Sparks Fly

six.

Chapter 6: new gear new coach

"Holy crap coach, any stick gear we want?" Sparky asked as she looked around the hockey store. Gordon put his hands on the young girls shoulders and shook her.

"Any gear you want, Spark." Gordon said and Sparky smiled.

"God bless Mr. Ducksworth's bank account." Sparky chuckled and then bolted over for gear. Gordon smiled at the kid and watched everyone run around looking for stuff.

More than 7,000 dollars later, everyone had all the gear they wanted. Everyone was beyond excited.

They got into Gordon's new car which was a huge van, then Gordon's driver drove them to the ice rink. When they got to the ice, Gordon picked up two new teammates.

When Sparky got on the ice she felt great.

"Back to basics! Skating!" Gordon exclaimed then blew on his whistle. Sparky started the drill and did it better than everyone else, probably because she worked on it. Gordon gave advice as everyone skated.

Then Gordon had a carton of eggs. He took an egg from the carton and held it up to show everyone.

"Wow, it's an egg. Something we've never seen before." Sparky said making everyone laugh.

"Sparky, I've got a question for you." Gordon said and Sparky nodded her head. "So since eggs are fragile, what do we have to be with it?" Gordon asked and Sparky didn't take a second to think.

"Be careful so it won't crack." Sparky said and Gordon nodded his head.

"Think of the puck as an egg. You have to have soft hands. You don't shoot the puck to your teammate. You said it to 'em." Gordon explained to them. "Karp, on you're feet." Gordon said and Karp stood up. Gordon put the egg on the ice and passed it to Karp. Karp put his stick to the egg, and the egg cracked. The egg got all over the place and Sparky and everyone else chuckled.

"You don't stop the pass. You accept it. Cradle it."  Gordon said.

So Gordon lined everyone else. Everyone was going to pass an egg and try not to crack it. Sparky went before Averman, doing it correctly. "Good, Sparks." Gordon said and then passed it to Averman. Averman caught the egg, but then tried to pass it. The egg splattered and Sparky patted his back.

"Again. Concentration, not strength." Gordon reminded him.

"Like the Karate Kid, right? "Wax on! Wax off!" Averman exclaimed acting like Mr. Miyagi. Sparky smiled a bit and then Connie interrupted him.

"Just shut up and try it, Averman!" Connie said and Averman stopped. Averman took the new egg and then softly passed it to Gordon.

"Alright, Charlie." Gordon said and then passed the egg. Charlie received the egg and smiled in shock. "Good! Now send it back!" Gordon exclaimed and then Charlie passed it. Egg splattered all over Gordon and then he sighed.

The next drill was a goal drill. Gordon used everyone's scarfs to tie Goldberg to the goal. He was going to have everyone take the pucks and shoot at him.

"My mother would not approve of this, coach. She'd like me to live to be bad mitzvah'd." Goldberg said as Gordon tied his arm to the post.

"This is you bar mitzvah, Goldberg. Today you will become a man." Gordon said and then skated over to his pucks. Everyone had ten each.

Goldberg tried to argue against getting shot at, but it didn't work. "District Five! Ready!" Gordon exclaimed and everyone got ready to shoot as Goldberg repeated negative things to himself.

"Aim!" Gordon exclaimed and Sparky looked at Goldberg. "Fire!" Gordon exclaimed and everyone started to shoot at Goldberg. At first Goldberg was screaming his head off, but then he got used to it. He realized it didn't hurt as bad as he thought it would. He started to laugh and Gordon smiled.

"I'm a dog! I'm a crazed dog! Come on!" Goldberg exclaimed and everyone started to hit their sticks on the ice. They changed Goldberg as Goldberg smiled. "I am Goldberg! The goalie!" Goldberg exclaimed and began to growl.

At the end of practice Gordon praised all of the kids. He saw real improvement in all of them! "You guys hungry?" Gordon asked as he skated off the ice with everyone behind him.

"Yeah!"

"Tired?"

"Yeah!"

"Do you ache?"

"Yeah!"

"Are you pumped up?"

"Yeah!"

"Good! That was a hell of a practice, guys. Be proud of yourself." Gordon said to everyone.

-

Gordon gave everyone a ride home after practice. His last stop was the Conway house. In the back seat was a sleeping Sparky. "Why is Sparky so quiet?" Gordon asked from the front seat. "She's never been this quiet." He said and Charlie laughed.

"She's dead asleep." Charlie said and Gordon looked back.

"Really?" Gordon asked and then looked back. "She has so much energy, I didn't think she'd be able to." Gordon said and then looked back through the window.

When everyone reached the apartment building, Gordon unlocked the car. Charlie got out and grabbed Sparky's stuff as well. Gordon walked to the other side of the car and opened Sparky's car door.

"Thanks for the ride." Charlie said and Gordon nodded his head.

"You did real well in practice today, Charlie. You to, sleepy head." Gordon said to the two kids, knowing that one wasn't awake. "Let me ask you something, what happened to your dad?" Gordon asked. Charlie sighed and looked down.

"Mom, Sparky and I left him. I don't really remember what she says, but Sparky tries to keep contact with him. I've learned to accept he's not coming back, but Sparky just won't. He gives her empty promises." Charlie said and Gordon looked down at Sparky.

"You know, when I was a boy, I had to take care of my mother too." Gordon said and Charlie raised his eyebrows.

"Really? What happened to your dad?" Charlie asked curiously.

"He passed away." Gordon said sadly. Charlie didn't say anything either.

"You do a good job takin' care of your mom and your sister." Gordon said and Charlie smiled and looked at Gordon.

"Thanks." Charlie said and Gordon nodded.

"Keep it up, all right?" Gordon asked and Charlie nodded. "Let's get you and sleeping beauty upstairs, huh?" Gordon asked and Charlie nodded.

"Yeah."