Chapter 60: Sleep On It

October 19, 2000, Chicago, Illinois

“You skaters need to score today!” I said to Mia when I sat down next to her on the bus which would take us to our game against Brother Rice, one of the better teams in the city.

“Did you hear that, Kenny?” she asked.

He was sitting in front of us with Blake.

“She’s right,” Blake said. “Rice always gets lots of shots off and one goal will not be enough!”

“Jesse could just have a shutout!” Kenny countered.

“Rice hasn’t been shut out in forever!” Mia said. “Jesse’s good, but still!”

I smirked and Mia just rolled her eyes. I enjoyed turning the tables on her, and I had SO much practice from teasing Birgit that I was REALLY good at it!

“I’ll keep us in the game if you guys put pucks in the net,” I said.

“Will your dad be at the game today?” Mia asked.

“No. He’s missing this game because he’s in Sāo Paulo.”

“Where’s that?” Blake asked.

“Brazil. He was in Buenos Aires last week and Colombia before that. He’ll be at the game next week. And don’t forget the entire team is invited to the Hawks game against the Mighty Ducks on November 5th.”

“I can’t believe your dad scored a skybox for us!” Kenny said.

“It belongs to a friend of his,” I said. “But she’s cool about letting us use it. They don’t have too many Ducks fans and it’s not considered a rivalry.”

“How many times have you watched games in the skybox?” Blake asked.

“I dunno, maybe a dozen. We’ve also been to games where we sat in the bleachers. And my team got to play between periods. That’s when I met Chris Chelios, Jeremy Roenick, and Ed Belfour!”

“No way!” Kenny and Blake exclaimed in unison.

“My dad arranged for a friend of his to meet Mario Lemieux in January. I got to meet him a couple of years ago.”

“How?”

“One of the companies my dad does business with also does business with the Penguins. They know my dad is a Penguins fan, and because of that mental defect, they had pity on him!”

“Have you said that to your dad?” Kenny asked.

“Repeatedly,” I grinned.

“My dad would never let me get away with saying stuff like that!”

“My dad encourages it!” I grinned. “I think he’d rather have me give him a hard time than tease my little sister. I use all the practice I got with her on Mia!”

“Gee, you’re a great friend!” Mia complained.

“You enjoy being given a hard time!” I smirked, putting just enough emphasis on ‘hard’ to tease her.

We arrived at the rink and when we skated out for warmups I saw Mom One in the stands. Mom Two had a meeting she couldn’t reschedule, so she wouldn’t show up before the third period started. I saw Kelly sitting next to Mom One so I waved and then went to do my stretching exercises next to Jerry. He was treating me better, but he was still upset I had the starting goalie job. After warm-ups, Coach called us over and basically reiterated what we’d said in our conversation on the bus - if we didn’t score, we couldn’t win.

And unfortunately, that’s what happened. I gave up two goals but we didn’t score any. I was totally frustrated and when we went into the locker room after the game, it was clear Coach was frustrated as well. He gave me the ‘game puck’ which was always handed out to the player who made the biggest effort, win or lose, but that was no consolation for losing the game. The trend wasn’t good - a tie, and now a loss, and Coach made that point, too. We’d be doing mostly offensive drills at practice this week, which meant both Jerry and I would get workouts in a shooting gallery.

The mood on the bus was sour, which didn’t surprise me, and most everyone was quiet on the way back to school. Mom One and Kelly met me there, and I put my gear in the trunk of Mom One’s car; Mom Two had gone straight home.

“Phew!” Kelly said, wrinkling her nose. “Your gear stinks!”

“Birgit always said that to him,” Mom One said with a laugh. “Be glad he showers at the rink now! They didn’t when they were little.”

“Gross!” Kelly declared.

“I used to have to put towels over the seats,” Mom One said. “Otherwise the car would smell like sweaty hockey players for days!”

“Double gross!” Kelly exclaimed.

“Just get in the car!” I said, rolling my eyes.

We got into the back seat of Mom’s car and drove to our house. I put my gear on the rack to dry, then walked Kelly home.

October 20, 2000, Chicago, Illinois

“Burgers at the greasy spoon by the hospital?” I asked Kelly when I went to her house on Friday to meet her for our date.

“Greasy spoon?” She asked as we began walking south.

“That’s what Aunt Chess calls it. I want a burger!”

