The Hockey Card
Transcription
The Hockey Card
The Hockey Card - Eng. Cover Rev.:The Hockey Card - Eng. Cover copy 1:12 PM Page 1 Rocket » Richard “... a lovely, straightforward, fast-paced story that's part nostalgia and romance for the golden age of the sport, and part paean to one of its greatest players” – Quill & Quire Also Available in French La carte de hockey Jack Siemiatycki Avi Slodovnick Un hommage à Maurice « 10/1/08 The Hockey Card $9.95 www.lobsterpress.com The Hockey Card a tribute to Maurice “ Rocket ” Richard ort listed h S fo n r I llu strat io ISBN-13: 978-1-894222-80-8 50995 9 781894 222808 Illustrated by Doris Barrette Story by and Jack Siemiatycki Avi Slodovnick The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:46 PM The Story by Page 1 Hockey Card Jack Siemiatycki Illustrated by and Avi Slodovnick Doris Barrette The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:46 PM Page 2 Siemiatycki, Jack, 1946Slodovnick, Avi, 1962The Hockey Card Text © 2002 Jack Siemiatycki & Avi Slodovnick Illustrations © 2002 Doris Barrette All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of Lobster Press™. Published in 2004 by Lobster Press™ 1620 Sherbrooke Street West, Suites C & D, Montréal, Québec H3H 1C9 Tel. (514) 904-1100 • Fax (514) 904-1101 • www.lobsterpress.com Publisher: Alison Fripp To my mother, with love and thanks Editor: Jane Pavanel Design & layout: Marielle Maheu Production Manager: Tammy Desnoyers We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for our publishing activities. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Slodovnick, Avi, 1962The hockey card / Avi Slodovnick, Jack Siemiatycki ; Doris Barrette, illustrator. ISBN 1-894222-65-2(bound).--ISBN 1-894222-80-6 (pbk.) 1. Hockey--Juvenile fiction. I. Siemiatycki, Jack II. Barrette, Doris III. Title. PS8587.L63H62 2002 Printed and bound in Canada. jC813'.6 C2002-901400-X The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:46 PM Page 3 To Emma, Kate, Paul, Noam, Mark and Debbie, all of them, like us, lifelong hockey fans. - Jack and Avi To my brothers, Mario, François, André, Benoît, Christian, Yvon and Ugo. - Doris Barrette The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:46 PM L Page 4 ast Saturday was my birthday and my Uncle Jack came over to watch the hockey game with me and my dad. At the end of the first period, Uncle Jack announced that he’d found his old hockey cards. He and my dad were really excited. The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:46 PM Page 5 The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:47 PM Page 6 The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:47 PM Page 7 When it was time for bed, Uncle Jack came to tuck me in. “I have a story to tell you,” he said. “It’s about the best hockey card I ever had.” The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:47 PM Page 8 W hen Uncle Jack was a kid, all the boys at his school collected hockey cards. They traded them too, and played flipping and tossing games like “odds or evens” and “closest to the wall.” They played to try to win cards from each other. Every boy wanted to have the most cards. The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:47 PM Page 9 The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:47 PM Page 10 In class, the minutes dragged until recess. As soon as the bell rang, everyone rushed into the hallway and down the stairs. They couldn’t wait to get outside. The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:47 PM Page 11 The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:47 PM Page 12 One day, Sylvester Kornpot challenged Uncle Jack to a game of odds or evens, winner take all. Sylvester was the biggest hockey card shark in the whole school. The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:47 PM Page 13 Everyone was afraid to play him, even Uncle Jack. But he knew if he refused, the boys would call him “chicken.” Uncle Jack agreed to meet Sylvester at lunchtime. They would play until one of them had won all of the other one’s cards. The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:48 PM Page 14 When the lunch bell rang, Uncle Jack walked on shaky legs to the schoolyard. Sylvester looked him in the eye and said, “I’m odds, you’re evens.” Facing each other, they began to play. At first, it seemed like the match could go either way — Sylvester won some of Uncle Jack’s cards, then Uncle Jack won some of Sylvester’s cards. But as the crowd around them grew, there was a shift in the game. Sylvester began winning more and more of Uncle Jack’s cards. The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:48 PM Page 15 The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:48 PM Page 16 The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:48 PM Page 17 Uncle Jack had a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. He was down to his last two cards and there was no way he could win the other ones back. To make matters worse, some of the boys were laughing at him. One kid even shouted, “Sucker!” Uncle Jack flipped and lost. That left him with only one card. But it wasn’t just any card. It was his favorite. It was a card of Maurice “the Rocket” Richard, the greatest hockey player who ever lived. The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:48 PM Page 18 Uncle Jack felt like crying. If he lost, he would never see his Rocket Richard card again. But he had agreed to play winner take all. Pretending to scratch his forehead, he lifted the card to his lips and kissed it quickly, hoping no one would see. The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:48 PM Page 19 The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:48 PM Page 20 Uncle Jack held his breath and let the card go. As it flipped through the air, he closed his eyes. He couldn’t bear to watch. The crowd was silent. The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:48 PM Page 21 The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:49 PM Page 22 The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:49 PM Page 23 He looked at the ground. Lying face-up was Maurice Richard. Also face-up was a player from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Uncle Jack had won the round! Now he had to decide which of the two cards to flip next. He was afraid to lose the Rocket, but at the same time he wasn’t afraid. As he picked up the cards, he glanced at the picture of his favorite player. He could have sworn Rocket Richard winked at him. The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:49 PM Page 24 He decided to flip the Rocket Richard card. It won! Again and again, Uncle Jack went with the Rocket. Each time, the cards turned up evens. One by one, Uncle Jack and the Rocket were winning Sylvester’s cards. Sylvester looked miserable. The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:49 PM Page 25 The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:49 PM Page 26 The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:49 PM Page 27 By now the crowd was cheering. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Sylvester Kornpot had only one card left. They flipped and Uncle Jack won! The game was over. The Rocket was unbeatable. The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:49 PM Page 28 W hen Uncle Jack finished telling me the story, I asked him if it was true. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a hockey card. It was bent at the corners and the colors were faded. “This is for you,” he said with a smile. “Happy birthday.” It was Uncle Jack’s Maurice “the Rocket” Richard card. The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:49 PM Page 29 The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:49 PM Page 30 I flipped the card just like my Uncle Jack did when he was a boy, and when I looked down, I could have sworn Maurice Richard winked at me. The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:50 PM Page 31 The Hockey Card - Eng. Inside 4/2/04 12:50 PM Page 32 The Hockey Card - Eng. Cover Rev.:The Hockey Card - Eng. Cover copy 1:12 PM Page 1 Rocket » Richard “... a lovely, straightforward, fast-paced story that's part nostalgia and romance for the golden age of the sport, and part paean to one of its greatest players” – Quill & Quire Also Available in French La carte de hockey Jack Siemiatycki Avi Slodovnick Un hommage à Maurice « 10/1/08 The Hockey Card $9.95 www.lobsterpress.com The Hockey Card a tribute to Maurice “ Rocket ” Richard ort listed h S fo n r I llu strat io ISBN-13: 978-1-894222-80-8 50995 9 781894 222808 Illustrated by Doris Barrette Story by and Jack Siemiatycki Avi Slodovnick