“Alex,” Roman warned from the hallway.
Alex gave Tomas the finger and continued on to the front door.
“What’s wrong?” Lara asked as he passed her.
Alex put his hand up to indicate he couldn’t talk. He walked out of the office and headed down Main Street, oblivious to his surroundings, his emotions in an uproar. His phone rang. He saw that it was Lara but he was too agitated to talk.
A half hour later he was all the way downtown with no recollection of getting there. He went into a coffee shop at the corner of Main and East Pender. He wasn’t going to quit, he decided. He wouldn’t give Tomas the satisfaction and besides, where was he going to find another boss who would give him time off whenever he needed it? But if Tomas said another good word about Zarkov and Koralic, he was going to clock him.
His phone rang again. This time he answered.
“Are you okay?” Lara asked in a concerned voice.
“I’m fine.”
“What happened? … I can’t believe Tomas is such a moron,” she said after he told her. “How can anybody think those horrible men are heroes?”
“He’s not the only one,” Alex said. “That’s why they haven’t been caught yet.” And if things kept going the way they were, they never would.
SEVENTEEN
Alex was hungry enough to eat a horse by the time Kenny Nelson dropped him off at Lombardo’s after the game against Chilliwack.
“Great game, Alex. You were fantastic, man,” Kenny said as Alex got out of the car. “We would have lost without you.”
“Thanks. See you tomorrow,” Alex said.
Alex walked into the restaurant with a bounce in his stride. Richmond had defeated a surprisingly pesky Chilliwack team 3–0, but the game was a lot closer than the score indicated. The Cougars came out flat at the start of the game, and if Alex hadn’t been as sharp as he was—turning aside three legitimate scoring opportunities in the first five minutes—the Condors would have grabbed an early lead that could have changed the outcome.
Coach Hampton singled out Alex for praise in the locker room after the game. “You guys talk about winning the championship, but I didn’t see anything resembling a championship team out there tonight,” he said. “A fifty-minute effort in a sixty-minute game isn’t going to get it done. Alex was the only man in this locker room who was ready to play from the opening face-off.” He slowly looked around the room to make sure everyone got the point.
Alex’s teammates were equally appreciative. Even Earl Bales congratulated him, although Alex knew that didn’t mean Bales had stopped hoping that Alex would screw up so he could replace him as the starting goalie. Fair enough, Alex thought. Earl could hope all he wanted, but if Alex kept playing the way he was, he just might be wearing a University of Minnesota uniform before Bales got his chance.
Stefan and Anna came into the restaurant. “How was your game, sweetie?” Anna asked as they sat down at the table.
“Good. We won 3–0.”
“That’s great,” Stefan said.
“How did you guys do?” Alex asked.
“We won 1–0.”
“You should have seen your brother,” Anna said. “He was fantastic.”
Alex felt the air go out of him. He pasted a smile on his face. “Way to go, bro,” he said.
“Isn’t that amazing?” Anna said. “You both got shutouts.” Yeah, the Voice said, except yours came against one of the worst teams in the league and his came against one of the best .
“Thanks for the tip about number 37,” Stefan said. “I hit him the first time he came in the crease and he didn’t bother me again. He’s a wiss, just like you said.”
“A wuss.”
“A wuss.”
“I won’t bother asking if there’s going to be alcohol at the party,” Anna said to Stefan when they arrived at the house. “I was seventeen once.”
“Really?” Alex asked, with fake disbelief.
Anna ignored him. “But if you’re going to take the car you have to promise that you won’t have anything to drink,” she continued. Anna was fanatical about drinking and driving. Every time there was an article in the paper about an accident where alcohol played a role, she was sure to bring it to their attention.
“Yes, Mom,” Stefan said patiently. It was the third time she’d told him since they’d left the restaurant. “You sure you don’t want to come?” he asked Alex. “Emma’s friend said it would be cool.”
“I’m going to take a pass,” Alex said. “I got a ton of homework to do.”
