Page 44 of Victory Lap

“I wanted to see the banner,” he says. “That’s the only thing. I’ll never see it go up.”

“You’ll see it,” I say. “In October. Visiting bench. You will stand on the blue line and hate every second of it and we will buy you drinks after.”

“That’s the away team’s side.”

“The banner doesn’t know that.”

“How do I get the cat up there? The cat hates the carrier,” he says, like a man negotiating with the last problem small enough to solve today.

“The cat carries your father’s name and your father’s opinion of travel. He will survive getting to Montreal.” I put my hand on his shoulder. “So will you.”

He hugs me. There is no protocol for it and he doesn’t wait for one. Arms around me, exactly as the room taught him. Over his shoulder, Ash grins at me. Then Mäki is down the stairs, bag on his shoulder, and at the bottom he turns around and lifts his forearm, sleeve pushed back. The firebird, mid-flight. Going with him.

The tunnel takes him and the building goes back to holding its breath.

Ash’s knee settles against mine. He looks up at the rigging for a while. I can hear him deciding whether to say it.

“You know what should go on the banner,” he says.

“Don’t.”

“Ikonen describes the ice,” he says, savoring every word of it, “as adequate.”

“I am revoking your keys to my place.”

“You’d have to stop living with me.” He takes my hand. “Some things go up in October,” he says, quieter. “Some things are already here.”

Last September, I sat in this exact seat and told myself I didn’t know what this team was yet but told myself I wanted to find out. It was the truest sentence I had, and it was still three sizes too small.

I found out.

It’s not a roster. It is the people inside the building, inside the team. The food showing up before you ask. People sitting next to you in the quiet. A bird inked on a forearm, going to Montreal, still in flight.

They can hang the banner wherever they want. But what it stands for stays with each of us.

Five Hole Fiction

Thompson

order. tonight’s agenda: the ending. everybody finished?

Marchetti

finished. destroyed. the boat scene??? whoever recommended this book i owe them a dinner

Davis

i haven’t been okay since tuesday

Kowalski

before the discussion. i have a report to file

Kowalski

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Thompson