Bruno Caboclo walked away from his locker and sat down in an empty chair next to Jaren Jackson’s, a sad expression on his face. “I looked all over the locker room for Marc, but couldn’t find him,” he told his rookie teammate. “I wanted to see if he wanted to hang out tonight and celebrate the good game I had.” Marc had always been friendly, wise, and supportive towards him.
“Uh…” Jaren started, looking uncomfortable. “Did you not h-”
Bruno had a sudden thought. He hadn’t checked the toilets. Maybe Marc was in there! But when he poked his head in, all the stalls were empty, and he returned to his seat just as sad as before. “I don’t know where he went! Why wouldn’t he be here with us? Did he get sick?” He glanced at the locker where Marc always got undressed after games and felt a fresh pang of misery when it was just as empty as when Bruno had looked last.
“You weren’t paying attention to the trade deadline?” Jaren asked.
Bruno shook his head. “I don’t know what that is,” he told Jaren. He was familiar with the concept of trades, but he was ignorant of most of the business aspects of the league. But now that the word “trade” had been used, a brief flash of worry crossed his mind. Would it be possible for Marc to be traded? He quickly dismissed the idea; Marc was the soul of the Grizzlies. Without him, there was no team. He could never be traded.
“After today, nobody can make any more trades,” Jaren explained. “So a lot of people got moved around. Including, uh, Marc.”
There was a pause as Bruno processed this information. Finally, he spoke again. “No. They didn’t trade Marc. Don’t tell lies to me!”
Jaren was wincing at Bruno’s negative reaction to the news. “They did. To the Raptors.”
The Raptors? Bruno knew about them. It was cold up in Canada. Cold and lonely. “He didn’t even say goodbye to me,” he said quietly. “I wonder if he knows that I scored 16 points.”
“I bet he does,” Jaren said, patting Bruno’s shoulder. “Look on the bright side. We’re getting your old friend Jonas in return.”
Bruno smiled. Jonas was cool, and it would be nice to have somebody familiar around as he got used to his Grizzlies teammates. He was about to say more to Jaren when his phone buzzed in his pocket. When he took it out, he saw he had a new text. From Marc.
“Way to go on the sixteen points. Gonna miss you man!” it read. Bruno’s smile grew wider. Marc had remembered. And Bruno would never forget.