I couldn’t respond right away. I was still in shock. I stood up and instead of shaking his hand; I ran towards the desk and hugged him, then quickly let go. “Thank you so much Mr. Killerman. This means the world to me.” I fought back the tears of joy. He laughed.
“Now I would like for you and your father to come see me tomorrow morning at this address.” He handed me a piece of paper. I was still shaking from the news of making the team. “Around 10:00 a.m, so we can discuss living arrangements. You can meet the family that will be billeting you. I know you will love them. They have been family billets for our team for many years and all the players have enjoyed their stay with them.”
He seemed positive I would like my billets. That was comforting to me. Coach was a smart guy, and a great judge of character from what I could tell. I thanked him again and walked out of his office in a daze.
I don’t remember walking back to the hotel, but suddenly I was there. I must have been white as a ghost or something because my father grabbed me and sat me down on the bed.
“Christine are you alright?” He demanded. “Did they cut you? I am so sorry Christine, I know you worked hard out there.”
I shook my head from side to side. “No Dad, I … made the team,” I stammered.
Then suddenly the tears started to flow. It finally hit me. I couldn’t stop them. They flooded my eyes and face like a tidal wave. All my hard work had paid off. I was now on my way to accomplishing my dream.
“Ben wants to meet with us tomorrow and discuss my living arrangements,” I whispered, still not able to catch my breath.
“I guess I will have to get mom to send me up some of my things.” I added.
“You made the team! Congratulations honey. I am so proud of you.” He gave me a big bear hug.
“Thanks Dad,” I said.
“Now you can rub it into your brothers.” He said laughing. I laughed too.
“Christine, you know that we won’t be able to afford to come up to visit you, or to watch your games on television from Dryden. I will want you to keep me updated though. Today let’s go out and buy you one of those little lap computers,” he smiled warmly. “This way you can talk and write to us every day.”
I smiled and wiped the tears from my face. I gave my father a big hug. Finally he was proud of me, and I was getting the chance to do what I always wanted to do.
“It’s alright Dad.” I whispered, my voice still shaky. “Apparently, the rookies don’t get very much ice time during the season.” We both laughed.
“I wonder what my billet family is going to be like? I am excited to meet them.” I was curious. I hoped they would like me.
“Let’s go shopping Chrissy. We can get you some clothes and that computer. I don’t know how long it will take to ship your things up here.” He said, concerned about the fact that I would be so far away but very happy for me still.
“Awe Dad, you hate shopping.” I reminded him. “I don’t mind going clothes shopping myself. How about we go and get the computer, then I will go to the mall and shop alone?”
“Sure thing honey. We have to call your mother first. I promised that we would tell her as soon as we knew anything.”
I was starting to feel a bit less panicked. My breathing evened out. The shock of making the team was settling in. I picked up the phone and called my mother.
My mother was ecstatic for me, but she didn’t hide the fact she was upset that I would be so far away from her and the family. I reminded her that we did play a few games in Michigan. That seemed to comfort her slightly. She promised that the entire family would be there to watch and cheer me on.
We found a computer shop not far from the hotel. Dad bought me a lap top and an IPOD. I knew this was hard for him. My family didn’t have a lot of money. We really couldn’t afford this.
I was even more shocked and thrilled, when he gave me $400.00 to go clothes shopping with. I told him that I didn’t need that much. He assured me it was alright and I deserved it. Maybe it was his way of making up for the years of avoiding having anything to do with my hockey. I wasn’t sure. Regardless, I was happy about the change in him.
I took the public bus to the mall. It was humungous. We just didn’t have malls like this in our small town of 800 people. I was in awe. I didn’t wear designer clothes. I would just wear whatever my mom found for me at the local K-mart or Dunberry’s Sports. I didn’t know where to begin.
I had never heard of many of these stores before. I knew that the guys had to wear suits before and after each game. I figured that I needed something similar. I found a really fancy store and walked up to the sales girl and explained my situation to her.
She looked about twenty-five, and she was very pretty. She seemed to take pity on me. She offered to pick out some outfits for me. She found me a few blouses, some nice fitted dress pants and two blazers. All were on sale.
She showed me how to mix and match them to make more outfits for myself. Then she insisted I buy this tight fitting black cocktail dress. It was $49.00. I told her I didn’t know how to justify spending that amount on just one dress. She talked me into it. Then she asked me if I had shoes. I didn’t even think about shoes until she said it. All I brought with me were several pairs of cross trainers. None of those would look attractive with my dressy outfits.
She told me her shift would be ending in fifteen minutes, and that she would help me find some shoes.
“You’re like a mini make over project for me,” she claimed giggling. She was really enjoying herself. It was nice to have a girl to talk to as well. So I waited patiently for her in the food court.
People were sure friendly in Toronto. Not like some of the big cities in the United States. There the people weren’t rude, they just didn’t go out of their way for you, is all. Also when we watched the news here it wasn’t plagued with scary things, like murders and rapists.
I hated watching the news in Michigan. There were gang shootings and everything. Not in my town, but in the bigger cities. I had been here over a week and I hadn’t seen anything about any murders. It made my father happy to hear that. He always worried more about me in that aspect than he did my brothers. He said it’s a much harder world for a girl. He’s nuts. Guys can become victims just as easily.
