“What’s yours?”he asked as he tried to read one stretching along the side.Good luck with that.Petey had used the Cyrillic alphabet to write his name in Russian.
“JJ,” I answered.“My name is Justin Johnson, so they call me JJ.”
“I’m Arne Karlsson, so I’d be AK.”He pouted.“That’s not a good nickname.”
“They’d probably call you Karley.Or something silly, like Ducky.”
“Would they?Who’s them?”
“Teammates.”
He stood straight.“Teammates?I have teammates.I play soccer.But they don’t call me any nicknames.None of us do.”
I couldn’t remember when we started using nicknames in hockey.“Maybe that’s a soccer thing.”
His lips twisted.“Maybe.What do you play?”
“Hockey.”
His eyes lit up.“My friend Barney is going to hockey camp this summer.I want to go, but Mom says they’re probably all full up.”
“They’re pretty popular.I had to sign up early to get in.”
His eyes rounded.“You’re going?Which one?”
I wasn’t used to talking to someone who didn’t know my history.“No, I’m not going to hockey camp now.”Or was I?Wasn’t that kind of what Cooper’s thing was?Still, no need to confuse the kid.“Not the kind of camp you’re talking about anyway.I used to go to some here when I was younger.”
“How many camps did you go to?”
No one had been this fascinated to talk to me in…I couldn’t even remember how long.And talking to this kid wasn’t as painful as most conversations were.“I don’t know.A lot.Every summer.”
“Every summer?So you liked it?”
I smiled.“Yeah, I did.Still do.”
“Do you go now?They have grown-up hockey camps?”
It was hard to resist his enthusiasm.“They do, but they’re a little different.We don’t pay to go there, the teams invite us.They want to see how good we are so they know if we can play on the team.”
“Like in the NHL?”Could his eyes get any rounder?
I nodded.“Exactly like the NHL.”
“Do you play on a team?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s it called?”
“The Toronto Blaze.”
His mouth opened wide.“But thatisan NHL team.”
“I know.”
The kid started jumping on the spot.“I can’t wait to tell Barney I know a Toronto Blaze!”
A sound caught my attention and I looked up.Mia stood in the doorway, a heavy frown on her face.