Chasing Cities

Brooklyn

~Sinikka's POV~

"The distance from here to Brooklyn is about 213 miles, which means about four and a half hours on this bus," Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy informed the team as he stood at the front of the bus, keeping his balance by holding on to a seat. "Joining is on this journey will be several guests: Brad's complaining, Patrice's...uh...being Patrice, Jake's loud-ass snacking, and Tuukka's terrible gas."

The team erupted in laughter, and my father went red. Cassidy let his Boston Bruins calm down before continuing.

"Seriously, men, we do have an actual guest joining us on our upcoming road trip," Cassidy's stern eyes landed on me. "Sinikka, Tuukka's daughter, will be coming to Brooklyn, Tampa, and Sunrise with the rest of us. I want you to be nice to her and treat her like a member of the team. You understand?"

"Yes, Dad," Patrice Bergeron joked, and Cassidy glared at him as some of the other Bruins laughed.

"I'm sorry about the comedian over here," Coach Cassidy then said to me.

"No, Coach, it's okay," I assured him. "All of the Bruins have been nice to me ever since I got to Boston. This will be a fun road trip for all of us."

He smiled at me. "Sinikka, that's good to hear."

Once Coach Cassidy was sitting back down, my father turned to me and showed me some pictures on his phone. "Look at what we're going to be seeing later, Sini. These are photos that my friend Johnny sent to me of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. Oh, that reminds me! Johnny's going to be joining us on that walk. He's a former teammate of mine, and I haven't spoken to him in a while."

"Sounds good," I thought for a while. "Is his last name Boychuk, by any chance? I have heard of him before."

"Yes!" Dad exclaimed. "You'll love him, I promise. He's very funny and nice."

"I hope so," I sighed as I rested my head on my seat's headrest. My dad took the hint and put his phone away, waiting until later to talk to me some more.

Four hours later, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes and saw my father gently shaking me awake. Once I was fully awake, he turned around and pointed his finger at the window.

I hadn't known that I'd fallen asleep, so I was expecting to see glimpses of green hills, trees, and weird billboards as we drove through the country. The hundreds of skyscrapers that I saw through the bridge we were on were a pleasant surprise.

"That's Manhattan," my dad said. "As I'm sure you know, the New York Rangers play there. Right now, we're on the bridge that's taking us into Brooklyn."

"Fantastic!" I exclaimed. "That four-hour nap felt like a second. Sorry for falling asleep on your shoulder."

"It's okay, Sinikka," my dad smiled down at me. "You're a growing girl, and you need your sleep."

The bus drove us into downtown Brooklyn, and Coach Cassidy announced that we were about to arrive at our hotel. I pulled out my phone and texted Henri, my best friend from my old school in Savonlinna, knowing that he probably wouldn't respond due to the time difference making it a much later time in Finland than it was in the United States.

Our bus finally slowed to a stop in front of a fancy-looking hotel, and everyone stood up and started stretching their unused muscles. Zdeno Chara, the tallest Bruin, stood up too fast and bumped his head on the roof, which made the other Bruins laugh at him. Zdeno joined in, teasing Brad "The Rat" Marchand for being so short that I, a girl not yet fully grown, was only two inches shorter than him.

As I climbed off the bus, my father close behind me, my phone started ringing. I saw that it was my best friend, Valerie, and I answered the call quickly.

"Sinikka!" Val squealed. "Are you in Brooklyn yet?"

"Yes I am!" I told her. "Dad and I just got off the bus with the rest of the Bruins. Ew, my dad just farted. Anyway, what's up with you? Did you just get home from school?"

"About an hour and a half ago, yeah," Val answered. "Good luck to your dad and the rest of the Bruins on their road trips! I hope they win all of their games."

"I hope so too," I agreed. "People are saying that my dad might be a Vezina candidate this year, and I want him to show them that they're right. He's playing these next two games against the Islanders and Tampa, and then Halak will play Florida."

"I hope he wins those games and the Vezina award!" Valerie said. "I don't think he knew about you yet when he won the thing last time, so it'll be exciting if you get to go up on the stage with him this year!"

"I really want to," I responded as I grabbed my suitcase from the compartment underneath the bus. "There's a super nice dress in my closet that's perfect for that. Plus, Las Vegas, Nevada! I've never been there before, and I hear it's super fun."

"Vegas is awesome!" My dad yelled from behind me, making me jump.

"My dad just scared me, but he says I'm right," I shooed Tuukka away as he giggled annoyingly to himself. "If he doesn't win the Vezina, I really want to go with him whenever it is that the Bruins have their next away game against the Golden Knights!"

"I'll write that down!" My father grunted as he pulled his heavy suitcase out of the bus and motioned me towards the hotel.

"Well, I have to go now," I told Valerie. "I'll talk to you after tomorrow afternoon's game, alright? It's at one o'clock, so it should be over around three-thirty."

"I'll be available then," Valerie said. "It's Saturday. Anyway, Sinikka, I'll talk to you later. Have a ton of fun in Brooklyn and those two Florida cities. See you soon, girl!"

"Bye!" I squealed as I followed my father into the hotel. Ten minutes later, we were inside the room, each of us sprawled out on a full-sized bed.

"I'm not going to lie, I'm still tired," I confessed to Dad, who turned to face me.

"To be totally honest with you, too, so am I," he answered. "Remember to be ready by six o'clock, though. That's the team dinner! You know those are always fun."

"Of course they are," I pulled the covers back. "That is, until you decide to stuff your face with those chicken wings you get before home games in Boston. I hate having to suffer through your gas!"

"Sorry!" Dad shrugged. "It's just something that happens. I can't control that it smells, as Zdeno describes it, like roadkill!"

"You are so gross," I crawled under the covers and rested my head on a comfortable pillow. "Hey, can you turn the TV on? I like falling asleep with the TV as background noise."

"Sure," Dad agreed. "Let's see if any highlights of last night's NHL games are on."

"Nice," was my response.

I fell asleep to the sound of the announcer's voice, not expecting what would happen the very next afternoon.