Heart of Man

It had been 472 days since I had been to Vancouver, each memory more vibrant than the previous. One year and a hundred and seven days. I hadn’t kept track, but I had a lot of time on the flight to Vancouver. Tanya shifted next to me in her sleep. I didn’t know what to expect. On one hand, I was giddy with excitement. On the other, I wanted it to be over to know who would be miserable over the summer and who would be eating the true breakfast of champions. Out of Stanley, no doubt.

Touching down clearing through, Tanya and I had reached the hotel at what time we would normally go to bed. Having left right after the game, there wasn’t much reason to dilly dally around. The team would be here in a matter of minutes, taking up some other floor in the same hotel. It was the one we stayed at way back when. Four Seasons or something like that.

Setting the woman’s glasses next to her bed on the desk, I grabbed the extra card and tiptoed out of the room. Leaving in a slow pace, I couldn’t help but think. About anything and everything. This had been Canada’s floor, where she had come to return Sidney’s DVD. She passed his room, forever his room to her, where she remembered a crying Erika Harper, so young and unknown for greatness.

Reaching the elevator, I pressed the cool metal button, the same one Val and I would race to press every night after catching up with friends for hours on end. Stepping in, it still smelt vaguely like too much pine-sol and wood. Pressing the button level, the doors closed and I could see myself in the dim reflection.

My hair had grown longer, even only being half up right now, it was noticeable. The dark tan in my skin from spending so much time in Italy had diminished, but some still remained. My eyes were the same, dark hue. My body looked the same. Was I the same person when I left Vancouver?

I didn’t feel like the same person was returning.

Hearing the ding, I blinked and stepped out to see the empty areas. The stairs I had taken to get away from Alex lay behind me. After taking a few steps, I could remember standing in the same spot after slapping him. My hand tingled, remembering same shock that had hit me over a year ago, and I quickly clenched and unclenched my fingers.

Taking the same path I did that day, the stairs didn’t seem near as long now as they did them. I made it back to the room and snuck in, heading straight for the bag I had brought with me. Digging into the opening, my fingers found the red fabric and pulled out the jersey I hadn’t seen since I left to go to Russia.

Tracing his name on his national jersey, I quickly set it on the back of the chair, before climbing into the bed before me.

~

The puck dropped, and I immediately thought I was going to be sick. I could never be a hockey fan and go through this every year. It was too stressful and I was counting my lucky stars that I didn’t feel this nervous while playing. Or maybe I did.

Nicky was here, watching in the tunnel. They had done a little cheer thing for him at the beginning, and he had a smile on his face the entire time as both Capitals fans and Canucks fans clapped and celebrated his return. Maybe they were just happy he wasn’t there to get in the way of their cup. Nick was certainly a forced to be reckoned with.

Play after play developed, Alex and Ovie on their line with Mojo, never getting a shot. Erika crashed the net, but they were getting too worked up, too soon. In came the fourth line, my eyes only scanned for the number 28. Maybe it was selfish of me, but I wanted to know if and when he was on the ice. Marcus had the puck, swiping it through Bieksa to Ovie. He had a clear shot, but didn’t take, faking on the Canadian.

He dropped it back, and Mr. Sniper himself was there to pick it up.

Tanya hugged me immediately, both of us blubbering in her native tongue and squeezing tightly. My voice had already begun to go raw from the evening, but Alex’s goal was not something to go silent. Maybe it was a change of heart. Maybe it took a slap in the face, not quite literally, to realize something good when you see it.

To realize someone good when you see them.

~

It was 3-0 when the second period ended, but we were quickly interrupted by one of the security staff members of the Canucks. Family on both sides were to go down to their team’s tunnels and watch from there. Tanya dragged me, even though I knew I shouldn’t be going down there. The whole experience was surreal; I hardly felt like I was there, more like watching from the outside.

My hands were ice cold but they continued to shake in nervousness, as we watched a television that had been set up. A warm pair of hands grabbed my own, holding them warm and hostage. Glancing up, I couldn’t help but smile at the woman I knew as Alex’s mother. We’d never spoken directly, but she was no fool. She had eyes, and hopefully, she knew who I had eyes for.

The third period had started, and while the game had been practically perfect until then, there was a call per team, but neither resulted in the other capitalizing. Finally, after mentally visualizing the words pounding in the arena, the goal horn went off and the visitor’s music played. Mike Knuble had scored his second for the night, but we couldn’t be very loud.

I bit my thumb, eager to know what was going on, to see what was happening, to be out on the ice. Most of the Caps fans had begun counting down from 10, and we knew that that meant. Tanya turned and pulled me into the tightest hug I had ever been in, tears starting to stream down her cheeks. I kissed her forehead as one of the security guys game towards our decently-sized group, a sad smile on his face.

4-0.

Everything from that point on was a blur. Family was allowed on the ice and I made sure Ovechkin found his mother as they prepared the Stanley Cup for its new owners. Holding Alex’s sister’s hand until she found her footing, soon she was off in search of her brother. I knew I was crying, but I couldn’t really stop it. A reporter, by the looks of it, started to head in my direction, but I shook my head. I wanted no part in this.

I felt a soft hand take my own, returning me to the real world to see his sister again, smiling at me. She didn’t say anything, but pulled me along. Finally, after the bumping and shoving of happy hockey players, she pushed me through and I felt a familiar pair of arms wrap around me.

“Why are you crying?” I laughed at him, his face flushed with excitement and lips tugged into a joyous smile. Wiping the water off of my face with the jersey, he looked down at it. “Anna..”

Without thinking, I cupped his face in my hands and pulled him towards me, pressing his lips against mine.