The Complete Screech Owls, Volume 1

by Roy MacGregor

  “Hey,” one of them called in English, “Moose Nostrils!”

  Travis turned quickly and glanced at his friend on the blueline. If Nish had heard, he was giving no indication of it. He looked as if the Stanley Cup final was about to begin.

  The puck dropped, and Travis swept it back to Nish, who skated all the way back to his own end. Oh no, Travis thought, he’s going to try to go coast-to-coast. Nish the Superstar.

  But nothing of the sort. Nish deftly got one of the Belugas’ wingers to race at him and left him behind the net as he burst out the other side. He hit Data with a perfect pass and Data played the give-and-go, feeding Nish the puck back at the blueline. Nish hit Derek at the red line, and Derek put a beautiful pass to Dmitri just as he hit the Belugas’ blueline. Dmitri cut to the centre, dropped the puck, and took out his checker with a shoulder brush, leaving Travis to walk in alone, pull the goaltender down, and then send the puck back to Derek, who had the wide-open net to score in. Tic-tac-tic-tac-toe.

  They lined up as the goal was announced: “Derek Dillinger from Travis Lindsay and Dmitri Yakushev.” Not even a mention of Nish’s name, but everyone knew who had set up the play in the first place, including the Belugas.

  “Hey, Moose Nostrils!” they called at him. “You hungry, Moose Nostrils?”

  But Nish paid no attention. He was dead serious. He had come to play.

  And a good thing too, for the Belugas were a good team, fast and tough, but lacking a strong third line like the Screech Owls’. Andy Higgins and Chantal Larochelle both scored, Lars (Cherry) Johanssen scored from the blueline on a screen, and the glove hand of Jeremy Weathers simply proved too fast for the Belugas’ snipers.

  The Screech Owls won easily, 4–1, and lined up quickly to shake hands with this excellent team. Nish was first in line, ready for what was coming as the other team filed by:

  “Good game, Moose Nostrils!”

  “Thank you very much.”

  “Moose Nostrils…”

  “Thank you very much.”

  “Moose Nostrils…” “Thank you very much.”

  Jesse Highboy was as excited out in the lobby as he’d been when the final buzzer sounded and they’d pounced on poor Jeremy to congratulate him.

  He came straight over to Travis. “My dad says we can go out to the goose camp and stay overnight. He’ll let us take the Ski-Doos.”

  Travis was taken aback. Ever since he’d arrived in Waskaganish he’d been hoping for a ride on one of the snow machines. But only a ride–he’d never considered driving. But then, he was from down South.

  “All by ourselves?” Travis asked, a bit uneasily.

  “My grandparents have been there for two weeks already. They’ll be starting to hunt today. You gotta see it, Travis. It’s a fantastic experience.”

  “It’s all right with your grandparents?”

  “My dad talked to them this morning. They saw the geese too.”

  “They have a telephone out there?”

  Jesse laughed. “No way. A radio. We radioed them.”

  “I don’t know,” Travis said. He was suddenly unsure.

  “My dad already asked your dad. There’s no problem. I know the way. And my cousin Rachel’s coming too. You know Rachel.”

  She was coming too?

  “She’s bringing Liz from your team. Liz is staying with Rachel, and they’ve become good friends.”

  “How long does it take to get there?”

  “Two hours. C’mon, let’s clear it with Muck.”

  Muck listened carefully and then excused himself to go off and talk to Jesse’s father. The two of them then spoke to Travis’s and Liz’s parents. The boys could see them talking, and were happy that heads were nodding in agreement. It seemed, however, to be taking an awfully long time.

  Muck came back and said they could all go–on two conditions.

  “What are they?” Travis asked.

  “One, you get back here first thing in the morning. We play tomorrow at five p.m. I don’t need tired players.”

  “We’ll be back,” Jesse promised.

  “And two,” Muck said, “you take Nishikawa with you.”

  Travis didn’t understand. Or maybe he did. He looked at Muck, and Muck looked at both boys.

  “He needs to open his eyes up here,” Muck said. “And if he won’t do it, we’ll just have to do it for him.”

