gjenfødelse III

It didn’t register immediately, what my mother had just told me. She said it so casually, like Mark calling happens all the time. When it did strike me, I nearly fell over backwards from the log I was sitting on. I felt faint, yet giddy with excitement. I wanted to call out to my mom, make her wait, and ask her for details. A first rate interrogation. In the end, I thought that might strike her as a bit too odd. She has to know how much a phone call from Mark means to me. I mean, she did walk all the way out here to tell me, after all. But if I get all weird about it and go all overboard, that can’t be good. 

Pace yourself, I said, while gathering up all my stuff to bring back to the house. I took maybe seven normal strides, before I bolted along the trail like a track star. I actually caught up to my mother, so I put on the brakes and dove behind a tree. Must look normal. Don’t act too excited. Don’t be weird…

When I got back inside, my mom spotted me from the kitchen. “Why don’t you run up for a shower honey. Lunch will be ready in a half hour.”

“K mom. I’ll call Mark back, too.”

I went into my room and grabbed a change of clothes. I stood there with my hands full and debated, shower first or Mark first. I glanced over to my desk, where the hockey team photo was, and it became very obvious, Mark first. 

I absentmindedly picked up my phone and punched in his digits. Shit!  Panic!  I quickly ended the call, before it got through. What in the Hell was I thinking?  I hadn’t even planned out what I was going to say. This is a muy importante phone call. I can’t just dial him up and say hey. I need to think about this. I don’t want to scare him off. Hell, I don’t even know what he wants from me. Maybe I better take that shower first. It’ll give me some time to think about all this. 

I picked up my ball of clothes and made my way to the bathroom. Right as I set the clothes in the counter, and was about to adjust the water, my phone rang. I jumped back like a frightened cat, and glanced at the display. Shit!  Shit!  Shit!  Shit!  It’s Mark. It’s Mark. I can’t answer. I’ve got to answer. He saw my call. Shit!  What do I do?  Ahhhhrrrrgggg!

“Hello?”

“Daniel?  Is that you?  I can barely hear you?”

“Uh huh. Yeah…yeah. It’s me.”

“Dude!”  What’s up?  I saw you called, but no one was there when I picked up. Is your phone fucked up?”

“Yeah…yeah. It’s umm…not working right. Piece of shit haha.”

“Hey!  Are you, like busy?  I miss you big time and now it’s like Christmas break. You wanna hang out?  I mean, can you?”

“Umm…yeah. Sure. I mean, I don’t got anything going on.”

“Can I come over?”

“Sure. Yeah. Like when?”

“How about now?”

“Now?  Oh..ok. Yeah. That’s cool.”

“Do you maybe want to play hockey or something?”

“Yeah. For sure. I was out there this morning already. The ice is perfect.”

“Sweet. Um. Would it be ok if Adam came too?  My mom kind of needs me to watch him, so you know…”

“Yeah. That’s cool.”

“Oh…and he…he doesn’t know about…you know…”

“Huh?  What?  Oh!  Yeah. That’s cool. I mean, if he knows or not. It’s…whatever.”

“Well, he doesn’t need to know, unless you want him to know. It’s up to you Danny.  I just know he’s gonna be pretty excited about going to your house today. He gets pissed at me sometimes, because you don’t come over like you used to. He thinks I’ve been a dick to you or something.”

“Ha!  Funny. But yeah. You guys come over any time. I’ll be here.”

“Cool. Probably be like an hour.”

“K. See ya then.”

“Later.”

Well, that was…awesome!  It didn’t sound like he was being weird at all. Just cool as he always is. This is so cool. I quickly took my shower and just threw on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. I was going to need my clothes I used this morning again, so I brought them down to the dryer. 

“What are you up to?” My mom quizzed, when she saw me fill the dryer. 

“Oh. Gonna go skating again after lunch, so I need to dry my stuff.”

“Did you call Mark back yet?”

“Yup. He’s coming over to play hockey.”

“Oh!  That’ll be great fun.”

“I was thinking of asking him to stay over. Would that be ok?”

“Sure. I don’t see why not. But maybe you should call him and have him ask his mother.”

Just as I was about to call him back, my phone rang. “It’s Mark. I hope he can still come.”

“Hello?”

“Hey. Is it ok if Adam brings a friend?  Two on two would be better anyway.”

“Yeah. Oh…umm would you like to stay over tonight?”

“Hell yeah!”

“Ok. Just make sure it’s ok with your mom.”

“K. Bye.”

I ate my lunch and stayed downstairs waiting for Mark and Adam to arrive. It seemed to take forever, but finally there was a knock on the front door. I jumped up and ran to answer. I swung the door open to two smiling faces, and one blank one I’d never seen before. Adam jumped across the threshold and leapt into my arms. 

