Page 16 of Slapshot Baby

"You took a bad hit. You're okay." Mom reaches for my hand like I might disappear if she doesn't hold on. “You’ve been in a coma for weeks, but you’re safe now.”

Weeks.

I let that sit for a long while, waiting for it to feel real. It doesn’t, not yet.

"The game?" I ask instead, because it’s easier than the alternative.

"It's over."

"Score?"

A relieved laugh comes from my father. "He's asking about the score."

"We won," Mira says.

I smile. “That’s great. Coach is sure going to make me captain after this.”

My parents and sister stare at me in alarm. A slight headache starts at my temples.

"What aren't you telling me?" I ask.

“You just rest,” Mom says gently.

I remember then that I was supposed to call someone. I can’t place who. The call could have been urgent.

“Where is my phone?”

Mira gives it to me.

The phone looks old even though I just bought it and it’s the latest 2022 model. Maybe it got damaged somehow.

I’m about to scroll through my call log and contacts to jog my memory when I notice the date, May 2026.

Nah, it can’t be. Something is wrong with my phone.

“What day is it?”

“May fourteenth, twenty twenty-six,” Mira and Mom say at the same time.

I give them a quick glance. "It's twenty twenty-two. I need today’s date so I can type in the correct detail on my phone.”

Dad and Mom exchange a look.

“Kai, it’s not,” Mira says sharply.

"It's March twenty twenty-two. We're in the final stretch of the season. I remember…"

I stop. I remember practice. I stop. Practice. The constant chatter in the locker room. The sharp blast of the coach's whistle. The feel of the puck on my stick in the slot.

But the edges of everything feel strange, like a picture slightly out of frame.

Weeks, Mom said. A few weeks out of March puts us somewhere around April.

"That doesn't add up," I say. "If I've only been under a few weeks, we should still be in March. Maybe April."

My father moves to the side of the bed. He has more grey at the temples than I remember.

"I know it doesn't feel that way," he says.