If one wanted to know anything about the team, if one suspected that
another had a secret to hide, and one really wanted to find out what it was,
then one was greatly benefited if they talked with Alex Tanguay. The kid seemed
to be a sponge for gossip, he absorbed every little detail on the team, and it
was easy as pressing the liquid out of a sponge to get the information from
him.
“Peter got his girlfriend pregnant,” Tanguay said, blinking his large,
doe-like eyes and shrugging. “At least that’s what Patty
said.”
“What?” Joe exclaimed, even though he knew he had heard the kid
correctly. Almost with dramatic coincidence, a crack of lightning flashed over
the plane and caused a nervous jostle within the team. “How does Patty
know?”
Tanguay frowned and leaned forward, whispering loudly, “Well, Peter you
know he been like real depressed and all, and then he asked Patty for advice
like he want to know if maybe his girl is trying to trap him. And Patty he say
that he tell him what’s the difference as long as Peter love
her.”
Joe nodded, he could feel himself frowning a little bit and he glanced
over at Patty who was sitting behind them a few rows. He looked irritated as he
was talking with David Aebischer. “And why did Patty tell you this?” Joe
asked.
“He was bored I guess,” Tanguay said. “He was just talking you
know.”
“Oh,” Joe said and he leaned back in his seat.
Peter, with a baby? Somehow that seemed like an impossible phrase. He
knew that Peter got along quite well with children when absolutely called upon
but it was never something the Swede ever volunteered for. Joe had always known
him to be that quiet voiced, yet wicked womanizing, young man that had first sat
shyly in a corner in the Nordiques locker room. He had just been a pair of large
pale eyes then, nodding when spoken to and saying little more than,
“OK.”
He was still like that; it was amazing how little some people can
actually change. Peter still sat in corners in the locker room; he was still a
quiet voice. He never seemed to get after anyone’s defensive mistakes,
goaltending mistakes, or called anyone out to perform. If he did say anything it
was always to apologize for the transgressions he imagined were in his game and
to say, “OK” when spoken to.
How could someone so unassuming in the locker room be such a monster on
the ice and in countless bedrooms of countless women? Now he would be a father?
That was of course assuming that Josefina would keep the baby. And that was of
course assuming that Peter would take the responsibility for
it.
Joe saw Peter across the plane; he was holding a honey colored fluffy
bear with a pale blue ribbon around its neck. Parker was sitting next to him and
pushing in the stomach of the bear. The grin on Parker’s face was similar to
that of a grizzly bear. Of course Peter would take the responsibility for it.
There were no questions as to whom that bear belonged to.
Joe felt a smile across his mouth. It would be a good thing for Peter. He
could still remember the first time Mitchell was nestled into his arms, blinking
with large eyes that were identical to the tired eyes of his wife. She was so
beautiful, pale and exhausted from the birth. And the twins.... they had both
been tempting fate with that one, but Debbie had been adamant about keeping both
of them within her womb. “I’m healthy, Joe!” Debbie had declared, so recently
recovered from a surgery. “They will be our babies!”
“Hey Peter,” Joe called out to Forsberg as they were milling in the
airport. “Need a ride home?”
Peter didn’t look Joe straight in the eye. “Nah,” he said, “I got a ride
with Parker. Thanks.”
Joe reached out and squeezed Peter on the arm, “Hey,” he
said.
Peter’s eyes met his; they were tired, sad, and
glossy.
“We’re here for you, don’t worry. It’ll be wonderful,” Joe
said.
A sudden smile spread over Peter, a perfect ivory one. “Yeah,” he said.
“I know!”
Debbie looked as if she had been crying when Joe saw her with the other
wives. Her face was puffy and her eyes were red rimmed. Michele Roy had her arm
around Debbie’s waist and Debbie was leaning her head on her shoulder. Michele
looked sad as well. Wives’ spat perhaps?
Debbie was silent on the car ride home. A couple of times Joe could hear
her breathing quicken and catch with a repressed sob. He didn’t want her
breaking down in the car so he didn’t ask her what was
wrong.
