Beartown

When Kira had started working, Peter had stayed at home with Isak, their son. When the child cried, Peter would put on records that seemed to calm him. Now Peter buys records in secret and has them delivered to his office so Kira won’t know and insists that they buy a bigger house to store them in.

In the locker room, Bobo makes fun of Amat and his mother, saying that she needs to come in and clean up after them. Lars sends them out onto the ice. As Kevin passes Amat, he asks him if he knows Maya. He asks Amat if she has a boyfriend. Amat tells him no, feeling his heart sink. On the ice, Amat looks around and prepares to show everyone that he can play.

Fatima is in the washroom, hunched over, whimpering in pain. Her back hurts badly all the time, but she hides it from everyone because she needs her job. When she goes into Peter’s office to clean, she is surprised to see him there. He tells her that Amat is with the junior team. He takes her to the window and shows her that her son is on the ice. She begins to cry and stands up straight in pride.

The first 45 minutes of practice are brutal for Amat. Everyone checks him. Players hit his wrists with sticks and laugh at him. He begins to feel overmatched and wonders if David is playing a trick on him. Then David says that he wants Bobo and Amat to go one-on-one. The one-on-one drill involves two players in a narrow space marked by cones. Amat has to get by Bobo with the puck but there is little space. Bobo smashes him repeatedly and tells him to stay down with concern in his voice. Amat is bleeding and weak, and he realizes that David is trying to use him as a sacrifice: he thinks that David wants the team to see the beating so that they will be ready to kill the other team the next day. Amat gets to his feet many times, and finally gets by Bobo with a quick move, then scores on the goalie with a tricky shot, using the advice David had given him about Kevin. Bobo rushes him in a rage but is tackled by Benji, who tells him to stop.

Lars tells Amat that he is playing tomorrow. When he goes into the locker room, Amat’s shoes have been destroyed and his dry clothes have been put in the shower and are soaked. He is in pain, but “[i]t’s the best day of his life” (100).

Peter takes his car to the mechanic, an old friend and former teammate he calls Hog. He is Bobo’s father. Peter says he’ll walk home.

Ramona owns the Bearskin pub and is a mother figure to the hockey fans that come there, known as “The Pack” (107). The Pack members usually where black jackets and often use violence and intimidation to bully other teams, and the fans of other teams. She sees Peter walking by and he asks for a cup of coffee. She won’t let him pay, but he puts the money in the kitty, which is for Robbie Holtz, who has lost his factory job. He asks her if she thinks they take hockey too seriously. She was a fan but hasn’t been to a game in 11 years—since her husband Holger died. She says, “The only thing the sport gives us are moments. But what the hell is life, Peter, apart from moments?” (109).

Kira remembers visiting a psychologist who diagnosed her with panic attacks, which embarrassed her because she is strong and competent. She thinks, “Being a parent makes you feel like a blanket that’s always too small” (110). She realizes that she is also nervous about today’s game. When she goes by Maya’s room, she hears her whimper. Maya is asleep and her forehead feels hot. In two hours, she will insist on going to the game, which will surprise Kira: “In hindsight Kira will wish a thousand times over that she had forced her daughter to stay home” (110).

Benji goes to the kennels that his sister Adri owns. His sisters Katia and Gaby arrive and they eat breakfast, surrounded by dogs: “They do this once a year, a quiet act of remembrance, always early in the morning so their mother doesn’t find out” (112). Then Benji goes to his father’s grave at the cemetery and smokes a joint until he begins to cry. Fifteen years ago to the day, his father had gone into the forest with a rifle and shot himself.

Kevin is practicing in the garden. His mother tells him that they are going to drop him off at the rink on their way to Madrid. He asks if they will please stay for the first period, and she says they don’t have time. His mother realizes that she never learned to communicate with him. She sometimes worries that she has neglected him. She promises him that they will come to the final and they get in the car, where his father quizzes him about an upcoming English exam. Once, Kevin mentioned that Benji’s mother sees all of Benji’s games, and his father said, “My job is to be your father, not your friend” (115). When they drop Kevin off and then drive away, Kevin notices that there are more parents than players in the parking lot. It is a big day for them, too.

His mother turns around and looks at him as they leave. She will always remember “[h]ow her son looks as he stands in the parking lot. On the biggest day of his life he is the loneliest boy on earth” (117).

Inside, Amat walks up to Maya and tells her that he is playing today. While he is awkwardly trying to ask her out after the game, Kevin appears. He invites her to his house that night for a victory party while his parents are away. Ana asks if Benji will be there, and Kevin tells Amat that he plans on him being there as well, now that he’s part of the team.

