Thursday, November 18, 2004
4.
4.
Jack got out of bed just before six A.M. on Saturday morning. He pulled on his light exercise robe and went and did his morning business, then headed back to his room. The house was quiet except for the hum of the furnace as Jack began his morning exercises. He stretched out his legs and arms, then stepped into the first stance of his regular Tai Chi regimen. He’d been practicing for about 4 years, and had gotten to a level where he could achieve a state of calm that would tend to run throughout the day. But this was no ordinary day, and Jack was in a strange mood. He felt like something wasn’t quite right, and he went back through his exercises a second time. This time, he felt the nerves melt away, and he guessed it was just nervousness about the game.
He walked downstairs, brought in the paper, and sat down to a bowl of rice and orange juice. He opened the paper to the sports section, and there they were on the front page again:
Last Hurrah For The Golden Boys?
Holy Mother vs. Fairfield Prep
Division 1 State Championship Today
The Register was picking Prep to win, figuring that Charlie’s luck was going to run out in his final game in a high school uniform. Fat chance of that happening, Jack thought as he shoveled the rice into his mouth. He wasn’t figuring on giving up anything to Prep today, particularly not if they tried to keep it close. He finished his rice and got up from the table. His house was quiet, but that wouldn’t last for long. His mom and dad were part of the Holy Mother Parents traveling support team, and they’d be up and getting ready before long. He was happy to have the support, though he knew that it was somewhat of a sham. The Shanahan marriage was on the rocks, and Jack was the only thing that was keeping it together. He supposed that would change before long. He’d be heading off to San Diego State in the fall, and he expected that he’d get a phone call from one of them not long after he left. Miles and Anne Shanahan had been sticking it out as a couple for Jack since he was around twelve.
That was when Anne Shanahan had come home early from the Holy Mother Holiday Bazaar to find Miles in bed. With another man. Jack hadn’t found out until about six months before, when he’d been snooping around in his father’s bureau and had found a gay porn magazine. He’d been brazen enough to come out and ask Miles about it, at which point Miles had broken down and confessed everything to his surprised, bemused son. Anne had gone ballistic when she found out, but had spoken to Uncle David, and quietly began divorce proceedings. With Jack in the know, she’d decided there was no point in continuing the lie. But Miles had been insistent in keeping up with the Parents group, so Anne put up with it grudgingly. They continued to come to games and cheer him on, but usually from seats far apart. He looked at his watch. It was half past six. Time to go and get Bill.
Bill Ryan was also up early, but it was because his old man had to get up early to go to the garage. Mark Ryan wasn’t a terrible father, but he wasn’t particularly sympathetic to any other members of his family when he got up on days when he had to go in early. He thumped down the stairs and found Bill in the kitchen, making coffee and toast.
“What are you up so early for?” Mark glared at Bill, not expecting to see anyone in the house up this goddamned early.
“Game today, Dad. State finals.” Bill handed him a mug that said “#1 Dad”. He didn’t note the irony as he did so. “Jack’s going to be coming to get me soon.”
“That crazy kid who thinks he’s Japanese?” Mark didn’t really care for any of Bill’s friends, but Jack in particular turned Mark’s stomach. “Well, be careful he doesn’t run you off the road.”
“We’re only going as far as Gary’s. Gary’s driving the rest of the way.” Mark grunted. He didn’t mind Gary, because Burke Ablett had thrown a lot of business at Mark’s garage, which was struggling along in the tough economy.
“Well, don’t stay out all night. Or at least call if you’re going to.” Mark got up and left, leaving his coffee half-finished. Bill got up and watched him go.
“Thanks for wishing me good luck, you fucking bastard,” he said under his breath as he put the mug in the sink. Not that he expected much, but it would have been nice. He walked back to the living room and picked up his gear bag, then headed outside to wait for Jack.
Gary woke up at around quarter of seven. He turned towards the alarm clock and slapped it off, then rolled back towards the lump next to him. He pulled the cover off of Audra Pendleton just enough to uncover her shoulder, then kissed it lightly.
