The tryouts

After an hour of Do-it-yourself television, John’s father decided to get motivated. This meant that John must also get up from watching television, to help. The television had failed to mention that all the maintenance to get ready for the winter should be done before the winter arrives. John’s dad had not picked up on this himself. It was 17 degrees outside and he was getting ready to go up into the attic for a bit of “tightening up”.



“I’m going up there now to see if what all they were saying is true. You want to come?” said John’s dad.

“Not really, I’m going to the park with Matt.” said John.

“Are you? Did you do your homework?”

“Not yet, but it’s the start of Christmas vacation. I have all week to get it done.”

“But if you wait you’ll likely forget how to do algebra. With all the eating and skating, you might fall on your head. What happens if you break you arm or something during your hockey tryouts?”

“I think I’ll be alright.” said John.

“Just to be sure, Go do it now! Unless you want to come up to the attic with me for an inspection. I’m sure I can find something that may take all weekend.”



John got up from the floor, dragging his feet and hanging his head he went upstairs to his room. From his window overlooking the street, John saw the icicles. The man on television had said if there were icicles that had formed too soon after a major snowfall, too much heat was escaping from the attic. The icicles outside John’s window were a sure indication that his weekend would be spent helping his dad lay extra insulation. John looked back and forth from his algebra homework to the winter scene outside. His neighbor Dennis and his little brother were running by with sleds in tow. Dennis made sure his brother fell behind by tossing his sled into John’s yard behind the thorn bushes. Both boys were covered head to toe. A wool hat, jacket, mittens, ski pants, and boots were the uniform of every kid who still played outside in the winter.



Tapping his pencil on his notebook John decided to get the answers to his homework from the back of his text. He could copy the work later before the next day of school. His dad wouldn’t know the difference; math was not his strong suit.

As John tried to make his escape he smashed into the attic stairs. His dad had blocked the hallway with the pull down steps from the attic.

“Are you done with your homework already?” his dad asked.

“It was easy. I’ll be home for dinner. What are we having?” said John

“One of your mother’s old recipes, Sweet & sour Chicken. Tell your sister to come home for dinner too if you see her at the park.”

         John fully expected to see his older sister Natalie at the park. Any kid that wasn’t either grounded or retarded was at the park. The younger kids would be sledding and making snow forts. The older kids would be playing pond hockey or figure skating. The teenagers would be hanging out behind the old red barn smoking cigarettes and using the middle school kids as target practice with snowballs. John was in the precarious position of falling in between the two groups. His sister had just turned 16.

John ran to the garage to get his hockey stick. He threw it over his shoulder with his skates dangling from the end of his stick. All John’s sticks were hand me downs from his dad. The shafts were all cut down to his height, but the blades were all freakishly big for a kid his size. He was hoping for some new sticks, maybe even some skates for Christmas.



John met Matt at the edge of the frozen pond. He had his skates on already and was watching the older kids play on the far side of the pond.

“You think were ready?” Matt asked

“For what? Those jerks? Half of them can’t even skate. They just hit puberty early and got huge overnight. We’re better than at least half those guys.” said John.

“I don’t know. I’ve been scouting them out for about twenty minutes now while I waited for your slow ass. They cycle and actually pass to each other. Their defense actually stays high” said Matt.

“Scouting? What for, all those guys are already on the team.”

“I don’t know then. I didn’t feel like standing on the side of the game while I waited for you.”

John finished tying his skates and sat for a minute watching the varsity game. The coming week brought the tryouts for the high school hockey teams.

Quinton was known throughout the region as one of the best public school hockey programs in the commonwealth. Quinton teams didn’t rebuild, they reloaded. The park’s pond acted as a practice rink for all those already on the team. All others were forced to play on the outskirts of the pond. Were the ice was thin and uneven.

“Let’s get on the ice. I want to play a little before it gets too crowded on this side.” John says.

John and Matt passed around for a while and organized a game with a few other younger kids. The sun began to set and the air grew cold.

“Hey, I got to go find my sister before we go.” said John.

“That’s fine I’m gonna go home, it’s starting to get cold.” said Matt.

Both boys skated off and got back into their boots. After working up a sweat and then stopping to sit and untie skates outside was the worst.

“You think she’s up at the Barn?” asked Matt.

“Yeah, I saw some of the guys go up in that direction a little while ago.” said John.

         John and Matt made their way around the pond and started up the hill toward the Barn. A few kids came exploding out of the woods and over the snow bank on to icy road on their sleds. Laughing and screaming as they passed John and Matt. The park’s own black diamond sled hill was the same one that led to the barn. One had to be careful on their way up.

