Free Timberwolf Chase by Sigmund Brouwer Page B

After only one practice, we all know you are the best player on the ice. Probably in the league. But you are still wrong about those passes.”
    â€œWrong?” Tom asked.
    â€œYou said I missed five passes because I am too big and too slow,” Stu said. “But I only missed
four
passes because I am big and slow. I missed the last pass because I was looking at the concession stand to see if they had any hotdogs left for after practice.”
    â€œYou’re not taking this seriously,” Tom said. His face was tight with a frown.
    â€œNo,” Stu said.
    â€œMy insults don’t make you want to play better hockey? To try harder? To maybe start looking for passes instead of hotdogs?”
    â€œNot really,” Stu said. “I like hotdogs. Besides, your insults mean nothing to me. I’ve watched Oprah.”
    â€œOprah?”
    â€œOprah,” Stu said. “On TV. She had this episode about dealing with insults. I can’t control what you say. Only how I react to it. Right, Johnny?”
    â€œIt was a good episode,” Johnny said, “but not as good as the one about cute girls who think they are ugly. Remember that one blond girl who went to school with a paper bag over her head?”
    â€œI do,” Stu said. “She was really cute. I taped that episode.”
    â€œListen to me!” Tom yelled. “This is not about Oprah!”
    â€œOh,” Johnny said.
    â€œOh,” Stu said.
    â€œThis is about winning hockey games. In Toronto, I was in the elite league. I am used to playing with great players. I’m not used to losing. And I don’t play with wingers who check out the concession stand in the middle of practice.”
    â€œWelcome to the town of Howling,” Johnny said. “Now you get to experience new things. Like how much fun it is to be part of a team. Even if we lose sometimes.”
    â€œOr worse, if the concession stand runs out of hotdogs,” Stu said. “You have to take the good with the bad around here.”
    â€œYou guys can’t be serious for a second, can you?” Tom asked.
    â€œOne second at the most,” Stu said very seriously.
    Stu waited one second with that serious look on his face.
    Then he smiled. “See, one second. Then all my seriousness is gone again. I also have a short attention span to go along with my chubbiness. It’s part of my charm.”
    Tom didn’t think that was funny. “Did your parents call you Stu because they knew you wouldn’t be able to spell Stupid?”
    â€œBut I can spell idiot,” Stu said. “Listen carefully. T — O — M.”
    â€œT — O — M?” Tom said. “That’s how stupid you are. That doesn’t spell idiot. That’s how you spell Tom.”
    â€œOh,” Stu said. “Maybe I made a mistake because it is very hard to tell one from the other.”
    Some of the other kids who were listening began to laugh.
    â€œThat’s it!” Tom said. “Nobody calls me an idiot. Let’s fight. Right now.”

Chapter Four
    â€œI think he’s serious,” Stu said. “Look, he’s making fists.”
    Tom, the new kid, had his fists up.
    â€œThis doesn’t build teamwork,” Johnny said to Tom. “I always want to hit him for all the bubbles in the water when we swim. But trust me, when you hit him, you just bounce off. I had to learn that the hard way.”
    â€œI don’t care,” Tom said. “He called me an idiot.”
    â€œActually,” Stu said, “it’s more like you called yourself an idiot. Maybe you should punch yourself.”
    Tom glared at Stu. Tom kept his fists up and started circling Stu. “Come on. Fight. Or are you chicken?”
    â€œMake up your mind,” Stu said. “I can’t be a whale
and
a chicken.”
    The kids around them laughed at this too. They all liked Stu.
    â€œI don’t know what school you came