Shutout

Chapter 11 - Kane

I always play a podcast when I fold my laundry. Not that there is that much because it's just me, but it's better than the dull adult silence. Harold likes to help by getting all the clean laundry hairy before I can ever wear it. He does it on purpose. I can tell from his eyes. But he enjoys being evil, so I let him. 

It's starting to get cold out as we slowly end September and enter October, so a lot of the laundry this week is refreshing my winter clothes for the new season. Summer ended so fast all of a sudden. One day, it's 80 degrees out, and the next, it's barely pushing 40. 

Another sign of the season change is Logan. In August, Logan started pre-season training. Maybe because I'm ignorant about sports, it seems like they bully the players after taking a break. I got a list of hockey nutritionist foods to make meals more diet-friendly, despite Logan's insistence that I didn't have to (I did). We still tried to meet the same amount of times, but some practices were held so late in the afternoon that I would end up bringing it over late at night. He always apologized profoundly and told me I didn't have to, but I could tell he was grateful nonetheless.

Apparently, hockey has something called a pre-season that, as Logan described it, was made so coaches can fuck around with the roster and see who's still good after their break or how the new players are doing. It's like in PE class where you fuck around just so the PE teacher can hang out with the athletic kids and bond or something. Anyway, he's been on the road the past couple of weeks, traveling to play these fake games. Therefore, I've barely seen him. I made him swear to let me know when he's in town so that I can get food to him, and thankfully, he's been following directions. 

Pre-season only lasts so long, and we're days away from the official start of the season. Other than being a bit tired and still getting into the routine of things again, Logan seems to be doing okay. I gathered up all my guts and started texting him outside of food services. I was worried about bothering him while he needs to focus or rest, but he always responds by some point and doesn't seem irritated by me when I do see him in person. I like to think it's nice for him to have someone outside of hockey to talk to, like a real person and not a bro, but I don't voice my thoughts on that. 

I'm only two-thirds of the way through folding the laundry when my podcast is interrupted by a phone call. The caller ID number doesn't look familiar, but I don't have contacts for everyone, so I just answer anyway.

"Kane Jenkins speaking."

"...Hello, this is Shane Youngman," I try desperately to recall where I know that name from, but I must take too long because he talks again, "Um, you contacted me about an interview about my experiences of being gay in the NHL?"

Yes! Shane Youngman was a center (I think) who retired two years ago and came out one year ago. Logan helped me get his agent's phone number, and I left a pretty long voicemail. Eventually, the agent called me back and had me explain in more detail what I wanted to do and promised to share the information with Shane. 

"Oh! Yes! Sorry, I'm pretty terrible with names."

He chuckles lightly on the other side of the phone, "That's okay. My agent said you weren't in the hockey scene anyway."

"No, I used to have a staunch opposition to sports, but then Logan Klicker became my neighbor, and I'm slowly getting absorbed," I threw my shirt I was folding away, and scrambled to go pull up my laptop.

"I think I know him. Um, goaltender for Maine, right?"

"Actually, he got traded to Indianapolis towards the end of last season. Do you keep up with hockey even in your retirement?"

He chuckles again, "You can stop playing hockey but you can never fully give it up, you know what I mean?"

"Sure," I finally get a blank document pulled up on my computer and position the phone between my shoulder and ear to start typing, "Thank you so much for calling me. After not hearing back from your agent for a while, I kind of gave up on being able to contact you."