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slap shot, hoist, snap shot, saucer pass, bouncer – and choose the speed of shot, from “minor hockey” to “ NHL .” The “Nishikawa Stinger” will run off electricity and be entirely portable, for use everywhere from an NHL rink to an outdoor rink to a driveway. Cost to be determined.
    Nish and Data – well, actually Data – were busy drawing up models on Data’s tablet. Data wasalso compiling a list of materials necessary for them to build the first prototype of the machine.
    Travis wondered exactly what Nish had done apart from lend his name to the ridiculous idea.
    Travis was not the only one wondering about Nish. His teammates were still talking about Nish’s lack of hotdogging after he had scored that spectacular goal against the River Rats.
    And then, of course, there was Nish’s mother.

    In the evening after the game against the River Rats, Muck asked Nish to meet him in the lobby. When Nish went down, fully expecting to be congratulated for his mature behavior following his magnificent goal, he found the Screech Owls’ coach sitting in a chair, rubbing his large hands together, and looking worried.
    “Sit down, young man,” Muck said seriously.
    Nish sat, his own hands twisting with concern.
    “I’ve received a call from your mother,” Muck began. “She told me about the postcard you sent her. I am presuming that this was your idea of a little joke, correct?”
    “No, sir. I meant it. I
mean
it. I’m going to quit school – just like Ben Franklin. I’m going to be a famous inventor.”
    “You do realize it’s against the law to quit school until you’re sixteen, don’t you?”
    “Ben Franklin was ten.”
    “Ben Franklin lived at a time when there was child labor. And people owned slaves. You don’t live back then, Mr. Nishikawa. You live now, and you’ve upset your mother rather badly.”
    “She’ll be proud of me when she sees what I’ve invented,” Nish countered.
    “And what’s that?”
    “A puck-shooting machine,” Nish said proudly. “Me ’n’ Data.”
    “Data and I.”
    “No,
me
’n’ Data! Not you ’n’ Data.”
    “And you don’t see why you still need to go to school?”
    “No, why?”
    Muck closed his eyes. He almost seemed to be giving up. But he had something to say and was determined to say it.
    “I want you to listen to me, young man,” he said to Nish. “And I want you to listen very closely.”
    Nish nodded.
    “You know I played junior hockey, correct?” Nish nodded again. “I played with people who went on to the NHL . It was good hockey.”
    “You were lucky.”
    “No, son. I was unlucky first, and only after that I got lucky. I broke this leg here.” Muck tapped his bad leg. “I broke it so badly I never played another game. I had no choice but to stick with school and try to make something of myself other than a hockey player. Other guys weren’t so lucky. They didn’t break their legs. Instead, hockey broke their hearts. Because they believed they would be playing in the National Hockey League, they dropped out of school the second they could. They had no need for school. They were hockey stars.
    “And they were – up to a point. They were stars when they were young, and average players when they got older and the competition got harder – and soon enough they just weren’t good enough. They didn’t make pro. And then they found out they had nothing to fall back on. They were lucky to end up selling cars or delivering beer. They put all their eggs in the hockey basket, and their eggs broke. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
    “You can’t play hockey with eggs?”
    “You’re a great smart aleck, Mr. Nishikawa, but you aren’t nearly as smart as you think you are. Now, I’m going to call your mother back and tell her you meant that card as a joke, okay? Are you good with that? Because that’s what it is, young man – a joke. Do you hear me?”
    Nish knew this was no time for fooling or playing dumb. And since that