-Do you want to play, Elian?- she asked smiling, I was so surprised that I couldn’t answer her-, I know everyone’s name. You’re not special- she laughed, then coughed and hit her chest hard, I was afraid she would break some bones.
-I don’t know how to play- I answered-, Freya.
-Safe zone, neutral zone, attack zone- she named pointing at each one-, stick… puck- she smiled throwing a black disc into the air several times-. You have to get this in the net over there. Easy, right?
-It seems so.
-Okay, choose your opponent- I always found it strange the way she smiled, as if she wanted to do it and feel happy about it but she couldn’t feel it completely.
-You, we’re alone here- in my eyes it was obvious, if two people agree to play then one will be the rival of the other.
-Wrong, Elian. I won’t be your opponent. My opponent is life, I fight against it every day- that time she didn’t smile-, what is yours?- what she called opponent I called demons.
-Drugs- I whispered.
-Say it louder, I didn’t hear it- she lied, she was right in front of me, she heard perfectly.
-Drugs- I repeated louder- and… cigarettes, and…
-And?, you’re a little bundle of trouble, aren’t you?
-I’m gay.
-That’s not a problem- she rejected, waving her hands in the air. It was the first time I admitted it out loud, the first time I said it to someone voluntarily and she, instead of looking at me like a weirdo, instead of yelling at me like a father, or worrying like a mother, said “it’s not a problem.”
-Let’s play- she left the puck on the grass and began to explain the rules of the game to me-, you have to push it, slide it gently but quickly.
-Im trying, it’s hard to do this on the grass.
-I know. Life isn’t easy and there won’t be ice until winter- we were there for three hours and I didn’t manage to score. On the other hand, she did. Right at the last minute, when the lady called her name, as if all this time she had been able to do so but she waited until the last second.
-I won- she shouted, picked up a small white board, erased what was there and wrote:
Life: 15 Me: 15
