Page 73 of Moonlighter

He laughs. “Fair enough.”

“Let’s go!” O’Doul calls out just then. “Let’s watch some tape, kids!”

I head for the video theater in a hurry because there are more hockey players here today than there are seats.

But just as I’m trucking down the hallway, someone calls out. “Bayer—can I talk to you for a second?” It’s Doc Herberts.

“We’re supposed to watch tape.”

“I know,” he says with a grin. This will only take a minute.” He beckons me into his office.

“Hey, Doulie!” I call to our captain. “Save me a seat?” My teammate nods, and I follow Herberts into his office. I sit down, taking care to hide my wince.

“How’s the knee?” he asks immediately.

“Sore,” I admit. Doc is no fool. “But I’m wrapping it well, icing it frequently, and I’m careful to warm up.”

He nods, because this is stuff that every decent athlete does, anyway. “We’ve been discussing your MRI,” he says. “How many years has it been since your ACL reconstruction?”

“Almost fifteen.”

“You know that most ACL patients eventually develop arthritis.”

“Yeah, you’ve said.” That means pain and stiffness. But an arthritic knee is still functional.

“Your scans show some meniscal wear, too. The unevenness of the cartilage may be your major source of pain. So, it’s possible that a meniscal repair could make you more comfortable. The problem is that we don’t know until we try it.”

“Because it might be the arthritis?” I guess.

“Exactly.”

I think that over. “How big a surgery is meniscal repair? How long would I be out?”

“Well…” The doctor hedges. “It depends on what they see when they get in there. The more cartilage they remove, the longer the recovery time. But you’d be off the roster for at least two months. Potentially longer.”

Shit.

“So, it’s something to watch. We have to stay on top of it.”

“Right. Okay.”

“If your pain changes or gets worse, speak up.”

“I will,” I say, even as my heart drops. I can’t afford time off the ice. My team is positioned to go all the way this year, and I won’t let them down without a fight. Then there’s the issue of my contract extension. I can’t even think about that right now.

“Now go kick a rookie out of your seat and watch some tape.”

Two minutes later I’m back in the tape room, sliding into a seat between O’Doul and Castro.

“We’re hitting the tavern later,” Castro says under his breath. “Gonna get into some trouble. Start the season off right.”

“You know it,” I say as the screen in front of us blinks to life. It’s going to be a great season. We have some teams to beat and some things to prove, though. And I intend to be there when it happens.

19

Alex

One of mylife skills is fooling people into thinking they have my attention. Peter Whitbread—the blowhard who serves as my general counsel—is sitting across from me with a to-do list as long as my arm. And I’m nodding in all the right places.