At the rink, Peter runs into a former teammate nicknamed “Tails” (124). Tails now owns a couple of supermarkets. He had been a mediocre player but a lover of competition, which had translated well into his salesmanship. He tells Peter that he and some of the other sponsors and board members plan on moving the hockey academy to Beartown after the win.

Fatima makes her way through the crowd outside with her ticket. A player’s mother—Maggan Lyn—who knows she is the cleaner demands that she clean up a broken glass. Kira appears and tells her that Fatima isn’t there to work but to watch Amat play. Fatima asks if she can sit next to Kira, and Kira says she should be asking to sit next to her.

The noise in the locker room is chaotic, and Amat can’t concentrate. Maggan Lyn and some of the other parents are there. When David enters, Lars begins to show them out. Maggan demands to know why Amat is there and why David is making last-minute changes to the team. She says she has sacrificed everything. David makes Amat stand in front of her and asks her if she really thinks her son and her family have worked harder to get there than Amat. Then he goes to William Lyt and says, “We play for ourselves, William. No one else. You and I, we play for ourselves. Because we got ourselves here. No one else did” (133).

David makes a brief speech to the players, tells them to win, and sends them out onto the ice.

Kevin scores a goal in the first minute. The other team quickly turns it around and leads 2-1. Amat cannot believe that they are only down by one given how powerful the other team is. He believes they could have beaten Beartown’s A-team. At intermission, he hears someone in the stand say that a semifinal is nothing to be ashamed of and is “surprised at how angry that makes him. […] By the time he enters the room he’s ready to smash something. David is the only person who notices” (139).

Robbie goes into the Bearskin to find Ramona putting on clothes to go outside in. She tells him she’s going to the game and he’s coming with her. But when she gets to the doors she can’t go further. She promises to erase Robby’s tab if he will go to the game and tell her about it.

Benji scores and ties the game 2-2. William Lyt gets the assist but is so exhausted that he can barely move. David sends Amat into the game and tells him that he just wants them all to see how fast he is, whether he has the puck or not. For three faceoffs in a row, David has Amat race up and down the rink without the puck. The crowd laughs at him, thinking he is confused. Bobo sees the strategy and starts shouting advice to Amat. In the final faceoff, Kevin and Benji ask Amat if he’s ready. Amat manages to get the puck, race away from the defenders, and give Kevin an assist, allowing him to score the final goal. Beartown wins.

Outside, Ramona hears the sound and says, “I love you” (146) to Holger.

Kevin turns, ignores the other players, and goes to hug David. “For you” (146), he says, and David holds him like he is his own son. Amat gets to his feet alone. No one is watching him. The rest of the crowd and Maya are watching Kevin.

At the final whistle, Peter begins jumping and screaming and hugging everyone he can find. He realizes that he is hugging Robbie Holts: “They stop and look at each other, then start laughing and can’t stop. For this one evening they’re seventeen years old again” (147).

Peter goes into the locker room, which is empty except for Amat. Amat is picking up strips of tape, saying he wants to get the worst of it so his mother won’t have to, and he asks Peter not to tell her. He tells Amat that he needs to go out through the front doors so he can experience the aftermath of a match like this. Not many people get to.

Outside, Bobo hugs him, Benji tousles his hair, and everyone applauds him: “Afterwards he will remember thinking, ‘How can anyone experience this without thinking he’s a god?’” (151).

Peter goes to the president’s office, where Tails and other sponsors are drunk. Peter leaves and sees David in the hall. David says he is going to leave and watch the video of the game. He won’t celebrate until they win the final. He tells Peter that he knows about Sune getting fired, and that David has made the win possible through his coaching, but he tells Peter, “Don’t try to kid yourself that this isn’t your decision” (154).

Outside, Fatima kisses Amat and tells him to go enjoy his moment. On the edge of the crowd, Zacharias watches Amat move away with the others, on his way to the party, after which “nothing will ever be quite the same again” (155).

When Kira sees Peter, she kisses him so hard that it embarrasses him. She says that he isn’t as happy as he should be, and asks about Sune. Out the window, they watch Maya and Ana leave with the players on the way to the party, although Maya has told them that she and Ana are going to go to Ana’s to study.

At the party, Kevin is the only one who isn’t enjoying it. He has drink after drink but can’t relax. When Amat arrives, he can’t believe that only one family lives in the house. Lyt, already very drunk, tells him that he can have any girl there that he wants.

Maya and Ana arrive, and Kevin greets them. Benji leaves, telling Kevin that he doesn’t “party with little girls” (161) and that they’re only 15. As Kevin watches him go, he’s envious. He knows that girls like him because he’s good at hockey, but it’s different for Benji, who “isn’t tied to anything [and] just doesn’t care” (162). Kevin thinks that Benji is the only truly free person he knows, but the narrative states, “That’s the last time they’ll see each other in their childhood. That ends tonight” (163).