  Travis had never felt anything like it! It was as if he were surging right through his skin and leaving his body behind.

  G-force. He only knew what it was because Data, the Star Trek freak, always talked about things like G-force and warp factor. You felt G-force in jet fighters and helicopters, and, Travis now knew, on very fast Ski-Doos.

  Jesse’s older brother, Isaac, had brought them out to show how to operate the machines they’d be taking to the goose camp. There were three: two larger machines pulling toboggans, and one smaller but quicker one.

  Nish had reacted with what seemed like shock at the news that he was going. He obviously didn’t want to seem afraid to go, but he didn’t mind letting Travis know he was reluctant. He’d said he couldn’t possibly go without his parents’ permission, and when Muck had countered that by saying he had already called them from the band office and they thought it was a wonderful opportunity, he gave in and said he guessed he’d go. He was treating it like an extra practice Muck had scheduled.

  Travis, on the other hand, could hardly wait. He was most excited by the chance to drive one of the Ski-Doos, and had eagerly taken up Isaac’s offer to show him how. They had gone down on the bay to practice. It was flat and safe from trees and banks, and Isaac, sitting directly behind him, had called out, “Open her up!” and Travis had squeezed the accelerator.

  The machine leapt from the ground. Travis felt airborne, his neck snapping back into the massive snowmobile helmet. The machine screamed down the shoreline, on a well-worn racing course that turned into a long, gentle curve. Travis tried to take the turn, but the machine skipped over the slight bank and began heading straight out into the bay, the pitch-black terror of open water far out in front. He let go of the accelerator, the machine slowed, and he could hear Isaac laughing.

  “You have to lean into your turns!” Isaac told him. Then, with Travis now hanging on behind, Isaac drove the Ski-Doo back into the same curve, only this time leaning into the turn, with the machine following his coaxing. Travis took it for the run back, leaning just as Isaac had shown him, and the heavy slapping on his back from his passenger told him he’d done well. Travis felt great.

  Jesse’s father had spent the morning getting them ready to go. Five kids, three snow machines, two toboggans. The covered toboggans were filled with things like sleeping bags for the kids and extra supplies for the camp. As soon as the hockey tournament was over, the Highboys would be heading out for a two-week stay at the camp.

  “Bring your stick and skates!” Jesse called to Travis and Nish as they went to pack. “There’s sometimes good ice out by the goose blinds. If it’s clear, we’ll play some shinny.”

  “Sounds good!” Travis called back.

  “Sounds stupid,” Nish said as they continued toward the Whiskeyjack home to get their stuff.

  “What do you mean, ‘Sounds stupid’?” asked Travis.

  “Where’ll we dress? What’ll we use for boards? Nets? Who’s going to play? Us against the girl?”

  What was it with Nish? From the moment they’d left Val d’Or, he had been in a sour mood. He hadn’t said anything about Liz coming, and she was a girl. It was hardly like Nish to dump on someone just because they happened to be female. He wouldn’t even use Rachel’s name.

  Nish didn’t seem to like it that Travis and Rachel were getting along so well. The other night when they’d been lying in bed and Travis had been asking Jimmy Whiskeyjack some perfectly reasonable questions–like how old Rachel was, and in what grade, and what kind of music she liked–Nish had given a huge sigh and then made a big thing out of turning his back on
them.

  “Why don’t you guys shut up so I can get some sleep?” he’d said angrily.

  They got away by noon. Plenty of time, Mr. Highboy told them, to get there in good light and get settled in. Travis’s and Liz’s parents came down and took photographs of the expedition setting out. Travis’s mother seemed worried, and he suddenly felt a little uneasy. But it was silly to fret, he told himself. They had three machines, so it would hardly matter if one broke down. They were dressed warmly and had big mittens and padded helmets. Jesse’s father was a fanatic about taking all the right precautions, and there was going to be no fooling around.

  Muck was there, too, and he took the three of them aside for a moment. “You stick together,” he said to Nish and Travis and Liz. “And you do what Jesse and Rachel tell you, understand?” Nish clearly did not. He was, after all, an assistant captain, and Jesse was a third-liner. But having already fallen out once with Muck, he wasn’t about to make a second mistake. Nish nodded.

