The Football Trials: All Out Attack by John Hickman

Author:John Hickman
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472944214
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2018-01-22T17:51:29+00:00

Tough Love

The next day, me and Mum sit with Granddad in the hospital. For the first time in ages, he’s not just sleeping all day and he’s able to talk. Sort of. It’s difficult for him, with his breathing.

“So...” he says. “How has everyone been?” His voice is all rough and croaky.

“Oh, you know,” says Mum. She looks over at me, and I feel really guilty.

“Have you been behaving?” he asks me.

I don’t answer.

“He has just been worried about you,” says Mum.

“About me?” asks Granddad. “I’m fit as a fiddle.” Then he coughs – a loud, nasty cough.

Mum jumps up out of her chair. “Are you OK?” she asks. “Anything I can do?”

“I’m fine,” he says. “Can you give us a minute?” he asks. “Me and the boy.”

She kisses him on the cheek, smiles at me and leaves the room.

Granddad waits for the door to close, before he says anything. “Your mum told me,” he says. “What you did.”

“What have I done?” I ask.

“Giving up the football,” he says.

I don’t answer.

“What have you done that for?” he asks.

I just look down at my feet.

“I can’t understand it,” he says. “After all that hard work?”

“What’s the point?” I ask him.

“How do you mean?”

“I’m never going to get anywhere, am I?” I tell him.

“What makes you think that?”

I don’t answer.

“You’re a big idiot,” he says. “Of course you will. I wouldn’t have spoken to Arthur, the United scout, if I didn’t think you were good.”

My heart stops a moment. I think back to where it all started – playing football with Wheeler in the park. I remember Arthur, this old man, standing there, with his little dog, watching us. I think about him giving me his card, telling me he was a scout. I didn’t believe him. Then I think about Granddad taking me to my trial, being there with me all the way. My lucky break with United is all thanks to Granddad.

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