Chapter 19: No Goal!

October 3, 1996, New York City, New York

“I finally have you in a hotel room alone!” Cindi laughed.

“For about two minutes until Elyse arrives,” I grinned. “It takes a LOT longer than that!”

“Famous last words!”

“You told me Stuart was a lot of fun!”

“Not him. The limp dick I was married to!”

“I think you might be reading later events back into the beginning.”

Cindi shrugged, “He was OK. Dave was better. Way better.”

“That was the LAST thing I needed to hear!” I chuckled. “I’m trying to rekindle my friendship with him!”

“Oh, please! You squeamish about talking about sex? I don’t THINK so!”

“How’s your new lawyer?”

“Do you think I fuck on the first date?”

I shrugged, “I have no idea, and you know I don’t care if you do or not! And you also know that’s not what I meant!”

“I love to yank your chain about sex; I always have!”

“True.”

“You know, you could pay me on spec...”

I chuckled, “Right! Because you give our customers software before they pay for the licenses!”

“I bet my software will run just fine on your hardware!”

“Sober for a year, Cindi. Then we’ll see if it’s the right thing to do.”

“You’re going to welsh on the deal?”

I shook my head, “No. You’re wise enough not to do anything which would hurt our relationship or hurt NIKA. I’m very confident in that fact.”

“And you think that means it won’t happen.”

“I think it means you’ll make the right decision, and I’ll go along with you whichever way you decide.”

There was a knock at the door and I got up to let Elyse and Kimmy in. The four of us sat down around the table in my suite to review our presentations, something Cindi insisted on.

“Before we start, I heard from Starr,” Kimmy said. “Ben got in on time and he’ll meet us for drinks as planned at 9:00pm. Ben van Hoek is here, as is Ned Jenkins. They’ll be there as well.”

“Cool,” I replied. “Is everything set for tomorrow night and Saturday?”

“Yes. I have the theater tickets for tomorrow night, and the tour is set for Saturday, including the observation deck on the World Trade Center.”

“Excellent. I’m sorry I need to fly home tomorrow night, but I need to be at the dojo on Saturday morning.”

“It’s OK,” Elyse replied. “You’ve been to New York, and we’ll have Cindi, Julia, Barbara, Mario, Zeke, Kimmy, Abel, Michael, and me representing NIKA.”

“Shall we get started?” Cindi asked.

We went through my presentation, Elyse’s, and reviewed Julia’s. She was flying in late because she was attending an academic function with Dave, and Cindi had gone over her presentation with her that morning in the office.

“Satisfied?” I asked Cindi.

“Never after only one time!” she smirked causing the rest of us to laugh.

“Well, sorry to say, once is all you get tonight. We need to go meet some lawyers!”

The four of us headed down to the bar of the InterContinental where the two Bens, Ned, Mario, and Barbara were waiting for us. After handshakes all around, I ordered a round of drinks, with Cindi getting a Sprite.

“Where’s Julia?” Ben Jackson asked.

“Her flight gets in around 11:00pm,” Kimmy said. “She had a function to attend at IIT with Dave.”

“You could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard that announcement,” Ben van Hoek said.

“Same here,” Ned agreed. “But after speaking with Terry, I’m convinced we’re in good hands. He’s been with NIKA for a long time.”

“March of ‘87,” I replied. “We were only about eighteen months old at that point.”

“No other high-level departures planned, I hope,” Ben Jackson said.

“I’m in my dream job,” Elyse said. “I’m not going anywhere!”

“I love my job and NIKA has made me a lot of money!” Cindi said with a smile.

“You mean YOU have made NIKA a lot of money,” I said.

“Something I remember every time I sign off on your license fees and support charges!” Ben Jackson groused.

“Oh cry me a river, Mister ‘I bill $500 an hour’!”

“Tell me, Steve,” he grinned. “Why did you move your regional office out of California?”

“The rent was too damned high!”

“Care to guess what we pay in rent at One California Plaza? Or the median price of a home?”

“You’re the damned fool who chose to practice in California!” Ned laughed. “Ben and I live in cities where we can make half as much and live twice as well!”

“But do you have year-round sunshine and more gorgeous girls than anyplace in the US?”

“Florida called and they want their bragging rights back!” Ben van Hoek grinned.

“We don’t have hurricanes!”

“And they don’t have earthquakes! I can drive away from a hurricane with plenty of time to spare. How does that work for you in an earthquake?”

“You might have a point,” Ben Jackson allowed.

“Thought so,” Ben van Hoek grinned.

