“You gotta come and see this!”

Travis had rarely seen Nish so excited.

And certainly never so early in the morning.

Travis had just finished showering and was getting dressed to go down for breakfast. It had been a quiet night; the team was tired from the excitement of the first game, if not the actual playing of the game, and everyone had gone to bed early.

Nish, of course, had tried to turn on the late-night sex movies, but all the television screen would say was: “ADULT MOVIES HAVE BEEN BLOCKED BY REQUEST. PLEASE CALL THE FRONT DESK FOR ACCESS.” He had tried his old trick of pulling off the cable wires and re-wiring the remote box, but again it hadn’t worked. Finally he had called the front desk and in a low voice pretended he was Muck giving the hotel permission for the kids to watch sex movies. That hadn’t worked either.

Now here he was, flushed and on fire about something.

“You gotta come see, Trav!”

Travis pulled on his Red Wings track pants and a T-shirt and chased, barefoot, after Nish, who was already running down the hall backwards, signalling Travis to follow.

On the floor below, Nish came to a door and knocked. Not a normal knock, but three long knocks followed by two quick ones. A special code? What was this? Travis wondered.

Nish held his finger to his mouth, signalling quiet. As he hadn’t been saying anything, Travis could only shake his head.

They could hear someone on the other side. Travis had the sense he was being checked out through the little spy glass in the door. Then it opened slowly. It was Data. He and Nish must have come down earlier, while Travis was in the shower. But why so secretive?

Data opened the door the rest of the way. Nish and Travis entered and Data closed the door quietly, still acting mysteriously. It was a smaller room, not a suite like Travis and the others had lucked into. Wilson and Fahd were standing at the far side of the room, staring down at something on the bed by the window. The door to the bathroom opened and out came Andy Higgins.

Andy seemed to be trying to look tough even though there was nobody there to impress. He barely looked at Travis.

Travis went over to the bed and looked. Arranged as if on display were several chocolate bars, three more CN Tower lighters, a Blue Jays mug, a brand-new Toronto Maple Leafs cap–the price tag still on it–a deck of cards still in its wrapper, and a pack of Belmont Milds cigarettes.

“Tell the world, why don’t you,” Andy said to Nish. He seemed both angry and proud at the same time.

Travis asked the obvious: “Where’d all this come from?”

“The lobby gift shop,” Nish answered.

Nish didn’t have to add that they were stolen goods. Travis knew without asking. He felt suddenly hot, prickly, like the room had only heat and no air and he had to get out. But he knew, too, that he couldn’t let his panic show. He was captain. He was responsible.

“The old lady on cash is blind as a bat,” offered Andy. He obviously wanted it understood that he had done the stealing.

“How’d you get the smokes?” Nish wanted to know. Nish also looked flushed. But from excitement.

“She was sorting the newspapers–I just reached over and grabbed a pack.”

Nish was obviously impressed: “Shoulda grabbed one for me.”

Travis looked sharply at him. Don’t encourage him, he wanted to say. But Nish was already lost. The last time Travis had seen that look in Nish’s face was when the team had been in the Maple Leafs’ dressing room. Nish was star-struck–with a shoplifter!

Travis felt like a clothes dryer: standing still but spinning inside. He knew he couldn’t show his nervousness or they would laugh at him. He knew they would never listen to him if he told Andy to put the stuff back. But he was captain–he had some responsibility to the Screech Owls. And he knew if some of the team got in trouble, Muck would want to know where his team captain had been and whether he had known what was going on. No matter the outcome, Travis already felt he was going to be in the wrong.

Finally, he steeled himself: “You shouldn’t have done that to her, Andy.”

Andy just laughed. Nish laughed with him, not even knowing why.

“It’s not hers,” Andy sneered. “You think a big hotel chain like this is going to miss a few lighters? What kind of a wimp are you anyway, Lindsay?”

Travis could see he wasn’t going to get any support. Nish was all but sneering himself. Data was playing with one of the lighters.

“Take one,” Andy said to Data.

Data seemed surprised, pleased. “You mean it?”

“Sure,” Andy said. “Plenty more where that one came from.”

The boys all laughed at the joke.

Everyone, that is, but Travis Lindsay, team captain…wimp.