  Travis got to drive right away, with Nish as his passenger. They followed Jesse and Liz, who took the lead, and Rachel brought up the rear with the single snow machine.

  They left the shoreline and headed into the woods, where the trail began to bounce and roll with a rhythm that reminded Travis of riding a horse. It was never like this in a car. He could feel everything, and he loved it. A light squeeze of the accelerator and the big machine responded instantly.

  They rolled over the countryside for the better part of an hour. They passed over frozen lakes and swamps and through short, dark stands of black spruce–and every once in a while they would catch a glimpse of the bay itself, the dark, menacing water far out from the shoreline.

  They stopped to share a couple of oranges, and Nish complained to Jesse that he wasn’t getting a chance to drive. Jesse immediately offered him the single machine, moving Rachel up to ride with Travis.

  “Do you want to drive?” Travis asked when she moved over.

  “You drive,” Rachel said. “I can do it any time. You’re only here until Sunday.”

  She smiled at him so nicely that, when she sat down behind him, Travis had trouble catching his breath. And when they moved on again and she placed her mittened hands on his hips to steady herself, he wondered if his heart would stop.

  There was no use talking. With the helmets and the roar of the engine, they wouldn’t hear each other. And anyway, that was just as well; Travis didn’t have a clue what to talk about. Much-Music? Whether Rachel owned a compact-disc player? What did they talk about in the North?

  They moved down a gentle slope and back to the shoreline of the big bay, the ice thick and covered with hard-packed snow, the trail perfect. In front, Jesse opened his machine up a bit and pulled ahead. Travis squeezed the accelerator and felt Rachel grip a little tighter. He felt wonderful. He had never in his entire life enjoyed anything as much as this.

  Travis saw Nish before he heard him. His helmet blocked the sound and the engines of the three machines were all screaming together as Nish left the trail and flew past them with a wave of his hand.

  Travis couldn’t believe how fast Nish was going. Nish turned the machine so it jumped across the trail in front of Jesse and then continued on the other side, leaving them far behind.

  “HE DOESN’T EVEN KNOW WHERE HE’S GOING!” Travis shouted. It was useless.

  Nish let up on his accelerator until he had fallen back with them. Maybe he scared himself, thought Travis. But a moment later he was off the trail and flying away again, far out onto the frozen surface of the bay, the black, open water in the distance beyond him.

  Travis couldn’t help himself. “DON’T GO OUT THERE!”

  He felt Rachel’s grip tighten. Perhaps she was yelling too. But they couldn’t even hear each other, so how would Nish ever hear them?

  Jesse turned his machine off the trail and started out onto the bay, where Nish was in the middle of a long loop. Then Jesse came to a stop, jumped off, and began waving frantically to Nish. Travis stopped his machine.

  The four of them–Jesse, Liz, Travis, and Rachel–all began waving at Nish. Travis thought that Nish must have been trying to turn back, but he wasn’t leaning out the way Isaac had taught them, and the machine wasn’t responding. Nish smashed into a drift and for a moment was airborne, the snowmobile almost turning sideways before he righted it and bounced into a landing that almost threw him off. Travis didn’t need to be there to know that Nish had just scared himself half to death.

  And then Nish vanished!

  “Noooooo!!”

  Travis was aware of the scream before he realized that it was him doing the screaming. He instinctively yanked his helmet free and started running, only to find he was going nowhere; someone had hold of him.

  “YOU’LL GO THROUGH, TOO!” Rachel was shouting at him.

  It was all too much for Travis. The screaming. The cold wind whipping in off the bay into his face. And a great dark hole where a moment before had been his best friend.

  Travis panicked. He started to cry. He could feel tears burning. He looked at Liz. She was screaming.

  Something bobbed in the water! Something surfacing. A head. An arm, flailing!

  It was Nish!

  Travis tried to move forward again, but Rachel was still holding him tight. He tried to shake her off, but Jesse grabbed him too.

  “Cool it, okay?” Jesse shouted. “We panic, we’re all going down with him. We do this right, okay? We do it right!”

