Goliath Read online

  “Damn,” David said as the ball bounced away.

  “David, get back,” his coach continued to yell. Even Henry was shouting for his son to get back, fearful of Vaughan’s powerful counter-attack. But David continued in toward the Vaughan net. Their keeper had fallen to the ground in a heap in his attempt to reach the ball and was now scrambling to get back into position. James had managed to keep his feet and was now racing after the ball, which he reached before it went out of bounds. There must have been five Vaughan players converging on James. James blindly launched the ball back towards the net.

  David was standing alone in front of the open net, with no defender to be seen. The goalkeeper had fallen again and was now half-crawling to get back into position. You could almost see the smile get larger and larger on David’s face as the ball arced towards him and he knew he was going to score. It seemed like everything was in slow motion and it felt like it took half an hour for the ball to reach him. But when it did, he calmly headed the ball into the back of the net.

  The Warrior supporters in the stands let out an enormous cheer. The Vaughan supporters were screaming that the play was offside. The referee ran towards the net and checked with his assistant on the sidelines who still had his flag down. The referee blew his whistle and pointed at centre-field indicating it was a good goal.

  The Warriors were all jumping up and down and hugging each other. Most of the Vaughan players had slumped to the ground knowing they had lost, but a few were still complaining to the referee. When they started play again, it was only a few seconds until the referee blew his whistle twice indicating the game was over.

  Alan was jumping up and down in the stands pumping his fist in the air, and continuing to taunt some of the Vaughan supporters. “We’re number one! We’re number one! We’re number one!”

  “Sit down and shut up,” yelled one of the Vaughan supporters, “or I’ll come down there and shut your mouth for you!”

  Alan started up the stands toward the man but Henry quickly grabbed him and pulled him back. “Come on, Alan. Just let it go. Let’s go congratulate David.”

  Some of the parents and fans had congregated along the fence behind the team bench offering their congratulations. When Alan saw this, he raced down the stairs to join the celebration. Henry could see David who was being congratulated by two girls. He recognized Ashley because she was on the girl’s high school team. Henry was pretty sure that Ashley was interested in David because she seemed to hang around after the girls soccer practices finished to talk to David as the boys soccer practice was getting ready to start.

  When Alan reached David, he almost pushed the girls aside when he gave David a high-five. “Time to intervene,” thought Henry as he hurried down the stairs. If it was a choice between being congratulated by an uncle or two girls, Henry was pretty sure which option David preferred.

  “Alan, I have to grab my stuff out of the back of your car,” Henry said when he got there, steering Alan away.

  “Congratulations son,” Henry said as they walked away, “although you may have been a little out of position on that play.”

  “Yeah,” David shouted back. “Coach said he wants to discuss that with me at the next practice.”

  “See you at home,” Henry yelled, giving David a thumbs-up sign.

  Henry and Alan continued to talk about the goal as they headed back towards the car. Alan seemed more excited about the win than any of the players and Henry struggled to keep him under control.

  “It’s David’s birthday on Sunday,” Henry said. “It would be great if you could come out to our place on Sunday afternoon. Just family. David’s going out later with his friends to celebrate, but will tolerate cake with his family as a pre-party.”

  “Any idea what he’d like for a present?” Alan asked.

  “He said he wants an official soccer ball from the last world cup,” Henry answered. “I was going to buy him one a few months ago when the World Cup was going on but they were priced out of the world. I think the price will have dropped by now, but I can’t find them in any of the stores. If you can track one down, I’m sure he’d love it. I’m not sure why he wants another soccer ball, but he’s been trying to collect the official World Cup balls. No imitations.”

  “I’ll see if I can track one down,” Alan said. “I’ll see you on Sunday.”

  *** Chapter 5 ***

  On Sunday afternoon, the family gathered to celebrate David’s 18th birthday. David was smiling and thanking everyone for the cake and the presents they had got him, but Henry noticed David checking his watch several times during the festivities. He sensed that David was more interested in the party his friends were planning for him later that night.

  Alan had not shown for the party, but had couriered a present for David, along with a note expressing his apologies for missing the party. Henry knew what was in the package as he watched David open it, but he was surprised when he detected a bit of disappointment on David’s face.

  There was a knock on the door and Henry could see Alex standing on the front porch through the window. Alex was more than a teammate to David – he was his best friend. Alex had organized the birthday party for David and had come to pick him up.

  “Gotta go,” David said. “Thanks everybody for the cake and presents.”

  Henry followed David to the door. “Don’t let things get too wild tonight and make sure you behave yourself,” Henry said. “Will there be any alcohol at this party tonight?”

  “We won’t be doing any drinking,” Alex answered. “Coach would kill us. We’ve got the provincial championship coming up.” Henry wasn’t naïve enough to think there wouldn’t be any liquor at all, but he also knew David and Alex were both good kids and very responsible.

  Henry pulled David back around the corner of the entranceway where Alex couldn’t hear them. “You looked a little disappointed with the World Cup soccer ball that Uncle Alan sent you,” Henry said. “I told him that’s what you wanted, so don’t blame him if I steered him wrong.”

