The Penalty Box

Chapter 50

                    FIVE YEARS LATER

I smiled at the sight of the old rink. The Pond had closed down three months after the season ended, and hadn't opened it's doors since. But all of that was going to change soon. I looked at the sign that announced to the entire town what was going to stand here in a few short months.

JOSHUA MASON MEMORIAL ICE RINK

HOME OF THE CAROLINA LIGHTNING

We were bringing them home. We were bringing back the legacy that we came from. It was time. I dug the keys out of my pocket and unlocked the padlock. The first thing I did was tear all of the paper off the front windows. Light poured through, making this old dusty place feel like home again. I grabbed the trophy I brought off the floor and set it on the counter, along with a team picture. These were the first things that needed to be here. They belonged here.

"Lighting forever," All these years later the promise still rang true.

We all kept our word and no matter where we were, we all came to my backyard for the draft every year. My mom still jokes about how big of a mess we always make. It had been a bit different the last two years of course. The year most of us were legal to drink was definitely interesting. I finally got to crack open a cold one with the boys, and for once it wasn't soda.

We'd all been together the night Coty got drafted to the Penguins. We'd all watched as his dream came true, just months after we won Nationals. We all yelled, and ended up getting noise complaints from the neighbors. But one of us had made it.

I looked around the empty rink. There hadn't been any ice in years, and the place needed a deep clean, and someone to fill the pro shop. We had a lot to do to get it up and running again.  But I wouldn't be doing it alone.

Conrad had come home two weeks ago, he said he'd had enough of the northern weather, and wanted to get back. Kyler, who used to coach at the same ice house as me in Boston, had promised to help me start up the hockey program. Lily, who with the help of her parents helped buy the rink, was finally returning to Raleigh to help me run it.

"Alright Joshua, it's all for you man," I said putting up the last team picture I had," You told me to follow my dreams, well here I am."

I tapped the counter, and looked back at the picture of all of us. Someone had taken it just moments after we won Nationals, we were all lined up giving our solute to Joshua. It was the same picture they used in the news article about all of us.

Two hours later I was unloading the two cases of beer I got for tonight. The annual draft party. Most of the boys were already here, and the rest would be here before it started.

"Con, can you get the flatscreen ready?" I asked putting the bottles in the fridge.

"Already on it," He replied turning it on.

Half an hour the boys started getting here. Kyler brought the pizza, as our deal instructed. By the time the draft was underway, we were all partying as usual. We had a bubble hockey game outside now, so some of us where playing that, while others were playing snipes and yard hockey.

I took a sip of the beer I had and leaned against the concrete bar. The boys were all laughing at yelling at one another. It didn't seem that the five years that we were all apart changed a thing. We were all still the same, we were still the same old kids.

"That was illegal! You couldn't do that!" Travis yelled at Connor, who did something wrong while playing yard hockey.

"Hey! Easy you two, we were hoping to keep the noise complaints down a bit this year!"