“Sure. I thought you had some special diet because of church.”

“Not when I’m playing hockey. My priest says athletes get exemptions, especially teenagers. We need lots of protein! So during fasting periods I don’t have candy, soda, or dessert.”

“Now I know why you don’t drink pop at the movies! And why do you call it soda?”

“That’s what Mom One, my dad, and their friends from Cincinnati call it, so that’s what I call it.”

“You’re the only one in your family who goes to church?”

“Yes. My dad and others used to go sometimes, but they haven’t been in a while. My godfather, Mr. Vasily, picks me up for church every Sunday morning. You don’t go to church, do you?”

“Christmas and Easter only, at the Episcopal Church. How did you start going to church if your family doesn’t?”

“My dad has some friends who are Orthodox, and he took me to church. I liked it, wanted to keep going, and was chrismated, which is like combining baptism and confirmation. Dad does stuff for the church, including helping them manage their finances and he helped coordinate the building fund. Hopefully, we’ll be able to build a new church in the next couple of years because ours is way too small.”

“Where is it?”

“In Carol Stream.”

“That’s far.”

“I know, but it’s where I go. I used to miss a lot because of hockey, but the school team doesn’t usually have games on Sunday morning, so it’s not so bad now. Before I forget, did you ask your mom about the Halloween party?”

“Yes. She wants to talk to your dad about it. He gets home on Sunday, right?”

“Yes. You told her that all the ‘cousins’ will be there, plus other friends of mine or my siblings, right?”

“Yes, but she still wants to talk to him.”

“I’ll tell him and he’ll call her. He always has a huge New Year’s Eve party, too. Most of the kids sleep at my Aunt Penny’s house next door.”

“She’s not a real aunt, right?”

“No. But that’s what we call her, like so many other of my dad’s friends.”

“So like the ‘cousins’?”

“Yes. My dad’s part of the family is VERY strange!”

“So long as YOU don’t plan to have two wives and kids by four girls!”

“No way! And that’s something to worry about AFTER college! As crazy as my dad is, even he didn’t marry until after he graduated and his business was up and running!”

“My parents married when they were both twenty-five,” Kelly said. “They had my brother about two years later, and then me three years after that.”

“Mom One and Dad made me before either of them got married.”

“Your moms aren’t married! I know that’s not allowed.”

“Says who? You mean they can’t claim to be married on their tax forms? That’s true. But they’re married just as much as your mom and dad are! They don’t really care what the government thinks. Neither does my dad and neither do I!”

“But you’d get married, right? I mean, legally?”

“Sure. And in church. But AFTER graduation from college!”

Kelly laughed, “You think I’m ready to get married?

“No, but I don’t want any misunderstandings! You’re my girlfriend, not my fiancée!”

“Are we going out with the gang tomorrow night?”

“Yes. Bacino’s on Wacker. Mikey and Nicole will be there along with everyone but Cynthia. Her mom won’t let her come. Libby will be there, too.”

“You’ve been hanging out a lot with Libby.”

I nodded, “She’s a friend, that’s all. And she knows you’re my steady girlfriend.”

“What about Cynthia? Her mom always seemed cool.”

She had been cool, but Kelly didn’t know about the ‘Grandma Incident’ as Libby and I called it.

I shrugged, “You’ll have to ask her. Everyone else will be there, even Heather and Paul.”

“He was SO gross!”

“He promised to be nice,” I said, “And Heather was OK with him being there.”

“What about her mom?”

“I have no clue. That’s between Heather and her parents!”

“Have you had one?” Kelly asked.

This was dangerous territory, because it would reveal something that was private. I personally didn’t care, but I didn’t think April, Francesca, Cynthia, or Libby would want me to talk about it. But I knew if I didn’t answer, Kelly would push and ask more questions and the conversation would quickly become difficult and might even turn into an argument. That created a dilemma, and I needed a way out.

“If you and I were to do stuff, would you want me telling anyone else what we did?”

“No! That would be wrong!”

“And you assume I was with Francesca.”

“Duh!”

“So if I say I have had one, you’ll assume it was Francesca, something I couldn’t confirm or deny. I can’t violate anyone’s privacy.”

