Poor Mother Hubbard…no kids in her cupboard…well, if she moved things around there maybe one son hiding out behind the pickle jar… but he was a Geek…before the term was even coined. Science turned him on…no concussions for him from the Good Ole Hockey Game….What do you do with a kid like that if you’re a Hockey Mom in Canada, eh?
It read like a Greek Tragedy, the Townies said….but it didn’t start out that way…the roll out was glorious for the family, for the Town and even for the Future Montreal Canadians…but Stuff happens … for no reason, in no particular order, World Without End. Amen.
Mother and Father Hubbard came sailing in to town, with their three sons willing to share their fame and fortune, Son #1 and Son #2…because when you have talent, the rumours arrive even before the finished product…..not so much Son #3, who was busy with his microscopes in his bedroom (it was the 60’s folks).
Son #1 was headed straight for the Big League. He flew down the ice, he shoots , he scores ….. so like The Rocket Richard or Guy Lefleur.
The Habs parachuted an agent in to snap him up, sign on the dotted line and sent him to a summer school on the Farm Team to ready him for a future brilliant career. The Franglais (French/English) Townies were delighted that their school and town won every tournament but still there was a…shall we say envy that was pervasive. Why him? Why not my son?
After an intense training Summer School Program, packed with future Glory Day stories, Son #1 returned to continue his high school and tried to fit in off the rink. He joined the Baseball League, the Football Team, the Track Team…and you guessed it…aced it all. Even his team mates started to wish that he would just stay home already. Enough is a enough….so one night, under the lights at the baseball diamond, a scuffle broke out…no, not the other team….members of his own club were pushing him around, giving him the gears…so Son #1 took his bat and left, walking down lonely street to home…maybe he was walking along, preoccupied, maybe the hit and run driver of the car was drunk…whatever the circumstances, our Little Town lost our only chance to send ‘Our Boy to the Big League’ as metal met flesh that long and lonesome night. Son #1 had joined ‘The Big League’, In the Sky, Lord, In the Sky.
Notwithstanding, Mother and Father Hubbard were heartbroken. Son #2 would not have to endure small-minded, small town politics to play hockey. A city team in the province next door welcomed him with open arms…even though he’d never be as outstanding as Son#1…still…he was good….and he loved the game.
Now fate is so random…who knew…in those days when players did not have to wear helmets, that a Puck had his name on it….but it did….Right in the middle of a tense game, a puck travelling over 100 miles an hour made contact with Son #2’s temple and it was literally…Game Over and Out ….Forever. Son #2 was In the Sky, Lord, In the Sky, with Son #1, hockey stick still clutched in his hands.
It was said that Mother Hubbard set plates for Son #1 and #2, on the table at every meal until the day she died…we can’t confirm that because after the death of Son #2, Mother and Father Hubbard packed up their belongings and moved to another province…where no one knew their sad tale, it was said…but we all know that would be a pipe dream…there are some secrets you can’t keep wraps on…just ask Donald Trump…
Son #3 – Where are you? Did you thrive as an only child, dragged into the limelight by the absence of your older brothers?
Son#2 – You were so much easier to digest….more imperfect …like the rest of us…we miss you.
Son #1 – All apologies and should’ve, could’ve, would’ve’s….You know, we were so proud of you…and your team-mate who started the kerfuffle felt so badly….you were OUR Superstar on skates ….While the Instigator, was OUR Superstar with the opposite sex….so you both had some things to work out….
But….
Are you going away with no word of farewell….Will there be not a trace left behind…Well, we should’ve been less jealous… Didn’t mean to be unkind…..
You know that was the last thing on our minds….. (Paraphrase Tom Paxton)
We wonder…we wonder…..
