Difficult Music

During game five of the Canucks/St. Louis series last Friday, we were on the ferry to Mayne Island. The belter and I sat near the kids’ play area. My attention alternated between my magazine and Cypress, who was eight feet in the air, clinging to a pole with one hand and holding an Archie Double Digest open with the other, serenely reading while the other kids fought and screamed below her.

A voice came on over the PA. “Ladies and gentlemen, the score in the second period is the Canucks 4, St. Louis 1.”

I love it when that happens. I know it’s corny, but that kind of public hockey update makes me glad to be Canadian. People cheer and strangers talk to each other. Tourists roll their eyes or wonder what’s going on. It’s a rare moment of camaraderie in a country that actually seems to discourage bonding amongst its citizens. A lot of people around us probably wished they were watching the game right then—we were all in the same boat, so to speak, so a considerate BC Ferries employee took pity on us and told us the score. For a few seconds people enjoyed the fact that they had something in common…then they went back to separating their howling kids.