  David paused, not sure if he should say anything or not. “It’s fine. But it’s not the official one.” He picked up the ball which was still in the box and spun the ball to reveal a “Goliath” logo where the “Adidas” logo should have been. Other than that, it looked like a high-quality soccer ball. Since Henry was a golfer, he knew of a company called Goliath that made golf clubs. It was pretty good stuff, but without the higher prices found in the name companies like TaylorMade, Titleist and Nike. Maybe they also made equipment for other sports as well.

  “Alan probably didn’t know,” Henry said. “Keep the ball and I’ll try to find an official Adidas ball for you.”

  “Thanks Dad,” David said as he headed out the door. “Don’t wait up.”

  Henry always found it hard to go to sleep when he knew one of his kids was still out. Sure enough, he was lying awake in bed when he heard David come into the house just passed midnight. It was only then that he fell asleep. The alarm seemed to sound only a few seconds later, but a quick check of the clock indicated it was 6:30AM. Henry wiped the sleep out of his eyes and headed for the shower. He was heading off to Chicago today for another meeting with the firm they were merging with. It was just a one-day trip and he would be flying back to Toronto tonight. His thoughts turned to Tammy, but were quickly interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. It was Alan.

  “Hey Bro,” Alan said. “Hope I didn’t wake you. Sorry I couldn’t make David’s party yesterday but I thought I’d let you know that your suit is ready. I’ve got two tickets to the junior all-star hockey game tonight so I could just bring the suit with me if you want to go to the game.”

  “I don’t think I’ll be able to go,” Henry said. “I’m going to Chicago for the day and my flight doesn’t get back until 7:45PM.”

  “That doesn’t matter,” Alan said. “I’ll probably be late myself. It’s just an exhibition game so doesn’t matter if we’re late. How about I meet you by the Will-Call ticket booth
about 8:45PM?”

  “I’ll try,” Henry replied, “but don’t count on it. I’ll call you on your cell if my flight is delayed.”

  Henry’s meeting in Chicago that day ended earlier than expected. He had arrived at the airport for the flight back to Toronto much earlier than he needed to, even for an international flight. He knew it was foolish but he still scanned the crowd of people at the airport hoping to see Tammy. He had even gone to the same restaurant and the same bar as before hoping he would see her, but no such luck.

  Henry’s flight was pretty much on time and he caught a cab to the arena to meet his brother. Sure enough, Alan was waiting by the ticket booths holding at least three suit bags over his shoulder.

  “I hope those aren’t all for me,” Henry said as he approached.

  “No. Only one. The other two are sports jackets for Frenchie Bouchard. He’s doing the game tonight and the hockey tickets are compliments of him.”

  They walked into the arena and headed towards the press boxes and broadcast booths on one of the upper levels. The first period had just ended and they could see Frenchie and the play-by-play man discussing the first period highlights on the air. Henry was surprised to see how tiny their broadcast booth was. They were standing in front of a bright green screen with the camera only a few feet in front of them. When he looked at the TV monitor to the side, he could see a play from the first period being displayed to their left with Frenchie pointing out the positioning of the players as the play developed. When he looked back at the broadcast booth, Frenchie seemed to be gesturing in mid-air. That was the magic of television.

  “Frenchie asked me to bring him a couple of sports jackets for the next few broadcasts,” Alan said. An under-19 all-star team from Sweden had come to Canada to play some exhibition games against a Canadian all-star team made up from players from the OHL. “After tonight, they head to Stockholm to play some games over there and Frenchie will be covering the games.”

  The bright lights and the green screen suddenly went dark. They were now in a commercial break and people were quickly re-positioning to get ready for the second period. Suit jackets were removed and ties loosened because they would not be on-camera as they broadcast the play-by-play in the next period. Frenchie saw Alan standing in the wings and came over to him. “Thanks for bringing these over,” Frenchie said as he approached.

  “Make sure you get them pressed before you go on the air over there,” Alan said. “They’ll probably get wrinkled in the baggage and we want you looking your best.”

  Alan introduced Henry to Frenchie. Frenchie shook his hand and said how good it was to meet him, but Henry could tell that his focus had already shifted to getting ready for the broadcast of the second period. Henry and Alan headed to their assigned seats for the game, which were near centre-ice about ten rows behind the Canadian bench.

  “It must be nice to know people in high places,” Henry said as he sat down.

  “You have no idea,” Alan replied.

  * * *

  The next day Frenchie was half asleep as he headed off of the plane in Stockholm. He’d never been able to sleep on airplanes and this was no exception. He’d come to Sweden with Darren, his regular play-by-play announcer, a producer, a production assistant and a technician. They’d be using a local camera crew and using the main feed for the game from the local Swedish broadcaster.

  The others had managed to get some sleep on the flight, so they were much more chipper than Frenchie. Since they were trying to keep costs under control, Frenchie and Darren were sharing a room at the hotel. When the bell-hop brought their bags to their room, Frenchie told him to wait as he wanted to send his suit jackets out to be pressed.

  “I’m not sure they need it,” Darren said, holding up one of the suit jackets. “It looks like they didn’t get wrinkled at all during the flight.”

