Going Places Read Online Free Page B

his truck and that would be that, unless there was a full moon.
    Thursday night after the generator went home, I was warming up in the café with a hot chocolate when Curtis Beaulieu strolled in. I was so surprised to see him that I just stared. Finally he asked, “Is your mom here?” I didn’t even know he knew who we were.
    â€œSure. I’ll go get her.”
    Mom was in the kitchen shutting things down.
    â€œCurtis Beaulieu is here,” I told her. For some reason, I felt I should be whispering. “He wants to talk to you.”
    â€œOh,” she said in a strange voice. She dried her hands on a towel, undid her apron and walked out into the front.
    â€œHi, Curtis. Would you like a coffee?”
    â€œNo, thanks,” he said. While he stood there, I had a chance to look at him. I had overheard my mom and her friends talking about him one day and saying he was “cute.” Maybe he was, for an old guy. He had to be at least thirty.
    â€œWilliam told me about your girls’ hockey idea. I just wanted to let you know that I can’t coach. I didn’t want you to get the wrong idea.” He must have read the disappointment on our faces, because he quickly continued. “I’m too busy. I’m at the mine for two weeks every month, so there’s no way.”
    â€œHow about when you’re in town?” asked Mom. “All we need is a little help to get started. It wouldn’t be much.”
    His face clouded over, and his eyes narrowed. He probably hadn’t expected to have to argue his way out of this. He obviously didn’t know my mom.
    â€œNo, it’s not something I want to do. I’m busy.” He stood there for a moment; then he started to turn away.
    â€œCurtis Beaulieu,” Mom said in the voice that usually meant I was in trouble. “A lot of people spent a lot of time with you when you were young, to help your dreams come true. You should remember that.”
    â€œA lot of good those dreams did me,” he replied with a scowl.
    Mom paused and looked at him carefully. “I’m sorry about the way things worked out for you, but it’s not all bad. You’ve still got a good education, a good job and the respect of a lot of people. You know, to this town, you’re still a hero, nhl or no nhl. So remember that. It wouldn’t hurt you to give the girls a hand for a few hours now and again.” She was glaring at him now, defying him to answer back. He got a kind of confused look in his eyes, and then he simply turned and left the café.
    â€œWell, I guess I blew that. Oh well, there’s bound to be someone else,” Mom said, with a long sigh.
    â€œI don’t think you blew it, Mom. I think he did.”
    She gave me a huge hug and said, “Thanks, sweetie.”
    At school the next day, I told Sam and Geraldine and the Smithers girls about the encounter at the café.
    â€œThere must be something that we can do,” said Daisy. “There must be someone else in this town who knows about hockey.”
    â€œMy dad is a real expert on hockey,” said Sam. “Only problem is, he can’t skate.”
    â€œYeah, I expect there are a lot of those kinds of hockey experts around. We need someone who can actually play the game.”
    â€œWhat if we just went out by ourselves and started playing?” I suggested. “We all know enough to run a few drills and stuff like that. At least that’s better than doing nothing.”
    Everyone nodded in agreement; it was a lot better than doing nothing. We decided that we would each phone two other girls on the list and meet at the pond Saturday morning. We agreed to get to the pond byabout ten o’clock, to beat the rush. Everyone was going to bring all the pucks they could find so we could practice all at once. It still hadn’t snowed, so at least we didn’t have to worry about shoveling. Girls’ hockey was about to