TV SURPRISES (Chapter 30)

"Good, good," June, their ice dance coach, was saying. "Excellent." Sophia and Warren skated over to her. "You’re really getting that sequence down. I think you guys will be ready to test for juniors this spring. Then you can compete as Juniors next fall."

"You think we’re ready to test?" Sophia asked.

"Just about," June smiled. "You’ve made amazing progress in five hours a week."

"Oh, here we go again," Warren quipped, "The you-should-train-more lecture."

"Oh, I know you guys have other priorities. It’s just a shame to let such natural talent go to waste."

"Well, if it helps, June," Sophia told her, "we’ve been discussing it. We don’t know if we can do anything right now, but we intend to up our schedule significantly over the summer."

"That is," Warren added, "if we can afford it."

"Guys, if you guys pass the junior dance test, I can guarantee that I can get you some help from the USFSA for that."

"Great!" Warren exclaimed. "We’ll just have to pass that test, then. But, now, we have to go home and watch some real skaters on the TV."

"Oh, yeah, Nationals is on! Have fun, I’m gonna go catch it myself."

They were showing ice dance and men in the afternoon, ladies in the evening. Pairs had been on the day before. They never showed juniors on TV, but Warren had found out that his friends Andrea and Brett had won the junior pairs’ national championship.

In dance, Michelle Marino and Stefan Thomas had won their fourth straight national champion. Warren and Sophia loved them—they were a romantic, classic pair, which was Warren and Sophie’s style, as opposed to the overly-theatrical style that had become prevalent in ice dance. Youngsters Sharon Nicholas and Steve Coleman had won the silver, buying into the theatrical side of ice dance.

Next came the men. Ed Voorhees had been the US Champion forever, and was fully expected to defend his national title in an Olympic year, but Warren and Sophia were hoping that their friend, John Garrison, could finish second and make the Olympic team.

"Jack looks good in warm-ups," Sophia commented.

"Yeah, he just nailed a quad."

First up after the warm-ups was Dennis Kurlow, a whimsical and humorous skater who was always a crowd favorite. He fell on his first triple axel attempt, but was fine on everything else, and had Warren and Sophia smiling with his funny facial expressions and hand movements. Plus he had fantabulous footwork.

A couple skaters later, Dennis was still in first place, and it was Ed Voorhees’ turn.

He was perfect. Eight triples, a quad, and his usual stylish, flawless presentation.

"He’s such a good skater," Sophia commented. "And he always seems like such a good guy in interviews."

"Jack says that’s genuine," Warren told her. "I quote, ‘Ed Voorhees is the nicest guy in figure skating, and that’s a fact.’ Everybody in the US figure skating community loves him, because, besides being a great skater, he’s so classy."

Jack was last up. Skating to Mozart, he exhibited a style and flair all his own. He landed a beautiful quad—better than Ed’s—but two-footed his second triple axel. Still, Jack was known as an inconsistent skater, and he was plainly thrilled with his performance. As were Sophia and Warren.

"Oh, I am so happy for him!" Sophia exclaimed. "I think that’s the best I’ve ever seen him skate."

"I agree. I doubt he’ll beat Ed, not the way Ed skated, but that’s got to get him on the podium."

It did. Jack successfully defended his silver medal, Dennis Kurlow was third, with Ed first. All three would represent the USA at the Olympics.

After a trip to the local seafood restaurant for some supper, Warren and Sophia settled in back at Sophia’s house for the ladies’ long program.

The first skater up was Christine Arsenault, Warren’s chat buddy, who was fifth after the short program. She was thrilled to just be in the final group at her first senior nationals, and she skated very very well. Warren was shouting and cheering in the living room the whole time, prompting laughter from Sophia. She popped a triple salchow into a single, and her presentation wasn’t quite as good as the top skaters, but overall it was superb. She was thrilled as she left the ice, and thrilled with her marks. And, as she stood up to leave the kiss and cry area, she turned her back to the camera, flipped her skirt in the air for two seconds, turned back around, and shouted, "That was for you, Warren!!!"

Sophia just about died laughing. Warren turned purple. "I can not believe she just did that on national TV!"

After the next skater, who Zamboni’ed, they showed a backstage interview with Christine. After happily discussing her skate, the interviewer asked, "So, who’s Warren? Your boyfriend?"

Christine turned red, but laughed. "No, he’s not. And I’d better not say he is, because I know he’s watching this with Sophia, his girlfriend. Warren is a very good friend who I chat with regularly on the internet. Last year, when I was trying to learn the lutz, Warren, as encouragement which I very much appreciated, would tell me to get the lutz down because he expected to see my derriere on TV at Nationals."

The interviewer was bemused. "He certainly did."

"I know," said Christine, "and now I’m embarrassed. I apologize, America, it was an impulse. However, it was worth it, because I know it made my buddy turn bright purple. Love ya, Warren!" She walked off, leaving the interviewer in stitches.

"She’s shameless," Warren said, still blushing.

"Reminds me of Jessie," Sophia commented astutely.

Next up was Warren’s favorite, Stephie Eberhardt. She shaked her booty and landed enough jumps to pass Christine in the standings.

"Stop drooling, Romeo," Sophia commented dryly.

"Hey, did I give you crap about drooling over Jack Garrison?"

"You got me." Sophia smiled.

Next up was Ashley Ferris, the 14-year-old pint size jumping wonder. And she hit everything. Two triple-triple combinations, seven triples in all, and she skated with speed and attack.

"But there is nothing in between the jumps, and she’s about as musical as a pork chop," Sophie said.

"I agree," said Warren, as he watched the marks come up. "I can see the high technical marks, but 5.8s for

presentation? That’s insane."

"Well, they’ve left room for Liz, but not a whole lot of it."

Elizabeth Cushman was the final skater of the evening. She skated well, but did not have a triple-triple combination, and touched down with her free leg on her triple flip.

"They’ve gotta give it to her," Warren said. "Her presentation mark should be 5 tenths higher than Ashley’s—of course they didn’t leave room for that."

They didn’t give it to her. By a 6-3 split, Ashley Ferris was the new US Champion. Liz finished second, with Stephie Eberhardt third. Christine finished fourth, a placement Warren knew would thrill her.

"Damn," Sophia said.

"Damn is right. Sometimes this sport drives me up a wall."

Warren spent much of the next couple of weeks chatting with Liz online, trying to pump her spirits up before the Olympics. It didn’t work. Ashley Ferris became the Olympic champion, with Liz getting the silver. Liz told Warren she was going to stay in for another four years. Ashley grabbed the money and ran for the pros.

It was a more successful Olympics for the American Men, as Ed Voorhees won the silver medal, and Jack Garrison finished an impressive and encouraging sixth. He, too, planned to stay in for the next Olympics.

Dance was completely infuriating. Marino and Thomas were completely breathtaking—and finished sixth. Some typically over-theatrical super-frenetic Russian couple won.

"That ain’t ice dance," Sophia commented disgustedly.

"Do we really want to compete?" Warren joked.

"Sure, but here is reason one to not put all of our eggs in the Ice Dance basket. If Ice Dance is becoming doing pompous ridiculous theatrical movements to music that noone with any sense of rhythm can actually dance to, we won’t ever win anything!"