Broomball

The cafeteria conversation was all about hockey again. Jade usually fit in with the sports crowd, but now she was the odd one out. She stared out the window and let her mind drift like the whirling snow to a soccer field in sunny California.

Hazel elbowed her in the side. “When are you going to get out on the ice, Jade?” Hazel turned to the others at the table. “Jade was a soccer star at her old school. I’m lobbying her to take up hockey.”

Back in California, the only ice was in tiny frozen puddles. Here in Minnesota, it seemed everyone skated like a pro by the time they got to kindergarten. Jade didn’t have skates, and she couldn’t make it to open skating time because she had to spend weekday afternoons babysitting Calvin while he toppled block towers and got crumbs everywhere.

She sighed. She’d have to wait months for spring to arrive, bringing new conversation topics and sports she could actually play. But Hazel had been friendly since their first homeroom class — and she wasn’t going to give up on this.

“I’ll stop by to watch this weekend,” Jade told her.

“Perfect! The rink is behind the stadium. We practice on Saturday morning.”

Jade watched the hockey players zip around the outdoor rink, the sounds of scraping skates interspersed with pucks whacking against the boards. The wind was frigid, and she stuck her chin into her scarf and stomped her feet to warm up.

When practice ended, Hazel pulled off her skates and handed them to Jade. “You made it! Give these a try.”

Jade laced them up. Stepping onto the ice, she grabbed the wall and inched her way along. On her second circuit, she let go and did a wobbly glide. A boy who looked barely older than Calvin launched into a twirl inches away. Flinching, Jade lost her balance and fell hard.

Soccer skills might help her with hockey if she ever made it near the goal, but she wasn’t off to a good start with the skating.

“I’ll have serious knee bruises tomorrow,” she said, as Hazel reached over the wall to help her up.

“At least it’s not shorts weather,” Hazel replied with a laugh. “Just practice every day — in a few weeks, you’ll be good enough to start training with us. You can rent skates from Ms. Silva, the facility manager.”

Jade nodded. She didn’t mention that when she finally had free time, in the evenings, the rink was closed. Or that the cost of daily skate rentals would add up fast.

After school on Monday, Jade stopped at the thrift store, checking to make sure none of her new classmates saw her go in. In the sporting goods aisle, there was only one pair of skates, four sizes too big.

Jade dug her hands into her coat pockets and hurried home, retrieving Calvin from the neighbor’s house and finding his loudest musical toy. Maybe it would drown out her nagging thoughts about how the icy winter made her feel as aimless as a soccer ball without a goal.

Mom came home exhausted as usual from her job at the diner. After a quick spaghetti dinner, she put Calvin to bed and fell asleep beside him.

The house was silent except for the scraping rumble of a passing snowplow. Jade tiptoed into the bedroom.

“Mom, can I go for a walk?” she whispered.

Mom sat up and stretched. “I can’t believe I fell asleep again. Sure, honey. Just be home by eight.”

Jade grabbed her winter gear and tugged on her boots. Walking down sidewalks sprinkled with sand, her clouds of breath glowed under the streetlights, and ice crystals formed on her eyelashes.

The rink was deserted and dim in the streetlight. She leaned on the wall. Then she unlatched the gate and stepped in. She slid around in her sneakers, flailing her arms to keep from falling. She felt ridiculous and couldn’t stop giggling.

After dinner the next evening, Mom swept up the crumbs under Calvin’s highchair. Watching her grasping the broom handle, Jade got an idea.

When Mom and Calvin headed to bed, Jade hugged them goodnight and bundled up again. She grabbed the broom and an old tennis ball. She’d try her hand at pretend hockey.

At the rink, she glided around in her shoes, hitting the ball with the broom. She fell a few times, but it didn’t matter — nobody was watching. She managed to tap the ball into the goal once before it was time to head home.

At school on Wednesday, Hazel plunked her lunch tray down next to Jade. “I saw some awesome new skates at Super Sports. You should buy them, so you don’t have to rent used ones.”

Jade took a bite of her sandwich. “I’ll check them out this weekend,” she mumbled. She already knew Mom wouldn't be able to afford them.

Jade made three tennis-ball goals at the rink that evening, imagining the last was a game-winning shot. But her grin disappeared as she saw the facility manager striding over.

“Someone called in an after-hours skater,” Ms. Silva said, hands on her hips. New wrinkles appeared in her forehead as she looked down at Jade’s feet. “But those aren’t skates. Now I know where the dirt came from yesterday.”

“I’m really sorry,” said Jade.

“It’s my job to clean the ice, you know. Takes me longer if people don’t follow the rules.” Ms. Silva paused. “I heard you moved here from California. They have broomball there?”

