Oh the allergies this morning. Still we must soldier on. And so with no further prompting, and a few watery eyed sniffles, we set the timer and begin. Let’s go.
I kind of like this one. I am not entirely sure where it is going, but I think poor George is going to find it harder to quit the team than he planned.
Thursday, March 2nd: It was a fluke.
It was a fluke. Sure he aimed at the goal and hit it, but he aimed at that goal over a thousand times in practice and never hit it. Still he hit it today and the crowd went wild. He the alternate, brought in off the bench because of an injury to their star player scored the only goal of the game.
Each team’s defense was so good no one could have gotten past them. It was hoped by the other team that causing injury to one of their strongest players would have swayed the odds in their favor. When he took his place in the lineup he could see the smirks on the other team’s faces.
He would like to say it fired him up, that it caused some well of determination to expand and fill him, exhorting him to efforts he never thought possible. Mostly he felt tired befoire he began and irritated that he had to play. He was told that if he tried for a full season that his parents would stop pressuring him to play sports. All he had to do was try for one season. This was the last game of that one season and the first time he was allowed off of the bench.
In the stands, when he glanced in their direction, he could see both of his parents cheering. They were both athletes in their day and were stunned at his lack of natural athleticism. As all four of his grandparents were stunned by his parents’ skill at sports because it was something they all lacked, he thought it was something that skipped a generation. He supposed that it meant if he ever had any kids that they would be athletic. In general he didn’t sweat it much, but his lack of interest in athletics really seemed to bother his parents in ways he didn’t quite understand. He knew it wasn’t because their parents had issues with them playing.
When this all began he talked to his grandfather. He recounted the games of his father and said that while he didn’t enjoy them, he went because they loved it. He had much the same story from the others. Because his parents loved sport, his grandparent’s supported it He wasn’t certain why his parents held such an insistence that he follow in their footsteps.
The crowd settled down and George managed to make it through the rest of the game. There were no more goal scoring points from him, but as ths rest of the team managed to keep the other team from scoring at all the final score was one to zero. His team won.
The crowd went wild and George had to admit, that part he could understand. Their team hadn’t won a single game the entire year. This was their first win. It was the last came of the season so George thought it was like the prize in a box of crackerjacks. The loyal fans made it through the season and at the end were awards a win.
As they lined up to shake hands with the opposing team, George was just glad that this was the end. Their team would not be going to any form of play offs or special matches. He managed to make it through this last game. He managed to make it through the one season he promised his parents he would try, and now he was done. He reached the end of the line and headed off to the lockers with a smile on his face.
Ten til Midnight 