Summer of Monsters by Tony Thompson

Author:Tony Thompson [Thompson, Tony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781925081985
Publisher: Walker Books Australia
Published: 2014-09-03T04:00:00+00:00

Lords Cricket Ground, 1805

Harrow vs Eton

“Who is the fellow batting?” Percy asked his friend, Tom, as he was sent out on the ground.

The sheer absurdity of sending Percy Shelley into the game appealed to some of the Eton team members. Though he was no longer the constant target of their scorn, he was still their “Mad Shelley.” But they had a substantial total at this point and it seemed unlikely that Harrow would be able to come anywhere close before tea.

“Just get out there and do your magic, ha ha! Never you mind who’s at bat, just watch the ball and be ready.”

Shelley walked out to relieve an injured fielder. He couldn’t catch, let alone run. The batsman smiled as he walked to his position. He was a solid fellow with dark curly hair. He tipped his hat to Shelley who returned the gesture. He noticed that the young man moved oddly. There was, Shelley noted, something wrong with his right foot, giving him a pronounced limp. It seemed to have little effect on his batting ability however.

The next ball came straight to Shelley, who failed to stop it before it rolled across the barrier and added to the score. The next ball went over his head for a six. He changed positions with another fielder. The batsman seemed to have picked him and now batted towards him again. Shelley managed to scoop up this ball and toss it to another player who ran forwards and threw it at the wicket. He missed.

The curly haired batsman hit ball after ball, and suddenly Harrow’s score began to look respectable. Shelley was increasingly intrigued by the boy. His studied demeanour was meant to suggest that he didn’t care one bit what anyone thought. Yet it was clear he was nothing short of an actor in performance. Every move he made seemed to be part of a role he was playing. Today he was the victorious sportsman, tomorrow he might be the wounded lover.

Shelley played roles too but he was having trouble convincing anyone, most of all himself, that he could play cricket. He dropped catches and gave away run after run. The other boys didn’t seem terribly interested. He knew what they would say. If they won, it would be a great laugh because they did so with Mad Shelley on the field and if they lost, it would be a shame forever associated with Mad Shelley. He wondered sometimes what was worse. They had nearly killed him several times when he was younger. They had destroyed his books, his clothes and his room on many occasions. He had been held under water, hung from the neck and thrown out of a second floor window. And then he had been temporarily expelled while his tormentors sang in the choir and bided their time until Oxford and careers in the navy or politics or both. When he returned, he was welcomed as a beloved old toy with a broken part. They treated him with a dismissive humour that he found infuriating.

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