They got home sometime after three in the morning, they were silent as
they peeled out of their winter coats and then walked slowly up the stairs to
their bedroom. Mitchell’s bedroom door was open and Joe saw
Still, Debbie didn’t say a thing as they changed into nightclothes and
slid under their thick blankets. Maybe he should bring up something to tell her,
something nice.
“So,” Joe said in the dark,
“I hear Peter’s going to be a father?”
“No he’s not,” Debbie said in a sharp voice.
“He’s not?” Joe asked, suddenly confused.
“No,” Debbie repeated. “Josefina, she lost the baby around
Joe felt a huge pity and sadness within his chest. A child they never
would know. That Debbie would have to be there and witness it and sensitive
Peter just as he was beginning to accept it. “I’m sorry that had to happen,” Joe
said quietly. “I’m sorry you had to be there.” Joe suddenly felt somewhat angry
at Josefina’s plight. Any amount of stress could trigger the unpleasant
realities of Debbie’s disease, and a miscarriage was certainly a stressful
time.
“Not as sorry as Josefina,” Debbie said curtly, “She was devastated. Joe
it was terrible! I’ve never seen heartbreak like that before! Her eyes they were
so large and sad... and I didn’t know what to do for
her...”
Debbie stopped talking and he could hear it again, the holding back of
her sobs. This was a slice of pain for Joe. Debbie rarely cried. She was a
quiet, strong woman and shedding tears didn’t come often. She was so accustomed
to coping with pain that this was unbearable.
Joe hugged her to him, feeling her heat, her dampened face against his
throat, smelling her clean, soft hair. “It’s not fair!” Debbie whispered. “What
did she do to deserve losing her baby? She came to Mimi and I for help just a
couple days ago... and she was so happy when she accepted
it.”
“Ssssh,” Joe whispered and he kissed the top of her head. He closed his
eyes embarrassed at the desire that was filling his body for her. This wasn’t a
good time at all. He couldn’t possibly with her in this state, having gone
through this stress. She was no doubt weakened and exhausted and in no
mood!
“Joe?” Debbie said quietly, in a calm voice.
Joe rolled away from her, not wanting to confront her with the pent up
desire of not seeing her in almost a week. She didn’t need it now. She didn’t
need to be overwhelmed and used just to relieve his
selfishness.
“Joe, honey,” Debbie whispered. “It’s alright, I’ve missed you too.” He
felt her warm, fragile little hand on his back, tickling and arousing him. What
a wonderful woman she was, just trying to please him to make him feel better.
She didn’t need to do these things and he wasn’t about to take advantage of her
in this state.
“It’ll be better in the morning,” Joe said. “I think we all need some
sleep.”
Joe fell asleep quickly after he said that and he felt Debbie roll over
on the bed and he thought he heard her sigh in an almost irritated fashion. Now
why would she do that? But Joe didn’t remember that sigh when he woke up in the
morning and he wouldn’t think about it again.
Large eyes.
That’s what Joe always remembered. They were always around him, spooked,
and quiet, questing and adoring. It was like having a small dog at one’s heels,
a dog that has been kicked once too often.
They had never been on the same team, it never ceased to surprise Joe
when reporters would either publicize that they were or ask him about it.
History had just seen fit to entangle their names in the same unpleasantness and
so therefore, in the minds of most people, they had always been
together.
Joe didn’t deny their similar circumstances but wasting tears upon it
would be pointless. Wasting rage, and energy, all of that was a non-issue when
faced with the responsibilities one had before them.
Debbie adored him even more than Joe would have liked to admit. Joe
sometimes felt light-headed around him more often than he would have liked to
admit. Some people were just naturally endearing as they sat next to you, and
smiled, and showed you large eyes that melted with their
emotions.
“Oh, Joe, honey,” Debbie said, kissing him on the cheek as he was going
out the door to practice. “I took the initiative to invite Theo to dinner
tonight, is that OK?”
Joe raised his eyebrows, saw the large eyes again in his mind. Debbie
certainly cared for him. “Sure,” he said. “That’s fine as long as it doesn’t
keep you in the kitchen to long.”