The salesgirl Julie showed up at the food court in twenty minutes, instead of the fifteen minutes she had said. I didn’t mind the wait. She told me a little about the city of Toronto as we walked to find a shoe store. It sounded so nice. I had seen very little of the city because of camp. I had been much to exhausted to sight see.
“Oh look at these Chrissy,” she exclaimed with excitement. “They are so cute!”
“They have a heal on them. I will break my neck.” I told her.
“Not after I teach you how to walk in them.” She reassured me.
“Can I ask you a question Julie.” I inquired.
“Shoot!” She said.
“Why are you going out of your way to help me out? I appreciate it, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that you don’t know me.” I questioned her.
“Besides the fact that you seem like such a sweet kid, who is obviously lost in a mall - with no fashion sense whatsoever,” she snickered.
I glanced back over at her, curious as to why she was snickering like that.
“I suppose I am also doing it for selfish reasons,” she admitted.
“Selfish reasons?” I was confused. “Please explain.”
“Well, I really like hockey players. When you said you were playing for the Gophers - well I thought if I helped you out, then maybe you could help me.” She revealed to me.
“Oh, I see, favor for favor.” I teased with a laughing smirk and raising my eyebrow.
“I really think Kyle Schneider is hot, and thought maybe you could introduce me to him.” She smiled and giggled.
“How old are you Julie?” I inquired, because to me she looked about twenty-five. Maybe I had misjudged, because city girls always seemed to look olde
r; on the account of how they dressed.
“I am twenty-one,” she verified for me. Well Moose was twenty, so she was the right age.
“Well, how about once the season starts you come to one of the games. Then I will introduce you to him. It only seems fair.” I conceded.
I really needed the shopping help. I also wasn’t naive to the fact that some of the players on my team were extremely good looking. I could see why she would be interested in Moose. He was a very attractive guy. I even noticed that about him.
We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping then she drove me back to my hotel. She gave me her MSN and her cell phone number to call her if I wanted to chat. I explained that I didn’t have a cell phone, but that I would add her to my MSN.
I took out all my new clothes from the plastic bags and hung them up in the tiny closet in the corner of the hotel room. I didn’t want them to get all wrinkled. Dad quickly scanned over the clothes that I bought. He seemed to approve of it all, except the high healed shoes. When he saw those he made a face and grunted. I just smiled. I would probably never wear them any way. He had nothing to worry about I told him.
I felt like going for a run. I threw on a pair of shorts and a tank top. After transferring songs to my IPOD, I was ready to go running. I decided that I would run to the rink and then along the pathway beside it. It was such a nice evening. I also needed to keep my training up.
After my hour long run, I showered and got ready for bed. I couldn’t eat anything. I was far to apprehensive about the morning; meeting my billets and registering for school.
When I woke up in the morning I was starving. I scarfed down three eggs, bacon, toast and a sausage at breakfast with dad. I definitely wasn’t one of those girls who ate like a bird. I loved my food, and I needed to gain a few more pounds in order to add more muscle.
After breakfast I told my father that I wanted to wear something a little nicer to meet my billets. We went back to the hotel so I could change. I put on a new pair of jeans and a plain white blouse. I hoped that my billets were nice people. Ben had said that they had been billeting players for a long time so they must be.
Dad and me drove in the rental car to the address Ben had given us. It was a nice big ranch style bungalow with gray bricks, and a two car garage. The entire area was without a doubt a wealthy area. There was a hockey net, a Mercedes and a Lexus in the drive way. We parked on the road behind what looked like, the coach’s car. I got out of the car slowly, taking in the surroundings. Dad and I walked up to the house together. I reached forward to ring the doorbell. Ben answered the door.
“Well, hello guys, I was hoping you got here before I had to rush out,” he stated. “I have to get to the arena and deal with some scheduling issues. I just wanted to introduce you to the Peats.”
There in the living room was a sweet looking woman in her mid 40’s. Standing beside her was a slightly older looking, husky man.
“Welcome Christine and Ralph.” The woman said with her arms extended to give me a hug. She squeezed me so tight.
“Umm, hi Mrs. Peat.” I managed to struggle out from beneath her bear hug. “Its so nice of you to open up your home to me.”
“Oh, I do it every year for the boys. I am really excited that this season you will be living here. I always wanted a daughter. We are going to become very close Christine. You will love it here.” She grabbed my hand and led me off to show me my bedroom. I could hear Mr. Peat explaining the living arrangements to my father.
“Here is your room Christine.” She opened the door on the left side of the basement family room. “Kyle is in that bedroom,” she said pointing to the room across the hall from mine. “He is gone out to his girlfriend’s for the day. He probably won’t be home until later.”
Inside my bedroom was a double bed, a night table with a lamp, a desk and a dresser. The walls were painted baby blue. It had a huge window that was even with the ground outside. It made the room very bright and warm. I liked it a lot. It was slightly bigger than my room back home.