Kelly was quiet, which I took to mean she wasn’t happy, but I wasn’t sure how I could answer her questions. The strange thing was that I would have no qualms telling Libby, nor had I had any qualms telling Cynthia what I’d done before. I realized it was Kelly’s reaction to sex, beyond kissing, that was really the issue, and I wondered if I’d made a mistake asking her to go steady.

Fortunately, Kelly didn’t seem to be in a bad mood when we reached the diner. We ate, went to see Meet the Parents, and then I walked her home. I got a very nice ‘good night’ French kiss and a nice hug, and after she went inside, I walked home. When I arrived home, I said ‘good night’ to my moms, then went up to my room to write in my journal.

October 22, 2000, Chicago, Illinois

“Dad!” three little girls squealed as I walked out of the domestic arrivals security gate.

The girls ran to me and I dropped my bags and pulled all three of them into a hug. They were unhappy a minute later when I extricated myself so that I could hug and kiss Kara, and then hug Albert.

“I thought you would come to the International Terminal,” he said.

“I flew back via Miami,” I replied. “I had to change planes, so I went through Customs and Immigration in Miami.”

“How were your flights?” Kara asked.

“Fine. I read and worked on the overnight flight the way I usually do.”

“Are you going to nap?”

“Probably,” I replied. “I’ll want to shower after the long flights and then I’ll decide.”

Kara, Birgit, Ashley, Stephie, Albert, and I made our way to the parking garage, loaded my bags into the back of Kara’s minivan, and I got into the passenger seat. Kara got into the driver’s seat, and after we checked that everyone was properly buckled in, she started the engine and then headed for the exit. About forty-five minutes later we pulled into the driveway and as I got out of the minivan, Jesse came out of the coach house to greet me.

“Hi, Pops!” he said with a grin.

“Hi, Ducks! How was your game on Thursday?”

“Don’t ask,” he groaned, then added, “We didn’t score.”

“Tough to win that way.”

“No kidding,” Jesse replied, sounding annoyed.

“I need to get cleaned up,” I said. “See you at dinner?”

“Yep!”

Kara, the girls, Albert, and I went into the main house and I went upstairs to shower, receiving a withering glare from my eldest daughter who wanted to cuddle.

“I don’t think you’re napping right away,” Kara said quietly as we reached the top of the stairs.

“It would be a ‘dirt nap’!” I chuckled.

We went into the bedroom, I dropped my bags, undressed, and then went into the bathroom. I turned on the shower, adjusted the temperature, and got in.

“Of course,” I said as hot water cascaded over my body, “when Jess sees my food diary, I might end up with a dirt nap anyway.”

“How bad?”

“Triple scoop funnel cone,” I replied. “I made sure I got extra exercise, but that doesn’t actually resolve the problem.”

“How were you after that?”

“OK in Buenos Aires, but I felt it when I got to Sāo Paulo. I ameliorated the ‘manic’ issues by doubling my time on the treadmill, but I felt like crap because of what amounts to a carbohydrate hangover.”

“What about sleeping? I mean besides your usual inability to sleep on airplanes?”

“Mostly good, though I was out really late the night after the ice cream and that didn’t help.”

“You’re right. She’s going to give you grief.”

“I know, and it’s deserved, but in the end, I wanted to do it. It’s like the very rare cigars and the rare occasions I smoke my pipe.”

“She won’t see it that way, and neither will Mary.”

“No kidding,” I said, lathering shampoo into my hair. “Jess is much better with her risk aversion, but not on this topic.”

“Doctors are like that,” Kara said with a smirk.

“Yes, they are. Al will give me grief as well. And if anyone tells Birgit, I’ll be in the doghouse for weeks.”

“Oh, you will not!” Kara laughed. “She’ll give you one of her patented looks, tell you that you’re being a dumb boy, then go right back to cuddling you!”

“Perhaps,” I grinned, then rinsed the shampoo from my hair.

“How did you leave things with your Argentinian pen pal?”

“She wants to study computers here in the states. I’m going to put her in touch with Alejandra to talk about what it’s like living here. I suggested Stanford, MIT, or UofI if she can get in.”

“Not IIT?” Kara asked as I began soaping my body.

“It came up in conversation.”

Kara laughed, “She’ll come here so she can get expertly screwed at the drop of a hat! Would you hire her?”

“Ask me in five years,” I replied. “And it wouldn’t be up to me.”

“Wifely privilege!”