They would be playing the Blackhawks tomorrow night. Joe hadn’t really
thought about it but of course Theo was playing with the team now. He would be
in town and available for Debbie to call.
He had wanted Theo to stay with the team years ago. There was a crackling
fire in the little man that Joe loved to watch on the ice, and felt happy to
have on his side. History wasn’t kind and it always came back to haunt both of
them in questions. Now that they were on the same team for the first time, the
press and people couldn’t help but feel that they had made some sort of
connection about the two.
Joe fielded the press with the same amount of plausible denial but Theo
seemed to wilt underneath questions and scrutiny. Joe knew it was over when he’d
seen Theo’s large eyes almost melt in nausea during the conference finals when
Patrick bellowed in the locker room about wanting “his stars to play like
stars”.
“I don’t wanna go to the basement!” Theo had wailed in private he had
clung to Joe, weeping and muttering.
There would be no forgiving Theo’s missing game six. So there had been no
Theo after that.
When Joe entered the locker room that morning for practice, he could tell
by the almost funeral expressions on the team’s faces that the news had spread
fast. The woman must have been what, two weeks, three weeks pregnant? Still it
was enough to send the sadness through the team; enough to dampen their
spirit.
Joe looked around the locker room. “Where’s Pete?” he
asked.
Hejduk looked up with his large, brown eyes, “Coach said he go home
today, no practice for him today. He have day off, poor Peter, poor
baby.”
Joe nodded. That was sound. It would be best to let him have his private
time with Josefina. There would be a lot of sorting out for them to
do.
“Hi Theo!” Joe heard Debbie’s voice that evening as he and Mitchell were
finishing setting the table. Wanting to keep the dinner a strictly family
affair, Joe had given Cecile the night off so that he could have the children
with them at the dinner. And now he was wondering if he should regret that as he
had a twin giggling at either side of him so it was quite a task getting things
done. When the doorbell had rang, Debbie had gone to answer
it.
Fleury entered the dining room behind Debbie with a huge white, smile.
Evidently he was wearing his teeth and Debbie was holding a huge bouquet of
flowers.
“Hi THEO!” Mitchell exclaimed and he ran up to him.
“Hey!” Theo said in his surprisingly deep voice and he tousled Mitchell’s
hair. “How ye doing kid?”
“Fine,” Mitchell said soberly.
“Man you’ve gotten tall!” Theo exclaimed, “You were practically a baby
when I saw you last!”
“I was?” Mitchell asked in an awed voice.
“Sure,” Theo said. “You probably... came up to my
knee.”
“Wow!” Mitchell said. “When I grow up I wanna be just as tall as
you!”
“Oh!” Theo said and he looked up at Joe with large smiling eyes. “That’s
a first!”
Joe smiled back.
“Send it over! Send it over!” Joe barked he could already see a man
sliding to block Hejduk’s shot. Milan didn’t even look up at Joe and he sent the
puck to him. Joe could see a maze of bodies in front of him and he didn’t waste
a second in sending the puck straight to Tanguay. The boy immediately lifted the
puck up and over the catching glove of Thibeault and into the net. The red light
went on, the horn blared and the crowd erupted. “Atta boy!” Joe said to Tangers
who was beaming from ear to ear. “Waste no time in shooting
it.”
“Well we got a lead!” Alex said his large eyes shining with
relief.
Joe laughed and glanced at Patty, as the goalie seemed to be nonchalantly
sweeping the snow from his crease. How could he feign being calm? Of course he
wasn’t calm inside with his eyes large and blue. They had been tied at zero for
most of this game and Patrick had no doubt been feeling the heavy strain of not
allowing a single goal.
Joe couldn’t understand the intricacies of choosing to be a goaltender
but he did understand the balance of responsibilities a team shared with a
goaltender. It was an interesting chemistry and one he enjoyed watching the
occasional ripples in. Patrick had been snipping and yelling the entire game, on
your left, to your right, behind you, take it down, take it down, take it down.
