That night, the Howling Timberwolves played another home game. This time they faced the Pirates from out of town. The Timberwolves had not lost to the Pirates all season.
“Easy game tonight,” Johnny said to Tom as they skated during the pregame warm-ups.
Tom didn’t answer.
“Are you’re still mad at me for this morning?” Johnny asked. He waved at Connie, who was sitting in the stands. “It was a joke. If you and I had tricked Stu into licking a car bumper, you’d still be laughing.”
Connie waved back. Tom did not look at Connie.
“I don’t want to play on your line tonight,” Tom said.
“I guess you’re still mad at me.”
“Coach Smith said I could try playing on the line with Eldridge,” Tom said.
“But the team needs us to play together,” Johnny said. “We’re the line that scores the goals. We need Eldridge and his line to stop the other team from scoring. They are the defensive line. That’s how we win.”
“I don’t want to play on your line,” Tom said.
“Come on,” Johnny said. “It was a little joke. It’s not like the whole world knows about it.”
They stopped talking for a second as a defenseman for the Pirates skated over to them.
“Hey,” the defenseman said, “I heard some idiot on your team licked a car today and froze his tongue to the bumper. Is that true?”
“Wow,” Johnny said, “news travels fast.”
“It should,” the defenseman said to Johnny. “You’re the one who told my teammate about it.”
The defenseman skated away.
“Like I said,” Tom told Johnny, “I would rather play on the line with Eldridge.”
Tom skated over to the bench.
He didn’t play a shift with Johnny the whole night.
And the Timberwolves lost 9–5 to the Pirates.