Chapter 35 – Scavenger Hunt

Three days later, the team was playing West Germany. Two days before the team had won against Romania 7-2. The spirit of the country was rising and there was buzz that a rematch with the soviets was possible. However with only fifteen seconds left in the first period, the team was down by two goals. It was the last game before the medal round started, but still, the team was having a hard time out there.

Marie wasn't totally worried yet. It was only the first period. If the team had been down by four goals, then there was time to worry. When the buzzer sounded, Marie stood up and went to the ladies room. The line was long, so as she stood there, she thought back to the last couple of days.

When the girls went to the movie marathon on Monday, Mrs. Silk, Mrs. Eruizone, Rizzo's sisters, Marcy, and Mrs. McClanahan went with them. The guys refused because they were hyped over the fact they had won another game, so they went to the bar. All of them had fun. The next day a few of them went and watched the Alpine Skiers. That was fun to watch and nerve wrecking at the same time because one small move and the skier could crash ending their dream for gold and getting seriously injured. Then that night, the girls went to the single women's figure skating competition. It kind of made Marie want to go out there, but in truth she wasn't that good.

This morning, she went shopping with Mrs. Silk. They got to know each other better, got to gossip. The more she got to know the Silk's, the more she really liked the. With the former boyfriend's families, the parents were ok. They never really interacted. Marie was thankful again that Silk had come into her life.

"Thanks for asking if I wanted anything," Connie muttered when Marie sat back down ten minutes later.

"Sorry, last minute decision," Marie said.

Connie looked over and winked. "I don't care."

"I'm in awe at Jack. I can't believe how much his knee has come along," Jill said when the team came back out on the ice.

Marie took a sip of her drink and looked over at Jack on the bench. When the group decided to go look for deer, that day was the day he got the word that he didn't need to crutches anymore. When Marie had seen him the next day, she had been so thrilled for him. Now when she looked over at him, she could see how much he wanted to be out there with them. It was in his stance. "I hope he gets to be apart of this."

"We all do, but there is only two more games. Wait, am I getting ahead of myself if I say that. I know it's the medal round, but still," Regan said.

"No. I don't think so," Connie replied.

The second period started and the team seemed a little different, like they finally found that fire. Broten scored off of a rebound and by the time it was the end of the second, the game was tied. In the third, Verchota had scored making it 4- 2 with 15:43 left in the game. The team was advancing into the medal round.

vvv

"What's this?" Connie asked when Morrow handed out four folded papers to four different people.

"A scavenger hunt that Wells and I made up," he replied. 'The groups are on the paper. Now we aren't the most well talented rhymers out there. So please forgive the clues. I say we should rendezvous back here around 9 pm. It really shouldn't take forever to get everything. When you get one thing, there's a clue with it for the next thing."

"It took us two days, but we had fun thinking this stuff up," Wells spoke up.

"This is why we were told to meet up in your room?" Jannie asked raising an eyebrow.

"What? You're not interested in a little fun?" Wells asked the goaltender and the group.

The group had nothing better to do, so they went off in the groups that were already assigned for them. Marie, Silk, Strobel, Pav, Christian, and Broten were together in one group. When Broten opened the paper, he read the list out loud. The list was simple, a few hidden things in places, but two of them were weird, a pair of Bah's boxers and an autograph from an Olympic Athlete. The first thing they got was Bah's boxers after they headed out. Broten was rooming with him.

There was a clue on the paper where the first item was hiding. "Hot chocolate, kids laughing, swish, the fact that families go there to spend time," Broten read.

"That doesn't rhyme," Pav muttered.

"Does it matter?" Strobel asked.

"Easy one," Marie said, "the skating pond."

"I'm round, always in the same spot, once in awhile someone will sit on my hard surface."

As they were standing there, they were looking around. Pav saw the boulder first and went over to it. He found a key chain with Lake Placid in the plastic covered case. He was surprised that it was still there and that nobody went over and picked it up. The note was still there as well. "To have a good time you would come to this place. Music so loud you aren't able to talk over it."

"Gee… that's so hard," Christian murmured sarcastically.

Pav continued reading, "I'm usually in the hands of people. In the wind I stand proud."

"Is it a flag?" Marie asked.

Silk smiled. "They went to all this trouble. I'm just having fun."

Marie put an arm around his waist as they walked down the sidewalk toward the bar. Once in there, they got the hand held American flag from the bartender and got the next clue. Marie saw Linda Fratianne who was a figure skater. She didn't say anything until after the clue was given out.

"I'm square, I have print writing on me. The smell of popcorn so great, that no matter where you go, you notice it everywhere. A cough here, a cough there. Silky and Marie making out in the back row," Strobel read out loud. "I'm underneath a chair."

