On a cool night, Denys, Andrej and I make our way to what will likely be our last evening with Coach Peter. The ice on the rink is thin, and there are bits of weeds and twigs poking through.
As I’m climbing up the chain-link fence, the last one over, I see a man emerge from the shadows. He moves differently than Coach Peter. I do a double take in the darkness. He is definitely shorter than our coach, and his back is more curved.
Denys and Andrej see him, too.
“Run,” I whisper, and the three of us begin to climb back over the fence like animals, trying to throw our sticks and skates over first.
“Do you know where your fathers are?” the man yells.
The three of us freeze. Our fathers.
This man wants something. He knows something.
“Come,” he beckons. “I’d like to speak with you.”
Denys looks at us. “His accent. He’s Russian,” he hisses.
I start walking toward him. “I don’t care who he is. He knows something about Papa.” I notice Denys is keeping his hockey stick in his hand.
“Don’t say a word about Coach Peter,” Denys whispers. “Not a word.”
The man pushes his thick glasses onto the bridge of his nose and gives us a plastic smile. “Boys,” he greets us. “I see I’ve piqued your interest. So.”
We wait for him to speak.
“Still playing, I see?” he asks.
We don’t respond. I can hear the faraway conversations of people walking in the park.
He gestures to the rink. “Do you really think we don’t know you play here with Coach Peter? Really, boys, you underestimate us. If you come here twice a week, it’s because we allow it.”
The three of us look at one another nervously. They’ve been tracking us. How could we have been so stupid?
Andrej speaks first. “Where are they?”
The man laughs. “It’s not quite that easy, I’m afraid. I work on the basis of quid pro quo. You know what that means? It means we exchange. One for another. Quid pro quo. Understand?”
Denys grips his stick until his hands turn white.
“What could you possibly want from us?” he asks. “You’ve already taken everything we have.”
The oko seems to think this over. “I agree.” He sniffs. “So perhaps you’d like something back. Do you know there is a Soviet tournament next month, to end the season?”
“Of course,” I reply. “But we won’t be a part of it.”
“Mother Russia will be here,” he continues, “to compete against a few teams from Prague. The Soviets are excellent players.”
The oko looks across the rink, kicks at a shard of ice and then stares directly at me, narrowing his eyes.
“Tell me, Lukas. How do you feel about the motherland?”
He knows my name.
“I feel fine about it,” I lie.
“Wonderful,” smiles the oko. “So, you agree. I think it would be very distressing if the Russian teams were to go home empty-handed, don’t you?”
Andrej stares at him, furious. “Someone always goes home empty-handed,” he growls. But I am beginning to understand.
“Oh, no,” replies the oko. “I think it would be a great shame. I think I should feel very badly. Don’t you think so.” This last part is not a question.
“No,” Andrej says again, his jaw clenched. “I don’t.”
“I think you boys would like a chance to play again, am I right?” He sucks on his teeth. “So, like I was saying, a little exchange.”
Andrej laughs bitterly. “You want us to play badly on purpose, so the Russians win. To throw the game.” The man smiles, though the rest of his face remains somehow motionless.
“Why us?” I ask him. “We don’t even play on the team anymore!”
Andrej answers for him. “Because they can blackmail us, that’s why.”
The oko sniffs again, searching for a handkerchief in his coat pocket.
“I think you have questions about your fathers,” he muses. “Do what I’m asking, and my people will see what we can find out. Don’t, and you will likely not see them for a very, very long time.”
—from Eyes on the Ice by Anna Rosner. Published by Groundwood Books. © 2024 by Anna Rosner.
Eyes on the Ice by Anna Rosner (Groundwood Books, 2024)
About Eyes on the Ice:
Ten-year-old Lukas and his brother Denys want nothing more than to play hockey, but it’s 1963, and they live in Czechoslovakia, where the secret police (the “Eye”) are constantly on the lookout for anyone committing crimes against the state — whether that be reading a magazine about the NHL or saying anything negative about the Communist regime. Lukas’s father works for a newspaper, and printing the truth is a dangerous activity.
The family is poor, but hockey is the one bright light for the boys. They learn to skate on a bumpy outdoor rink in a city park. And when their talent is noticed, they are encouraged to try out for a local youth league, where they are thrilled to play in a real arena for the first time.
Then the boys’ father is arrested. No one knows where he has been taken or when he might be coming home. Lukas and Denys soon realize they are being watched, too, and when the secret police promise them information about their father if they help throw a game against a visiting Soviet team, Lukas must make some difficult decisions that may endanger his family and his friends, as he faces some tough questions about what loyalty really means.
Author Anna Rosner.
About ANNA ROSNER:
Anna Rosner is a teacher and writer who holds a PhD in French literature. She is the award-winning author of two hockey biographies for young readers — Journeyman: The Story of NHL Right Winger Jamie Leach and My Left Skate: The Extraordinary Story of Eliezer Sherbatov. Anna is the director of Books with Wings, which provides new, quality picture books for Indigenous children living in isolated communities. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.