The Arena Laughed at My Milk, So Four Hockey Men Kept Me novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: The Pew

On Tuesday at ten the five of us sat on the pew in the basement with the dryer going.

Abram stood in front of us holding the whiteboard in both hands.

I had been in the house for three days.

I had a key on a nail and a lock on my door that I had not used.

I had a mug with a chipped goalie mask on it.

I had also learned that the house ran on blue marker.

Abram wrote everything down.

Dishes, garbage, who drove, who owed a beer, and a column headed PENALTIES that had Taras's name in it a dozen times.

"This is how the house works," Abram said. "We vote on what matters. Anyone who breaks a vote does time on the pew."

"Time," Taras said, "is thirty minutes of sitting here thinking about what you've done."

"I've done nothing," said Anders.

"You ate my baba's last varenyky."

"That was a penalty, then."

"It was a crime," said Taras.

Garnet said nothing, but his shoulders shook once.

I laughed, and Abram let it finish before he spoke again.

"This is the first vote," he said. "Katja stays in the house."

"Aye," said Taras.

"Aye," said Anders, and Garnet lifted his good hand.

"I abstain," I said. "I don't vote on my own rent."

"You pay when you work," Abram said. "Your fifth of the bills is zero until you do. That's a vote too."

"Aye, aye, aye," said the others.

I looked at the floor, because my eyes were stinging again.

Then Abram wrote on the board in big square letters and turned it to face me.

THROUGH THE LAST WHISTLE OF THE SEASON.

"That's the rule," he said. "Nine years in this league has taught me to say it plainly."

He tapped the board.

"Through the last whistle you're ours, and we're yours, in this house, on your terms. Then you walk out the door and none of us follow."

"Why?" I said.

"Because we're men who get traded in June," he said. "And because you should be able to leave without a fight."

It was reasonable, and I hated it.

Beside me Taras had gone quiet, and Anders stared at his hands.

Garnet only watched Abram, steady and unreadable.

"It's a good rule," I said. "Until May."

"Until May," Abram said.

"Taras. Anders. Upstairs."

Taras opened his mouth, looked at my face, and shut it.

He took Anders by the back of the neck and steered him up the stairs.

I heard them whispering all the way to the kitchen.

I stood up.

"Abram," I said. "Garnet."

Neither of them moved.

"I want you both," I said. "Now. Here."

Garnet stood.

It took him a second, because he had been sitting still for an hour.

He rolled his bad shoulder once and unbuttoned his flannel shirt with his left hand.

I watched him take it off.

His chest was wide and dark and scarred, and a thick braid lay down the center of his back.

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