December 29, 1942: Detroit, MI:
Jack Barrell's head appeared in the frame of the door to Rollie's office.
"Boo!" Jack shouted, and then barked a sharp laugh as Rollie, looking over some papers as he sat behind his desk, nearly jumped out of his seat.
"Jack! What the hell!?!" Rollie said, reaching out to straighten a photo on his desk that he'd almost knocked over in surprise. "You trying to give me a heart attack?"
Jack shook his head, still grinning widely as he crossed the four feet of carpet and sat down across the desk from his brother.
Rollie eyed him suspiciously. "How'd you get in here, anyway?" he asked.
Jack smirked and said, "I flirted with your secretary a little. I think she likes me." He punctuated this statement with a wink.
Now Rollie laughed and said, "That'll be the day." His secretary was a 60-year-old no-nonsense woman. Francie called her the "battle-axe" and thoroughly approved of her because she was able to keep Rollie "in line."
Jack sat back and gave his brother an appraising gaze. "You look pretty good, old boy. How was Georgia?"
"Good. It's always good to get back to the farm," he said, then added, "This year's gathering was a bit melancholy, to be honest."
"How so?"
"Well, for one thing Pop is finally retired and he doesn't like it. Mom, of course, doesn't like that Pop doesn't like retirement. Then there's the war. Both Mom and Pop are worried about more of the family ending up in the service. Fred's off training somewhere in Maryland, though that's all supposed to be hush-hush. James is in England now, flying bombers and presumably dropping bombs on Germans. Roger... well, he's in the Pacific somewhere, my guess is Guadalcanal, but we don't really know for sure. Pop's reluctant to ask his D.C. connections for info, says he 'understands why this stuff needs to be secret.'"
Jack nodded. "Yes, I worry about Aggie and she's just in California at language school. She's hell-bent on getting posted to Pearl Harbor. Who knows if the Japanese will attack there again?"
Rollie shook his head slowly. "You'd think that the two of us, both having only daughters and no sons, would be safe from worrying," he said with a grimace.
Jack tipped his head to the side and asked, "Something going on with your girls?"
Rollie waved a hand. "Marty's been making noise about joining the WAVES. She started dating this fellow - Jack McCarver's his name - he's a back, plays for Pittsburgh. Well, he joined the Navy and now that she sees Aggie out there serving... well, she's thinking about it too."
"Isn't she still in college?"
"Yeah, but she says she can finish school 'after the war' as if we know when that'll be."
"Hmm... yeah. Well, at least Jean and Vera aren't making any noise. Marie has them on a tight leash, and I think that's just peachy." Jack said and chuckled.
Rollie and Jack sat quietly for a moment, thinking. Then Rollie broke the silence. "So, how are things with you? Team's looking pretty good I hear."
Jack nodded. "Yep, we've got a good group. I feel like we have a great shot at winning the Cup this year. Of course, those pesky insects in Boston aren't going away." Jack's Detroit Motors hockey club had reached the Challenge Cup Finals the previous season but lost to the Boston Bees. He explained to his brother that he was looking forward to getting a rematch. "Still a lot of hockey to be played, though," he concluded.
Rollie nodded. "I hear Doug Yeadon is pretty good," he said.
"Indeed he is," Jack agreed. "His father, Bill Yeadon, always did right by me. I'd return the favor with his son regardless, but the fact that the kid is so damn talented makes it a win-win scenario, you know?" he laughed again. He turned serious, "How about you? You guys had a bit of a rough year."
Rollie waved the papers he was looking at. "Yes. I don't know... Yurik is driving me crazy to be honest. He has a partial ownership stake so getting rid of him would be a chore. But we've only got so many chances with Stan Vaught." Frank Yurik had been the Maroons coach since the very beginning and he and Rollie butted heads often, much of it due to the team's star player Stan Vaught.
Rollie explained, "This here is Vaught's contract for 1943. Stan's a good guy and very reasonable. But Yurik thinks he has a big head and is overpaid. I let him run the player personnel side, you know, and this contract..." he waved the papers again, "is an insult to Vaught. I might have to override him on this."
"Does Vaught know about any of this?" Jack asked. He had player personnel input with his team, but Junior Connelly held the purse strings and the Motors' GM was mainly a business-side guy. Junior and Jack worked well together, something that Rollie and Frank Yurik apparently did not.
"Yeah and he's been making noise about retiring."
Jack's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Retire? Didn't he have like 80 catches this year?"
"Yes, 84 to be exact. For over 1200 yards and he scored 17 touchdowns. And he's our best kicker too."
Jack whistled approvingly. "Yeah, you can't let Yurik screw this up, Rollie."
"Tell me about it," Rollie said and groaned.
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Stan Vaught of the Detroit Maroons