It surprised me that I was being billeted with one of the guys. However, it made sense that it would be Moose, since he was the team captain. It was probably Ben’s way of keeping his eye on me. I was pretty sure he was explaining just that with Mr. Peat to my father.
Mrs. Peat showed me around the rest of the house and explained the house rules to me and about curfew. When she asked me for my cell phone number, I explained to her that I didn’t have one. We couldn’t afford it. She told me not to worry. She offered that while I was living with them, that I could have one of their extra cell phones. I just had to return it to them before I left at the end of the season. She wanted to make sure that I was safe when I went out. She advised me to call either of them if ever I needed a ride anywhere. They also insisted that I call them Harry and Cathy.
The rest of the afternoon was spent getting to know the Peats and registering me for school. My father left after supper and told me that he would bring my things to the Peat’s house before he left for home in the morning. This way I could say good bye to him. The Peats felt it was best to get me settled in right away. Cathy offered me a pair of her pajamas. I told her no thanks, because I usually just slept in my underwear.
I had registered for school and everything was set. Everything that was, except for me. I felt strange. Odd even. It was weird living in some stranger’s home. Also having such a good looking teammate across the hall from me didn’t help.
I was trying to adjust to new surroundings. It was weird for me to be in the basement. It was like an apartment down here. It had a bar with a fridge, pool table, living room set, big screen television with surround sound; and a full bathroom with a whirlpool bath tub and a sauna.
Moose came home around 9:00 p.m. that night and flopped on the couch and yelled at me to come join him.
I walked out of my room to join him in the living room part of our mini apartment.
“So roomie, how are you doing?” He was slurring his words. It seemed to me that he had been drinking a little. He patted the couch for me to sit down beside him.
“I guess I’m fine.” I said getting more comfortable on the couch. “It’s all still very overwhelming, a lot to take in.” I admitted to him and partly to myself.
“Yeah, it takes a while, my first year here, I was really homesick.” He started flipping through channels until he found Sports Center. “I think you will be fine, but I am here for you if you need anything.”
I told him about the girl Julie I met and how she helped me out at the mall. I explained about the favor she had asked from me. He chuckled loudly.
“Maybe I need to explain a few things to you about puck bunnies,” he said. “It’s kind of like talking to your parents about the birds and the bees.” He bellowed out a huge laugh.
“Umm, Moose.... I never had that talk with my parents, and I really don’t want to have it with my teammate either.” I said with my face turning red from embarrassment.
“Like it or not we are going to have it. I have a little sister, and I am a guy. Hockey player’s are the nastiest, dirtiest, and cockiest guys around. Trust me I should know,” he explained. “Some girls, we call them puck bunnies; they will do anything to sleep with a hockey player. They become stalkers. It’s really creepy.” He continued with the warning. “You have to be careful who you become friends with, it’s hard to know which are the friends who like you for you, or the ones who like you because of what you do,” he explained.
“Well, I suppose at least she was honest with me about it.” I smiled and turned to watch the television. “You could at least say hi to her, she did help me out.” I laughed.
“Sure, no problem, is she hot?” He said with his grin full of mischief.
“She was definitely a pretty girl.” I admitted.
“I’ll meet her then, just don’t tell my girlfriend. She gets jealous really easy.” He groaned. “You will meet her tomorrow.”
We talked all through Sports Center ab
out what to expect from the guys. What to keep my mouth shut about. He reassured me that if I felt bad about anything, I could talk to him about it. He asked me if I had a boyfriend. When I told him that the boys back home thought I was weird because I played hockey, he was surprised. He assured me it was just small town mentality, and that most guys who were sure of themselves wouldn’t feel threatened by that. He was shocked to find out that I had never been on a date or even been kissed. Moose and me seemed to get along great. He made me feel really comfortable.
He seemed to like teasing me. I was used to that on the account of my brothers. I told him I was going to bed, and I would see him in the morning. He was staying up to watch some television and surf the internet.
I pulled off my blouse to get ready for bed. I had a tank top underneath and booty shorts. Pretty much my usual sleeping outfit. I crawled into bed. The duvet was so fluffy and comfy. I fell straight to sleep.
I must have had a nightmare, because I jolted up, covered in sweat. I was trembling. Moose ran into my bedroom unexpectedly and I screamed.
He quickly covered my mouth with his hand. “You’re going to wake the neighborhood up Chrissy,” he whispered then removed his hand from my mouth.
“Are you OK? I heard you yelling from my bedroom,” he explained. Now I understood why he was in my room.
“Yeah, I must have had a bad dream. but I have no idea what it was about.” I concluded.
“I’ll go get you a glass of water,” and with that said he was out the door. When he returned he had a glass of water and flipped on the night light on the side table.
He crawled into the far side of my bed with me. “Tell me what’s stressing you out. I don’t want you having nightmares Hun.” He got comfortable in my bed under my duvet. What a guy!
I laughed at his cockiness. “I see you’ve made yourself right at home in my bed.” I hit him with my pillow. He chuckled.
“I don’t know, maybe it’s just a little of everything. I don’t remember what I was dreaming about so it must not be that bad.” I assured him as I laid down beside him.