Jade snorted. “That’s a good name for it.”

“Broomball is a real sport, you know.”

Jade found that hard to believe but questioning Ms. Silva would probably make her grumpier.

“Come back this weekend,” said Ms. Silva with a loud sigh. “You owe me an hour of rink-cleaning.”

On Saturday morning light snow was falling. Ms. Silva nodded when she saw the old sneakers in Jade’s hands. “No dirt on those, they’ll work.”

She handed Jade a shovel. Ms. Silva clearly wasn’t one for making small talk. “First we clear off this new snow before it freezes and makes the surface bumpy.”

Jade warmed up quickly with the shoveling. She hadn’t sweated like that since her last soccer game back home.

“Not bad,” said Ms. Silva. “Want a weekend job?”

Jade’s stomach flipped. Maybe she could earn enough to buy the skates. “Definitely.”

“I’ll teach you to fix a rut. See if you can spot one.”

Jade slid around the ice until she found a big crack. Ms. Silva cleaned it out with a broom.

“I looked up broomball,” Jade said as Ms. Silva swept away bits of ice. She’d read that broomball rules were similar to hockey rules, but players wore shoes and had a bigger net for scoring goals. Most important, broomball players didn't have to know how to skate. “Is there a team in town?”

“Not for the last six or seven years,” said Ms. Silva. “I’ve been meaning to get rid of the blue and orange balls taking up room in storage. Now, pack that rut with snow. Then we’ll dribble water on it and let it freeze.”

Jade finished the patch job.

“That’s good for now,” said Ms. Silva. “The hockey team will arrive soon.”

That meant Hazel. Jade wasn’t sure whether she wanted Hazel to know she had a job. Hazel’s family seemed to have plenty of money to buy her all the hockey equipment she needed.

“I’ll come help again next weekend,” Jade said.

Ms. Silva carried the shovel back to the shed. “Responsible employees sometimes stop by the rink after hours,” she said over her shoulder. “To remove any leaves — or a stray blue ball, for that matter.”

Jade grinned. A broom would come in handy for that.

As she walked home, a car stopped, and Hazel poked her head out the window. “Where are you going? Let’s skate together after hockey practice is over.”

“I have to watch Calvin,” Jade said. Mom had babysitting Calvin covered today, but Jade couldn’t skate with Hazel until she had skates of her own.

All the following week, Jade was a dutiful employee, checking on the rink every night. She shoveled new snow, picked off leaves, and filled ruts. And then she pulled the balls from the bucket that had appeared by the gate — along with a stick with a narrow, broom-shaped rubber head on the end, just like the ones she had seen online — and did forty shots on goal. Realizing that her soccer skills were starting to pay off, she did a careful little dance on the ice to celebrate.

When the weekend arrived, Jade went to the rink early. She helped Ms. Silva scrape away bumps to prepare the ice for hockey practice.

Hazel appeared and Jade waved.

“Are you free to hang out here after practice?” Jade asked.

“Sure.” Hazel grinned.

Practice seemed to take forever. Jade jumped up and down, partly to stay warm and partly because she was nervous Hazel wouldn’t like her idea.

An hour later, Hazel skated over. “Ready? Wait, where are your new skates?”

Jade had planned to tell Hazel the truth, but now the words weren’t coming out. Her throat was dry and tight. “I... forgot them.”

“Run home and get them. I’ll come along.”

Jade cleared her throat. “I mean, I don’t have skates yet.”

“Super Sports didn’t have the ones you wanted? Just put in a special order.”

Squeezing her cold fingers together, Jade took a deep breath. “That’s not it. I don’t have money for skates yet. But I have a weekend job now, so I can buy some in a few weeks.” Hazel hesitated and then shrugged.

“That’s cool. What did you want to do today, then?”

Jade’s heart lifted. She held up a pair of sticks and a blue ball. “If you get your sneakers back on, we can play with these.”

Hazel’s eyes lit up. “Are those for broomball?”

“Yeah. Playing after hockey practice is perfect, because the skates have chopped up the surface. It’ll be less slippery, and easier to run on.”

“How do we play?”

“I’ll show you!”

Hazel waved over a few teammates and introduced them to Jade. They changed into their shoes and headed back onto the ice, running and slipping and laughing and asking Jade lots of questions about broomball — and about California, and soccer, and her other hobbies. There weren’t enough sticks to go around, so for now, they made up their own game — a mix of hockey and soccer and broomball and finally fitting in.

Ms. Silva passed by, her lips twisted into a hint of a smile. “Looks like we may have a broomball team again.”

“I’m nominating Jade for team captain,” hollered Hazel.

Jade laughed and whacked the ball into the goal.