Interference by Michelle Berry Read Free Book Online Page B

[email protected]
    From: [email protected]
    Subject: Parkville Ice Kats
    Dear Dayton,
    Congratulations on taking the first, most important step — signing up with the Parkville Ice Kats! A wonderful decision you won’t regret. I guarantee it. By submitting your form on our website you have now officially registered for the Senior Ladies Leisure League. Games will be on Wednesday nights, from October 25th until March 7th. Because we know you ladies are busy and running around doing everything around the house — kids, housekeeping, jobs, dinner — we have tried to book ice time for anytime between 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. You will only have to play two or three late games throughout the season. A holiday schedule (Christmas is coming) will be sent to you at this email address. We end earlier in March this year because of all the absences in the last games due to those amazing vacations you all take with your hubbies and kids during the school break. Wish I were so lucky. Your deposit has been recorded. Please send the remaining outstanding balance to the address below. We do not accept credit cards or PayPal. Hard enough to figure out the website — you know what I’m talking about, don’t you? Please note: there will be an end-of-season party sometime in March for all the Ice Kats teams. Be there or be square.
    Remember: hockey is a game that requires competition but also fair play. There will be no checking allowed. Attached is your personal injury waiver. Please sign and return with your payment.
    Enjoy the season! Go Ice Kats Go!
    Tina Brady
    Parkville Ice Kats
    Co-ordinator Extraordinaire
    P.S. Dayton, you are on the White Team — such a great group of girls. We have also placed your neighbour, Patricia Birk, on this team as per your request.

3
    It’s the first game of the season.
    There are six of them on the ice, if you include the goalie.
    Two forward, one centre, two defence.
    And three of them are new to hockey. They don’t really know what to do.
    The puck is dropped and Dayton looks at it. She takes a poke at it with her stick but misses touching anything, even ice. In fact, the stick pulls her forward and she almost falls. The ice is slippery, freshly Zambonied, if that’s a word. Dayton feels sick to her stomach and she’s hot from the equipment and her heart is beating so loudly she believes she can hear it until she realizes that the noise is the other team banging their sticks on the boards. The last time she felt this way was in the airport with her daughter, Carrie. Holding onto her little body tight and going through customs trying not to look or sound scared. Trying not to be suspicious.
    She rushes forward. All Dayton can do is skate. The blades swish on the ice. Trish skates past her, shouting, “Woo hoo,” without humility. Trish’s stick is so high in the air that Dayton is sure she’s going to take someone out. Are you allowed to hold the stick that high? Dayton wonders.
    â€œStick on the ice, stick on the ice,” someone shouts from their bench. Everyone looks the same in their equipment and so Dayton can’t tell who said that. Even if she could tell, it wouldn’t matter — she doesn’t know anyone else on the team yet but at least she was right about how high you can hold the stick.
    The other team shoots. The puck ricochets off the goalie’s stick. Dayton stands still, watching, until she realizes that she can get involved. She forgets, sometimes, to move. Caught up in the speed of the game, in the back and forth of it. Someone shouts, “Skate, skate.” It’s not often Dayton wants to move forward and take control. She tends to hang back and watch. That’s the kind of person she is. Only once in her life has she pushed forward and taken control. But here, on the rink, she does it again. Moves forward. Skates. Dayton attempts to hit the puck away from the net but misses. Trish lends moral