Chapter 23: Miracle on Ice, Part II

February/March 1980, Hovås/Göteborg/Helsingborg, Sweden

At 10:00am, I walked down to the bus stop. I was going to be a bit early, but the buses ran more limited schedules on Sunday. I arrived at the ice rink about a half hour early, retrieved my skates from the locker, and slowly skated some laps around the rink. While I was skating, I wondered about Kat and what it was she wanted. She had flirted pretty heavily, but I wasn’t sure if it was just flirting to have fun or flirting because she was interested.

All of a sudden, I had gone from no possibilities to all kinds of possibilities — Karin, of course, Suzana, Elizabeth, and Kat. I also had Pia, who I’d see soon. Karin was no mere dalliance, though. If I started something with her, it had to be with an eye towards something serious. Suzana I’d hopefully sort out tonight, though I could see how anything with her might be problematic if we didn’t want to expose our relationship, which I thought would likely be a bad idea.

With Elizabeth, I wanted to be careful not to wreck a friendship, and as much as I would like to be with her, I wasn’t sure it was worth it. With Kat, a lot would depend on what she wanted. Of course, the only thing to do there was to take things step-by-step. And it was entirely possible that I was misreading the entire situation, and she was flirting because it was fun, not because she wanted anything.

I was lost in my thoughts and wasn’t paying attention to the time or people around me until a blur went by, skating circles around me. Kat had arrived!

“Hi, Steve! My friends are arriving and we’re going to skate for an hour, then we’ll have a party in one of the meeting rooms that my mom and dad rented. Will you skate with me?”

“I’ll try!”

I put my arm around her and we skated carefully around the rink. I was surprised to see Mikael skate by, albeit somewhat slowly.

“Mikael!” I called out. “You’re back on the ice!”

“Yes, I was cleared by the doctor on Friday. But only for light exercise. I can’t even skate with Kat yet. A couple of weeks and then I can do that.”

“Great!”

“Won’t your other friends be jealous if we skate together the whole time?” I asked.

“Not really, most of them will skate either in couples or small groups. Besides, I want to skate with you!”

A few minutes later, I saw Mikael skating hand-in-hand with a very pretty brunette who appeared to be around thirteen.

“Steve, this is my girlfriend, Lotta.”

“Hi, Lotta!”

“Hi, Steve! Nice to meet you! Kat, you’re right, he’s cute!” Lotta giggled, and they skated away.

I looked over at Kat and she was blushing. That, plus her skating with me, made things abundantly clear. Now I had to decide how to deal with it. I figured, after the comment from Lotta, that at some point, Kat would make the next move. She didn’t say or do anything while we skated and then it was time to head to the party. I put my skates in my locker and retrieved the bag with Kat’s gifts.

The meeting room we were in was decorated with gold and blue streamers and balloons, a large Swedish flag, and a big sign saying ‘Happy birthday Katt’ with pictures of cats and kittens around the letters. I had always assumed her name was spelled ‘Kat’ for her name, but spelling it ‘Katt’ implied a nickname, given that was the Swedish word for ‘Cat’.

First, we sang «Ja, må hon leva!» the Swedish birthday song which was a wish that someone would live for a hundred years. This was followed by four shouts of “Hurrah!” Once we sang, presents from her friends were opened. She’d get mine at the family party tonight that I was invited to, along with Mikael and Lotta. It was a real privilege to go to the ‘family’ party in addition to the ‘friend’ party.

After the presents, Katt cut the cake. It was a traditional Swedish cake — white cake, with fruit and whipped cream and green marzipan decorations. The cake was sweet beyond belief, but delicious. When everyone had their fill of cake, Katt’s friends put on a couple of short comedy skits that I had a bit of trouble following. Like the literature in my Swedish class, the jokes were sometimes hard to follow because they didn’t translate directly. I laughed politely, but I’d have to ask Mikael to explain some of them to me later.

We sang again at the end of the party and shouted the four-fold “Hurrahs” again. The guests began to leave, and I waited to go with Katt’s family. Mikael and Lotta would join us later at her parents’ house. Katt lived a relatively short distance from the rink, but her parents had driven to the rink so it would be easier to get the presents home. I helped carry her loot to the car. I brought the bag with my gifts for her as well.

Katt’s family lived in a moderately sized house on Båtyxegatan. When we arrived, I helped carry her gifts in. We set them on a table with her family’s gifts. I added mine to the stack of unopened gifts and handed Katt the lilies that I had bought for her, a traditional birthday gift in Sweden.

Katt led me to her room. A large angora cat was sleeping on her bed and there were three cat posters on her walls.