Homework wasn’t the real reason he didn’t want to go. He just didn’t feel like going to a party where he wouldn’t know anybody. He knew from past experience that he’d just stand around feeling like a dork.
Alex was playing on his computer when he heard Stefan come up the stairs.
“Hey,” Stefan said from the doorway.
“Hey. How was the party?”
“You didn’t miss anything. Just a bunch of people drinking and acting stupid.”
“Don’t they do that in Maldania?”
“Some people do. I don’t hang out with them.” He has absolutely no interest in being cool, Alex thought. Maybe that’s why he is so cool. “We cut out early and went over to Emma’s place.”
“You two are seeing a lot of each other. Things must be going good,” Alex said, hoping Stefan would provide some details. Like whether or not he and Emma were having sex. He was pretty sure they were, although if that was the case, his brother wasn’t bragging about it. “Good,” was all he would say when Alex asked how things were going with Emma.
The guy’s been here for less than a month and he’s hooking up with a fox like Emma, Alex said to himself enviously. Meanwhile he was … going steady with your right hand, the Voice suggested helpfully. Alex and Stefan had talked about pretty much everything, but the one thing they hadn’t talked about was sex, other than joke about it like guys did. As close as he felt to Stefan, he wasn’t about to admit that he’d never had sex. That was something he was determined to … take to your grave? the Voice suggested again.
Alex was about to fall asleep when his phone beeped with a text message from Lara.
You up?
Yup, he texted back.
You okay?
He knew she was referring to his fight with Tomas. I’m good. Tomas is a dick.
The biggest … did you win?
Beat Chilliwack 3–0.
They must really suck.
Good night.
Nite. See you Monday. Sleep well.
You too … and thanks.
Lara’s a good friend, he thought. He hoped Jason knew how lucky he was. I dare you to say that with a straight face, the Voice said.
EIGHTEEN
Alex swung his legs over the side of the bed. As soon as his feet hit the floor, he felt a sharp stabbing pain in his ankle, but it had disappeared by the time he got to his desk and logged on to his computer to get the latest league results. In the two weeks since the win over Chilliwack, Richmond had won three more games. West Van had kept pace, leaving the two teams tied for first place with identical 4–0 records. Hollyburn was in third with a 3–1 record. Early days, but it was shaping up to be a three-way contest for the league championship.
Alex was having a great season, his best ever, but Stefan’s had been even better. West Van’s top two scorers had been injured all season, and the fact that the Lightning were still undefeated was mainly due to his outstanding play.
On Thursday, two days from now, Richmond and West Van would face off against each other for the first time this season. Alex was nervous at the prospect of going up against his brother. He hated feeling this way but he was powerless to prevent it.
After doing his push-ups and sit-ups he got dressed and went downstairs. Anna had left a note on the kitchen table for him and Stefan. “There are clean sheets for the sofa bed in my office. Please make the bed before Boris arrives.” Boris was arriving that afternoon to vis
it Stefan.
A few seconds later Stefan limped into the kitchen. “What happened to you?” Alex asked.
“I took a puck on the ankle in practice yesterday,” Stefan said.
“You weren’t limping last night.”
“I know. It didn’t hurt until I got out of bed.”
The stupid question about whether twins felt each other’s pain didn’t seem so stupid now. “Now that’s freaky,” Alex said. He told Stefan about the pain in his ankle when he got out of bed.
“Freaky,” his brother agreed.
“How does it feel?” Alex asked.
“Pretty sore. I’ve got a physio appointment after school. I hope I’ll be able to play on Thursday.”
“Me, too,” Alex said. Yeah, right, said the Voice. Alex held up Anna’s note. “Mom wants you to make the bed before Boris arrives. The bedding is in her office.”
“Nice try, bro,” Stefan said. “I already saw the note.”
“Rock, paper, scissors?” Alex asked. Stefan nodded.
“Two out of three?” Stefan asked after Alex’s paper wrapped up his rock.
