He drove to Orion’s Belt Hockey Camp, where he met Don at the main building. Don was looking tired again, more tired than he had been yesterday. They spent the morning taking a more detailed tour of the camp. Don didn’t ask Drew how Drew knew Gabriel, which Drew appreciated. Again, Drew agreed to work for free, even when Don practically begged to pay him.
When Drew firmly said that he wouldn’t accept any money from them, Don looked relieved and a little embarrassed.
“We aren’t doing great financially,” he said. “It has been hard to find a coach since Richie, the original coach, quit last-minute. I wonder if Stu might have stayed if we’d paid him better. I didn’t ask him. I didn’t want to know.”
They walked across camp, crossing a large lawn that spread out behind the main building. It led to a hill which led to Three Star Lake. In the distance, from the woods, came the sound of campers laughing and shouting.
“What do you think it was that happened yesterday?” Drew asked.
“Some kids or counselors pulling a bad prank. Pranks aren’t uncommon here. And when you hear enough legends about a ghost, you start to believe it.”
“What was that ghost you guys mentioned yesterday? Frozen Fred?”
They reached the main building, and Don made a face. “That’s right.”
“What’s the story there?”
“It’s a gruesome one,” Don said, leading the way back to his office, where they would sign some papers. “It happened back in the seventies. The story goes that a local kid—named Fred, of course—snuck out here sometime in the winter. Who Fred was, exactly, no one can agree on. But he got himself locked in the ice rink by accident, and when the groundskeeper at the time found him, Fred was almost frozen to death. They got him to the hospital, but he didn’t make it.”
“That’s awful. Is it true?”
“It is, unfortunately. Embellished versions of the story go around camp every year, and we try to shut it down when we hear it. It’s not respectful to that poor kid, and it’s not good PR for the camp, frankly. But people who believe in ghosts say that Fred’s ghost haunts the camp.”
“You don’t believe that.”
“I don’t. I don’t believe in ghosts. I believe that we’re here, and then we die, and it’s up to God where we go from there, but we certainly don’t stay here.” He shook his head and looked very tired. “Does this scare you off?”
“No. Should it?”
“I hope not. Let’s finish your orientation, and you can meet the campers.”
—
Each moment that Drew saw Gabriel that week was a special moment. They didn’t see each other much at camp. When Drew was there, he spent almost all of his time at the rink, coaching the different groups of campers. Most of them weren’t very good at playing hockey, but were there because they enjoyed the game, and it was a refreshing experience for Drew. None of the kids recognized him, and he only introduced himself as “Coach Drew,” so there was no way they’d find out his last name.
He rarely saw Gabriel at camp, except when Gabriel stopped by to poke his head in at the rink. They didn’t tell anyone at camp about their relationship, wanting to keep it a secret. They acted cordially and like friends at camp, and no one suspected anything else.
Drew liked it at camp. It was high energy, and there was always something to do. His coaching was minimal. The kids weren’t really there to get better at hockey, but to have fun. He was happy to provide pointers to the few who actually wanted instruction, but otherwise he mostly acted as a glorified referee. It was easy, and he was glad he hadn’t accepted payment for it.
He saw Gabriel in the evenings and at night, sometimes very late. They hadn’t yet spent the night together and hadn’t made love, but they would spend an hour or so each night in each other’s arms, kissing and giving each other head, and then talking until they were too tired to stay up later. It would be easier to spend the night together, but it would look suspicious if they arrived at camp together, and they didn’t want anyone to know.
There had been a small, quiet investigation into the prank, but there was no evidence that any of the counselors or campers had done anything. Whoever had done it wasn’t giving themselves up. Don and Laurel gave all the campers and counselors a stern talking to and left it at that. Nothing happened in Drew’s first week at the camp, but when he was alone in the rink, he always listened carefully to see if he’d hear a ghost.
Gabriel would have to spend Friday night at camp because some of the counselors had their night off, and Evan DeVries, the property manager at the house Drew was staying in, had reached out to Drew again, inviting Drew to join Evan and his buddies at their weekly poker game.
Drew wanted to meet more people in Orion, especially since he planned on spending the whole summer there, so he’d said he’d be there and would bring beer.
Evan lived in a small house in a neighborhood of cottages near downtown Orion. His house was painted yellow and had a well-tended garden. Several guys, including Evan, were sitting in the front yard in lawn chairs and camping chairs. They were drinking beer and talking. Most of the men looked like they were in their late twenties or early thirties, the same age as Drew and Evan. They wore casual clothes—khaki shorts or athletic shorts, with T-shirts that had outdoorsy logos on them. Many of them had deep summer tans. There were five in all, and Drew made six.
Evan welcomed Drew to the group and introduced him to the other men, who were all locals. They were friendly to Drew. He said that he was staying for the summer at the Aaldenkamp place. He didn’t tell them who he was beyond his first name, and none of them recognized him. He said that he was volunteering at the hockey camp as their coach, and then one of them, who was apparently married to the officer who responded to the prank/haunting, mentioned what had happened with Stu Chaudhry. The conversation turned to what had happened at camp, and they discussed whether they thought the camp was haunted or not. That eventually turned to them swapping stories about things they’d experienced in Orion that were hard to explain. Drew gathered that the people in Orion seemed to be more superstitious than the average person. They had reason to be, Drew, supposed, because from what the men said, theredidseem to be a higher occurrence of supernatural-appearing events in the town. Every man in Evan’s yard had a story about seeing or hearing something unexplainable. Drew was skeptical of some of their stories, but he kept his opinions to himself. He was content to be a part of the group and to mostly listen.
Most of them had finished their first beers and were on to a second, or even a third. One of the men, named Garrett, turned to Drew. “You work at the camp, right? You see any hauntings there? Any ghosts?”
“None to report,” Drew said. “I think whatever happened to Stu was a bad prank. No one has fessed up, but I’d like to see them try something with me.”
The men laughed, and Evan suggested they go inside to play poker. They all went inside and set up their poker game at Evan’s dining room table. His house was cozy, with signs of his young child. Drew gathered that Evan was unmarried—either divorced, or he and his child’s mother had never been married. His child’s mother was named Emily, he said, and she lived in town, and she was watching his son, Caleb, tonight.
The poker game was casual and for fun. They didn’t play for real money, because most of the men didn’t have money to lose. They played for the companionship and to catch up on each other’s lives. Many of them had grown up in Orion and had known each other their whole lives. They had an easy camaraderie that Drew admired. Their friendships were uncomplicated, and they welcomed Drew into the circle without question. By the end of the night, he almost felt like one of them, and he invited them to hold the poker night at his rental house the next week. He said it was large and he had plenty of space. The men hooted when they heard the place he was renting—it was a big house and well known in their town. They agreed they’d come by, and he said they could invite anyone they wanted to.
