and Isaiah became heroes to him because they talked to God and did things for Him - and then he read on and discovered the big mistakes they made. They were not perfect; they were people like anybody else, and God used them anyway. Lightning says he was just a basketball player, that taking drugs was a stupid mistake, and that he has learned people will sooner or later let you down - the only hero who never will is Jesus Christ. He tells Jimmy he is sorry for letting him down and asks his forgiveness. Jimmy forgives him, and they agree to be friends, not hero and fan. Lightning even trusts him with the first name only his closest friends know - Melvin - and the two head off to shoot some hoops.