“I can’t complain about Pittsburgh,” Ned said. “Excellent baseball, football, and hockey teams, some great colleges, and while the weather isn’t that great at times, we have our fair share of pretty girls.”

“I can’t say much about Cincinnati sports teams right now,” Ben van Hoek said, “but it’s a great city to live in. You couldn’t pay me enough to live or work in LA!”

“I have to agree,” Barbara said. “I was very happy to move to Colorado, and my kids really love it there. And so does my husband.”

“I have to say moving me to Pittsburgh was the best idea Steve ever had,” Mario said. “I agree with Ned that it’s a great city. Beat down a bit because of the steel industry, but coming back strong.”

“I’m not ashamed to say I love Chicago,” I said. “For all its warts, it has everything anyone could want.”

“And quite a bit nobody wants!” Ben Jackson laughed. “The Outfit; snow; the Cubs.”

“I won’t argue with you about the Cubs,” I chuckled. “They are an abomination!”

“On that we ALL agree!” Ben van Hoek stated.

We toasted the failure of the Cubs, something we all reveled in. We had a second round of drinks, and then said ‘goodnight’. We all went up to our rooms and I called home to talk to Kara and Jessica. I had just hung up when there was a knock at the door. I chuckled at Cindi’s lame attempt and walked over to the door.

“Elyse?”

“You were expecting someone else?”

“Cindi. She’s trying to collect early!”

“She’s just horny!”

“No kidding! What’s up?”

“I just figured we could hang out a bit.”

“Then come in and make yourself comfortable.”

“Careful, Mr. Adams! You never know what might happen!”

“Do you imagine for one second that ANYTHING that could happen in this room tonight would be a problem?”

“An interesting thought experiment,” she smirked coming into the room and closing the door.

“And what are you thinking?”

“That you don’t ACTUALLY mean that!”

“I do!” I protested.

“So when Kimmy comes by and asks you to spend the night, you’ll say ‘yes’?”

“I meant with you!”

“But that’s not what you said.”

“So now we’re going exact words instead of implied meaning?”

“What if it was someone other than Kimmy?”

“Some random chick in New York is going to show up at my door?”

Elyse laughed, “Believe it or not, but Starr asked if you would be opposed to company tonight.”

“I don’t believe it. Other than a few words exchanged at the reception desk and the occasional pleasantries exchanged on the phone, I haven’t talked to her.”

“Nonetheless she’s interested.”

“I have to ask - how did that happen?”

“She and Jasmine are friends.”

“I’m not particularly interested.”

“That’s what I expected. May I offer an alternative?”

“What’s that?”

“Let me spend the night.”

“Are you sure?”

“Cuddling is perfectly acceptable, isn’t it?”

I nodded, “Absolutely.”

October 4, 1996, New York City, New York

Elyse stretched and yawned and snuggled closer.

“When’s the last time we slept naked in the same bed and didn’t fuck?” she asked.

“Last night,” I chuckled.

“I meant before last night, you dope!”

“Channeling Penny now?”

“She can only dream about being in your bed naked! I can do it!”

“Very true; and you are just as sexy as that first night in the hotel in Cincinnati.”

“And you are a liar, Mr. Adams! I was sixteen! I’m more than twice that age and I’ve had two kids! The bod has some serious miles on it!”

“And yet, you’re still very sexy. I love the way your breast is pushing into my chest, and your pubic hair is tickling my hip.”

“Do you know how tempted I was?”

“I have an idea. But we both know that cuddling was a better choice.”

“I’ve always been amazed that you can be satisfied by cuddling.”

“Because I’m a guy? And guys always want to have sex?”

“They do, you know.”

“All of them? Always?”

“Well, no. You’re the exception which proves the rule. Truth, now, you would rather cuddle me than have Starr fuck you senseless?”

“Any day of the week, and twice on Sundays.”

“I believe you. And sadly, we need to get out of bed, shower, and head to breakfast.”

“Together or individually?”

“If we shower together, I’ll end up doing something I shouldn’t do.”

We got out of bed and Elyse showered first, then I showered, and then we headed downstairs to breakfast. We met the rest of the team in the restaurant, and when we finished eating, we headed for the conference room where the keynote for the ninth annual User Group meeting would be held. As usual, my ‘state of the union’ speech was first, and after I gave it, Elyse gave the financial report, and Julia the development report. The keynote was given by the president of the New York State Bar Association, and then we broke for the individual sessions.

I had a private lunch with a small group of doctors and lawyers who Cindi wanted me to schmooze, and then everyone went to afternoon breakout sessions. Dinner was a banquet, and immediately after dinner, I hopped in a cab for La Guardia for the flight back to Chicago, pleased with the successful User Group meeting.