“I honestly don’t know the answer to what I’m sure is the burning question. She didn’t SAY she was a virgin, nor imply it, but her cousin did, as did her sister, though the sister’s implication was oblique. I honestly have no idea. If she was, then a four on Elyse’s scale.”

“What’s your gut feeling?”

“That’s just it, I don’t have one. If you force me to answer, I’d say no, but I am so unsure about it that I’d say that had a less than fifty-percent confidence. And honestly, except for your vicarious jollies, does it matter to anyone but her?”

“No, of course not. And?”

“We both enjoyed ourselves. Not over the top, not boring; call her ‘Goldilocks’.”

“So, just right?”

“Yes. And I didn’t debate her or quiz her or anything like that. At the right time I mentioned the test was necessary and in true ‘LDB’ fashion, she’d had one!”

“LDB? Luckiest Dumb Boy?”

“Suzanne coined that as a shortcut to the whole saying, especially in IM.”

“Are you at peace with your thinking?”

I nodded, “Yes. I need to be the rock of stability you, Jessica, the kids, and the NIKA team need, but I can dial back the intensity of my logical approach to life at times.”

“Like the Halloween Party?” Kara smirked.

I laughed and began to rinse the soap from my body.

“I am SO not surprised she told you about the teasing.”

“You could tell Birgit and she could sell coupons like raffle tickets! She’d be able to retire from the proceeds!”

“Except that the ineligible girls are the ones who would spend the money! The eligible ones generally only need to ask!”

“Not anymore,” Kara said, handing me a towel as I stepped out of the shower. “You basically shut all the old girls down during your hiatus. Well, except for Liz and Maria Cristina.”

“Partly because so many of them became involved with someone. Oh, and what’s your AIM handle?”

Kara laughed, “Oh, come on, Snuggle Bear. What would it be?”

I chuckled, “PolymerPrincess!”

“Yes!”

I finished drying myself, got dressed, unpacked my bags, then took all the dirty clothes to the basement while Kara took my two suits to the foyer closet so she could take them to the dry cleaners on the way to work in the morning. I got everything into the washer, then went back up to the sunroom where my eldest daughter was waiting expectantly and impatiently.

“Finally!” she exclaimed.

I made a point of rolling my eyes at her then got into the chaise and wrapped my arms around her. She snugged close and sighed contentedly.

“I really missed you,” she said about five minutes later.

“I don’t have any more long trips planned,” I said. “Just a few days in St. Martin after Thanksgiving. If I have to go anywhere, it would probably only be for a day or two. How were things at home”

“The usual. Just school and hanging out with my friends. Did you know Jesse has a new girlfriend?”

“No, I didn’t know that. It’s Kelly, right?”

“Yes. But I don’t think it will last.”

“In your extensive experience with romantic relationships?” I teased.

“Ha!” Birgit laughed. “She won’t put out, so it won’t last!”

“Excuse me?! Is that ANY of your business?”

“What do you say? Just an observation? But she won’t even joke or tease about it like Cynthia or Libby or Francesca. She’s not his type!”

“What is his ‘type’?” I asked.

“Like those other three girls! Francesca was really fun, and so are the other two girls. Kelly is more like Heather.”

“So, Miss Expert, why did he ask her to be his girlfriend?”

“Uhm, I’m not sure.”

“Then perhaps you should keep your opinion to yourself,” I said gently.

“I thought we could talk about anything with you!”

“That’s true, but even so, Jesse’s love life is his business, not mine or yours. What if he decides the guy you like isn’t acceptable? Is that HIS business?”

“No,” Birgit replied, making a face.

“Learn the lesson, Pumpkin. Some things aren’t our business and we shouldn’t concern ourselves with those things. Jesse is pretty good at running his own life. You are, too.”

“Even when I mess up?”

“That’s part of life,” I said. “We learn from our mistakes and try to do better in the future.”

Ashley and Stephie came to stand next to the chaise.

“Our turn!” they said in unison.

“No!” Birgit objected fiercely.

“You need to share, Pumpkin. You can come back after they’ve had their turn.”

Birgit scowled, gave her sisters a very dirty look, but got up from the chaise. She was immediately replaced by her sisters, Ashley on my left and Stephie on my right. They snuggled close and put their heads on my chest. I’d enjoyed my trip, but it was good to be home.

October 23, 2000, Chicago, Illinois