Eagle Blue by Michael D'Orso

Author:Michael D'Orso
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2009-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

NIT

A FUEL TRUCK is parked in the Monday night darkness outside the Fort Yukon gym. Its engine is idling, the exhaust from its tailpipe tumbling down to the snow in the forty-eight-below-zero air. The driver is inside the building, with a large box of tools, trying to figure out why the gym has no heat.

The boys are gathered in the bleachers, bundled in their jackets and hats as if they're still outside. The temperature is well below freezing in here. They can see their own breath. There will be no practice this evening, but the team's still got some business to take care of.

They arrived home last night, the seven who made the trip. Doc drove the school bus over, met them at the airstrip, dropped each one of them off at their houses. Today he passed out those new Nike shoes to the players who traveled last week. The others will have to wait, Doc decided, till they pull their grades up. They'll find out tomorrow who's eligible for this week.

Dave's got his fur hat and coat on as he paces in front of the boys, a sheaf of papers in his gloved hands.

"How ya doin'}" he says, nodding to Wade.

"Good to see ya," he says, reaching out to shake Johnny's hand.

"Now there's a familiar face," he says, looking at Justin.

They squirm just a little, don't know if they're supposed to smile or what.

"We missed you last week, boys," he says. "That's why we called, to let you know we missed you. And to rub it in a little bit.

"I'm sorry you missed it," he continues. "We went to some places I have never been. I saw some things I've never seen, and I'm fifty-one years old. I've seen a lot."

He draws a deep breath, flips through the papers.

"Okay. Weather permitting, Thursday we travel to Nenana."

The NIT pairings are set. Eight teams will be there, Dave tells them. Two brackets of four. Hooper Bay, Tok, Nenana and Nikolaevsk will be in one bracket. Tri-Valley, Fort Yukon, Susitna Valley and . . . yes, yet again . . . Anderson will be in the other. Fort Yukon's first-round game will be against—who else? says Dave—Anderson.

The boys roll their eyes.

The nice thing, Dave continues, would be to win the first two games and meet Nikolaevsk in the finals, face them with a full team this time and maybe get some revenge.

"I'd like to see our name go up on that big board," he says again, for those who weren't there when they drove past Nenana last week.

With that, he sends them all home.

Matt walks across the road, back to his cabin. His dad's not there. Neither is Gina. She had a rough time yesterday, when both teams got to the Fairbanks airport to fly home. Their mom, Mary, showed up to give them both a hug. She had her current boyfriend with her, a nice enough guy as far as Matt's concerned. But Gina made kind of a scene, breaking down and crying.

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