As John and Matt grew closer to the barn the sound of laughter and the smell of cigarettes grew stronger. They rounded the corner to a dozen kids hanging out getting a head start to their vacation. Most of the group ignored the two younger boys.

“Hey Connolly! Come over here!” said Jerry Cavanaugh, the captain of the varsity hockey team.

“So, what’s up? What are you two doing up hear?” said Jerry. Before John could answer “You and your buddy gonna be at tryouts this week? I saw the two of you out last week playing for Mr. Byron’s team before our practice. You guys have a chance. Just make sure you don’t over do it before tryouts.”

John was flattered that Jerry had even spoken to him. Having an older sibling did have certain social advantages.

“Thanks, how many spots are there this year?” said John.

“Three I think.” said Jerry. “You too, you little guinea. Keep up the good work.”

“Thanks man.” said Matty.

“I saw both you guys skating around today. Just don’t be wise to coach, show him that you want to play, don’t just tell him.” said Jerry.

“Cool. So, ah, have you seen my sister?” asked John.

“Yeah she’s over there with Tommy.”

John looked over to where he had pointed and saw his sister latched on to Tom Cameron, a senior and right wing on the second line of the varsity team. That was the same position John played.

“Hey John, I’m gonna head home.” Matt said.

“Hold on, wait a minute.” said John.

“What for?”

“Just hold on, let me get my sister first.”

John was nervous, Tom was drinking beers and was usually a dick to freshman and basically everybody not on the team.

“Hey Natalie, Come here.” said John.

He kept his distance trying to get Natalie’s attention while Tom wasn’t looking. Even in the low light and through her hair John could see her roll her eyes. She ignored him.

“Natalie, come here.”

She squatted down, placed her beer in the snow and started over towards John and Matt.

“Hey Matty, how are your two sisters?” said Natalie.

“They’re good. Janet’s home for Christmas break, Julie stayed out west for the holidays.” said Matty.

“We’ll tell them I said hi, you’re mom too. What do YOU want anyway?”

John answered “Dad wants you to come home for dinner. He’s making sweet and sour chicken so it’s special.”

“Mom’s was so good. I’m mean sooo good. It’s been how long since we had that?”

“Try almost two years, dah Natalie, since mom left.” said John.

“Well dad’s just gonna mess it up anyway.”

“You should come home anyway, why you want to hang out here?”

“I’m fine here, I have friends here, plus dad will just end up bitching at me for smelling like smoke or some other dumb shit.”

“Whatever, do whatever you want.”

John and Matty started their separate ways down the hill.

As they turned the corner to head home there was Tom. He was peeing against the side of the barn. When he heard John and Matty he turned without stopping. Pee went all over John’s jeans.

For what seemed like five minutes John just stared down at his jeans as they went from wet and warm to cold and degrading. Tom was zipped up and laughing.

“What the hell was that?” said John.

“You just got peed on that’s what. I didn’t do it on purpose so fucking relax.” said Tom. He was still grinning and John doubted if it had been an accident.

“You’re an asshole!” said John.

“Watch it little kid. Just because your sister wants me, doesn’t mean I won’t kick your ass.”

John looked over and saw his sister walking towards them with her friend Julie Crowley.

“What is the matter with you? Why don’t you just go home?” said Natalie.

“I’m trying to, but your fucking boyfriend just pissed on me.” said John.

“He peed on him.” said Matt.

“So you guys are back here having a pissing match. And he’s not my boyfriend.” said Natalie. Tom looked toward Natalie with a look of disappointment.

“Match, there was no match! I didn’t get to piss on him. And if you’re not his girlfriend, why did he say you want him?” said John. Julie and Matt burst into laughter.

“You said what?” Natalie asked Tom. He ignored her.

“You better shut the hell up with your laughing.” said Tom. “You two better just go home now unless you want to get your ass beat.”

“You’re not going to touch my brother. And you’re not going to touch me either, jerk.”

“Whatever, you're just some fucked up skank with no mom to tell you how to treat a guy anyway.” said Tom. Right after he said it, even Tom’s expression showed he knew he had said too much.

         John grabbed his skates from his shoulder and flung them at Tom. One of the blades met with Tom’s outstretching arms. Before the skates hit the snow John lunged at Tom with his hockey stick. Natalie and Julie were screaming as Matt stood wide eyed with a stupefied grin. The schoolyard chant of “Fight, Fight, Fight, Fight” echoed in the background.