“Hunh? Wha’time’s’it?” She rolled over and threw one arm over her eyes. “It’s gotta be too early for this.”
“It’s six-forty-five and I’ve gotta get up. I’ve got the gang coming.” He sat up at the edge of the bed.
“You’ve got time, don’t you?” She pulled the covers down further, exposing her small, perky breasts. She reached over to grab him, but he slid out of her grasp.
“No, Audra. I’ve gotta get up. Didn’t you get enough last night?”
“Do I ever? Maybe I’ll go see if Colette’s interested.” She tossed a teddy bear at him as he pulled on a pair of sweats.
“Please. We both know who she wants in this house and it isn’t you OR me.” He hopped back into the bed and kissed her. She took advantage, wrapping her legs around his torso. He laughed. “Come on, Aud. I gotta go. Really.”
She put on a pouty face, but then smiled. “Okay, I understand. But you better watch yourself tonight, Gary. You’re gonna get it.”
“I’m sure I will.” He walked out of the room and headed down to the kitchen. Charlie was already sitting at the kitchen table, eating a bagel and drinking Gatorade.
“Hey, uh, wipe your cheek.” Charlie tossed a roll of paper towels at him, and he wiped lipstick off his cheek. They sat and ate breakfast in silence, as they had the three previous Championship Saturday mornings. Charlie read the newspaper, and Gary made some notes on a list of things that still had to be picked up for the party. He was thinking about whether or not he had enough ice when Charlie said something that he didn’t hear all of.
“What?”
“I said, ‘Is Colette up yet?’”
Gary raised his eyebrows. “Not that I know of. Why do you ask?”
Charlie chewed on a piece of bagel. “How can I put this?”
“What? Spit it, boy.”
“Last night, when I got home from Price Club, Colette was out at the Fortress. She was swimming.”
“So?”
Charlie flipped the newspaper closed and put it down on the counter. “She was swimming in the altogether. And I saw her.”
Gary nearly fell off his chair laughing. “You’re kidding. You’ve got to be kidding. Did she see you?”
“No, but she did turn up the flirting engine a bit when I talked to her.” Charlie related the details of his conversation with Colette of the night before. Gary just shook his head and laughed.
“You want her, don’t you? Don’t lie to me, man. I know you better then that.”
“I don’t know what I want, Gar. I’m confused. She seems to want me, that’s for sure.”
“Well, you’ve got a choice. Either you exploit it, or you let it slide. Don’t forget, you are currently occupied.”
“There is that. But I feel like Kat’s not where I want to be. I don’t know. She’s been harping on me a lot lately about going off to school.”
“Well, she does seem to have planned out the next twenty years for the two of you.” Gary shrugged. “I assume that you’re being a good boy and laying down for the grand scheme.”
“Nope.” Charlie stood up from the table. “That’s why I didn’t tell her I’ve declared for the Draft.”
“You didn’t tell me, either. When did you decide this? What happened to winning the Beanpot and all that?”
“I don’t know, man. I’m not that great a student, and I need to go out and see if I can do this. I don’t want to go to college, get injured, and never know if I could have played on that level.”
Gary shook his head. He knew that he and Charlie would be going their separate ways after the school year ended, but he wasn’t expecting this. “I’m assuming that there’s an agent involved in this, right?”
“No. I just decided to do it myself.”
“Kat’s gonna be pissed.”
“You can’t tell her. Not yet, anyway. I need to be the one to tell her. But not today.” Charlie walked out of the kitchen, and Gary watched him go. Everyone figured Charlie and Kat would be headed off to Boston University after graduation. Wrong, he thought, Kat had been the one tossing that idea around. He sure as hell didn’t want to be around when that A-bomb went off, that was for sure. He liked Kat well enough, but she wasn’t someone to be crossed, that’s for sure. He figured that it was something in her perky cheerleader DNA, some kind of misfire or something. He’d seen her temper once, and that was enough for him. Charlie had gotten plastered at a party that Kat’s father had thrown and Dan Masters had kicked him out of the house, still drunk. Kat had dressed him down something fierce, using words that Gary hadn’t ever heard strung together, and he’d figured that they were done. Three days later, he’d seen her car out at the Fortress, and that idea had gone out the window. But she occasionally reminded Charlie of it, and Gary knew that it bothered him. He finished his juice and headed out to the living room, where Jack and Bill were waiting.