“Don’t forget to tuck in the sheets,” Alex said.
“That’s a lot better,” Alex said to Earl Bales. “Now try it in the other direction.” He lobbed a shot at Bales from the face-off circle. Earl caught the puck and put it on the ice, and then stickhandled it in a counter-clockwise figure eight around the two orange pylons Alex had set up in front of the goal.
Alex had been helping Earl since the start of the season, answering all his questions and working with him after practice. Even though he knew the rookie wanted his job, Bales was his teammate and, as Lou Roberts would have put it, a member of the clan, and Alex felt it was his duty to help him. If Earl had been a dick it might have been a different story, but he was a good guy who never gave Alex any attitude. He just wanted to get better and he was smart enough to know Alex could help him do it.
Their teammates were sitting around in various stages of undress when they got back to the locker room. Neil Daniels was walking around the room handing out bottles of water. Mike Leonard took a bottle and then grabbed Neil’s glasses off his face.
Neil reached for them. Leonard held them over his head, out of his reach. “Give them back,” Neil said.
Leonard stuck them in his jockstrap. “Come and get them,” he said. Once again half the team laughed while the other half, including Alex, looked around sheepishly. A couple of seconds later Leonard took the glasses out of his jock, held them to his nose as if he were holding a fine cigar, and gave an exaggerated sniff of appreciation.
“Oooh,” everybody said in disgust.
Leonard tossed the glasses to Neil. Neil caught them, and holding them by the tip of one arm, hurried to the washroom to clean them off.
“Soap and water aren’t going to do the job, Pie,” Stevie Ryan called after him. “Those things need to be fumigated after where they’ve been.”
“Your sister isn’t complaining,” Mike said.
Stevie gave him the finger. Leonard laughed goodnaturedly.
Alex caught Kenny Nelson’s eye. Kenny shrugged. Alex knew Kenny felt the same way about Leonard that he did. So did a lot of the other guys. But as usual, none of them said anything. They were all afraid Leonard would turn on them if they did. Leonard was six three and weighed over two hundred pounds. Fear was a perfectly logical response.
“Are you and Stefan going to play guitar for us?” Anna asked Boris when dinner was finished.
“What do you say?” Boris asked Stefan.
“Let’s do it.”
They all went into the living room. Alex and Anna sat down on the couch. Boris and Stefan sat on chairs in front of them. It was obvious from the moment they started playing that they had played together a lot, and that they had a lot of fun doing it. After a few bars Anna started singing along. Alex had never heard her sing in Berovian before.
“That was wonderful,” Anna said when the song came to an end.
“You have a lovely voice,” Boris told her.
“I’m surprised I remembered the words. It’s been a long time.”
“I bet you know this one, too,” Boris said, starting in on another song.
As Alex watched Boris and Stefan play, he was conscious of feeling a profound sense of loss. It was no knock against Anna, she was the greatest, but there were things a boy could only get from his father. It was a lot more than having somebody to teach you how to play guitar, or to shoot the puck at you. It was hard to put it into words. A father showed a son how to be a man. He knew that was vague, but it was the best he could come up with. Stefan had Boris to show him how to be a man. He didn’t have anyone.
They played folk songs for an hour or so, with Anna singing along to most of them, before Boris finally put his guitar down.
“My fingers are going to feel it tomorrow,” he said. “I haven’t played this much since Stefan left.”
“Me neither,” Stefan said.
“That brought back a lot of memories,” Anna said. “Darko and I used to listen to those songs all the time.” She stared off into space. “I’ve got to do some work,” she said a few moments later. “I’ll see you all in the morning.”
Stefan picked up his guitar after Anna left the room. He gave his father a questioning glance. Boris shook his head. Stefan started playing, challenging his father with a look. Boris grabbed his guitar and soon the two were off in their own world.
