The Maroon Beret

-Danny Briere-
I’m never late to practice. I never have been, not in my seventeen years in the NHL. Of course, there’s a first time for everything and today has to be that day. My youngest son, Cameron, had a huge problem with a kid at school and ended up getting suspended for five days. Since they’re still living in Philadelphia with their mother, it was hard for me to deal with the situation over the phone, and it ended up taking a lot of my time.

By the time I get to the arena, I’m almost ten minutes late. I’m rushing into the locker room when I spot all my teammates sitting in the lounge, not dressed for practice.

“Nice of you to join us!” Max Pacioretty jokes.
“Why are you all in here?” I ask.
“Philly is about to hold their press conference about Couturier. You seriously forgot?” He responds.

Oh, fuck. I did forget.

A couple of years ago, when Sean was in his rookie season, he lived in my house with me and my boys. The year before that Giroux lived with me, and both of them had become like extra sons to me. I was thrilled when I saw the video of him kissing Charlie. I always knew that they were meant to be together. I saw it the first day they met. I was even more thrilled when he called to tell me he was going to propose to her. I knew that she would say yes. My heart broke for them when I found out she was being deployed to Afghanistan again, and ever since I got the GameCenter notification yesterday that he was scratched due to a family emergency I have had a bad feeling in my stomach. I know it has something to do with her. I just keep hoping it’s not really bad.

I tried calling Sean yesterday, but he didn’t answer. I didn’t think he would, but it was worth a try. After that I called Giroux, who did answer. He told me that he couldn’t give me any information, and that Paul would be holding a press conference today. But the somber tone of his voice tipped me off, and confirmed my fears.

I take a seat on the couch next to my captain, Brian Gionta, and stare at the big television. The NHL network is showing a bunch of Sean’s highlights from the season. I have to admit, I’m incredibly proud of the way he’s been playing. He’s tearing it up so far this season. The announcer cuts in to introduce Paul, and the press conference begins.

“Hello, I’m Paul Holmgren and I’d like to thank you all for being here today. I’ve called this press conference to talk about Sean Couturier’s current status.

As most of you know, Sean’s fiancee, Senior Airman Charlotte Coleman, has been stationed with the United States Air Force in Kandahar, Afghanistan for the past three and a half months.

It is with heavy hearts that we announce today that Charlotte has been involved in an attack on American troops, and has been severely injured. She is currently being treated at the military hospital in Kandahar for critical wounds.

The doctors attending to her are confident that she will pull through, and will be returning home soon.

Because of this incident, the Flyers organization has decided to place Sean on an extended leave of absence until further notice. Once Sean feels that he is ready to come back, he will be admitted back onto the team.

For both Sean and Charlotte’s privacy, we will not be divulging any more information on her condition to the public at this time.

Both the Flyers organization and the league encourage anyone who would like to make a contribution to make a donation to the Wounded Warriors Project, an organization dedicated to supporting wounded veterans returning home from war. And the league has generously agreed to match any donation made in Charlotte Coleman’s name.

Thank you for your time.”

With that, Paul leaves the microphone and walks through a door.

I honestly feel numb. Charlie has been like a daughter to me. I have to get up and clear my head. I vaguely hear my teammates asking me if I’m okay, but I don’t answer them. Instead, I feel my legs carrying me to my car. I get into the driver’s seat, but don’t put the keys into the ignition. I place my head in my hands and try to just breathe. Paul said Charlie’s doctors are confident that she will be okay. Charlie will be okay.

After a couple of minutes, I take a deep breath and get out of my car. I head back to the lounge where my teammates are staring at me with expectant and wary eyes. Everyone knows that Sean lived with me. They’ve all heard me talk about him and Giroux like they’re my sons. Hell, most of them have even heard about Charlie.

“Giroux called you.” Gionta says, handing me my phone. “We didn’t want to answer it, so it went to voicemail.”
“Thanks.” I say, pressing the button to listen to the message.

“Hey Dan, it’s G.

I’m hoping you saw the press conference because if not, this message is going to be a real shock to you.

Like Paul said, Charlie was injured in Afghanistan. But it was also a lot more than that. A suicide bomber decided to blow himself up while he was near her.”

He takes a deep breath and lets it out as a sigh.

“This fucking sucks.” He mumbles.

“Anyway, she’s in a coma right now cause her brain swelled from the impact. And she pretty much broke every bone in the right side of her body from being slammed against a wall. But that’s not the worst part....

How do I even-?.... Ah, fuck. She got hit with some shrapnel in her left leg and by the time she got to the hospital they couldn’t do anything to save it. They had to amputate at her knee.”

I suck in a deep breath. My teammates are still staring at me, and they can tell that I now know something that wasn’t said during the press conference.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you this last night. I hope you understand, it wasn’t anything personal...

Sean is home now, with Janine and Johanna. He went home yesterday. They said he’s pretty unresponsive to anything right now, and he just seems like he’s in shock still. I guess we all kinda are.

Anyway, I know you’re coming to Philly in about a week, so I’m hoping you’ll be able to help us help him. I think it’ll be good for him to have your support.

I gotta go now, we have practice in about ten minutes. Give me a call later if you want to talk about it some more. None of us are in the mood to do anything tonight so we’ll probably just be ordering room service and watching whatever game is on. See ya.”

I end the call and look at my expecting teammates. I don’t want to have to tell them what’s going on. This sucks.

“How bad is it?” Carey Price asks.
“It’s pretty bad.” I sigh. “She’s in a coma and had to have her left leg amputated at the knee. And a whole bunch of bones on her right side are broken.”
They all have sad faces, though I’m sure they’re more for me than anything else.
“At least she’s alive.” Gionta says. Most of the guys are nodding their heads.

Notes