Not once did he yell, “Get me two goals you pinheads I can’t get two shut outs
in a row!” Did he want to yell that? Joe knew that if he were, God forbid, a
goaltender that’s what he would want to yell.
“You know Patty,” Joe said to the goalie as he skated around his
net.
“Yeah?” Patty said as he squirted a shot of water into his
mouth.
Blink, blink. Large Blue eyes or, Joe thought with another smile, more
appropriately, large Bleu eyes! He could see the curious light
there.
“How ya holding up?”
“Very good,” Patrick said. “Very good.”
“Aw well you’re impressing me,” Joe said and he saw the glow there in
those large eyes, peeking from his cage.
“Merci,” Patrick said. “Five minutes... five
minutes...”
“I mean,” Joe added, feeling wicked. “I don’t know how you do it. I would
be dying if I were you knowing that you had a donut the last game and if we
don’t come through tonight in the next five minutes then our two points tonight
hangs upon your performance for the remainder of this period. I couldn’t do
it.”
Patrick’s eyes widened. Joe didn’t know why he had said all of that other
than a morbid curiosity to see if Patrick’s eyes could possibly get any bigger.
They could and they did. It was quite a sight.
“I will do my best,” Patrick whispered and Joe wondered if he was about
to throw up. Joe laughed quietly to himself as he skated away from Patty.
“Hey Robbie,” Joe said.
“Yup,” Blake replied.
“Take extra care around Patty for the next five minutes OK?” Joe said. “I
might have spooked him a bit so he’s gonna need some extra
help.”
“Why’d ya go and do that!” Rob exclaimed.
Joe shrugged. “I dunno. I just wanted to see how large his eyes would
get.”
TV time out was over and Joe took the face-off, winning it back to Blake.
They began to skate the puck into the Blackhawks’ zone when Joe felt the
concentrated force of Fleury nagging at his arm. Annoyed, Joe tried to swat him
off with his arm and Theo grabbed it. Joe kicked at him and as Theo fell he made
a big show of hanging onto Joe’s arm.
“Dammit Theo get off!” Joe snapped.
The whistle blew and Joe swore again.
“Tripping!” the ref snapped at Joe and Joe felt that annoyance inside
him. Before Joe could say anything the ref also snapped at Theo, “And you,
unsportsmanlike, DIVING!”
Joe exchanged glances with
Theo and his sheepish brown eyes. Theo simply shrugged.
Mistakes can be made when one gets caught up in the eyes like that. Joe
knew it was a weakness that fascinated him, the different expressions that can
flicker through a person’s expression. Theo had the power to distract him like
that and Joe reminded himself of the dangers of distraction and fascination as
he sat in the penalty box. Normally he would have skated through a body tugging
at his arm like that, with Theo he had lost his head and snapped at him, and
struck at him.
“Well,” he said to the timekeeper. “Least I’m giving ‘em a run at OT
early.”
“You’re still leading the game,” the timekeeper
said.
Joe looked up at the scoreboard. “Yup. Sure are.”
Joe stood up in the box and peered at the teams as they skated around the
rink. “Hey,” Joe said to the timekeeper. “Lookit our D, I... I... I... bet that
uh... oooo that was a hit! Blakie really laid him out there.... Yeah I told em
to take extra special care of Patty I bet they’ll lay it out here.
Watch.”
“Of course they will,” the timekeeper replied. “Why wouldn’t
they?”
“Yeah,” Joe smiled. “Why wouldn’t they?”
One, two, three consecutive shot blocks by Messier and then Hinote. The
last blocked shot flew off Noter’s legs and Blake took it down the other end of
the ice.
“Come on Blakie!” Joe barked. “Come on boy!”
There was a loud ping from the post and Joe closed his eyes. “Not fair!”
he said.
There was no scoring for either team on the four on four and no scoring
for the remainder of the game.
“Hey,” Joe said with a grin to Patrick as he patted him on the shoulder.
“Ya did it! Two consecutive shut-outs!”
“Eh, not without incentive yes?” Patrick said jovially, his large eyes
now half closed and sparkling.
“Maybe,” Joe said feeling quiet inside. “Maybe.”
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