The Airdrie Firefly

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER TWELVE

Puzzling the Puzzle

The next two weeks went by in very much the same way for Steven, only he was in better spirits. Talyn was still distant, but at least he knew why; she and his mother and Mrs. Nessman were still with Dr. Tristan, doing whatever secret thing they were doing.

Steven was distracted the entire time, trying to make sense of everything, not that Cindii or Chris noticed due to all their talking. He didn't need to pay much attention the last few days of class—he had already taken all his tests, and, with Mr. Nessman's change to his project grade, had completed sixth grade with straight As. He could start a school paper next year, if he still wanted to.

There were some new things, good things. Steven had a new friend, a brother even: Mr. Nessman, or Jonathan, as he insisted. They chatted a little on the phone every day, and Mr. Nessman and Mr. Thorne snuck by Steven's house—none of the ladies knew—to keep up his two-stepping practice. Steven was also having a lot of heart-to-heart chats with his dad and had even learned a few new things about him as well as about ghouls.

He learned some ghoul history and just how bad being a zombie could be. It actually got a little gross. In the time before supermarkets and refrigeration, and in times of famine, when food was scarce, protein was even scarcer. Sometimes, a ghoul-turning-zombie would go as far as to find that protein in a grave. Gross!

That story made the story of how his dad and mom met creepy—creepy in a "don't think too hard about it" kind of way. Steven's dad used to be in the RCMP. One day he returned to a murder scene to further investigate and ran into someone from the crime-scene cleanup crew; his mom was that someone. Although Steven wasn't entirely sure what the word "romantic" meant, he was fairly sure his parents' first meeting didn't fall into the "romantic" category.

The unforeseen consequence of Steven's first news story continued into the summer. Bigfoot Barry became a minor celebrity in Airdrie and was recognized everywhere he went. There was even a tailgating party of sorts that closed off the block Barry lived on when the Leafs made it into the Stanley Cup finals. Everyone wore Leafs jerseys and waved Leafs banners. Someone sold "Airdrie Bigfoot" T-shirts, and the Leafs car flags were seen around town. The team eventually lost, but the shirts and flags continued to be displayed, and Steven wondered if he would see Bigfoot Barry costumes at Halloween.

On the Sunday after the last day of school, the ladies were out—again, helping Dr. Tristan do whatever he needed help with—and the guys came over to go out for lunch. Steven, his dad, Mr. Thorne, and Mr. Nessman were all getting ready to leave when the phone rang.

"Digs! You coming or what?" said an agitated Chris over the phone.

My first practice! I forgot! Steven thought, nervous at the thought of playing hockey. He'd never played before. Chris had spent all week going over strategy, but Steven would be the goalie, so it didn't really affect him. He tried to reassure himself. It's only a first practice. How bad could it be?

***

"Hey, Digs," Chris said, passing his goalie equipment to Steven. "You bring your entourage with you?" Chris jerked his head toward Steven's dad, Mr. Thorne, and Mr. Nessman, who were standing nearby, lost in conversation. It was a nice day, so they had decided to watch the practice and then go out to lunch afterward.

"Well . . . no, not exactly," Steven said, a little embarrassed.

"And is that . . . Mr. Nessman?"