Ricky Rubio sat in his bed, a cocoon of pillows propping him up as he perused “Soldados de Salamina” on his Kindle. It was an interesting read, but it was growing late, and he soon found himself having to reread sentences and paragraphs, his mind becoming cloudy with tiredness. He rubbed his eyes, resolving to get to the end of the chapter, but it was futile. Just as he was nodding off, a bright burst of light illuminated the room.
Ricky opened his eyes wide, now fully awake, but was otherwise unsurprised by this. Something similar had already happened, just a few nights ago. As he expected, there was a ghostly gray apparition floating in the corner of his room, casting a dim glow on the scene.
“Hello again, Steve!” Ricky said to the amorphous being. “Back so soon to give me another boost of your power?”
In an instant, the previously formless plasma had morphed into the shape of a human head, which levitated itself in front of Ricky.
“You’re not Steve…” Rubio began, hesitantly, not recognizing the face in front of him.
“Of course I ain’t Steve! Who’s Steve? I ain’t even have a chance to introduce myself, and you sittin’ here talking to me like an old friend?” the face said angrily. The shimmering light in the being coalesced into what seemed to be two eyes, now glaring at Ricky.
“You’re Shaq!” Ricky continued, grinning widely. “Great! I always wanted to dunk, if you could just hurry up and do the whole power-imbuing thing that Steve Nash did, then I can impress…”
The face cut him off. “Shaq? Steve Nash? You tellin’ me I’m too late, that you already got the powers of another all-time great? I’ll just show myself out then, I know a lost cause when I see one. Just point me in the direction of…” the face put on a deep-thinking expression. “…Kris Dunn’s place, and I’ll make sure he takes your gig for real this time.”
“You’re not Shaq?” Ricky asked sadly. “Then who are you?”
“Ain’t it obvious, fool? Take a closer look.” The spirit started subtly changing form again. Rubio squinted, and soon, he could start making out what looked like corn-rows, a headband, and a patchy little goatee. He struggled to think of which player this could be, his knowledge of NBA all-timers wasn’t great, when suddenly, he had a revelation.
“Allen Iverson!” he shouted, raising his arms as if to hug the apparition in front of him.
Iverson’s ghostly face seemed to smirk, even as it backed away slightly. “The one and only. Problem is, you said you already fused with Steve Nash? I don’t know why your dumb ass would do that, since you already can pass like a motha. Just gonna accept the first disembodied NBA player that offers himself to you, huh?”
“He didn’t exactly give me a choice, you know.” Ricky replied, defensively.
“Well, you’re outta luck then. I was gonna offer my natural scoring talents to you, but it’s too dangerous now. Can’t have two rival players’ souls battling it out in your mortal body, ya know? And as I was sayin’ before, your man Kris Dunn could use my skills too. His crossover lookin’ real messed up.” said Iverson’s spirit, though without much conviction.
“Okay, maybe I can’t get your full arsenal. But can’t I just get a little bit? Like a quarter of your scoring. Just enough to be able to finish sometimes? Please?” Ricky clasped his hands together and put on the widest-eyed expression he could muster.
Iverson smiled. “Well, a little bit couldn’t hurt, I guess. Dunn can go without the finishin’ for now. But only a little, otherwise me and Steve are gonna cause all sorts of problems tryin’ to work together. I like the dude, but man, he just didn’t have that killer instinct, right?” A small piece of the ghostlike cloud broke off. “Ready?”
“Wait! Before we do this, can you say it?”
“Say what?”
“You know… that thing you said.”
Ricky heard what he thought might be a sigh emanate throughout the room. “We talkin’ ’bout practice!”
Suddenly, Iverson’s face sped out of the room, and the remaining detached piece plunged itself into Ricky’s chest. Ricky felt a familiar sensation of coldness as the portion of Iverson’s soul mingled with his own essence. He collapsed back onto the bed, shaking, as he his body first resisted, then accepted, this new life force.