Joe watched in his mind"s eye as Matthew played at keeping the ball up in the air with head and knees and feet. Joe had asked for goalkeeping gloves for Christmas. Matt had teased him, suggesting that bigger hands would have been the thing to put on the list. They"d kicked the ball around and Joe had taken up position at the side gate, attempting to stop his brother scoring goals against the wooden planks.
Their mother had come out of the house, untying her apron as she came, to tell Matthew he"d be late for his shift. The shopping traffic would be murder at that time of the afternoon, just days before the holidays. Matthew had hoofed the ball high over the gate and into the back garden, laughing as he made his way to his car and Joe scurried away to retrieve it.
Matthew hadn"t checked b
