“Because he’s a daemon.” She said this like I was the most clueless man on the planet.
“And that’s like…a pet?”
Josie looked scandalized. “It’s nothing like a pet! He doesn’t belong to her. He’spartof her.”
I stared at my daughter’s earnest face for a moment. Apparently, I found it difficult to wrap my mind around children’s fantasy novels. “Right,” I said, pretending like that made any kind of sense to me.
Josie bounced on her tiptoes, looking around. “There are a lot of people here,” she pointed out.
“It’s a nice day,” I said. “And this place is supposed to be popular.”
“Can we get started?”
“Hold up, Josie. You need sunscreen.”
She sighed like I had suggested torture but stood still while I slathered the lotion on her bare shoulders, arms, and the back of her neck. When I moved to get her legs, she darted out of the way.
“Dad. I’m not a baby. I can do my own legs.”
I managed to grab her before she got away, placing a swift kiss on the top of her head. “You’ll always be my baby, baby.”
She rolled her eyes but I was pretty sure she was smiling.
We took turns with the sunscreen until I was satisfied we wouldn’t burn. “Hats too,” I said, plopping an Austin Sting cap on her head before pulling mine on too.
Josie looked up at mine, nose wrinkled. “Those are the team colors?” she asked.
“Yeah. What’s the matter, you don’t like red and yellow?”
She shrugged. “I like red andbluemuch better.” Of course she did—those were New York colors.
“We got to see the uniforms the other day,” I told her as we started to walk towards the park entrance. “That was kind of exciting. I haven’t had a C on my jersey since college.”
Josie stopped walking. “What?” she gasped, staring at me. I just grinned at her. “They made you captain?”
I nodded. “They did. And Uncle Jay is an alternate.”
To my surprise, she threw her arms around my middle. “Daddy, that’s amazing!”
Thank you,I prayed to anyone who might be listening. A spontaneous hug from my daughter was better than any captain’s C.
“I was pretty surprised,” I said, patting her back. “But maybe I shouldn’t be. I am one of the oldest guys in the locker room. I guess they thought it would be a good idea to give it to the old geezer on the team.”
She laughed, releasing me. “Was Uncle Jay excited?”
“I think he might be excited once he stops being shocked,” I said, laughing.
“Is there another alternate? Who’s your goalie? You guys have a lot of rookies this year, right? Anyone looking good?”
This, right here, is what I had been missing. My daughter was a huge hockey fan. She knew more about the game than half the commenters on television. This was the first time she’d shown any interest in the new team and I was going to milk it for all it was worth.
Fifteen minutes later, after we’d analyzed the entire defense and two of the four offensive lines, we’d made our way into the Japanese garden section.
“This is pretty cool,” I told her, pulling out my phone. “Stand over there by the koi pond, Josie girl, let me get your picture.” She posed without complaint but started to get annoyed when I had her stop for pictures on several more stops up the trail.
“Daddy,” she moaned.
“Oh, give your old man a break,” I said. “You’re getting so tall now, I need to remember what you look like before you go shooting up another foot.”
