Page 9 of Tusk & Puck

Verog grins and shakes his head. “Yeah. Except the arcade is half the size it used to be, and two dollars in quarters will get you one game now.”

“But the chicken fingers are still on the menu. And I bet they taste exactly the same.”

“Alright.” Verog sighs. “What are you getting at?”

That makes me smirk. Verog still knows me so well. “That we can still have this! The fun, the excitement, we could coach our old team together. We could be those fun coaches that made us fall in love with sports!”

“It’s different on this end, Jaromir. It isn’t fun, it’s herding cats. It’s listening to excuses and missing half of your team because of a lice outbreak. It’s fun as a kid because you don’t have to see the fundraising and paperwork and administrative shit that goes into it.”

“So let me help you with the shit!” I practically cry. “We can tackle the paperwork and fundraising together, and then join in the fun together! Don’t you want to see those kids’ eyes light up when you give them a handful of quarters and free reign to enjoy themselves after a hard-won game? I heard they opened a Great Cheese Nation here.”

Verog shakes his head morosely as the waitress places our burgers in front of us. "See, you don’t even know anything about kids these days. Jaromir, they don’t want to spend two dollars to play Wicked Combat V for ten minutes. They want to watch other people play games on their phones. Hockey is what they do because their parents force them to get ahead on college applications."

He sighs deeply. “I get it, you want to do your community service stuff and have a little fun while doing it. I don’t blame you, man. But it just isn’t going to work here. Have you ever thought about like, I don’t know, volunteering at the fire station?”

I take a bite of my mediocre burger and frown. “What would I do there? Dress up like a Dalmatian?”

The thought mentally breaks Verog, who drops his burger and puts his face in his hands. I still know him, too.

“Come on, Verog, you know it’s a great idea,” I insist.

“You’re really lucky you get to just choose what you get to do, you know that? If someone like me pulled the stunt you did, I’d be out of a job and picking up trash in the park.”

“But!” The door opens with a chime and the sound of two small children whining.

“Wow, look at that stage. The animatronics look so real! And the arcade is soooooo big!” a young boy says with more sarcasm in his tone than any kid should have.

“I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry I didn’t know Cheese Town or whatever was closed tonight.” A young woman sighs in defeat. She pulls a scrunchie off of her wrist and ties her long brown hair up. Her cheeks and nose are splashed with bright freckles. Her lips, despite being pulled in a frown, are pouty and cute.She’s beautiful.

Verog waves at the kids, and I sense my chance.“Who’s that?” I ask him, pointing at the woman.

“That’s Ryan and Tina. They’re students at my school.”

“No, the woman. Is she their mom?”

Verog looks at me like I just said something really offensive. “That’s Melody. She’s the school nurse, and no… she’s their aunt. Their parents died. Nasty car accident. Don’t bring it up.”

I scoff at him. As if I’d be that insensitive. “Is she single?”

“Dude!”

“Jaromir Fletcher!” the little boy gasps.

I panic as I see him pointing directly at me. Shit. A cook pokes his head out of the kitchen, and someone a few booths down turns around to look. I briefly consider running for it, but the kid looks so excited to see me. And I’ve never been one to disappoint a young fan.

Especially ones with very cute guardians.

“Hey, Ryan,” Verog says, messing up his hair as he makes it to our table. “I see you know about my old friend, here?”

“Youwere friends with the best hockey player ever?” the kid gasps in disbelief.

“Are. Wearefriends,” Verog quickly corrects.

“What are you doing in our town? Are you here to play hockey? Tom McMillan said he saw you in our school, is that true? Were you in our school? Why were you in our school? Are you going to teach hockey at our school?” His voice gets higher with every question.

Melody takes Ryan by the shoulders and tries to detach him from the side of our table. “I’m so sorry, he’s a really big fan. Ryan, let’s not bother them while they’re trying to eat. It’s rude.”

“It’s okay,” I say calmly, giving Melody a very large smile. “Yes, I was at your school today. Visiting my good friend here, Coach Hill.”

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