The Duck
Farm
Chapter
5: Old Acquaintances
(Un) Important babbling-notes from Cimmy: Yes, I’m back with a few updates. I know I’ve been quite absent for a while, but I’ve been busy with the website. And also I’ve had a major writer’s block during the holidays. Anyway, I’m back now...
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Notes: From Charlie’s point of view.
Well, the whole team was located for a while. That didn’t happen very often, so Charlie decided to take the opportunity to talk to them all before their coaches showed up.
After last night’s little hike in the forest, while trying to find Guy and Cecilia, they’d run into some trouble. Now when Cecilia and Guy was back, they could all focus on the next obstacle.
Travis had been able to find the roaster for all of the tournament’s participated teams. Charlie had leafed it through earlier this morning, and now he had to tell the rest of his teammates.
Charlie cleared his throat to make him heard over the usual noise in the locker-room. No one paid any attention to him, so he cleared his throat again, this time a little louder. When that didn’t help, he lost his patience.
“Everybody, shut up!” he yelled. They turned to look at him. “Thank you. I have something to tell you.”
“Who’s lost now? I’m not going out on any more ‘expeditions’,” Nish complained. “If anyone else gets lost, don’t count on me to help out.”
“And how much did you help last night?” Fred asked. “Between the bitching and the moaning, I never saw you look for anything else but blue-berries.”
“Shut up,” Charlie growled. “I actually have something to say!”
Cecilia gazed at him. “What?”
“My loyal assistant captain,” Charlie began, and threw an eye at Cecilia. “Not you Cee.” Cecilia made a face at him. “...has found out about the opposite teams we’re playing against.”
“So?” Sarah said. “What’s so special about that?”
“Well, this is gonna be a pretty interesting tournament. Does any of these names sound familiar?” he replied, waiting for everybody to turn their attention to him. “Sarah, maybe you’ve heard of the White Wings?”
Sarah nodded slowly.
“And Adam, does the word Hawks say anything to you?”
“Ah, man,” complained Adam.
“Nish, maybe you know a team called the Wolverines?”
“You’re kidding?!” Nish exclaimed and got up from the bench. “Lemme see that paper!”
Charlie pushed him away. “Could you just listen? Other teams that are listed are... Eden Hall Warriors, Screech Owls, Portland Panthers, Blake Bears...”
He never finished the list, because the noise got too loud in the room. Everybody began to talk at once.
“I thought this was a national tournament!” Nish almost yelled. “Why the hell are there Canadian teams too?”
“There’s other countries too,” Charlie explained.
“I’ll kill myself if you say ‘Iceland Vikings’,” Guy moaned.
Charlie shrugged. “No, I won’t say them. I haven’t heard of the other teams. But there’s a Swedish team too. Maybe you guys have heard about them?” he said to Fred.
“Who?”
“The Eagles. Does that ring a bell?” Charlie asked.
“No,” Fred replied. “Have you heard about them?”
Both Marcus and Erik said no, so Fred turned to Cecilia. “Have you?”
“Does it say from what city they’re from?” she asked quietly.
“Uhm... I can’t pronounce it. It has those weird letters in the name,” Charlie said and handed over the paper to Fred.
Fred read the word Charlie had referred to. “Västerås.”
“Can I see that?” Cecilia asked.
While she buried herself in the paper, Charlie hushed the rest of the team. “Shut up,” he said again. “Don’t tell this to Coach Bombay or Muck, okay? They don’t need to know all about this.”
“Why? They’ll find out anyway,” Connie pointed out. “They know which team we’ve played up against.”
“Not all. Bombay doesn’t know which teams we played against at Eden Hall. He just know about the Warriors,” Charlie replied. “Did you recognize that team, or what?”
Cecilia stared at him for a second, and then she sighed. “Yeah. Man, this sucks.”
She grabbed her helmet and went to the door. She kicked the box with all the pucks, and they all fell out on the floor with a crash.
“Somehow I expected that from her,” Charlie said. “Our first game is tomorrow. Let’s just find out as much as possible about our opponents, okay?”
Travis nodded. “We can talk to the Owls. They shouldn’t be too hard to find.”
“I’ll help,” Sarah offered. “Nish can help too.”
“I can?” Nish asked. “Can’t I just... not help?”
“Everybody helps out,” Charlie said. “Just remember to not let Bombay and Muck know!”
They all agreed.
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Notes: From Nish’s point of view.
Nish skated over to Cecilia. She was skating around the goal in circles, while staring into the ice.
“Hey, what’s your problem?” he asked.
“I don’t have a problem.”
Nish stopped in front of her and pushed her backwards. She looked up and stared at him. “Cut it out,” she whined.
“We have practice, so stop being a pain. We need everyone to be at their best at this tournament. Didn’t you hear what Charlie said?”
“Who made him king of the team?”
“I believe it was Bombay and Muck,” Nish replied.
“Well, why are you disturbing me? You never listen to Charlie either,” she pointed out. “Have you gotten yourself a conscious all of a sudden? I don’t like it.”
Nish sighed. “I just think you’re behaving childish....”
“Ha!” Cecilia interrupted.
“...but if you want to ruin our chances to win, fine by me. Go ahead, ruin the day.”
“They are going to kill us all,” Cecilia muttered.
“Don’t let them. Whom are you talking about?”
“The team from New York. The Rats, or whatever the hell they’re called. They are going to actually kill us all off.”
“Don’t be dumb. Who are they?”
“Just some team I’ve heard about,” Cecilia answered. “Anyway, if anyone need to be sacrificed to win a horrible tournament it should be me, right?”
“You’re stupid, Cecilia.”
“Yes I am. And crazy, insane, out of my mind, daft, mental and nuts too,” she growled.
Nish grabbed her arm. “That team from Sweden, who are they?”
“Just a stupid team.”
Nish watched as she skated away. “I recognized the name on the paper,” he shouted after her.
“Not so surprising, he’s my brother,” she yelled back.
Nish sighed. They were so going to lose this tournament.
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