  “I still want to get them pressed,” Frenchie said as he took them from Darren and handed them to the bell-hop. “Make sure they’re pressed by Elsa” Frenchie said to the bell-hop. “I was told to ask for her specifically as she was highly recommended.”

  “Yes sir,” replied the bell-hop. “I’ll make sure she handles it personally.” Frenchie slipped the bell-hop a generous tip as he thanked him.

  When the bell-hop brought Frenchie’s sports jackets to the laundry in the basement of the hotel, he placed them on the counter and waved to Elsa who was in the middle of pressing someone’s tuxedo. “Some hot shot said he wants you to personally press his sports jackets,” he shouted. “I think they look fine as they are.”

  “It’s OK,” Elsa said. “I’ll take care of it.”

  She immediately came over to get the sports jackets and took them into the back room. She felt along the hem of the first sports jacket, but didn’t feel a thing. She repeated the procedure with the second sports jacket and her eyes lit up when she felt what she was looking for. She grabbed a seam ripper from the various tools on the bench and carefully opened the seam. She pulled a small plastic object from inside the seam and placed it inside the pocket of her smock.

  “I have to head out to run some errands,” Elsa said to her co-workers. “I should be back in about half an hour.” Elsa headed out of the hotel and walked about six blocks until she came to a medium-sized building with three initials and a strange logo on it.

  “I’d like to see Anders,” she said when she got to the reception area.

  “Do you have an appointment?” asked the receptionist.

  “No, just tell him I have a message from Goliath. I’m sure he’ll see me.” The receptionist looked confused, but called Anders on her phone. He arrived almost immediately and took Elsa back to his office.

  “I believe this is for you,” Elsa said as she gave him the small plastic object.

  Anders examined it briefly and then reached into his own pocket and pulled out a similar looking object. “And I believe this is for you.”

  Elsa took the object and placed it in her pocket. Anders escorted her back out to the reception area and Elsa began her walk back to the hotel. When she got back to the hotel, she placed the new object back into the hem of Frenchie’s sports jacket and quickly sewed it up again. She gave both sports jackets a quick press and placed them inside some plastic bags.

  “These can be returned to the guest,” Elsa said to the bell-hop.

  *** Chapter 6 ***

  On Thursday morning Henry was up earlier than normal as he was heading off to Chicago yet again. The merger had now been approved by the partners and activities would now be shifting from the planning and budgeting stages to the implementation stage. Henry expected he would be spending two to three days a week in Chicago over the next month as they converted their legal accounting system and some other software so the entire firm would be on the same platform.

  As Henry headed into the kitchen, he was surprised to see David sitting at the kitchen table gulping down some cereal. “What are you doing up so early?” Henry asked.

  “Coach wants us in before class today to continue working on conditioning,” David replied. The provincial championships were being held in Barrie this year and less than two weeks away. “Hey Dad, they told us last week that all of the teams will be staying at the Sunset Resort for the weekend of the tournament.”

  The Sunset Resort was located on one of the lakes just north of Barrie. During the summer months, they catered to families as it offered boating, swimming, beach volleyball, mini-putt golfing and numerous other activities. The parents could sign their kids up for a variety of supervised activities depending on their age and interests, yet get to spend time with them at the scheduled mealtimes or in their cabins in the evening. It wasn’t anything fancy as the owners tried to retain a bit of a rustic feel at the resort. David was familiar with the resort because he had worked there the previous summer helping as an activities coordinator and at the front desk.

  Now that the summer was over, the resort catered to specialized groups and corporate retreats. This was a
good place to house all of the teams coming for the provincial championships because they could keep all of the teams together and it would be much cheaper than putting them up in hotels and feeding them in restaurants.

  “They had actually called me to ask if I could work that weekend, but I told them I couldn’t because I was on one of the teams,” David said.

  Henry checked his watch and realized he’d have to hurry to catch his flight. “Gotta run, but my trip to Chicago is just a day-trip so you can fill me in on the rest of the details later tonight.” He grabbed a couple of granola bars from the pantry and headed off to the airport.

  Henry spent most of the morning working with the accounting staff on the timing and the details of converting their system to the same legal accounting system used by RBT. A couple of the staff were quite keen on the conversion as their system was old and dated and they looked forward to using more modern software, but the head of the accounting department was somewhat reluctant as she had been using the existing system since she started with the firm over fifteen years ago.

  They broke for lunch about 11:30 which suited Henry just fine because the granola bars he’d scarfed down on the way to the airport were not going to hold him very much longer. Henry left the building in search of a place to grab a quick lunch. He was standing on the corner of Michigan and Grand waiting for a traffic light when he saw her. Not Tammy, but Samantha. At least he was pretty sure it was her.

  The “Walk” sign lit up and the throngs of people started across Michigan Avenue. Henry stayed where he was as Samantha was crossing the street toward him. When he called her name, she looked up and he could see the confusion in her face as she scanned the faces of the dozens of people walking towards her looking for whoever had called her name. Henry called her name again and she quickly locked in on him. She smiled at him but Henry could tell she didn’t really recognize him. He could almost see the wheels spinning in her head as she tried to place where she’d seen him before. He noticed the change in her expression when she remembered.