by Ann Alma
Monica bustled in, carrying a bag. “Trish, you get started with the others while I talk to Josie.”
Pulling a used tracksuit and two sweaters out of the bag, Monica said slowly, “You cannot skate in your dress. These are for you. Please take them home.” She held the bag out to Josie. “Put them on.” Monica pointed to a door.
Josie walked to the dressing room. She liked the sky-blue suit. Although the red sweater felt softer, she pulled the yellow one over her head because it had a pair of winged skates on the back. Now she’d really fly! And she did. Monica told her twice how well she skated and how glad she was that Josie had joined the group.
Josie had learned the three jump with Frau Müller so she was the only one who did it without falling.
At the end of the session Monica said, “Dry land on Saturday afternoon at four o’clock. Upstairs.”
“I’ll wait for you at the door,” Trish said to Josie.
“What is dry land?”
“We practice jumps on the floor, not on the ice. Like gymnastics. It’s fun.”
They left the arena, Trish helping to carry Monica’s bag for the first block. Then they said goodbye, and Josie continued to the bus stop.
*
It was the last Thursday afternoon in January. Josie sauntered from her ESL class to Mr. Walters’ room, where she sat at her desk and opened one of her library books. The novels everyone else in the class read were still too difficult for her, although the books Mrs. Lang helped her find were for older kids now.
Finally the bell rang. Grabbing her homework, Josie put her chair on her desk. She wanted to meet Trish and go to the arena right away so they had time for a snack. So far Trish had paid for hot chocolate for both, but today Mother had given Josie money.
“Josie, I need to see you before you leave.” Mr. Walters smiled.
Walking over to his desk, Josie felt her hands become damp and clammy. “Yes, Mr. Walters.”
“This week your math wasn’t quite as good as it usually is. Do you need some help with it?”
“No, Mr. Walters.” Her stomach tightened.
“I can explain it slowly, after school.”
“Ja, tomorrow will I better.”
“You may go then.”
Josie hurried down the hall to the exit and took a quick drink at the water fountain. With skating three times a week and practicing jumps in her bedroom, like they did on dry land, there just wasn’t time for all her homework. If Father found out he’d be furious. Thinking about it gave her a twinge of guilt.
On Saturday mornings Father left early, to work at a German restaurant and to practice for his chef’s examination. Josie knew she had to tell him soon about her skating, but something made her afraid to do so. If only Oma was here....
“Hi Josie.”
“Hi Trish.” Josie pushed her thoughts about home from her mind. “Sorry you have waiting. Mr. Walters wanted me to talk.”
They walked to the arena and headed straight for the cafeteria.
“I have money for hot chocolate for you,” Josie sputtered. Then without ever intending to, and searching for the English words, she told Trish about her fear of telling her father about her skating, about how much she missed her grandmother, about her trouble with English and the homework and the math.
“And now wants Mr. Walters teach me, more math after school. But I have ESL homework,” she said.
“I can help you. Don’t worry, everybody hates homework.”
Josie was happy. Trish was a friend, like Greta.
*
Snowflakes floated past the classroom window.
“Let’s celebrate the last day of February,” Mr. Walters said. “Who’s for making snow sculptures?”
Most hands went up and several students cheered. Mr. Walters put everyone into groups of four. He insisted that each group have two boys and two girls. Josie was with Jake, Bob and Cherrie, a new student who had arrived two days earlier.
“Let’s hear you talk funny,” Bob said, pushing Josie.
“Leave her alone.” Jake stepped between Josie and Bob, who turned away and walked out of the room. Josie sighed with relief. She didn’t like to be in a group with Bob, but at least Jake was there too.
Outside Mr. Walters assigned each group an area on the playground. “Work together,” he said. “This is a group art project.”
“Let’s roll some big balls first and then we can see what they look like,” Jake said.
Josie and Cherrie agreed, but Bob asked, “So who says you take charge?” He made a snowball and threw it at some of the students in the next group.