Marie rolled her eyes, but smiled. "Nice of them to put us in the clue." The guys started to move toward the door. "Wait… before we head out, I see an athlete at a table," Marie finally told them. 'Linda Fratianne."

"Who?" Christian asked.

"She's a figure skater," Silk replied. All four guys looked over at him. "Marie mentioned her this afternoon."

"Right," Broten drawled.

Marie walked over with the paper in case she didn't believe her that they were on a Scavenger hunt. When she was behind her, she lightly tapped her shoulder and held her breath. It's not like everyday she asked for autographs. When Linda Fratianne turned around, Marie smiled at her.

"May I help you?"

'Hi, I was wondering if I could get your autograph. I saw your performance last night. You were great," Marie gushed.

Linda smiled at her and said thank you. She held her hand out and Marie gave her the paper. She told Linda, who asked about the clues, what they were doing. Linda was happy to help, but was interested in meeting the guys. When they walked over, Linda told them she was a big fan. She even flirted a little bit with Silk.

"Are you jealous, Marie? She hit on your boyfriend," Christian said when they left.

"Not really," she replied.

Silk shook his head. "I only have my eyes on one person."

"Who is that?" Strobel baited.

Silk innocently said, "Princess Leia."

Pav uttered, "So Marie have you dressed up as Princess Leia?"

The other three guys laughed out loud, while Marie looked over at Pav with her mouth hanging open. "I thought I was clever enough not have anyone see me as that when I went over to the dorms that night." The three guys looked over at her with wide eyes, but a minute later she started laughing.

"She hasn't dressed as Leia?"

"I almost got..." Christian was about say before Marie put a hand over his mouth.

"Too much info there," Marie cried out. "We're not in the locker room."

"Sorry," he said after she took her hand off of his mouth. "But still… that image… is hot."

Marie moved over to the other side of Silk. She peaked over at Christian and then hid again. Silk chuckled, put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple. He whispered in her ear, "You should dress as Leia."

Marie whispered back, "As long as you dress up as Han Solo."

When the group got to the Palace Theatre, Pav went up to the ticket person and explained what they were doing. Of course, the person knew, so they went in and got the ticket, which was hidden underneath a chair in the back row. "I'm round, black, heavy, and ca go pretty fast under pressure. When you see me I'm usually at the end of a stick."

"Wow, that's hard," Broten said.

"PS, you can't cheat by taking one that you might have kept as a souvenir after a goal," Pav had finished.

Silk was the one to get it. He talked to the ice manager again, and the guy gave him an extra puck they could afford to get rid of. When they got back to the hotel room, Jill, Rammer, OC, Jannie, Verchota, and Christoff were already there. The groups talked about their adventure but didn't say what they got. Once all the groups were back they got started.

For group one, Regan, Rizzo, Bah, Johnson, Baker, and Suter, they had to get the keychain behind the food stand, get a Russian hand held flag, their tickets was in the bathroom of the theatre, and had to get a felt C which they use for the captain. The underwear was a pair of Marie's, which got a lot of whistles and a few cat call about way to go Silky. The autograph they got was from a speed skater, Leah Muller.

"Can I have my underwear back?" Marie asked.

"For a price," Baker replied.

Marie smiled, but didn't say anything. She just set her head on Silk's shoulder. "Whatever."

Group two was consisted of Cox, Jimmy, Buzz, Gayle, Connie and Rob. The key chain was under a bench, they had to get a Chinese flag, the ticket was placed in the bushes outside of the theatre, and they had to get the black tape they use to put on the stick. The underwear was Rammer's. The autograph they got was an alpine skier who was Swedish.

After Marie's group went, the other group went. The key chain was hidden in a plant, they had to get a Czech flag, the ticket was hidden on the balcony stairwell, and they had to get a jock strap. The underwear they got was a stranger's boxer shorts. The autograph to everybody's surprise was a Russian hockey player, Petrov.

"Who asked for that?" Buzz asked.

"I did," Jannie told them. "He got it when I put the paper in front of him and did charades."

"That's cool."

"Who asked for the underwear?" Silk asked. 'What did the person do?"

Jill started to laugh. "No, it wasn't me. Verchota asked this girl, but she slapped him."

"How's your face?" Jack asked.

"It hurts. You'd think since I scored the game winner today, I'd get some respect," Verchota muttered.

Jack raised his hand. "I went to bat. This guy seemed cool about it once I showed him the paper."

"It's really off of the guy?" Wells asked.

"Let's just say he's going commando," Jannie replied. "I just hope it's not obvious."

Marie was laughing so hard that small tears were falling down her cheeks. "This was fun. Thanks for… making it up, guys."

The group agreed. From there they did whatever they wanted to, like celebrate that they were in the finals.