He and his brother were like flip sides of the same coin, Alex thought. He grew up without a father; Stefan grew up without a mother. Except now Stefan had a mother and he would never have a father, Alex thought bitterly. He could feel his anger at the Stork and the Snowman rise up. They had murdered his father and separated him and his brother. They had ripped his family apart, changed all their lives forever. If this was a movie, Alex knew how it would end. He would track them down and blow their freaking heads off. Too bad things like that never happened in real life.
NINETEEN
Anna and Boris were chatting over coffee when Alex walked into the kitchen two days later.
“Morning, dude,” Anna said. “How did you sleep?”
“I’ve slept better,” he said. He never slept well the night before a game, but he was extra nervous about tonight’s game against West Van.
Anna laughed. “Thinking about the game?”
“Would you believe me if I said no?”
“Absolutely,” Anna said. “Not.”
A minute later Stefan walked into the kitchen. “Morning, dude,” Anna said.
“Morning,” Stefan grunted.
“How’s the ankle?” Boris asked.
“It’s all better,” Stefan said.
“Are you going to be able to play tonight?” Anna asked.
“Definitely,” Stefan said. He glanced at Boris, who had a skeptical look on his face. Stefan ran on the spot for a few strides without a grimace. He looked at his dad again. “It feels great.”
“Wonderful,” Anna said.
“Jump up and touch the ceiling,” Boris said.
Stefan crouched and jumped. The moment he left the floor his face contorted in pain. Two seconds after he landed a disappointed look replaced the pained one. He wasn’t ready to play and he knew it. Alex knew how much Stefan wanted to play, especially since Boris was here, but at the same time as he shared his brother’s disappointment—Yeah, I can tell you’re all choked up about it, the Voice said—he had to admit that he was a bit relieved. He would have to face his fears sooner or later, but with the way he was feeling right now, later would suit him just fine.
“It’s only one game,” Boris said. “Better to miss one game now than a bunch of games later. Stay off it for a couple of days and you’ll be fine for the game against Langley on Wednesday.”
“But you’re not going to be here on Wednesday,” Stefan said. Boris was taking the red-eye to Maldania after the game that night. He’d been forced to cut his trip short to attend th
e funeral of a friend who had died after a long illness.
“I know. I’m disappointed, too. But I’ll be back in December and I’ll see you play then.”
“That’s more than two months from now,” Stefan said. He bent his knees and pushed off his sore ankle as if it might have healed in the past two minutes, but the wince on his face showed there had been no miraculous cure.
The school day seemed to go on forever, as it always did on game day. Alex sat in biology class trying, unsuccessfully, to pay attention to Mr. Drake as he tried, just as unsuccessfully, to excite the class about synthetic enzymes. Drake was a good teacher, but it was the last class of the day and after enduring two straight weeks of grey skies, everybody was itching to get outside and enjoy a rare warm and sunny afternoon.
“Don’t forget,” Drake called out when the bell finally rang, “your assignments are due tomorrow.” Everybody groaned.
Alex decided to go the library and finish his assignment. It was next to impossible to do homework before a game, but completely impossible to do any after. Doing it now was the lesser of two evils. He stopped by Stefan’s locker to tell him he wouldn’t be going home with him. His brother wasn’t there yet. Alex was debating whether to wait for him when a pair of hands hugged him from behind. “Hey, handsome,” a voice whispered. The warm breath in his ear sent a shiver down his spine. He turned around.
“I’m sorry,” Emma said, taking a quick step backward. Her face was red with embarrassment. “I thought you were Stefan,” she added unnecessarily.
I wish I was, Alex couldn’t stop himself from thinking. “I figured that out,” he said. She laughed. “Here he is now.”
“Hey, guys,” Stefan said as he limped up to them. “Ready to go?” he asked Emma. She nodded. “We’re going to hang out at the park,” Stefan said. “Want to join us?”
“Don’t you have a chemistry test tomorrow?”
“I’ve got it under control,” Stefan said.
Like everything else, Alex thought. “I’m glad someone does. I have an assignment to finish. I’ll see you at home later.”
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