Chapter 9 – Hannah
It’s been two weeks since Greyson and I had our carnival brain-storming session; the season officially starts in a few weeks, meaning I haven’t been reporting on anything Hawks-related yet. That gave me a chance to pin down a lot of the details for the carnival. It’s in 3 weeks, and my boss loved all the ideas. We have the location, and the food trucks and the booths have all been booked. We’ve booked both dunk tanks, too. My co-workers Caroline and Dylan are excited about this particular piece of entertainment.
I believe Dylan’s words were, “I get to dunk professional athletes in water? On the clock, while outside, repeatedly, over and over again, with no limit?” Caroline and I about keeled over with her obvious obsession with this singular attraction. She swears she’ll only keep buying tickets to the dunk tank because it’s supporting the kids. Riiiight. She also said she wouldn’t waste her tickets on trying to dunk me, so there’s that. I cackled; it was so unattractive, but I can’t with her sometimes.
Caroline has connections to the football team; she’s the one to cover them like I’m doing for hockey. Her dad also happens to be an Ex-NFL player who was more than happy to donate both his time and some signed “swag,” as he called it, to help with the auction portion of the night. Does anyone use the term “swag” anymore? Oh well, it’s shaping up to have a huge guest list, and the kids are already excited about it.
I stop at a small doughnut shop and pick up two dozen donuts. Caroline, Dylan, and I are headed to an after-school event for one of the organizations we’re supporting. Today, they don’t have any specific sports being pla yed, but what they call “open play,” where everyone can play anything. It gives the kids a chance to discover if they like something a little more than what they currently play.
I place the donuts on the table, and of course, they come flocking like seagulls on the beach when you drop food. We ask them what they’re most excited about and if there is anything they would like to see at the carnival. The most overwhelming answer is, “I’d like to meet my hero.” Or “It’d be so cool to be able to see my favorite players off the field.”
One of the younger kids, Lilly, pulls me to the side and shakily begins to recount the last few months of her short, sweet life. When she’s done, she does a one-two punch right in the gut, heart, and brain all at the same time, “I just want my brother to be able to play hockey next year. Since our dad passed away, our mom is sad all the time; hockey is the only thing that makes Cade happy. I’m scared that if he loses that, I’ll lose him.”
I couldn’t help myself. I sat my butt right down on the concrete and looked this precious girl in the eye, and asked if I could give her a hug. She nodded and walked right into my open arms. At 6 years old, she shouldn’t be worried about losing her 8-year-old brother. “What sport do you want to play, sweetheart?” Her glassy brown eyes met mine as she shook her head.
“I don’t get to play sports yet; it’s Cade's turn.” No can do sweetie, you’ll play whatever you want if I have anything to do with it. This is the point of this event, and honestly, living with Abby has allowed me to put some money to the side. If I can help a kid or two on my own, I’m damn sure going to.
“But if you could play a sport, what would it be?” Brushing a piece of her dark blonde hair out of her face, I give her what I hope is a reassuring smile.
“I like to dance, and I like to ride horses too. Daddy always used to take me to ride the horses on the beach. He said I’d make “one heck of a barrel racer” one day. I want to be a horsey vet when I’m older.” Her smile is blinding, and the tears that we’re threatening to spill are now filled with joy. Sweet baby girl.
“That’s a wonderful goal. I happen to know a really awesome dance teacher; I’m sure she’d love to have you in her class. And for free! I don’t know anyone who works with horses, but I could find out for you.” Her excitement is clear, her little arms flailing to the sides.
“No, no! Dance is good! I love to boogie.” She shows me just how much she loves to ‘boogie’ as she shakes her little hips and arms with absolutely no rhythm. But the joy in this moment is contagious; my head drops back behind me as I giggle right along with her. I’ll be calling my neighbor as soon as I leave to see if I can get her into a dance class. They deserve it.
While my heart broke for her, it further put into perspective why we’re holding this event. I know that’s only one story in a long line of heart-wrenching circumstances for many families. These kids all deserve a chance, and I’ll do my best to give that to as many of them as I can.
A little boy named Jonah walks up to me with a basketball in his hand; he looks at me and asks, “Do you think you could play horse with me? I like basketball the best of all the sports.” I am awful at basketball; the hopeful look he has is enough to do me in. I'd roll around in mud if he asked me to.
Of course, Jonah wins the game; he gives me a fist bump and tells me I wasn’t the worst opponent he’s ever had. Sheesh, these kids are something else. If you ever want to be truly humbled, go hang out with kids 12 and under.
We wrapped up our day of fun by telling the kids and volunteers about the carnival itself. Who would be there, what kinds of food we’d have for them and if they needed money (the answer was a hard no) to partake in any events or games. As long as they had the shirts that we had made for them, they had free reign to play, eat, and ride anything they wanted to.
They gave Caroline, Dylan, and me bear hugs as we left, thanking us for playing with them and for helping them have a little hope they’d get to partake in something next season. Lilly and her brother Cade came up to me just before I walked out of the doors. She asked if she could give me a hug, and I happily obliged.
I asked Cade who he played for; he said, “Tampa Storm.” He then waved bye, took his sister by the hand, and went back inside. I called the Storm organization once I got in the car and paid his remaining dues for the next season. Next up on my call list is my neighbor, Melanie, to get a little princess in dance class.
Life may be unfair, but if you can help someone else, even if it’s just cracking a joke that makes them smile, you should. That’s been my life goal since I was ten; I just wanted to make people happy. I knew I couldn’t make my dad happy, no matter how hard I tried, so I thought maybe if I made enough other people happy, it’d make up for it.