Arrogantly, he strode into the room, looking for something. “Brad,” he said angrily, “where is my hockey equipment?!”

“Check your car, you pretty much live in there” said Brad.

“Don’t talk to me like that, and I already checked.” Eagerly Brad began to help out his older brother, who just started his senior year in high school, to find his hockey equipment. Frantically searching, he couldn’t find the ratty jersey and wooden hockey stick.

“Good luck finding your equipment; you know mom is going to be pissed if you lost your stuff.”

He sat there trying to remember where he placed his dad’s jersey. “I know, you don’t have to tell me, I’m going to be mad too if I can’t find it.” Looking in his car and every other place he could think of, he decided to skip practice. Kyle heard the garage door opening, knowing his mom had arrived home and that he would be in trouble for skipping practice.

“Just what do you think you’re doing home, you can’t be skipping practice.”

“Mom, don’t be mad, but I can’t find dad’s old jersey anywhere.”

Next thing you know, she had the saddest look on her face.

“Oh mom, I’ll find it, don’t worry, it means a lot to both of us.”

Pacing around the living room, Kyle was trying to figure out where he placed the jersey, so his mom wasn’t too upset. Quickly, he asked his coach if anything had been left in the locker room from last practice. Resting his head on his arms, waiting for an answer, his mom came downstairs. “Son, I hope you find that jersey, it’s one of the few memories I have left of him.”

The phone rang, and Kyle rushed to answer it. Urgently, he rushed to the school to search one last time. Very slowly he did one last check before going home; he was still too upset to go to practice. While he was on his way home his mind raced back and forth through all of the places it could be and all the places he had already looked. Xavier, one of his hockey buddies, called him wondering where he was, and when Kyle told him, Xavier suggested that he check under his bed, but Kyle claimed that was a silly idea, and that there was no way it would be under there. Yawning and feeling exhausted, Kyle slumped into the couch feeling defeated. Zipper, meanwhile, decided to check under his bed for him, finding the missing jersey, and drug it out to the front lawn.