Voices

My Dad sayin’ “Quit that team and you’ll be a quitter for the rest of your life”
And Mama tellin’ me to say a pray every time I lay down at night
And Grandma sayin’ “If you find the one, you better treat her right”
Yeah, I hear voices all the time

“Dad, Coach Dan says I’m not good enough to be on A-Team or B-Team for that matter. He’s putting me on C-Team. I don’t want to play no more,” Jr. told me as he hopped into the car after practice. “I don’t think I want to play anymore.”
“Do you know what Grandpa said to me, when I wanted to quit hockey?”
“What?”
“If you quit, you’ll be a quitter the rest of your life. Do you want to be a quitter?”
“No,” he shook his head with his blond hair just like mine flopping around.
“I guess you are coming to the rink with Uncle Marc and me then?” I suggested.
“Yeah,” little Sidney yelled. I dialed my wife’s cell phone. She was out with my mom for dinner. I was supposed to drop off Jr. with them, but I had to tell her I wasn’t any longer.
“Hello, Sidney, baby,” she said after excusing herself from my mother at the table. I just imagined her throwing her beautiful dark hair over her shoulder as she got up and her blue eyes would be filled with want and wonder at the sound of my voice.
“I’m taking Jr. with me to meet with Flower. I don’t know when we will be home,” I said, obviously disappointing her since she sighed into the phone.
“Okay, I’ll be waiting,” she whispered seductively, apparently out of my mother’s hearing.
You could say that our son was an accident when Lea and I were only 16. We got pregnant and she decided to leave so I could have my professional career without having to worry about raising a child. But I worried about my child every day of my life, that may be because I played my heart out in hopes I could make it big just so I could meet my child one day, and I did meet him on his third birthday. He says he doesn’t remember me being around when he was two or three, but what two or three year old remembers that stuff until they are seven? When I got drafted was when to the Pittsburgh Penguins, two years after his birth, I contacted Lea. She agreed that I could meet our son that she had decided to name Sidney Jr. but I had to wait until after she had seen me a few times to know if I had changed any. If any change I went through between the day she left and the day we met again, it was all because of her and my child. I changed for the better. I wasn’t the same person after letting my love leave with my unborn child. Lea and I have been married for two years now with only little Sidney to keep us company.
“See you when we get there,” I hung up and cranked up the radio that was playing Jr’s favorite song. We sang along and got to the rink by the time it was over.
“Uncle Marc!” Jr. yelled at Flower as he jumped out of the Jeep. Flower was unloading his hockey gear from his trunk.
“Hey, Jr. What are you doing here?”
“I made C-Team, so Dad is going to help me practice and get better! Can I shoot against you, Uncle Marc?”
“Sure can kiddo. Why don’t you help me with my gear?” Jr. nodded and grabbed the biggest bag that had Flower’s pads in it. I followed behind the pair with mine and my son’s gear in hand. Jr. managed to get Flower’s pads inside, but not without a few new scratches. Marc-Andre and I had to change, so I sent Jr. onto the ice to skate.
“C-Team, huh?” Marc-Andre asked.
“He has the drive, Flower, he just needs some skill. It comes naturally after practicing,” he just nodded and I finished, so I went to join my son. We warmed up by skating sprints across the ice; I let him win once or twice to make him feel good. Flower joined us after our fourth set of sprints. Jr. was relieved because he was getting tired, especially since he just came from his own practice.
“Jr. Why don’t you get some water and let me get some shots in. Just to get Uncle Marc warmed up?”
“Okay, Dad,” he skated off the ice and to the bench. Marc stretched and got in the goal. I took the puck and dropped it at center ice. I then went and skated around the opposite goal, leaving the puck where I dropped it; I then sped up to it and swiftly moved towards Flower. He was there, anticipating my every move. But then I did something I never tried before, just to try and show off in front of my kid, I deeked to the right, the left, and then shot left. Normally on a shootout goal, I deke right, left, and shoot right, but I made it on the right, left, and left shot. I think that would be my new tactic. “Way to go, Dad. You outsmarted Uncle Marc!” little Sid exclaimed. I just nodded and got the puck back from Marc. I did another shootout style goal before letting Sid come and try.
“Okay, now show me what you got, Son.” He tried to do a big circle around the ice before taking up the puck for the shootout. He tried my normal move, right, left, right and shoot. He didn’t make it, even with Marc not trying, it hit the post. He looked super bummed; I just called him over with a new puck in hand. “What you have to do is take one step closer to Flower and to your right, but your hook was amazing, just try those two steps,” I whispered in his ear. He smiled a grin that reached from ear to ear and went to try again. He took my advice and this time his shot went in. He turned around with arms raised just like I would do after scoring. He showed his crooked smile with his only one of the two front teeth. He just lost his first front tooth last month; it’s still coming back in.
“Now, that’s a Crosby right there folks!” I said loud enough for Flower to hear and laugh. I hugged my son and took over for five shots before letting Jr. get back into the groove. I made four of the six and Jr. made two of his four.
“You did well, kid,” Flower told Jr.
“Thanks, Uncle Marc! I can’t believe I scored on you! I should make it on any goalie now!” he grinned so big, my heart ached from seeing him in such a good mood having to do with anything hockey. Lately, he’s been so moody about it.
“What do you say we celebrate with dinner at Applebee’s?” I suggested since that was Jr’s favorite place to go lately.
“YEAH!” he shouted. I just laughed and invited Flower along.
“I wish I could, Crosby, but I got to get back to Vero, she’s crabby today.”
“Okay, tell her I say hi. Hope everything goes well for the two of you and the baby,” I mentioned quickly before jumping into the Jeep and pulling out of the rink lot. We drove over to Applebee’s and requested our normal table. We were seated and brought drinks by the regular server. She flirted with my son, like she always did, and made sure our favorites were ordered right away. A bit later, people were realizing who was sitting in the booth two tables over and started to stare. Jr. just took the attention like he always did, basking in it. I laughed as he got up to show everyone his slap shot with a pretend hockey stick. Everyone else laughed along with me and Jr. sat down once more. We ate our food while discussing his hockey team before paying the bill and heading home.