  Travis had never heard Jesse like this. He was so sure of himself. He stopped struggling.

  Nish’s helmet must have come off when the machine broke through the ice, because his head was bare–and he was swimming. Or at least trying to swim. With his heavy jacket and mitts, he could hardly move. But he managed to reach the unbroken ice and clung on.

  “HELLLLLP MEEEE!!” he screamed.

  Travis could feel his tears hardening on his cheek. They were freezing! It was that cold–and the wind was stronger now.

  “Spread out!” Jesse ordered. “Spread out and walk slowly toward him! If we go in a single line we’ll break through!”

  Jesse got them into position, and they began walking in a wedge, Jesse in the lead, toward Nish, who was desperately hanging on.

  “PULL ME OUT! PULLL MEEE OUTTT!!”

  Rachel broke away and ran back. Travis couldn’t look at her. She must have been afraid. He couldn’t blame her–so was he. But before they were halfway to where Nish was still scrambling, she was back. She was carrying hockey sticks and skates. What the heck’s with her? Travis wondered. Nish is drowning and she wants to play hockey?

  “Good idea, Rach,” Jesse said.

  Travis couldn’t believe the calm in Jesse’s voice. What “good idea”?

  “HELLLLLP MEEEE!!” Nish called again.

  They were close enough to see his face when Jesse held up his hand for them all to stop. Travis could see the terror in Nish’s eyes. He knew just from looking that Nish believed he was going to die, drown before their eyes while they stood there, watching helplessly.

  There was desperation and anger in Nish’s voice. “HELP MEEEE!!”

  Nish tried to scramble onto the ice, but it shattered in front of him, plunging him down in a splash of ice-water. He bobbed back up, his hair plastered to his head. “PLEASE, HELP ME, TRAVIS!!”

  “Hang on, Nish!” Jesse called. “We’re gonna get you outta there! Just hold on and don’t try to pull yourself up! You’re breaking the ice!”

  “HELLLLLP MEEEE!! I’M GONNA DIE!”

  Signalling them to stay back, Jesse tested the ice by stepping ahead gently, then pressing down, waiting, and bringing the other foot forward and setting it down in the same careful way far to one side. He was slowly working his way as close to the hole as he dared get.

  Travis looked around, desperate for something to do to help. Rachel was sitting on the ice with the hockey sticks placed together. She was unlacing one of the skates as quickly as possible. />
  She looked up, her face calm but determined. “Do the other ones,” she commanded.

  “Huh?”

  “The other skates. We need the laces.”

  Travis and Liz began furiously unlacing the other skates. By the time they handed the laces to Rachel, she had already tied two hockey sticks together. She took Travis’s lace and began tying another knot higher up for added support. Liz jumped over and began doing the same thing with her lace. Liz knew what to do. Travis could only stare uselessly.

  Nish screamed the most terrible, pitiful scream. It was bloodcurdling. Travis shivered. He was still crying. He could feel his cheeks burning. He couldn’t even see straight. His best friend was drowning and he couldn’t do anything about it.

  “Hold onto my legs!” Jesse shouted at Travis.

  “What?”

  “Hold onto my legs!” He repeated. He sounded angry.

  Jesse lay down on his stomach and wiggled forward toward Nish. He looked back impatiently. Travis grabbed Jesse’s legs, and when Jesse wiggled ahead again Travis moved with him.

  Nish was still trying to pull himself up. He was breaking through and falling back.

  “Stay still!” Jesse ordered Nish. “You might break right through to us!”

  There was so much command in his voice that, finally, Nish stopped struggling.

  Jesse looked back at Rachel, who was ready. She handed the sticks forward to him. Jesse swung them carefully out in front. He was at least one hockey stick short of Nish.

  “We’re gonna have to get closer!”

  Travis didn’t know if they could. He was afraid of breaking through. His heart was pounding so hard it seemed to be shaking his whole body. He could imagine his parents finding out that they’d all vanished on the bay, with nothing remaining but two snowmobiles and a big black hole. They wouldn’t even know how it had happened, that Nish had been such a dummy.