I close Isaac Hale's report. I open the team-system clips for tonight. Neutral-zone entries. Detroit. Third period. Nothing involving Nolan's individual evaluation. Nothing that belongs to Alderman.
At 10 PM, the film room will be lit.
The door will stay open.
I will turn the second screen toward the other chair.
I will tell myself this is allowed.
NOLAN
The vending machine in section 118 hums like it resents employment.
I understand this.
It is 11:37 PM. The arena is empty except for overnight security, two custodians on the lower concourse, Caleb Wren, and me. The film room door stayed open for ninety minutes. We reviewed neutral-zone entries, Detroit's weak-side pressure, and three clips of Isaac Hale making the correct decision too late. None of the clips involved my shifts. None of the clips belonged to my file.
We are following rules.
The rules are stupid and necessary and not enough.
I stand in front of the vending machine and look at a turkey wrap that has been inside a plastic triangle long enough to develop legal status. Beside it, a ham sandwich with wet lettuce, protein bars, chips, a fruit cup that looks like it has given up on fruit.
Caleb stands to my right, sleeves rolled, tie gone, glasses slightly crooked from rubbing the bridge of his nose in the film room. The crooked glasses bother me. I do not fix them. Growth.
"You said you were hungry," he says.
I did say that.
This is the issue.
The sentence left my mouth before I could stop it. My stomach made a noise. Caleb heard it. He looked at me, and I said, "I'm hungry," because apparently the kiss opened the file and now random facts are escaping.
Caleb paused like a man watching a rare bird land on his windowsill.
Then he said, "The vending machines are terrible."
I said, "I know."
He said, "Are we still going?"
I said, "Yes."
Now we are here. Terrible vending machines. Empty arena. Hunger, stated aloud.
This is how civilizations fall.
"Turkey wrap," Caleb says.
"It's sweating."
"Ham sandwich."
"The lettuce is a liability."
"Protein bar."
"I have suffered enough."