Doug turned the Aspen up Gary’s driveway. It was quarter of eight, and he was behind schedule. He hadn’t gotten up until ten after seven, and it had only been because Kim had called to wish him good luck. He’d mumbled a quick thank you and then leapt out of bed. A quick shower and change later and he was out the door. No one had been awake in the house, but that was okay with him. His mom had worked late the night before, and Uncle John was still out at work, so there was no one in the house but him. Days like this in particular, he missed his dad.
He would come up the stairs from the basement, carrying his stick bag and his gear. Dad would be just home from the firehouse. He’d be sitting in the kitchen, drinking a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper while NPR played on the radio by the stove. They’d sit together as Doug ate his cereal and toast, and Dad would talk about the shift, or some crazy thing that one of ‘da boys’ had done down at the station. Doug would smile and laugh and make fun of his dad whenever he could, but he’d always listen to all the stories, even the ones he’d heard before. Then his dad would pick up his stick bag, and they’d go out to the car, or Dad would wait with him for Gary or Charlie to come and pick him up for the game. Randy O’Donnell would sit on the front steps, light a cigarette, and enjoy the cold morning air while they waited.
The morning that Randy hadn’t come back had been the morning of the semi-final game the year before. Doug had gotten up at the usual time, but no Dad. No one had been in the house at all, and so he’d sat out on the stoop alone, fighting back the cold by himself. Three hours later, after he’d scored a goal in the Tigers’ 6-1 drubbing of Hamden High, the coach pulled him aside and told him what had happened. Gary had driven him back to New Haven, and down to Yale-New Haven Hospital. They had been too late, though. Randy O’Donnell had headed off to his final alarm around the start of the second period.
God, I miss him so much, Doug thought as he climbed into the Aspen. He flew out to Gary’s place, King Crimson blaring from the boom box sitting on the seat next to him. He was trying to get himself psyched up for the game, and “21st Century Schizoid Man” usually did it for him. He pulled up to the front door, parking behind Gary’s Land Rover. He took a deep breath, and then switched on the happy-go-lucky Doug persona. As he got out, pulling his hockey bag from the back seat, Gary and the others came out of the house.
“You’re late,” Charlie said.
“Sorry, I was plowing your mom.”
Charlie leapt off the porch onto Doug and the two of them rolled around in the snow, laughing and wrestling. Gary rolled his eyes and walked over to the Land Rover. Charlie and Doug were like a couple of puppies when they got together, always scrapping and barking and making a spectacle of themselves. Jack walked over and kicked Charlie.
“Can you guys stop humping each other so we can go win another state title?”
Charlie hopped up and pulled Doug up, slapping his back as he did so. “I feel pretty invincible today, Jack. How about you, Doug?”
“I’m just looking forward to the party.” Doug smiled at Charlie. “Of course I’m ready to kick some Preppie ass. When am I not?” They got into Gary’s Land Rover. Gary turned out of the driveway and headed for the highway, bound for the Hartford Civic Center and the game.
Jack got out of bed just before six A.M. on Saturday morning. He pulled on his light exercise robe and went and did his morning business, then headed back to his room. The house was quiet except for the hum of the furnace as Jack began his morning exercises. He stretched out his legs and arms, then stepped into the first stance of his regular Tai Chi regimen. He’d been practicing for about 4 years, and had gotten to a level where he could achieve a state of calm that would tend to run throughout the day. But this was no ordinary day, and Jack was in a strange mood. He felt like something wasn’t quite right, and he went back through his exercises a second time. This time, he felt the nerves melt away, and he guessed it was just nervousness about the game.
He walked downstairs, brought in the paper, and sat down to a bowl of rice and orange juice. He opened the paper to the sports section, and there they were on the front page again:
Last Hurrah For The Golden Boys?