“Danny!”

“Hey Adam. What’s up?”

Mark came in a little bit more casually, but had a hug for me just the same. It felt good. It felt damn good. I had to fight back my emotions, to keep from tearing up. 

“Thanks for coming over Mark. It means a lot.”

“Thanks for having us.  Oh. My mom wanted to say hi, too. If that’s ok?”

“Umm…yeah. Sure.”

Mark walked back outside a few steps, and waved for his mom to get out of the car and come up. She was wearing a cautious smile, so I smiled back my best happy one i could find. 

“Hello Daniel. How are you?”

“Good. Real good. Never better.”

“That’s just wonderful to hear. I hope to see you again soon.”

Hearing a woman’s voice prompted my mother to emerge from the kitchen, and relieve me of playing host. I took the opportunity to duck out and check on my laundry, while the moms had their mom talk. They were dry, so I walked over to the bathroom to change back into my outdoor gear. 

I could hear Adam telling his friend about how he remembered this and that about my house, from when he lived down the street, when he was a little kid. Mark followed where I had gone and stood in the doorway as I stripped down and got dressed again. 

“Your house is awesome. I forgot how cool it was.”

“Yeah. I guess. I’m kinda used to it.”

He playfully punched me on the arm. “Shut up dork.”

“Ouch!  What the Hell?”

“Keep talkin’ pretty boy. I’ll hit you again.”

“I could so kick your ass Marky Mark.”

“We’ll see about that.”

We walked back out to where Adam and his friend were lounging on the couches. 

“You guys want to go play?”

“Yeah. Let’s go” Adam said, springing up out of the couch. 

“Adam dude!  What’re you doing?  You keep getting taller, and we can’t hang out. I can’t have my friends little bro being taller than me. That’s just not right.”

Adam put on one of his winning smiles and turned a few shades redder. Then he put his head down a little, as he said in a serious voice. “I’m sorry Danny. I can’t help it. I just keep growing.”

I walked up to him and threw a reassuring arm over his shoulder. “Just kidding. You still playing that guitar?”

He snuggled in tight to me as we all headed out the back door. “Yeah. I play every day.”

“Cool. How many girlfriends?”

“Only four.”

We got out to the rink and played for hours and hours. We tried every combination of teams and had loads of fun. Mark was showing off his dangles and roof-daddies, and talking shit like a pro. Adam, was a very good player in his own right. I was impressed, having never seen him play before. He could give his brother a run for his money.  He also displayed a swagger I’d never seen before.  A confidence. He pulled it off well. Adam’s friend became more comfortable as the day went on, and was having a blast by the time we had to quit. The sun was getting low in the sky, and we couldn’t see the puck anymore, so we reluctantly called it quits. 

As we were taking our skates off, Adam’s buddy said, “I still can’t believe I got to skate here, at your house, with you.”

“What the fff?”

“Well. I know who you are. You’re A bantam. Defense. Right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well everybody knows who you are.”

“Yup. You’re legendary, Danny” teased Mark. 

“Shut up!” I responded, somewhat annoyed. 

“No. He’s right. My coach says you’re the best defenseman he’s ever seen in the program. He tells us to look for you if you’re in a game before us. See if we can learn anything.”

I sat there a bit stunned and uncomfortable. “Nah. I’m nothing special. That’s just crazy talk.”

“Well thanks for letting me skate here. It was fun.”

“Yeah it was. Come anytime.”

As we stood up and headed back, Adam and his buddy walked ahead of us, talking animatedly about the afternoon we all just shared. Mark hung back with me and got a bit serious for the first time of the day. 

“Daniel?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s true you know. Some of what he said. Our team has sucked without you.”

“Dude. It can’t be that noticeable.”

“Trust me. It is. We miss you. So…are you gonna come back?”

“I don’t know. I mean, can I?”

“Why couldn’t you?”

“I don’t know. Just maybe..I don’t know.”

“If you want to play, just talk to the coach. I’m sure he’d want you back.”

As we came through the other side of the woods, I could see the house, but not Adam and his friend. 

“Did they go inside already?  They must have been flying.”

Right as Mark got an “I don’t k…” out, we were both jumped by the two younger boys. Adam on my back, his friend on Mark’s. They growled as they wrestled us to the ground. Ten minutes of giggles and fighting ensued.  This was not good snowball snow, so ninja tactics were being applied. It wasn’t until my mom flipped on the backyard light, that we untangled and made our way back inside. 

My mom ordered us some pizzas from the gas station, and we all huddled around the table, eating and burping, and generally being obnoxious. An hour later, Mark’s mom showed up to bring a reluctant Adam home. Then Mark and I went upstairs to hang out. This was turning out to be such a normal, fun day. A day that I really needed.