“I think I see where the nickname comes from, Katt. I always thought it was spelled K-A-T, not K-A-T-T, because your name is Katrina.”

“It’s both, really. I love cats and my name is Katrina. When I was little, dad called me «kisse» (pussycat) and when I got older and got my first kitten, the nickname changed to ‘Cat’.”

I sat in a comfortable chair she had in the corner. Katt turned on the radio, then sat on her bed and picked up her cat and stroked him. It was all I could do to keep from making a joke in English about joining her on the bed and stroking her pussy, but I thought I would probably have to explain it just as I needed Mikael to explain some of the jokes made at the party.

While we were sitting listening to music, I changed my mind about waiting for her to go first. I figured that we might not have a chance to be alone together again for the evening.

“Katt, have you been telling your friends that I’m cute?”

She blushed, then softly answered, “Yes.”

“You’ve flirted a lot with me, too.”

“Yes, I have,” she said softly.

“And you were waiting for me to respond to that flirting, weren’t you?”

She answered softly again, “Yes, but you didn’t, so I thought you weren’t interested.”

It was decision time on how to play this. I decided that the best approach was to give her reasons to avoid getting involved with me.

“I’m only here for a short time, five more months. I’m not really in a position to get into a relationship with anyone. I hope to come back to Sweden, but I might never do so.”

“I haven’t told you — we plan to compete in the US next year, rather than in Europe.”

“Really?”

“Yes, we’ll be training in Colorado and traveling around the US to various competitions. My dad already has a job lined up with Volvo North America. We’ll be going to the US in June.”

Now that was an interesting development, to say the least!

“I have a girl I’m seeing here in Sweden and there’s a girl at home I was pretty serious with before I came to Sweden.”

“Oh! You have a girlfriend?” she said with surprise and concern in her voice.

I had no idea how to explain my complicated relationships. What I really needed to know is what she was asking.

“It’s kind of complicated,” I said. “I don’t have a steady girlfriend like you mean, but there are girls I’m seeing both here and at home. I don’t want to mislead you. That’s why I said I can’t get into a relationship with anyone.”

“But you could date someone?”

“You mean you?”

“Yes,” she said softly.

“I can’t make any kind of promises, I can’t even promise I could see you in the US. I live in Ohio and that’s a long way from Colorado.”

“You’re a nice guy, a really nice guy,” Katt said. “I’d really like to get to know you better, OK?”

Well, that made things a bit easier.

“I can do that,” I said.

“Would you like to go to the movies with me on Friday? I want to see Kramer vs. Kramer a movie that just came out.”

I had no idea what that movie was, but I was OK with whatever she wanted.

“I’m busy on Friday,” I said. “How about a week from Friday?”

“Sure, that’s fine!”

A few minutes later, Mikael and Lotta showed up and the four of us listened to music and talked. Mikael and Lotta had been dating for about six months and she was not happy that her boyfriend was leaving for the US. I asked Mikael about his family and he said his dad worked for IBM and was going to have a new position in Colorado.

Katt’s mom called us to dinner. After dinner was over, we sang to Katt again and she opened her presents. I had found a snow globe with a pair of figure skaters that I gave her, in addition to the flowers I had given her earlier. We had another cake that was similar to the first, only the fruit being different. After we finished our cake, we sang once more.

Once we finished, Katt took me to the living room and turned on the TV to watch the end of the US vs. Finland hockey game. The US was ahead 3-2 with ten minutes to go in the game. A win would give the US five points and the best the Russians could do would be four points, meaning that the US would win the gold medal.

A couple of minutes later, the US scored again, putting them up by two goals with less than four minutes to go. The Finns couldn’t score and the US had the gold medal, securing my second bet with Suzana. I was ecstatic. The US had overcome crazy odds to win the gold. The Finns were out of medal competition because the Swedes and Russians both had two points.

When the game finished, I told Katt I needed to head home because I had planned to watch the Sweden game with Suzana. She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek as I left and thanked me for coming. Mikael and Lotta left at the same time. I realized I was going to miss the start of the game, so rather than wait for the bus, I hailed a taxi that could get me home in less than twenty minutes.

I walked in and found Suzana already in my room with the game on. I’d already missed two Russian goals. She told me the Soviet team had scored 36 seconds into the game and it wasn’t looking good.

“Well, I already won the medal bet!” I gloated. “Even if Sweden wins, the best they can have is the silver medal.”

“Yeah, I know. But I bet you liked the results from the other bet more than winning this one!”

I chuckled, “Well, of course I did!”