Holy Mother vs. Fairfield Prep
Division 1 State Championship Today
The Register was picking Prep to win, figuring that Charlie’s luck was going to run out in his final game in a high school uniform. Fat chance of that happening, Jack thought as he shoveled the rice into his mouth. He wasn’t figuring on giving up anything to Prep today, particularly not if they tried to keep it close. He finished his rice and got up from the table. His house was quiet, but that wouldn’t last for long. His mom and dad were part of the Holy Mother Parents traveling support team, and they’d be up and getting ready before long. He was happy to have the support, though he knew that it was somewhat of a sham. The Shanahan marriage was on the rocks, and Jack was the only thing that was keeping it together. He supposed that would change before long. He’d be heading off to San Diego State in the fall, and he expected that he’d get a phone call from one of them not long after he left. Miles and Anne Shanahan had been sticking it out as a couple for Jack since he was around twelve.
That was when Anne Shanahan had come home early from the Holy Mother Holiday Bazaar to find Miles in bed. With another man. Jack hadn’t found out until about six months before, when he’d been snooping around in his father’s bureau and had found a gay porn magazine. He’d been brazen enough to come out and ask Miles about it, at which point Miles had broken down and confessed everything to his surprised, bemused son. Anne had gone ballistic when she found out, but had spoken to Uncle David, and quietly began divorce proceedings. With Jack in the know, she’d decided there was no point in continuing the lie. But Miles had been insistent in keeping up with the Parents group, so Anne put up with it grudgingly. They continued to come to games and cheer him on, but usually from seats far apart. He looked at his watch. It was half past six. Time to go and get Bill.
Bill Ryan was also up early, but it was because his old man had to get up early to go to the garage. Mark Ryan wasn’t a terrible father, but he wasn’t particularly sympathetic to any other members of his family when he got up on days when he had to go in early. He thumped down the stairs and found Bill in the kitchen, making coffee and toast.
“What are you up so early for?” Mark glared at Bill, not expecting to see anyone in the house up this goddamned early.
“Game today, Dad. State finals.” Bill handed him a mug that said “#1 Dad”. He didn’t note the irony as he did so. “Jack’s going to be coming to get me soon.”
“That crazy kid who thinks he’s Japanese?” Mark didn’t really care for any of Bill’s friends, but Jack in particular turned Mark’s stomach. “Well, be careful he doesn’t run you off the road.”
“We’re only going as far as Gary’s. Gary’s driving the rest of the way.” Mark grunted. He didn’t mind Gary, because Burke Ablett had thrown a lot of business at Mark’s garage, which was struggling along in the tough economy.
“Well, don’t stay out all night. Or at least call if you’re going to.” Mark got up and left, leaving his coffee half-finished. Bill got up and watched him go.
“Thanks for wishing me good luck, you fucking bastard,” he said under his breath as he put the mug in the sink. Not that he expected much, but it would have been nice. He walked back to the living room and picked up his gear bag, then headed outside to wait for Jack.
Gary woke up at around quarter of seven. He turned towards the alarm clock and slapped it off, then rolled back towards the lump next to him. He pulled the cover off of Audra Pendleton just enough to uncover her shoulder, then kissed it lightly.
“Hunh? Wha’time’s’it?” She rolled over and threw one arm over her eyes. “It’s gotta be too early for this.”
“It’s six-forty-five and I’ve gotta get up. I’ve got the gang coming.” He sat up at the edge of the bed.
“You’ve got time, don’t you?” She pulled the covers down further, exposing her small, perky breasts. She reached over to grab him, but he slid out of her grasp.
“No, Audra. I’ve gotta get up. Didn’t you get enough last night?”
“Do I ever? Maybe I’ll go see if Colette’s interested.” She tossed a teddy bear at him as he pulled on a pair of sweats.
“Please. We both know who she wants in this house and it isn’t you OR me.” He hopped back into the bed and kissed her. She took advantage, wrapping her legs around his torso. He laughed. “Come on, Aud. I gotta go. Really.”
She put on a pouty face, but then smiled. “Okay, I understand. But you better watch yourself tonight, Gary. You’re gonna get it.”
