Ice Magic Read Free Page A

twins. “Really sure?”
    “Of course, we’re sure,” Jody replied emphatically. “Remember that last period when that Bear scored against you?”
    Pie nodded. “When I let him take the puck because I was afraid I might plow into him and be called for a penalty.”
    “Right. Well, I had you do the same thing in our game,” said Jody. “Except that I was hoping that Jolie would miss it, and
     I could take it from her.”
    Pie stared. “That’s exactly what I had been thinking!” he cried.
    The twins’ expression matched his. “You had?” they asked in the same breath.
    “Yes!” said Pie, and felt his nerves tingling.
    They reached the junction opposite thegorge and turned right on Oak, none of them saying a word during the last one hundred feet. They were immersed in the toy
     hockey game, which seemed to be controlled by some kind of magical power. It wasn’t like anything the three had ever read
     about before in their lives.
    “I’d like to see that game,” Pie said at last. “Mind?”
    “Of course not. Why don’t you come over right after you change?”
    “I will,” said Pie. “And look — don’t spill a single word about this to anybody. Not even your parents. Okay?”
    Joliette laughed, “Are you kidding? They wouldn’t believe it anyway! Mom thinks all that magic business is just a trick!”
    “And Dad doesn’t know
what
to believe!” Jody added, laughing.
    Pie chuckled. “I guess our parents are very much alike,” he said. “My mom anddad used to like magic when they were kids. Now they think it’s kid stuff and pay no attention to it.”
    Pie arrived home and promised the twins he’d be over in an hour or so. They lived next door, which made their visiting each
     other to talk about their mutual interest — books on magic — very convenient.
    “Hi, Mom,” he said as he stepped into the kitchen. “What’ve you got to eat?”
    Those were the first words he always greeted her with when he returned from a grueling hockey game. Nothing ever made him
     hungrier than a tough game of hockey.
    “Hash browns, eggs, and bacon,” she said, and asked, “Who won?”
    “We did. 7 to 6.”
    He hurried to his room, took off his uniform, showered, then dressed and returned to the kitchen. His meal was ready for him.
    His mother watched him gulp it down. “Where’s the fire?” she asked.
    He smiled. “At Jody and Jolie’s,” he answered kiddingly.
    After he finished he went over to the Byrds’ house, and the twins invited him into the small recreation room in the basement
     where the toy hockey game was set up on a table. It was about eighteen inches wide and thirty-six inches long. On it stood
     four-inch-high plywood figures that were maneuvered by rods protruding from the narrow ends. Clearly the figures were hockey
     players, each holding a hockey stick. Goals, made of cloth, were at both ends of the “rink.”
    Pie stared at it. “It looks handmade,” he observed.
    “It is,” Jody replied. “There’s a name carved on the side of it. Look.”
    He lifted the game and saw a crudelycarved name: SKXROT. After it was a number, 1896.
    “S-K-X-R-O-T,” Pie read. “That’s a peculiar name. 1896. That must be the date this thing was made.”
    “Really? Was hockey played that many years ago?” Joliette asked, incredulously.
    “Oh, sure,” Pie said. “It started —” He paused and stared at the date again. “That’s sure funny,” he said half to himself.
    “What is?” Jody asked.
    “I’ve got a copy of the
Official Hockey Guide,
and I’m sure I read that the first official ice hockey game was played in 1896!”
    “Oh, man!” Jody whistled. “Weird!”
    “I — I feel shivers crawling up my back,” Joliette stammered, clasping her hands so tightly together the knuckles turned white.
    Pie took hold of the knobs of each rod protruding from the ends of the game andbegan pushing them back and forth, thereby manipulating the players in the slots on the rink. A