Call Me Captain

“No Justin, you’re doing it wrong!” I said grabbing the toy matchbox car out of his hand, “They need to be lined up like this along the race track.”
“No they don’t I can do them however I want. It’s make believe Nick, there isn’t any special way,” he said taking the car back.
“Yes there is!” I replied, my voice escalating.
“Why do you always have to do this. This is why I don’t like playing with you, you have to control everything and have things always be your way.” He said standing up and storming out of our room.
As I sat there, reorganizing the cars in the order they should be in, biggest to smallest, I heard the front door open downstairs. My dad was home from work.
“Boys! Can you come down here for a minute? I have something to ask you.”
Scrambling to get to my feet, I raced down the stairs into the kitchen where my dad was taking off his jacket.
“How would you both like to go to a hockey game tonight?”
“Yeah!” my brother yelled, pumping his fist into the air.
“A hockey game, what’s that?” I asked.
“It’s a sport that is played inside an arena on ice.”my dad replied.
“What kind of sport?”
“It’s one played by a group of people called a team and they wear jerseys and are on skates. They use a stick to move a rubber disc around on the ice called a puck.”
“There can be ice inside a building? Are we traveling to Antarctica? Are we going on a vacation?!” I asked getting excited, I had never been on a vacation.
“No, we’re not going on a vacation. There is a special place here in Virginia that we can go to. It’s a building called the Norfolk Scope.”
“Oh. Okay.” I said, feeling a little bit let down that we weren’t actually going on a vacation.
“I think it’s something that you will really enjoy,” my dad said kneeling on one knee to get to my level and look me in the eyes, “Trust me?”
“Okay.” I said and ran into the living room to relay the information to my mother.
“Mom! Guess what? Dad is taking us to a hockey game tonight, are you coming too?”
"What in the world would I want to go to a hockey game for?" my mother had asked without looking up from her cellphone.
"I thought it would be something fun for the boys and give us a chance to spend time together," he stated placing his hand over her phone, causing her to look him directly in the eyes, "as a family."
Though my mother had huffed about it, claiming she didn’t know anything about hockey and she had more important and pressing matters to attend to, we went.
"Whoa! This place is huge!" my brother Justin said looking around at all the banners hanging from the rafters as we walked in.
"Boys, welcome to Norfolk Scope, home of the Norfolk Admirals.” said my dad.
We arrived to the game early so my dad suggested that my brother and I stand at the plexiglas to watch the Admirals practice. I was fascinated at the way the players could handle the puck on the end of their stick. Some could even balance the puck on the end of their stick and flip it over the glass! I knew this because I had seen a player wearing the letter C on the front of his uniform do it. He moved the puck back and forth with his stick really fast then flipped his stick with his wrist. Then he cradled the puck and balanced it on the very end and tossed it upward and over the glass to a girl holding a sign with his name and number on it.
“Wow, do you think that we could get a puck Justin?”
“I bet you I can get a puck before you do!” he replied, challenging me.
“Nuh-uh!”
With that Justin began banging hard on the glass and chanting names I had never heard of before. Justin wasn’t supposed to be doing that, when we were in public we were supposed to behave. Behaving meant using indoor voices.
“Justin, what are you doing?”
“I’m trying to get a puck, just like I said I would. Hey! Go Number 5, you’re going to score tonight! Yeah! Woo!”
“Justin, you’re going to get us in trouble with mom. Stop it.”
“No I’m not Nick, this is what you’re supposed to do here. Look around you at all the other kids doing it.”
As I looked around my brother was right, there were a lot of other kids banging on the glass and chanting similar things, but I couldn’t do that. That was against the rules.
“Hey guys, having fun?” my dad asked sitting down in the seat behind me, a dish of nachos in his lap.
“Dad, Justin is being really loud and banging on the glass and we’re not supposed to do that.” I said pointing my finger in my brother’s direction.
“It’s okay Nick. Here is a place where that’s something you can do.”
“But, we’re inside and we are supposed to use our indoor voices.”
“Yes, in most cases, but here it is okay for you to use an outdoor voice because you are cheering a team on. It’s an acceptable way to act.”
There are so many rules to so many different places. I wish things could just be simple.