“I’m sure I will.” He walked out of the room and headed down to the kitchen. Charlie was already sitting at the kitchen table, eating a bagel and drinking Gatorade.
“Hey, uh, wipe your cheek.” Charlie tossed a roll of paper towels at him, and he wiped lipstick off his cheek. They sat and ate breakfast in silence, as they had the three previous Championship Saturday mornings. Charlie read the newspaper, and Gary made some notes on a list of things that still had to be picked up for the party. He was thinking about whether or not he had enough ice when Charlie said something that he didn’t hear all of.
“What?”
“I said, ‘Is Colette up yet?’”
Gary raised his eyebrows. “Not that I know of. Why do you ask?”
Charlie chewed on a piece of bagel. “How can I put this?”
“What? Spit it, boy.”
“Last night, when I got home from Price Club, Colette was out at the Fortress. She was swimming.”
“So?”
Charlie flipped the newspaper closed and put it down on the counter. “She was swimming in the altogether. And I saw her.”
Gary nearly fell off his chair laughing. “You’re kidding. You’ve got to be kidding. Did she see you?”
“No, but she did turn up the flirting engine a bit when I talked to her.” Charlie related the details of his conversation with Colette of the night before. Gary just shook his head and laughed.
“You want her, don’t you? Don’t lie to me, man. I know you better then that.”
“I don’t know what I want, Gar. I’m confused. She seems to want me, that’s for sure.”
“Well, you’ve got a choice. Either you exploit it, or you let it slide. Don’t forget, you are currently occupied.”
“There is that. But I feel like Kat’s not where I want to be. I don’t know. She’s been harping on me a lot lately about going off to school.”
“Well, she does seem to have planned out the next twenty years for the two of you.” Gary shrugged. “I assume that you’re being a good boy and laying down for the grand scheme.”
“Nope.” Charlie stood up from the table. “That’s why I didn’t tell her I’ve declared for the Draft.”
“You didn’t tell me, either. When did you decide this? What happened to winning the Beanpot and all that?”
“I don’t know, man. I’m not that great a student, and I need to go out and see if I can do this. I don’t want to go to college, get injured, and never know if I could have played on that level.”
Gary shook his head. He knew that he and Charlie would be going their separate ways after the school year ended, but he wasn’t expecting this. “I’m assuming that there’s an agent involved in this, right?”
“No. I just decided to do it myself.”
“Kat’s gonna be pissed.”
“You can’t tell her. Not yet, anyway. I need to be the one to tell her. But not today.” Charlie walked out of the kitchen, and Gary watched him go. Everyone figured Charlie and Kat would be headed off to Boston University after graduation. Wrong, he thought, Kat had been the one tossing that idea around. He sure as hell didn’t want to be around when that A-bomb went off, that was for sure. He liked Kat well enough, but she wasn’t someone to be crossed, that’s for sure. He figured that it was something in her perky cheerleader DNA, some kind of misfire or something. He’d seen her temper once, and that was enough for him. Charlie had gotten plastered at a party that Kat’s father had thrown and Dan Masters had kicked him out of the house, still drunk. Kat had dressed him down something fierce, using words that Gary hadn’t ever heard strung together, and he’d figured that they were done. Three days later, he’d seen her car out at the Fortress, and that idea had gone out the window. But she occasionally reminded Charlie of it, and Gary knew that it bothered him. He finished his juice and headed out to the living room, where Jack and Bill were waiting.
Doug turned the Aspen up Gary’s driveway. It was quarter of eight, and he was behind schedule. He hadn’t gotten up until ten after seven, and it had only been because Kim had called to wish him good luck. He’d mumbled a quick thank you and then leapt out of bed. A quick shower and change later and he was out the door. No one had been awake in the house, but that was okay with him. His mom had worked late the night before, and Uncle John was still out at work, so there was no one in the house but him. Days like this in particular, he missed his dad.
