Never Say Never

Chapter 5

 Aly was grateful she'd added a sweater over top of her t-shirt prior to leaving for the rink. Even with the weather warming up outside, the rink was chilly. Eli had argued when she insisted that he bring a sweatshirt, stating that he'd been so hot in his jacket at recess and would be fine, but she noticed the sweatshirt was on and zipped up now as she laced up his skates.

"Double knot them, mommy. I don't want them loose," he told her, a little tremor of nerves apparent in his voice.

New experiences always made him anxious. She'd explained the idea of ice skating as well as she could, telling him it really wasn't too different from rollerblading and he knew how to do that. But if he didn't know exactly what to expect, if he didn't know precisely what he was supposed to do, his nerves kicked into high gear.

He was masking it well. She assumed that was for the benefit of Jeremiah. Eli didn't want his friend to see how scared he was. But he'd rambled to her about everything that could go wrong from the time she'd picked him up from school in the afternoon.

"What if I fall?"

"Then you get back up."

"But what if I break my leg?"

"You're not going to break your leg, Eli."

"I could. You don't know that. What if I fall backwards and I crack my head open on the ice and my brain starts oozing out and then I can't remember all the stuff I learned at school anymore?"

"Eli, you're going to be fine. I promise."

"What if Jeremiah laughs at me because he knows how to skate and I don't and I have to hold onto the railing the whole time?"

"If he's your friend he won't do that."

On and on it went, his ideas of what could go wrong only getting more outlandish until he was predicting that he would slice somebody's leg off with his skate and then he would go to jail for the rest of his life. Aly had sighed, ensuring him that none of those things were going to happen. The worst that could happen would be he would fall and get a bruise. He was not convinced.

"Tight enough?" she asked, giving her son a reassuring smile.

"I think so," he replied, twisting his foot around and around as if checking if they were going to simply fall off his foot. He leaned down, his mouth right next to her ear, whispering, "Mommy, are you sure I'm going to be okay?"

"I promise."

"Will you hold my hands?"

"I can but honestly, I'm not that good of a skater either. I don't know how much help I'll be because I'll be trying to stay on my feet too. Jeremiah's dad said he would help you if you need him to and I think he's pretty good at this. Would you like me to ask him if he'll hold your hands?"

Eli bit his bottom lip, the skin already peeling in spots from him worrying at it the whole way here. He sat for a moment, considering her offer, and then nodded, eyes wide.

"You think he'll do it?"

"I know he will. Coach Harrington is a really nice guy."

"Yeah, he is. He said I can call him Steve. Is that okay?"

Aly smiled, her hand running assuringly over the front of his shin, "If he said it is, then of course you can."

"Are we all ready?" called Steve, him and Jeremiah standing, all skated up and steady, next to the ice.

"Yep. All good," she told him, standing, holding her hand out to her son. Eli took it, stepping hesitantly with her over to the ice. She leaned into Steve, asking quietly, "Eli wondered if you might be able to hold his hands at first?"