the curse has been lifted and other notes

6:00 am the phone rings. db is up but not answering so I get out of bed because the thought occurs to me that it could be important. No one phones at 6 am unless it's important. I grab the phone too late. Hello? Dial tone. So I star 69 to see the number (no, we don't have call display) and I can hear my brother leaving a message. All I hear is the end of the number of where he is and this: "call me it's very important."

I fumble around with the buttons on the phone trying to hear his message again and I scribble down the number in the dark. I call him. He answers at his work number.

me: What's going on?
bro: the curse has been lifted!
me: What?
bro: the old man is dead!
me: Who's dead
bro: Bill Wirtz
me: Oh my god. When did this happen? (I have no idea who this is, but I express concern)
bro: Yesterday. The curse is lifted man. Aren't you monkeys up? Isn't db making coffee?
me: He's up. I'm in bed! It's six in the morning.
bro: The blackhawks are going to have a great season.

BING!

The lightbulb goes on (only in my head. I leave the bedside light off to stay in the dark). This is hockey talk. He needs to be talking to db.

me: okay I'm putting db on because you should be talking to him. (subtext: I don't give a rat's ass at 6 am).
bro: put him on.
me: You know I'm going to kill you for this.
bro: Yeah, yeah.
me: (As I'm passing the phone to db) I'm going to kill you.

At that point db takes over the phone. He later explains to me that my brother believes the team was cursed because Wirtz ran it poorly by doing things like not televising home games. Huh?

We're also joining bro's hockey pool so I've got to make some picks now. I guess the season has officially begun.


***

Roaming Writer is moving to a little place just outside of Nelson. While I'm sad to see her go I'm glad she'll be going to a place she really wants to be. She's bought a place there and it even has a little studio separate from the house that will become her writing space/office. What a dream!

I went to graduate school with her and when she moved back to BC I somewhat lost touch with her. Recently she emailed me out of the blue for some help with dialogue on a script. We never did get to that project, but we reconnected which was cool and she showed me parts of the city that I probably wouldn't have visited on my own.

Have a great trip Roaming Writer. I'll be visiting as soon as I can.

***
db's bread book that I got him for his birthday noted regarding sourdough:
"The yeast and bacteria from the soured leaven will provide B vitamins and biotin (important if you follow a vegan diet).
So here's to the sourdough. db made a beautiful loaf this weekend.