Triumph {The Manhattan Trilogy #3}

Trade (M)

"Mohammed, since when did I say you had permission to eat my potato chips?" I hear my sister, Fatima, yell at me. I turn around, and she is standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips and an annoyed look on her face.

"I asked if they belonged to anyone, and no one claimed them!" I protest. Fatima raises her finger, about to argue with me again, but my phone interrupts her by ringing loudly from the kitchen.

"It's for you, Mohammed!" My mother shouts. "The coach of your hockey team, the Dunkirk Demons, is calling you!"

"Coach Martin?" I say to myself. "I wonder why he could be calling me. It's the end of the off-season."

I accept the call, and the first thing out of Coach's mouth is, "Mohammed al-Hashim, I need you to sit down. This is huge news for you, and I don't know how you'll take it."

"What do you mean?" I ask as I sit in a chair. "Did I do something wrong? Am I suspended?"

"No, you did nothing wrong," Martin explains. "Early this morning, we agreed with the Albany Capitals on a deal. You have been traded to Albany for a second-round pick and left wing Garrett Guthrie."

"Seriously?" I exhale. Shocked, I lean back in my chair and cover my mouth with my hand. Traded? I know that famous hockey stars are traded from team to team all the time. I also know I am not even close to their level of talent, but I still didn't think the Demons would trade me. After all, I've played for them for seven years.

"Yes, I am telling the truth," Coach Martin sighs sadly. "I'm sorry if you don't want this, Mohammed. The deal is technically finalized, but you are aware that you could turn it down, correct?"

"Yes, sir," I walk to the refrigerator and grab a bottle of water. "I will accept the deal. It's just a shock to me, you know? Anyway, I've enjoyed my time with the Demons. You provided so much to me during these last seven years, ever since I was eighteen. It'll be sad for me to leave, but on the positive side, I have a new chapter in my life to look forward to."

"Of course," Coach agrees. I can almost hear him smile over the phone when he finishes with, "Everyone that is part of the Dunkirk Demons organization will miss you, Fartmuncher."

I laugh at the odd nickname that an opposing player had given me when challenging me to a fight several years ago. "I'll miss everyone there as well, Coach Martin. You were a wonderful leader and mentor to me since the day of my draft in June of 2011. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Mohammed al-Hashim," Coach Martin bids farewell to me. "The Albany Capitals face the Dunkirk Demons for the first time this season on Halloween night in Dunkirk. We'll have a tribute video and everything all ready for you. See you then."

"See you on October 31," I take a long sip from the water bottle as he hangs up. Grunting as I stand up again, I crumple the empty bag of chips that supposedly belongs to my sister and toss it in the garbage can. There are a lot of thoughts racing around my brain due to this new, unexpected trade, and I don't know how to handle them all.

Will the fans treat me differently because I played for a different team instead of being drafted right to them? Are Demons fans going to boo or cheer me when I return to the city of Dunkirk? How will my new teammates on the Albany Capitals like me?

Most importantly, will the fact that I am Middle Eastern and Muslim change the way people think about me?

Because from what I just looked up, it seems a lot more likely. The captain of the team is the soul of the North Tower herself. Her identical twin sister, South Tower, is the starting goaltender. What if one or both of the Twin Towers see me at practice tomorrow and completely ignore me the entire time? After all, there are only four days left until the seventeenth anniversary of the September eleventh attacks.

"Family, gather around the coffee table," I yell. "This is some very important news that will probably change some plans you had in the upcoming weeks or even months."

I wait until my mother, father, little sister, and two brothers are seated around the table before I break the news. "Al-Hashim family, I have received the news that the Dunkirk Demons have traded me to the Albany Capitals for Garrett Guthrie and a second-round pick."

The entire family gasps. My twenty-two-year-old brother asks, "Are you selling your house in Dunkirk so you can buy one in Albany? Make sure it has a jacuzzi, because I would die for one of those."

"Jabir!" Mother scolds my younger sibling. "Anyway, Mohammed, how do you feel about this trade? Do you think it was fair or not? Do you want to play for the Capitals?"

"Of course, Mom, the answer to all of those is yes," I explain to my mother. "I feel quite alright about being traded, although it will feel weird not playing for a team I was with for the past seven years. It was a fair trade, and I'm excited to start my season as a Capital."

"That's a good thing to hear, Mohammed," my older brother, Yosef, sneaks up behind me and shakes me violently by the shoulder. "I heard a lot of rumors from my friends that the human souls of the Twin Towers are on that team, and one of them is the actual captain. I forget which one, though. Is that true, or am I making that up?"

"No, you're correct," I inform him, and he looks shocked. "Honestly, I am a bit nervous about meeting those two. They seem to have a stubborn personality. There is some degree of kindness and acceptance in those two, though, because I saw they befriended this Muslim girl that was attacked because of 9/11. But I'm still afraid they won't like me."

"If they ever say anything bad to you, Mohammed al-Hashim, let me talk to your new coach about it," Yosef snarls. "He'll be sure to give the Staten twins a piece of his mind."

"Thank you, Yosef," I search my new coach's number and put it in my contact list once I find it. I have a bad feeling about meeting the twins tomorrow. It's never been easy being a Muslim in America after 9/11, and now, I have to do it while playing on the Twin Towers' team.

What will they say when I skate onto the ice at Marsh & McLennan Sports Arena, where my first Capitals jersey is already being stitched for me, early tomorrow morning? I am fully aware that they are accepting, but I still have trust issues because of the group of Muslims that decided to attack and kill them one day in 2001. I can't go anywhere without fearing being targeted. I don't think the Twin Towers will like me.

Therefore, I don't like them. At least, not yet.