As the clock began to wind down, players began skating into what looked like a long hallway.
"Dad, where are all the players going? Is the game over?" I had asked.
"No Nick, they're going into the locker room to prepare for the game. This was just practice to warm up their bodies."
"Warm up their bodies? Oh, because it's so cold on the ice?"
"No, not quite. You know how in gym class Mr. Benson has you do those special stretches before you start running around?"
"Yeah."
"It's like that, the players come out here, they do some stretches and get their muscles ready."
"Ohhh, okay, that makes sense."
A buzzer sounded, causing me to jump and we made our way to our actual seats. Given that the seats were tickets my dad had won on the radio, we were pretty high up.
"If there wasn't a roof on this place, I bet I could touch the sky!"
"Yeah, we could be like space men and walk on the moon we're so high up!" my brother replied.
"I don't understand why they wouldn't give away good seats. I mean, they are one of the most popular radio stations in Norfolk. They could have at least given you a pack of tissues to go along with the nosebleeds we're sure to get from being so high up." my mother stated plumping herself down in the seat.
"We're going to get nosebleeds?!" I asked horrified, holding my nose as if it were going to fall off.
"No, boys I assure you we aren't going to get nosebleeds. That is just an expression that people use to state that you're really high up."
"Ohh," I said, releasing my nose. "Kind of like when someone tells you if they are in your way you can shove them, but they don't actually mean it?"
"Exactly like that."
Just then the lights went out and a voice came over the speakers, “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the main event…” at the same time lights began forming pictures on the ice and the Admirals logo was projected down onto the center.
My mother had already dug her cellphone out of her purse, the screen illuminating her face with a white light.
“Mom, look at the lights! This is so cool!”
“Mhmm, awesome Nick.” she stated without even looking up from her screen.
“Don’t you think you could put that away just for an evening?” my father said leaning over me.
“Don’t you think you could lay off of me, just for an evening?” she spat back at him.
With a sigh my father sat back in his seat and stared down at the ice as the puck was dropped, beginning what I was told was the first period.