“Bob, no snowballs.” Mr. Walters walked over. “I need to see you working with the others.”
“In my school we voted on who takes charge,” Cherrie said.
“Okay, let’s vote, but we have to work together,” Jake said.
“Whoever wants to be the boss,” Bob said, “put up your hand.” Cherrie, Jake and Bob put their hands up. All three voted for themselves, so that left the choice to Josie.
“Who do you vote for?” Cherrie asked.
“Jake,” Josie said.
Bob kicked snow at the others. Mr Walters had stayed close to their group, Josie noticed.
Now he said, “Bob, let me have a chat with you.” He took him down the field and when Bob came back he started rolling a ball, like the others. They decided to make a dragon by putting three balls beside each other and putting one on top for the head. After packing snow around it, Jake sent Cherrie in to get rulers.
“We’ll carve the bottom away from here so the tail goes up,” Jake said. He showed Josie what he meant and they started cutting the snow.
“Bob, you do the scales,” Jake said.
“What scales? It isn’t a fish,” Bob said.
Mr. Walters walked to another group, so Bob thrust his ruler into the air like a sword. He jumped around, pretending to be fighting with someone else, and stepped on the dragon’s tail, which broke off.
Before anyone could say anything Jake jumped up and grabbed Bob by his jacket. He gave the bigger boy a shove.
“You did that on purpose,” he yelled.
Bob punched Jake and the two boys fell in the snow, with Bob on top. He raised his ruler and whacked Jake across the forehead.
Josie wanted to pull Bob off Jake, but she knew she wouldn’t be strong enough. Bob raised his ruler again but Josie jumped up and grabbed the ruler in the air, catching Bob off guard. He teetered. Jake pushed him off as Bob let go.
Mr. Walters came running. “Get up,” he said, his voice angry. The boys brushed some of the snow from their clothes. Mr. Walters wanted to know what had happened.
Josie thought Jake told the teacher exactly how everything had started, but Bob said he was busy making scales on the dragon when Jake pushed him so that he fell and accidentally broke the tail.
“Josie, what did you see?” Mr. Walters asked.
“I saw Bob with the ruler, like...” she jumped around, the way Bob had done, “tail broke.”
Cherrie told Mr. Walters the same thing. The teacher took Bob into the building. Mr. Walters came out again, but Bob didn’t return for the rest of the morning.
“Good thing you got the ruler away from him,” Jake said to Josie. “Thanks.”
They rolled a new ball and carved the dragon, although they hadn’t finished by the time the lunch bell rang.
“Let’s eat and then we’ll finish it,” Jake said. After lunch they went back out, but they weren’t allowed to take their rulers with them this time.
Trish came walking up. “What are you making?”
“A dragon.”
“Wanna help?” Jake said.
“Sure.” Trish knelt down beside them and started making ridges of snow on the body, like the others were doing.
“I’m cold; I’m going in,” Cherrie said.
“You still play hockey?” Trish asked Jake. “I never see you at the arena anymore.”
“We play at si
x in the morning now.” He made a face. “Too early.”
“He used to play right after figure skating,” Trish said. “Josie skates too. She’s good.”
“Really?” Jake smiled. “Better than you?”
Josie felt the colour creeping up her cheeks with pride. She looked and saw Li standing nearby, staring at the dragon.
“A dragon,” said Trish, seeing Li too. “Like we did in class.” Li nodded. Then he walked away.
“He’s in my class. He’s so shy,” Trish said.
“He go to ESL too,” Josie said.
TEN
At the arena that afternoon Monica had some bad news.
“I fell and I have a sore knee. It’s nothing serious, don’t worry. But I’m not going to skate much today.”
Everyone stretched and bent on the walkway to limber up their muscles before going onto the ice.
“Swing your arms. Don’t forget to move every part of your body,” Monica yelled from one corner. She wanted them to practice their “shoot the duck.”