He would come up the stairs from the basement, carrying his stick bag and his gear. Dad would be just home from the firehouse. He’d be sitting in the kitchen, drinking a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper while NPR played on the radio by the stove. They’d sit together as Doug ate his cereal and toast, and Dad would talk about the shift, or some crazy thing that one of ‘da boys’ had done down at the station. Doug would smile and laugh and make fun of his dad whenever he could, but he’d always listen to all the stories, even the ones he’d heard before. Then his dad would pick up his stick bag, and they’d go out to the car, or Dad would wait with him for Gary or Charlie to come and pick him up for the game. Randy O’Donnell would sit on the front steps, light a cigarette, and enjoy the cold morning air while they waited.
The morning that Randy hadn’t come back had been the morning of the semi-final game the year before. Doug had gotten up at the usual time, but no Dad. No one had been in the house at all, and so he’d sat out on the stoop alone, fighting back the cold by himself. Three hours later, after he’d scored a goal in the Tigers’ 6-1 drubbing of Hamden High, the coach pulled him aside and told him what had happened. Gary had driven him back to New Haven, and down to Yale-New Haven Hospital. They had been too late, though. Randy O’Donnell had headed off to his final alarm around the start of the second period.
God, I miss him so much, Doug thought as he climbed into the Aspen. He flew out to Gary’s place, King Crimson blaring from the boom box sitting on the seat next to him. He was trying to get himself psyched up for the game, and “21st Century Schizoid Man” usually did it for him. He pulled up to the front door, parking behind Gary’s Land Rover. He took a deep breath, and then switched on the happy-go-lucky Doug persona. As he got out, pulling his hockey bag from the back seat, Gary and the others came out of the house.
“You’re late,” Charlie said.
“Sorry, I was plowing your mom.”
Charlie leapt off the porch onto Doug and the two of them rolled around in the snow, laughing and wrestling. Gary rolled his eyes and walked over to the Land Rover. Charlie and Doug were like a couple of puppies when they got together, always scrapping and barking and making a spectacle of themselves. Jack walked over and kicked Charlie.
“Can you guys stop humping each other so we can go win another state title?”
Charlie hopped up and pulled Doug up, slapping his back as he did so. “I feel pretty invincible today, Jack. How about you, Doug?”
“I’m just looking forward to the party.” Doug smiled at Charlie. “Of course I’m ready to kick some Preppie ass. When am I not?” They got into Gary’s Land Rover. Gary turned out of the driveway and headed for the highway, bound for the Hartford Civic Center and the game.
3(b)
Charlie drove up the driveway towards the Ablett house. As he entered the clearing where the two-acre yard opened out from the woods, he noticed Doug and Bill’s cars up at the house. He didn’t really feel like seeing anyone at the moment, so he turned off the main drive and onto a small paved road that ran around the perimeter of the property. It ran up to a small building about 300 yards from the main house. This was the Abletts’ pool house, which also had a servants’ apartment attached to it. This was home for him. Burke had been happy to allow him his own space away from the house when he’d asked for it a few years ago, and Charlie had turned it into his “Fortress Of Solitude”, as Gary had dubbed it.
He went into his apartment, dropping his hockey bag in the mud room as he went. Joanna Ablett had decorated the apartment when the Abletts had moved in back in the 70's, and Charlie had kept the decor, more as a goof then anything else. Wall-to-wall shag carpeting ran through the living room and small dining area, and there was an beaten leather couch and easy chair in the same color. The one good thing that Joanna had done was installing a huge entertainment center/bookshelf unit on one wall of the living room. It had been stuffed with pulpy sci-fi and mystery paperbacks when Charlie moved in. He’d kept some, but replaced a lot of it with hockey cards and other memorabilia. On the wall next to the entertainment center, there was an autographed poster of Wayne Gretzky, who Charlie had met at a summer hockey camp two years before.
He was about to sit down to watch some Prep game films when he heard a noise coming from the pool area. Burke had turned an outdoor pool into an indoor when they’d moved in, but Charlie was usually the only one who used it. He walked over to the sliding door and pushed aside the curtain just enough to look through it. Someone was doing laps in his pool. Don’t be a dumbass, he thought, it’s not YOUR pool. He was about to drop the curtain and go back into his living room when the person swam up to the side and got out. Charlie was surprised when Colette climbed out of the pool and headed to get a towel. He was even more surprised to see that she was completely naked.
