Steve's Diary

February 1, 1937

Dear Diary,

Bucky said he had a surprise for me... nothing major, he added... just something to do.

Whatever that means.

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It was 8:00 o'clock in the morning when he got there but, there was something different. He didn't have his dad's Buick... he had a truck and there was stuff in the back.

"What is all that, Buck?" I asked as we approached the vehicle.

"In the trunk? Hockey stuff..." he said.

"Why would we nee-"

"Shut up and get in the car, Steve," he chuckled, opening the door and pushing me gently up into the passenger seat.

We had driven about 2 hours into upstate New York when he pulled the car over. I looked at him awaiting an answer regarding why we had stopped but there wasn't one. He turned the key in the ignition and the car turned off. He pulled on his jacket, glanced over at me and opened the door, getting out of the car and walking away.

I quickly put mine on and got out, following him. "Uh, Buck... where the hell are we?" I asked impatiently.

"Relax... we're here," he pulled the tailgate down and dragged out two hockey sticks and a case of beer cans.

"Where exactly is here?" I questioned.

"We're in upstate New York. There's a frozen lake here... we passed it last year on our way up to the orchard. I thought it'd be fun to play pond hockey sometime so... here we are," his beer crackled as he opened it.

"What's the beer for then?" I watched him place it to his lips and take a slow sip before answering.

"For drinking... and for the puck," he mentioned.

"For the what?" He chugged the rest of it and placed it on the ground. He stomped on it and it went flat.

"The puck," he picked it up and showed me.

"Oh..." I felt stupid and so my cheeks burned red despite the chill in the air.

He grabbed the hockey sticks and was on his way towards the frozen pond.

When we finally got there, he put the sticks and makeshift puck on the snow and sat down. He patted the snow next to him, telling me to sit with him.

I made a face at him. "It's cold," I pointed out, not wanting to sit on the wet snow.

He patted his leg, "sit." Damn, okay.

I sat on his leg but it didn't really feel right... so I shifted so we were facing one another. My pants were getting wet but it didn't bother me much. I had my arms around his neck and his were at my waist.

I pulled his hood from his winter coat up over his head and he laughed as he pulled up mine. "You know how to play, right?" He asked.

"Of course I do," I laughed and placed my forehead on his. It went dark with our hoods up and all... I could barely make out his soft smile. I shivered. It was really cold and I had forgotten to bring gloves. "My hands, they're so cold... it's freezing out here," I pointed out.