“You’re leaning back too much,” Monica said. “Josie, show them how you do it.”
Josie pushed off, went into a sitting position and stuck her left leg out in front of her. She brought her hands forward to hold her free leg while she glided.
“Look how straight her back is,” Monica said. “And see, even her toe is pointed forward. Now everyone try,” Monica said. “Josie, go around and let them know if they sit back too far, or if their leg isn’t straight.”
I’m a coach too, Josie thought.
“Like this?” Trish said as she fell on the ice.
“Your head so,” Josie said, looking straight ahead. “Not look down.”
“Oh yes, I forgot.” Trish glided in a sitting position.
Monica wanted everyone to skate backwards for a while before she asked them to find a patch of ice and work on the three jump. She came around slowly, from patch to patch.
“Josie, you practice the loop jump,” Monica said.
Frau Müller had taught Josie the three jump and not the loop jump.
“Remember to land on the same foot you jump with. Your other leg swings around.” Monica used her arms and legs to explain things, so Josie understood most of the instructions. The coach demonstrated the jump, grimaced while she landed and said, “You work on it.”
Josie jumped. She remembered to land with her right knee bent like a spring so she could have a smooth glide. Her left leg had to swing in a full circle. That threw her off and she usually landed with her body pitching forward. Then she had to put her hands on the ice to make sure she didn’t fall. She knew she needed to do a better job if she wanted to do well on her solo. Monica had explained that the loop jump was the part the judges looked at most for this year’s solo for her age group. If she wanted high marks she had to do it smoothly, with balance and control.
*
It was late March. The snow melted and spring sunshine stroked Josie’s cheeks as she walked to the arena with Trish on Thursday afternoon. They had an agreement that Josie paid for a snack on Tuesdays, and Trish on Thursdays.
Although Josie only went to ESL for one hour a day now, because of her progress, she and Trish always did the ESL homework together at the arena. At four-thirty they put on their skates, sweaters and gloves and moved out onto the ice. A couple of the girls wore tights, leotards and legwarmers.
“I want to work with each of you to get you ready for next week’s solo,” Monica said. “While I do that, the rest of you practice your routine.”
Josie warmed up, raced around for a few laps, then found a patch of ice to work on. If she did the loop jump properly, her solo was impressive, Monica had told her.
“Josie, let me see your loop jump.”
Taking a few strokes towards her coach, Josie started on her right foot, rotated and fell.
“You still move your shoulders too quickly, before you are ready,” Monica said, demonstrating what she meant. “It’s getting better though. Concentrate on your shoulders because that’s where you throw yourself off balance. Keep still, lean into the center and rotate higher into the air.”
Josie tried again. She stroked, balanced on one foot, and started the jump, but her shoulders still moved forward too much, and she fell.
“Work on it for a while. Keep those shoulders back,” she said, skating off to another girl.
After the work-out they left the ice, wiping the snow off their blades and putting skate guards on.
“One more practice on Saturday girls, and then there’s the dry land upstairs,” Monica said. “We’ll work on some jumps, watch a video, and you’ll be ready for the big day. Most of you will do well.”
Monica sat down beside Josie. “Do you have a skating dress?”
“No.”
“I thought you might not have one. Does your mother sew?”
“Sew?”
“Yes, on a machine.” Monica made sewing motions.
“Ach so, nähen.” Josie understood. “Yes she can, but she does not have a sew.”
“She doesn’t have a sewing machine?”
“No.”
“You can both come to my house on Sunday and we can make you a dress.”
“I ask.” Monica thought of everything.
As she left the arena with Trish, a horn honked.
“Josephine, komm.”
“Ja, my mother is here. I have to go.” she said, running to the driver’s side and hugging her aunt. Then she switched to German, as she always did when she saw her mother. “Mutti, whose car is this?
“It’s ours. Uncle Fritz gave it to us. It’s old, but he says it runs. Your father will use it to go to work.”