Like a gladiator, John lunged at Tom with the business end of his stick out in front of him.

Tom grabbed the stick and used it to fling John down the hill. Tom turned to the crowd now gathered in a circle. He picked out Matt and swung the stick at him. The girls in the group screamed in a chorus of chaos. Jerry Cavanaugh held everyone else back.

Matt raised his stick in defense. Tom swiped at it knocking it out of his hands. He pushed Matt to the ground, sat on his chest, and began punching him.

Natalie and Julie had picked up the two abandoned hockey sticks. They proceeded to hit Tom on the back without much effect. By now John worked his way back up the hill and picked up his skates. Some of the girls screamed for Tom to turn around. Tom turned to see John standing behind him with his skates held up like boxing gloves. He got up off of Matt, looked at the two girls gasping for breaths.

“Fuck it. I don’t care who you’re related to. I’m gonna kill you kid.” said Tom.

“Take it easy now Tommy.” said Jerry. By now the crowd was growing quite. Matt lay on the ground with a bloody nose and a busted lip. Tom began walking toward John ignoring his friend. John backed up as Tom approached. He ran out of room and bumped into the gutter of the barn behind him. He lost his footing on a patch of ice and fell to the ground. Tom approached and stood over him, smiling. He gave John a swift kick in the stomach knocking the breath out of him.

“Nowhere to squirm to you little fucking worm.” said Tom. “You fucked up big time. Not only are you gonna get beat down, but you might as well forget about trying out for the team. I’m gonna make sure you ass can’t skate.”

John swung his skate at Tom’s leg striking his shin with the blade. Tom tried to avoid the swing but in doing so slipped awkwardly on the patch of ice. His knee buckled in an awful and unnatural way. Tom let out a horrible whelp as he hit the ground. Like a dog getting beat with a board.

“My fucking leg, you broke my fucking leg!”

Jerry Cavanaugh ran to Tom and kneeled down to examine his teammate.

Jerry assessed the situation and took action “Holy crap. Holy crap! That doesn’t look good. Somebody call an ambulance. Julie go hide those beers, Natalie get your fucking brother out of here. Someone take this other kid home.”

“Matt, my name’s Matt. But you can call me Matty” said Matt. He was wiping the blood from his face. He looked at John with wide eyes and a look of disbelief.

         As they walked home John and Natalie remained silent. They both stopped outside the kitchen window where they could see their dad inside. They watched as he banged dishes and glasses together with the grace of a bull in a china shop. He started swearing to himself. First John then Natalie started to laugh as they walked through the back door and into the kitchen.

“Oh, Natalie, I didn’t think you were gonna make it.” said her dad. “Let me set another place.”

“I’ll get it dad.” said Natalie. She went to the drawer and started to help her dad.

“I’m going to go upstairs to change.” said John.

The family sat and ate in silence. There was no mention of Natalie’s stinky jacket. No comments about the cuts on John’s face. They just sat and savored the sweet and sour chicken that they had missed for so long.

During tryouts the following week, Jerry Cavanaugh all but ignored John and Matt. The coaches and the captains didn’t address anyone by name. John did his best to let his play on the ice determine his fate. He avoided Jerry, most of the middle school kids went out of their way to kiss his ass. As John exited the locker room with Matt they glanced into the coach’s office and caught the attention of Coach Moss.

“Hey Connolly, come in here.” said coach. “I want to talk to you about something.”

John stopped and swallowed the lump in his throat. He looked at Matt who only had shrugged his shoulders.

“Yes sir?” said John.

“I hear that you had something to do with me losing one of my wingers?” said coach.

John stood slack jawed without an answer.

“Hey, I’m sure whatever Cameron got he probably deserved. I just want to know if I’m going to have any problems with you.”

“No sir, no problems. None at all.” said John.

“This doesn’t mean you got a spot for sure so I don’t want you going around and shooting your mouth that you already made the cut. Understand?” said coach.

“I understand. Yes sir.”

“Alright, Oh, and tell your father I said hello. IF you do make the team you got to tell him he has to come to some of the games. I haven’t seen him since… Well I haven’t seen him in a while. Okay.”

“Sure, no problem.”

“Alright then, send your buddy in here.”

John exited the office beaming. Matt’s eyes lit up as well when John told him to go in after him.

He sat outside waiting for his friend. It didn’t matter what twisted revenge Tom Cameron was planning. John had made the cut. That and the fact that his sister was spending more time at home earned him some new sticks. Maybe even some new skates.