As I watched the players skate up and down the ice, I was mystified. They move so fast and don’t even look down at the puck. That would be so cool. “I want to play hockey.” I blurted out.
“You can’t play hockey Nick.” my mother said, again not looking up from her phone.
“Why?” I asked looking in her direction.
“How do you expect to be able to focus on playing a sport when you can’t even focus enough to bring your dirty clothes downstairs in the morning? Besides, no one is going to take the time to answer all of your questions the way your father does.”
“I like to wear my pajamas more than one day in a row!” I said, balling up my fists and hitting my lap.
“And I’ve told you that you can’t do that. It’s dirty.” my mother said, raising her voice.
“No it’s not!” I said raising mine to match hers.
“Alright, enough. Kim, this isn’t the time or the place. Nick, show me calm body bud, deep breaths.”
As I took deep breaths I heard my mother mutter under her breath “Once again, Tim to the rescue.” as she typed away furiously on her touchscreen.
“Mom, what about me, can I play hockey?” My brother asked leaning forward.
“Yeah, sure honey whatever you want.”
“How come he can play and I can’t?!” I asked, my voice escalating again.
“Because honey, people with Aspergers and ADHD don’t play sports. It’s as simple as that. Now your father told you to discuss this later now hush and watch them play.”
“You’re mean!”I screamed.
“Shhh! Keep your voice down.” my mother hissed, “You’re making a scene and people are staring.”
“No, not until you tell me I can play hockey like Justin!”
“Nick, the sooner you realize you can’t do the same things as your brother, the better off you’ll be.”
“I hate you!” I screamed in her face, tears falling down mine.
“Hey lady, if you can’t control your kid, why don’t you stay home or get a sitter. I’m trying to watch a game here.” a big, burly man shouted from a couple rows behind us.
“Excuse me, why don’t you mind your own business and shut the hell up.” my mother retorted.
“I want to go home,” I said looking at my dad, “This isn’t fun anymore.”
“Nick, just ignore your mother. You and I can sit down and talk about you playing hockey some other time. For tonight, let's just enjoy the game. Do you think you can do that for me buddy?”
“Uh-uh” I said crossing my arms over my chest, shaking my head side-to-side.
“Well, I’m sorry you feel that way, bt we are not leaving.” my father said, focusing his attention back to the ice.
Why couldn’t I play hockey? Why was Justin allowed to do so many other things, but I wasn’t able to? Why did my mother hate me so much? Stupid ADHD. Stupid Asperger's. I’m not allowed to do anything!
***
It had been a week since we went to the hockey game and dad and I still hadn’t talked about the possibility of playing hockey.
“Hey buddy, what did you want to do for dinner tonight?”
“Hmm, how about pizza from Dominos?”
“Alright. Pepperoni, Bacon and Ham sound good to you?”
“Perfect,” I said giving him two thumbs up.
“Dad, what are you and i going to do tonight?” Tonight my mother was going out with a group of her friends and Justin was working on a project at Jason’s and wasn’t due back until later.
“Well, what would you like to do?”
“Hmm, can we go to another hockey game?”
“I was thinking something more along the lines of playing a board game or maybe some Mario Kart on the Wii.”
“Oh, then I don’t know,” I said shrugging my shoulders.
“You really enjoyed the game last weekend huh bud?” My dad asked flipping through the yellow pages of the phonebook to find Dominos number.
“Yeah I did, minus the fight with mom, but the game was awesome!”
“Well, how about I look on the tv and see if I can find a game on.”
“They have hockey games on tv?”
“Sure they do.”
“So I can watch the Admirals play right in my own living room?”
“No, not the Admirals, their games aren’t televised, but we might be able to catch an NHL game.”“NHL, what’s that?”
“National Hockey League, it’s the best hockey league in the world. It’s a league where players from all over the world come to play for different teams and compete to win a trophy.”
“Whoa, so someone from China could come here and play hockey?”
“If they were talented enough, yes.”
“That’s so cool!”
“So is that what you want to do tonight, order a pizza and sit down with some root beer and watch a game?”
“Yeah!”
“Alright, I’m going to call in our order, maybe we’ll get some breadsticks too. While I do this why don’t you run upstairs and get in pajamas so you will be all ready for bed.”
“Okay, do I have to brush my teeth?”
“No, not yet, we haven’t had dinner yet.”
“Oh yeah.”
With that I turned around and marched upstairs to get changed. Who knew you could watch hockey on tv? I thought tv was just a place for dramatic series that have some sort of love triangle or a guy dating twelve girls at once, giving them roses at something called a rose ceremony. I had tried to ask my mom about a rose ceremony once, but she yelled at me and told me to go in the other room and do a puzzle or something. Come to think of it, that was her answer to me any time I ever ask her a question.
I quickly changed into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and tossed my clothes to the side before making my way back downstairs to find my dad searching the tv guide.
“Find a game dad?”I asked taking a seat next to him on the couch.
“There are a couple games going on tonight. There’s the Atlanta Thrashers at Tampa Bay Lightning or the Edmonton Oilers at the Minnesota Wild. Which game sounds better to you?”
“I don’t know, which team is the best?”
“Well, that I’m not sure. How about we watch the Tampa game? Tampa Bay is the NHL affiliate to the Admirals, you might see some players you recognize.”
“Okay!”
Just as a song called the National Anthem was done being sung by some lady, the doorbell rang.
“Perfect timing.” my dad said getting up off of the couch to go and get our dinner.
According to the announcers on tv, the Tampa Bay Lightning were having a rough year. They had only won one game so far and had tied another, losing the rest. The announcers said it wasn’t too much to worry about yet since it was only mid-October, but that they needed to step up their game if they hoped on improving and making something called the playoffs in April. When dad walked back into the room with the pizza and root beer I asked him,
“What’s playoffs mean?”
“Playoffs are hockey games that take place after the end of a hockey season.”
“Well, if they have more games at the end of a season, how do they determine when the end is?”
“At the beginning of a season, there are 82 games scheduled that make up the ‘season’ as they call it. At the end of those 82 games, the top four teams from each division go to the playoffs.”
“Divison, I thought that was a math term where you take a bigger number and divide by another number and find an answer? How do you do that in hockey.”
“Well, it’s kind of the same idea. You see in the NHL there are 30 teams that make up the league. Out of those 30 teams, there are conferences, Eastern and Western, and there are divisions which are smaller groups of teams within each conference.”
“Oh, I get it now. What division are the team we are rooting for?”
“The Tampa Bay Lightning are a part of the Eastern Conference and the Southeast Division.”
“Cool. What other divisions are there?”
“There are six divisions altogether in this sport, three in the Eastern Conference and three in the Western Conference. From the East you have the Atlantic, Northeast and Southeast Divisions. From the West you have the Pacific, Central and Northwest Divisions.’
“Wow. Where did you learn all this stuff dad?”
“My dad and I used to watch hockey together every Friday night. Although, back in my day it was a little different. You see how all the players are wearing helmets?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, when I was growing up, the players weren’t required to wear helmets.You could play without one.”
“Really?!”
“Mhmm, but then the game progressed much with everything as you will learn and the League decided their players needed a little bit more protection so in 1979, all players entering the League were required to wear helmets.”
“Wow, you must be ancient! That was a long time ago.”
“It wasn’t that long ago son.” my dad said with a chuckle.
“Dad, how come you never played hockey if you like it so much?” I asked him, hoping to bring up how I still wanted to play.
“Well, I guess it’s because I never really gave it a thought. I was real focused in my studies so that I could be able to graduate and get a good job.”
“That sounds boring, I don’t like homework.”
“Sometimes you have to do the boring stuff in order to be able to enjoy better things later on.”
“Kind of like having to eat all of my dinner before i can have dessert?”
“Exactly like that.”
“Dad, do you think that I’ll ever be able to play hockey?”My father sat on the couch, a blank expression on his face and sighed. “Honestly son, I don’t know. It would take a lot of hard work and it cost a lot of money to play hockey. It also requires a lot of patience. Your mom has a point on this one.”
“But I can have patience and I have $30.00 saved up in my piggy bank upstairs, you don’t have to spend anything.” I pleaded.
“It’s going to cost a bit more than $30.00 bud. I’ll tell you what, I’ll talk to your mom about getting you a pair of skates for the winter so you can practice skating on the pond and we’ll go from there. Does that sound like a deal?”
“Alright, I guess.”
“Shake on it?” he asked extending his hand to me. I put down my slice of pizza and shook his hand. This was a thing we did, kind of like pinky promising a best friend not to tell your secrets. It was a way for me to know that my dad would hold up my end of the bargain and I would stop bugging about whatever it was I had been bugging him about.

I watched the rest of the game with a grin on my face. I was going to get a pair of skates and I was going to fly like the Lightning. I was going to be the next Vincent Lecavalier some day.

Notes