Josie crawled into the back seat.
“Your father passed his chefs exam,” Mother said. “On Sunday he’s starting a new job as head cook at the German restaurant. He’ll make almost three times as much money there. Things will be easier. I finished work early today, so let’s celebrate with ice cream.”
Just then Monica walked out of the arena, so Josie told her mother about the dress. They all got out to talk to the coach. Monica promised to give Josie one of her old dresses. She would drive Josie over to her aunt’s place after dry land on Saturday and Mother would alter the dress on her aunt’s sewing machine.
*
On Saturday, Father had a day off. This was Josie’s final ice time before the solo, so she couldn’t miss it. Absent-mindedly she dropped some bread on her lap.
“Josie, pay attention to your food.”
Already her father didn’t look pleased, and she hadn’t even told him yet about her skating.
“We are going to a friend’s place in the mountains,” he continued in English. “To help him...” Josie tuned the rest out. She knew Father had a day off, but she didn’t realize he had made plans for them.
“When leaving we, Vati?”
“In half an hour.”
What now? She wanted to skate more than anything. At the arena she had friends, she understood them, she wasn’t afraid to speak English with them.
“I cannot,” she switched to German: English just wouldn’t come out right at home. “I can’t go in half an hour. I have to go skating.”
Putting his knife and fork down, Father said, in English, “What do you mean?”
“I,” Josie tried English again, but went back to German. “I joined figure skating. Uncle Fritz paid.” She almost whispered now. “I have a solo.”
“Who gave you permission to join figure skating?” He must be angry: he spoke German!
“I did, Karl.”
Josie sighed with relief. Let her parents talk to each other about it. After all, Mother helped Uncle Fritz plan the whole thing.
“Without talking to me? Behind my back? What’s happening to this family?” Father jumped up and started walking across the room.
“Karl, we have to talk about this.”
“We certainly do. I work all day and half the night, to study for a bet
ter job, to bring more money home, to make things better for all of us. Today is my first day off in four months, so I plan a nice outing, with a hike in the mountains, and I find that my family made other plans, behind my back, without including me.”
Putting his elbows on the table, he buried his head in his hands, mumbling, “I’m so tired of English, of studying, of washing dishes, of following other people’s orders like a dog. I tried to make a good life for us. I guess I failed.”
Josie jumped up and ran into the bedroom.
Mother followed her. “Josie, you’d better go to your skating practice on the bus. Your father is overworked. He’s been pushing himself too hard. While you skate, we’ll talk. Things will be better when you get back.”
“What if Vati doesn’t want me to skate?”
“We’ll talk about that too when you come home. You’ll skate your solo and after that we’ll see.”
Mother kissed Josie and steered her to the door. Fleeing from the apartment, Josie ran down the street, the skate bag striking her leg with each step.
*
Father and Mother were waiting in the car when Josie left the arena. As soon as she hopped in, they drove off. Josie noticed immediately that Father looked better than when she left the apartment.
Leaving the city behind, they watched fields and farms flash by, while the Rocky Mountains beckoned them westward. Her parents talked about directions, the traffic and the car, all in German.
Suddenly her father turned to Josie and said, “We’re not going to my friend’s cabin, we’re going for a drive instead. It’s time we relaxed as a family and saw some of the countryside.”
Although Josie wondered what her parents had decided about her skating, she was afraid to mention it for fear of upsetting them. Quietly she sat in the back seat. Before long they stopped at a small restaurant for lunch. Josie had a hot dog and fries, while her parents had hamburgers. Josie was getting used to the taste of Canadian food now, but she could tell that neither of her parents really liked theirs. Her mother ate only half her hamburger.
They drove closer to the mountains and got out at a small stream. Mother spread a blanket on the sand, while Father took his socks off.
“Ah, too cold still,” he said, quickly pulling his feet out of the stream. Everyone sat down on the blanket.