Arctic Thunder Read Free

Ryan Domino, Mike Watson, and Spencer Lorenz to come forward to accept the Alberta Bantam Lacrosse Championship Trophy.”
    The Rams went crazy as Ryan, Mike, and Spencer walked to centre floor. The three boys held the trophy with league officials as pictures were taken. Then, grasping the trophy in both hands, Ryan hoisted it high above his head and cried, “We’re number one!”
    As soon as Ryan said that, the rest of the Rams rushed to centre floor, joining their captains. Each player took a turn gripping the trophy as the team slowly made its way around the arena. As they passed the trophy around, the players pumped it above their heads, almost dropping it more than once. Returning to centre floor, the Rams handed the trophy over to their coaches and grouped together for team pictures taken by excited parents who had entered the playing area. Mike, who was standing at the rear of the gathering, closed his eyes and tipped back his head. With a smile he thrust both his hands into the air, his index fingers raised as the sign for number one. This was unbelievable, he thought. And with most of the boys only thirteen now, next year could only be better. Mike himself would be fourteen.

CHAPTER 2
    L ast summer’s championship seemed like a dream. What was happening now was more like a nightmare. Mike sat on his bed, his head in his hands, barely able to stop the tears welling in his eyes. Ryan, Cayln, and Spencer were leaning against the wall near the door to Mike’s bedroom. No one really knew what to say.
    â€œMike, I don’t … I mean …” Ryan stopped and shrugged as he helplessly looked at Cayln and Spencer.
    â€œIt sucks!” Cayln said forcefully.
    Everyone, including Mike, looked up at Cayln, who was usually the quietest guy on the team. The anger in his voice had gotten everyone’s attention. Cayln was forty-five kilograms soaking wet and normally silent and serious. He let his athleticism do the talking for him on the lacrosse floor, and when he did speak, it was to the point and softly. To hear such emotion in his voice and see the anger in his pale blue eyes surprised everyone.
    â€œWell, it does,” Cayln continued. “How can your dad do this? He has no right. I mean, can’t you or your mom say something? It makes no sense. You can’t just tell your family one day, ‘Hey, guys, guess what? We’re moving to the North Pole.’ It really sucks!”
    Mike shook his head. “It’s not like that. Dad was transferred. Everybody in the RCMP gets transferred sooner or later.”
    â€œYeah, but this busts apart our whole team,” Spencer said. “We lose our coach. We lose our top scorer. We just lose. Cayln’s right. The whole thing sucks.” Spencer was one of the leaders on the team and wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. He was big, and when he spoke or hit someone, it was with authority.
    â€œCan’t he tell his boss he won’t go or something?” Ryan asked, wrinkling his nose. “I mean, they can’t force him to go, can they?” Ryan was the joker in the crowd, and sometimes all Mike had to do was see the expression on his friend’s freckled face to start laughing. But not today.
    â€œI don’t know …” Mike mumbled. “I guess it means he gets a promotion if we move. If we don’t move, he can stay here for a while, but then we still might have to move and he won’t get promoted, or something like that.”
    â€œDo they even play lacrosse in Nunavuk or Inukituk or … whatever the place is you’re going?” Spencer asked, exasperation apparent in his voice.
    â€œIt’s Inuvik and it’s in the Northwest Territories, Spencer,” Mike said. “I don’t know if they play lacrosse. I don’t even know if they have a rink. I don’t know anything about the place except it’s somewhere inside the Arctic Circle and makes winter in St.