New Kid in Town

Sasha rolled over and slowly opened his eyes as the early morning sun trickled in from the drapes, a bit startled at first when he didn't recognize the room. Oh right, I am in Australia now, he thought with a chuckle.

He blushed slightly when he he realized how hungry he was, remembering he didn't have any dinner the night before. Sasha took a shower and went into the kitchen where Nicklas was seated at the dining room table checking email on his Mac. "We have to do some shopping later, I didn't know what you liked. Jared and Jordan are getting ready, we're going out for breakfast", he replied.

"Da, okay. How long I sleep for?", he asked as he poured himself a coffee.

"You've been sleeping for the past sixteen hours, Sasha. But that is the jet lag, you'll feel better later", he said reassuringly.

Sasha nodded as he glanced down at the phone, seeing it was Saturday. "And if Josie comes over, she can hang. She is a very cool kid, she and her father live down the hall", said Nicklas.

"Where is her mother?", he asked.

"I don't know, according to Dallas he's been raising her since she was a baby. I suppose her mom ran off", said Nicklas with a shrug.

Sasha was mulling over this bit of information when Nicklas answered the door and the two Staals entered the apartment. "Hey guys, let's roll. I'm fucking starving and I could eat a whole bear right now", laughed Jordan.

"Da, me too", agreed Sasha.

"This place is sweet", said Jared approvingly as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Ja, takk. Katia recommended it to me me when I first got here", said Nicklas as he glanced down at the menu.

The group was at Tarts in the hip downtown neighborhood of Northbridge. It resembled a French country cafe with its warm terra-cotta painted walls, framed photographs of vineyards and farmhouses, potted flowers on each table and soft jazz piped in through the PA. A display case held numerous freshly baked pastries and open-faced pies and tarts just out of the oven, arranged like a still-life painting.

"What do you suggest we do, Nicky?", asked Jordan as the waitress came by to take their orders.

"The beaches here are really good and this whole area is very scenic, but Perth seems to be sort of place where you go to the beach a lot. Maybe we ought to just chill before training camp starts", he replied thoughtfully.

"You guys go to the beach, I am not a beach person", said Sasha.

"Sasha dude, this is Australia we're talking about here. There's seriously smoking hot babes Down Under", said Jordan incredulously.

"Then you score with smoking hot babes, I have had enough beaches for a while", he retorted.

"Okay, I'll drop you off", said Nicklas.

Sasha got out of the truck and walked back to the apartment, reaching inside his pocket for the key. "Hey, aren't you that Sasha guy?", asked a young girl with curly red hair wearing a green and gold Oakland A's cap.

"Da, I am Sasha and who are you?", he asked.

"I'm Josie Brady, I live a couple doors down. Nicky said some guys were coming", she replied.

"I see, we are neighbors, da? But you are American?", he asked.

"Yeah, we're from the Bay Area. What are you doing, Sasha? My dad is out with his girlfriend and I'm fucking bored", she sadi.

Sasha raised an eyebrow at the casual profanity. "Miss Brady, it's not nice to swear. And where are your friends?", he asked.

"Leo's mom took him shopping for school supplies and Mia's visiting her grandma in Freemantle. And my dad's teammates swear a lot more than this, this is nothing", she retorted.

"I see. I am just going to be hanging out in the flat, you want to see?", he asked.

"Sure, Sasha. Do you have any Russian stuff?", she asked.

"Nyet, not yet", he chuckled.

"That sucks. I'm kind of pissed off because my godfather lost to the Rangers, my godfather is Trevor Callahan of the Oakland A's", she said proudly.

"That American or Australian team?", he asked.

"It's an American team, my dad used to pitch for them until he fucked up his arm", she said.

"I hope you do not use that language in school", he chided.

"Hell no, I'm not that dumb", she snorted.

Sasha had to laugh as he led them inside the apartment. "Cool, do you have Swedish or Russian TV?", she asked as she plopped down on the couch.

"Both and Australian TV, I have not watched any yet", replied Sasha as he grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.

"Okay, this is a game between Dynamo and Traktor", he said as the game appeared onscreen.

"Huh? Where is that?", she asked, puzzled.

"Dynamo plays in Moscow and Traktor plays in Chelyabinsk in the KHL. And that guy, number 8, that is my friend Alex Ovechkin", he explained. They watched as Alex scored on a breakaway and fired a wrist shot past the sprawling Traktor goalie, the Moscow crowd going wild.

"Ovi like that all the time, that why they call him the Great 8", said Sasha.

"Isn't he the guy from the Sportscenter commercial?", she asked.

"Da, he was in it with our old goalie Semyon Varlamov. And you talk too much, devushka Brady", he teased.

"Dallas always says it's the Irish in us, we all got the gift of gab. And I like talking", she retorted.

"Who is Dallas?", he asked.

"That's my dad, I've always called him that", she replied.

"I see, we don't do that in Russia", he said as they watched the game.