Free Timberwolf Chase by Sigmund Brouwer

Chapter One
    Johnny Maverick thought he saw something move inside his hockey bag. Things in hockey bags should not move, he told himself.
    Johnny was in the dressing room with the rest of the players on the Howling Timberwolves hockey team. It was the first practice of the year. His hockey bag was open on the floor in front of him. He was ready to put on his equipment for the practice.
    But something in the bag had moved.
    He leaned forward to look inside the bag. He pulled out a hockey glove. Something fell from the inside of the glove. It landed in the bag and disappeared.

    â€œI hope I’m wrong,” he said to himself. “I hope I didn’t just see a—”
    â€œJohnny!” Coach Smith said to him. “Are you listening?”
    â€œUm, no,” Johnny said. He was worried about his hockey bag. He looked in it again.
    â€œPlease,” Coach Smith said, “look at me when I talk.”
    Johnny looked up. Everyone on the team was staring at him. Twelve players. All of them lived in or near a town called Howling. It was a small town. There were not a lot of hockey players for this team. They needed everybody they could get.
    â€œCoach,” Johnny said. “My mom made me keep my hockey equipment in the storage shed all summer. She thinks hockey equipment smells bad.”
    â€œShe’s right,” Coach Smith said.
    â€œThat means I might have a problem,” Johnny said. He looked back into the bag. He hoped the thing in the bag wasn’t what he thought it was.
    â€œThe problem is you weren’t listening,” Coach Smith told Johnny. “Look at me when I’m talking. Please. I don’t want to say it again.”
    â€œBut—”
    â€œNo buts,” Coach Smith said. “I’m the coach and I need to talk to the whole team.”
    â€œBut—”
    â€œNot another word, Johnny. Please. You know I like you very much. But I would like to go just one hockey season without any trouble from you.”
    Johnny didn’t say anything else. Even when he thought he heard something move in his hockey bag. But he was afraid to look down. Coach Smith didn’t like it if he thought a player wasn’t listening.
    Coach Smith spoke to everybody. “We have a new player this year. His name is Tom Morgan.”
    Coach Smith pointed at a boy in the corner. The boy had brown hair and brown eyes. He wasn’t smiling.
    â€œTom and his parents have just moved here from Toronto,” Coach Smith said. “I hope you make him feel welcome.”
    Johnny felt something on the top of his foot. That made him look down.
    He saw a mouse.

Chapter Two
    Yes, it was a mouse. A big fat mouse. From inside his hockey bag. The hockey bag that had been in the storage shed all summer.
    The mouse stared at Johnny. Johnny stared back. Then the mouse tried to crawl up Johnny’s pants.
    Johnny yelled.
    He kicked his foot straight up.
    The mouse flew high into the air.
    â€œJohnny!” Coach Smith said in an angry voice.
    â€œPay attention.”
    Johnny was watching the mouse. He saw where it was going to land.
    â€œCoach!” Johnny yelled.
    But it was too late.
    The mouse landed on Coach Smith’s head.
    Coach Smith frowned. He didn’t know what had landed on his head.
    But Johnny did.
    Johnny wanted to help Coach Smith. He grabbed his hockey glove. Coach Smith was short, and Johnny knew he could reach the mouse on top of his head.
    Johnny swung the glove at the mouse.
    He missed the mouse.
    But he didn’t miss Coach Smith’s head. He hit Coach Smith in the head with the hockey glove.
    Something hairy landed on the floor.
    Johnny yelled again. He wondered if he had knocked off Coach Smith’s head. But right away Johnny saw that it wasn’t Coach Smith’s head. It was Coach Smith’s hair.
    Coach Smith wore a wig?
Johnny never knew that.
    He did now. So did the rest of the team.
    Coach Smith’s face turned red. It