October 5, 1996, Chicago, Illinois

On Saturday morning, I joined the men for breakfast, then went to the dojo where I led classes because Sensei Jim was visiting one of his sons in Florida. After class, I had lunch with the family, and then Tom, Dave, and I took all of our boys to see D3: The Mighty Ducks. The movie was, at best, average, because the suspension of disbelief needed to be ratcheted up far too many notches.

“That was dumb!” Jesse groused as we left the theater. “You can’t come back from a 9-0 deficit in the whole game, let alone in one period! And Coach Bombay was hardly in the movie at all!”

“I agree,” I said. “The first one was awesome and the second one was good. This was so-so at best. We need to get you home so you can get to your own game.”

“Are you coming to the rink?”

“Do you promise to keep your stick on the ice?”

“Yes, Dad,” he said flatly.

“The movie was pretty bad,” Tom said quietly. “But other than Jesse, the boys seemed to enjoy it.”

“My son the hockey purist!” I grinned.

“Now where might he get THAT from?” Dave asked.

“Don’t you have papers to grade or something?”

“Were we that clueless when we were in Scott’s class?” he asked.

“No. Not even close,” I replied.

“How can you say that without having been there?” Tom asked.

“Because of the way Dave said what he said,” I replied. “The world is going to hell in a handcart. Let me ask you; are the new private firefighters as good as you and Stuart were when you graduated from the Fire Academy?”

“Not even close.”

“When was that?” Dave asked.

“1981,” Tom replied. “Stuart and I were friends with a photographer and a guy who worked in the mailroom at Samantha’s investment firm. Stuart and I haven’t heard from either of them in quite some time. Stuart, Dustin, and I were pretty tight in High School, but Dustin was gay and the whole ‘macho firefighter’ thing bugged the hell out of him. One day he just stopped hanging out with us and didn’t return our calls.”

“Dustin?” I asked. “Dustin Brady?”

“How did you know him?”

“He was the photographer who did a magazine layout of the basement of my house when I had it finished and the sauna installed. You don’t know what happened?”

“No.”

“He died in a car accident about eight years ago.”

“Bummer. I had always wondered what had happened to him.”

“You knew someone who was at Spurgeon?”

“Jonathan Kane. Stuart nearly ran him over with his bike in front of the Sears Tower. That was the Summer of ‘81. We hung out a lot that Summer, but after that, only saw each other occasionally. I haven’t heard from him since right before I met Bethany. He’d moved up the ladder at Spurgeon pretty quickly, but I think he had a falling out with Samantha’s dad some years ago, before I met Bethany. But I haven’t heard anything since.”

I wondered if that was the guy who Samantha had spoken of, but I didn’t want to ask because Samantha had been extremely careful not to name the guy.

“Ran him over with his bike?”

“Stuart was a bike messenger back then and was riding on the sidewalk when Jonathan walked out of the Sears Tower. Stuart took a spill, Jonathan helped him up, and he struck up a conversation. The four of us went to Great America right after that and as I said, became fast friends, at least for a time.”

“What did you do back then?” Dave asked. “I mean before the fire department?”

“I worked in the kitchen at Connie’s. Mostly I dealt with the pizza ovens. That Summer we met Jonathan was the Summer Stuart and I took the firefighter’s exam and attended the Academy. That’s about when you first came to Chicago, right?”

“August of 1981,” I replied. “Elyse was at UofC and I was at IIT. Kathy was at Northwestern and Bethany was at UW Madison. Kara moved here a couple of years later, and Pete and Melanie moved here when he was assigned by NCIS to Great Lakes.”

“Dave, did you know all of them back in Ohio?” Tom asked.

“No. I lived in the same town as his grandparents, but I didn’t know them or him.”

We all got into our cars to head home, where Matthew, Michael, and Albert went into the main house while I went into the coach house with Jesse. He gathered his gear, loaded it into Jennifer’s car, and then Jennifer, Josie, Jesse, and I got into the car.

“This is a qualifier for the December invitational, right?” I asked.

“Yes. Mom One and Mom Two will have to take me to Minneapolis if we make it!”

“Between Christmas and New Year’s, right Jen?” I asked.

“Yes. The 27th through the 30th.”

“Can you be there, Dad?”

“I think so,” I replied. “But you need to win your qualifying games first!”

“We will!” he declared firmly.