“So, can we talk now? Mom and dad are upstairs and Patrick and Pernilla are in their rooms.”

“Of course. Are you all right after last night?”

“More than OK. Oh my God! I can’t believe how good it was. It was more than I had hoped for!”

“Hoped for?”

“Yeah. For my first time. I figured it would be like all the other girls I know. But that’s not what I wanted to talk about.”

“I’m listening,” I said.

“When you first got here, I realized you were really different. Then you had all your problems, and I saw how much you cared for people, even that girl who tricked you into getting her pregnant. Sure, you had a bad reaction at first, but you fixed that right away. The situation with Sofia and Petra showed me that you weren’t just after sex. If you were, you could still be having sex with Petra, or you could have lied to Sofia about Pia. You told everyone the truth. All those things showed me what a good guy you were.

“I know you have lots of things to work out, I know you have a special girl back home, and I know you have Pia here. I talked to Sofia a lot about you and she agrees with me about you. I was shocked when I found out you spent the night with her but didn’t have sex, in fact, you didn’t even ask her to have sex! That showed me you were different.

“I was a bit afraid to say or do anything because I wasn’t sure how you would react and I knew that Mom and Dad wouldn’t approve. So I decided I would make a joke about it and see how you reacted. I figured I was safe because the USSR was ahead and then the joke could play out for a few days or even weeks when we had private moments.

“Then the US got the lead, and I had ten minutes to decide what to do. Part of me hoped the Russians would tie the game, but part of me hoped they wouldn’t, so that I could actually do it with you. And now I’m glad I did. But we have a problem.”

The first period of the hockey game ended with the Russians up 4-0.

I interrupted her and said, “It’s not looking good for Sweden. Looks like a bronze medal.”

“Yeah, I know,” she said with a note of disgust in her voice.

“Anyway, what is the problem?” I asked.

“I planned to only do it with you that one time. But after what you did, I want to do it again! And again!” she giggled. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I’m in love with you or anything like that. And it’s risky for us to be together. But, if you want, we can do it again before you leave. We just need to find the right time so I can have the same thing once more!”

“I’ll leave the timing to you,” I said. “I really liked it, but I don’t want to cause you any problems.”

“I’ll let you know. It will probably happen, but it’s not for sure. I want it, but I have to be very careful.”

We watched the rest of the game and it only got worse. The Russians scored another goal just 30 seconds into the second period and it turned into a disaster after that. The score was 9-0 at the end of the second period. The Russians were trying to prove something, but it was too late for them to win the gold. Sweden did manage two goals in the 3rd period for a final score of 9-2.

Suzana went to her room and came back with 20 crowns and handed them to me.

“You won!”

I chuckled, “Oh yes, I most certainly did!”

It was 11:45pm and everyone else had gone to bed. I pulled Suzana to me and gave her a soft kiss. She smiled and went off to bed. I knew that I couldn’t do anything at all that might reveal what had happened, so I’d simply act as I had before and let her decide the timing.

On Monday, I saw Katt and Mikael at the rink, and they were carefully skating together. I asked about that and Mikael said he’d gotten the OK to skate with her, but no lifts or jumps for a few more weeks. Of course, Katt still took her opportunities to skate circles around me and tease and flirt.

The rest of the week went quickly and on Friday afternoon, I found myself on the train to Helsingborg to spend the weekend with Pia. Our weekend was filled with lovemaking and just spending time together. We didn’t leave the apartment except to have lunch with Rolf and Sinikka. Of course, Lisbet teased us even more because we had spent even more time in bed than the previous times.

I knew we were quickly running out of time to see each other. We looked at the calendar and we realized we’d see each other once in April and once in May, and then on my last night, July 9th. We set the dates for our visits with some sadness. I’d come see her both times, because I wanted to also see Rolf, Sinikka, Putte, and Kathy before I left and if Pia came to Göteborg, that wouldn’t be possible.

Back in Göteborg, I resumed my usual routine of skating, school, friends, and computers. On Tuesday at Torbjörn’s, Elizabeth and I got into one of our teasing sessions and of course Torbjörn gave us a hard time about it. When I walked her home, we didn’t say anything, but it was clear that there was a lot of sexual tension. I hugged her goodnight without saying anything about it and she went into her building without saying anything other than goodnight.

Friday was my date with Katt. I took the bus to her house after dinner and we went straight to the theater. The movie she had selected starred Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep and was about a divorced guy who had to fight for custody of his son. Like Ice Castles, I wasn’t thrilled with it, but because that’s what Katt wanted to see, I wasn’t going to complain.