Who Wouldn't Want To Be Me

“Hi Ray, Dan, Mario,” I managed to choke out the words as I shook their hands. Having just Ray or just Dan was one thing, but having Mario-freaking-Lemieux here was going to wreak havoc on my already frazzled nerves. Jordan had decided to give Becka the full tour of the rink – not that she hadn’t seen most of it before – but they both agreed it would be better than sitting there awkwardly and nervously waiting for me to come out of the office.

“Hi Cameron – how are you?” Mario asked, and I swallowed hard.

“Good, good; how about you?”

“Just fine – we went and visited some family just two weeks ago, the kids loved it,” he replied with a large smile. We all sat down, and they began going over the details of the contract they’d been working on.

“So, like we said at the end of the season, a four year, twelve million dollar contract, the two million the first two years and four the last two. With the other members we have and the salary cap that’s the best we can really offer you right now, and we all really hope that that’s satisfactory for you,”

“Yeah, of course it would be – to be honest I don’t even know if I deserve that kind of money. I mean, I’ve only been playing for a year,” I told them, and they all laughed.

“This is the kind of guy we want here – somebody who loves what they’re doing and who isn’t about the money. Just look at the things you’ve done this year – the amount of goals, the assists, the playmaking… you’ve really elevated your play as well as helping your line mates, you’re somebody we really want to be part of this team,” Dan told me, nearly choking me up. I would kill for my dad to have been here and have heard this.

“There’s just one thing I need to clear up with you guys,” I said, and they all looked alarmed.

“What is that? Have you had any problems here?” Ray asked, sounding worried.

“No, nothing like that,” I assured him, and they all relaxed a little bit.

“I haven’t been completely honest with you guys. I’ve felt awful about it, but I just want you guys to know that I have the utmost respect for all of you and this organization. I didn’t like doing it, but please understand that otherwise I would have never had the opportunity to come and play here,” I said, stopping to take a few breaths.

“What’s that Cam?” Mario asked, and I had to take another shaky breath before I could look up at him.

“I’m a girl.”