The game was at Johnny’s Ice House, which was Jesse’s home rink. He lugged his gear to the locker room while his moms and I went to sit in the stands with the rest of the parents. The previous year, they’d begun asking supporters of the teams to sit in segregated stands, and appointed two adults from each side as ‘yellow jackets’ to keep the peace. Nothing had happened in Jesse’s league, but there had been a pair of nasty fights in Naperville which had caused all of the leagues to adopt the idea of ‘fan segregation’.

“What are their chances?” I asked.

“Pretty good,” Jennifer replied. “They beat these guys in a league game earlier. But, only the qualifier result counts towards a tournament entry. Do you want me to book you a room through the tournament or do you want to stay someplace nicer?”

“Hmm,” I grinned. “Stay in a budget hotel with several hundred rowdy hockey players and their families, or enjoy peace and quiet in a really nice hotel? Actually, how does it work?”

“Josie and I share a room, obviously, and Jesse and Mikey Sarcu share a room. They’ve been rooming together at every tournament since they were six.”

“He’s the defenseman, right?” I asked.

“Yes. They make a great team and you can see how well they communicate on the ice.”

“Go ahead and book me a single room,” I replied. “Unless you guys want to share!”

“As if Jesse having two moms doesn’t already cause enough gossip!” Josie laughed.

“Your call.”

“Your own room, Steve,” Jennifer said with a soft smile. “You know why.”

“Of course. And you know I was teasing.”

“Just bring your new Cuban squeeze! I’m sure she’ll entertain you when the boys aren’t playing hockey!”

“Make the room a double!” I chuckled.

The teams came onto the ice and after warm-ups, I saw Jesse huddled with his six defensemen, or ‘backs’ as my Swedish friends called them. They were clearly talking strategy, and when the horn sounded, Jesse and two of the defensemen stayed on the ice with three forwards, and prepared for the initial face-off.

The game was hard fought, with no goals in the first period, and just one penalty for tripping assessed to Jesse’s team. They’d killed off the penalty with ease, allowing only a single shot which Jesse had almost casually turned aside.

The second period was similar to the first right up until the final minute when Jesse made a long pass to a forward waiting just over the blue line and caught the other team by surprise. Two passes and a wrist shot later and the puck was in the net, and Jesse’s team was up 1-0. The fans from the other team groaned and those around us cheered loudly.

“They just need to hold them in the third period,” I said. “Jesse looks strong in the net.”

“So does the other goalie,” Josie replied. “These two are pretty evenly matched, and the previous game we beat them 2-1.”

When the third period started, the other team pressed hard, but Jesse stood tall in goal, stoning the first-line center from the other team twice on two-on-ones. I could tell Jesse was perturbed with his blue-liners for allowing the odd-man rushes, but they were still ahead 1-0. They’d had a few good scoring chances, but the opposing goalie had been just as strong between his pipes as Jesse was between his.

With just under two minutes to go, the opposing team rushed down the ice, with the defensemen changing behind the play. But three players came onto the ice with only two leaving, creating a ‘too many men’ penalty. Jesse’s coach was screaming at the ref, but the ref either ignored him or didn’t hear him. Jesse turned away a hard shot but gave up a rebound which one of the opposing players tapped into the net.

The referee signaled goal, then turned, saw six skaters and a goalie, and signaled a penalty. The cheers from the other team’s fans and the loud protests from ours died down. The referee skated over to the bench and talked to the coaches, then skated to the booth where the timekeeper and scorer sat and to my shock, asked for the rulebook.

“What the hell?” one of the dads in front of me exclaimed. “Too many men on the ice means he has to wave off the goal. If he has to look that up in the rulebook, he has no business refereeing!”

Other parents agreed, and after two minutes, parents began heckling the ref. He spent a total of five minutes reading the rulebook, then skated out to center ice and signaled the bench minor, sending someone from the other team to the penalty box. We waited for the goal to be taken down, but the referee skated to center ice to prepare to drop the puck.

“NO GOAL!” several of the parents from our side screamed at the referee, but he ignored them.

Jesse’s coach called his players to the bench to force the issue and the referee simply shook his head and waved the players back. The crowd was growing restless, including the fans for the other team who knew the rules as well as we did. When Jesse’s team didn’t line up for the face-off immediately after the referee waved them over, he called ‘Delay of Game’ and bedlam erupted in the stands.

“Protest!” Jesse’s coach screamed, and sent his assistant coach to the scorer who sat next to the timekeeper to declare they were playing under protest. He then sent his players out.

On the face-off, the other team controlled the puck, skated down, and quickly scored on Jesse who, along with his teammates had been completely distracted by the completely bogus call. The game ended 2-1, and Jesse’s coach confronted both the scorer and timekeeper.