He stared for what seemed like an eternity, then backed off and dropped the curtain as she turned towards the sliding door. He backed into the living room, then made a loud noise as if he was just coming in the door. He walked back towards the sliding door. He pulled aside the curtain. Colette was dressed in jeans and a Holy Mother Athletic Department t-shirt(one of his), and was pulling on her boots.
“Hey.” He walked out onto the pool deck.
“Hey yourself.” She smiled at him. He wondered if she knew he was there. “I’m surprised you’re home. I figured you’d be at the rink until late.”
“No,” he replied, plopping down in a deck chair next to her, “I did what I had to this morning. I was at Price Club picking up a few more things for the party. Gary is nothing if not thorough. What the hell are we going to do with four hundred forks?”
She smiled. “So what’s on tap for tonight?”
“Game films, then early to bed. I need my rest for the game. Then tomorrow night, we howl at the moon.”
“Well, if I don’t see you before the game, this is for good luck.” She got up and kissed him on the cheek. He flushed, and she laughed a little. “You’ll do well tomorrow, I think. You’ve got that air of invincibility around you today.” She pulled her jacket on and headed out into the dark. Charlie watched her go, and then walked back into the living room. He sat down and put on the Prep game film, but his mind kept going back to Colette coming out of the water. He was attracted to her, and that was all fine and good, but he had to get his head back into the game. He shook his head and went back to the game films.
He went into his apartment, dropping his hockey bag in the mud room as he went. Joanna Ablett had decorated the apartment when the Abletts had moved in back in the 70's, and Charlie had kept the decor, more as a goof then anything else. Wall-to-wall shag carpeting ran through the living room and small dining area, and there was an beaten leather couch and easy chair in the same color. The one good thing that Joanna had done was installing a huge entertainment center/bookshelf unit on one wall of the living room. It had been stuffed with pulpy sci-fi and mystery paperbacks when Charlie moved in. He’d kept some, but replaced a lot of it with hockey cards and other memorabilia. On the wall next to the entertainment center, there was an autographed poster of Wayne Gretzky, who Charlie had met at a summer hockey camp two years before.
He was about to sit down to watch some Prep game films when he heard a noise coming from the pool area. Burke had turned an outdoor pool into an indoor when they’d moved in, but Charlie was usually the only one who used it. He walked over to the sliding door and pushed aside the curtain just enough to look through it. Someone was doing laps in his pool. Don’t be a dumbass, he thought, it’s not YOUR pool. He was about to drop the curtain and go back into his living room when the person swam up to the side and got out. Charlie was surprised when Colette climbed out of the pool and headed to get a towel. He was even more surprised to see that she was completely naked.
He stared for what seemed like an eternity, then backed off and dropped the curtain as she turned towards the sliding door. He backed into the living room, then made a loud noise as if he was just coming in the door. He walked back towards the sliding door. He pulled aside the curtain. Colette was dressed in jeans and a Holy Mother Athletic Department t-shirt(one of his), and was pulling on her boots.
“Hey.” He walked out onto the pool deck.
“Hey yourself.” She smiled at him. He wondered if she knew he was there. “I’m surprised you’re home. I figured you’d be at the rink until late.”
“No,” he replied, plopping down in a deck chair next to her, “I did what I had to this morning. I was at Price Club picking up a few more things for the party. Gary is nothing if not thorough. What the hell are we going to do with four hundred forks?”
She smiled. “So what’s on tap for tonight?”
“Game films, then early to bed. I need my rest for the game. Then tomorrow night, we howl at the moon.”
“Well, if I don’t see you before the game, this is for good luck.” She got up and kissed him on the cheek. He flushed, and she laughed a little. “You’ll do well tomorrow, I think. You’ve got that air of invincibility around you today.” She pulled her jacket on and headed out into the dark. Charlie watched her go, and then walked back into the living room. He sat down and put on the Prep game film, but his mind kept going back to Colette coming out of the water. He was attracted to her, and that was all fine and good, but he had to get his head back into the game. He shook his head and went back to the game films.
