Free Nights Below Station Street by David Adams Richards Page B

their sport. They would undoubtedly benefit from training harder and earning less money.He neglected to mention the 1972 series. It was not mentioned by Terrisov, and Myhrra knew nothing about it. She only nodded her head as if she had finally found someone who agreed with her. Ralphie, listening more than he spoke, felt overall that Terrisov was acting something like an older brother to them, and therefore could be much harsher to them than he was.
    There were certain things that Terrisov could not get away from and one was the curfew put upon the men on the ship. The curfew was for eight o’clock and any visitors to the ship went on organized tours during the afternoon. Byron and Myhrra were continually down near the ship or on the wharf.
    During one of these tours Byron happened to be caught picking up some loose Russian cigarettes and putting them into his pocket.
    The Russian he took them from noticed and spoke in Russian to Terrisov. Terrisov took them out of Byron’s pocket The other Russian went away speaking to himself. Byron looked at Myhrra and began to yell at her. Terrisov contemplated something a moment, his shoulders thrust back, and as little Milly grinned, Terrisov who saw the grin, suddenly said:
    “This is not done here – anything you want, you ask. We don’t have thieves here.”
    Then he looked at Myhrra, who blushed, and then he picked up Milly, who was still grinning, and continued on.
    There was a feeling that they shouldn’t do anything to hurt the Russians’ feelings, because the Russians were innocent – innocent, abrupt, and overbearing – a feeling that Ralphie had. Whenever he spoke to Terrisov he thought instinctively: They will never admit a fault to us – therefore we don’t want to offend them .
    This was what happened to the bridge. The ship haddrifted with the current and hit the span, creating a bulk along the underside of the bridge and causing a million dollars’ worth of damage. The Russians were silent for days and then they made a statement about it It was the Norwegian ship’s fault, the ship with the load of telephone poles had not moved out of the channel properly, or at the right time, and to avoid hitting it on the port side they had shut their engines, and had drifted with the tide waters – it was the only thing they could do – and they hit the bridge. It was lucky no one was injured but the other ship was already out to sea, and what could be done? They had made out their report to the harbour master and were now preparing to leave. Restitution? No! It would not be proper for them to pay.
    This idea that it would not be proper fascinated Ralphie. What was supposedly proper and what wasn’t was a part of their make up more than any other sailors Ralphie had ever met.
    Adele said she did not like them ever since the 1972 hockey series. She saw how some of her friends – and some radio and television commentators – started to lose heart in the Canadian team, and even took to ridiculing it. At her young age, she did not understand that criticism of your own in Canada was often considered fashionable expertise. It was her and Joe’s favourite game – one which she still watched every Saturday night – she could never understand the criticisms that were levelled against it Adele told Ralphie that she had to stay in the bathroom throwing up during much of the games, and when the Canadians lost a game she would go about the house like a ghost refusing to eat, and prayed, her lips moving slowly: “Oh God – let Pete Mahovlich get a goal.”
    Nor could she read the reports in the paper about it, or listen to the radio – because, to her, so many of the reportsseemed wrong. There was hardly a thing about September 1972 that she remembered, except that we played eight hockey games against the Russians, which we won – and she met Ralphie Pillar for the first time.
    For Adele who had always loved hockey, and especially the Montreal Canadiens, this 1972 series