The Brother

Chapter Twenty

“Where’s the speedometer?” asked Jace. He remembered seeing a digital speedometer in Alby’s car and also in his brother’s gold themed bike. But in this bike, a bright red cursive “Grace” seemed to have replaced the speedometer.

“We don’t have those on bikes. These things are limited by their speed. The maximum speed is seventy kilometers per hours, at least according to the manufacturer.”

The street wasn’t as crowded as Jace had expected it to be. There were a couple of cars, both brown, coming towards them. “Why is there no traffic?” asked Jace.

“Well, there’s still an hour of work left for the people to do.” she said.

They were now heading in the same direction/ But the number of buildings on either side had reduced significantly and Jace could see greenery in the distance. He could hear the birds chirping as they passed by the last of the buildings.

Jace began to feel a little uneasy. They were out of Albik and he didn’t have any idea where she was taking him. He felt his body stiffen as a cold wave passed through his body.

“Are you alright?” she said. “If you’re feeling sick, then let me know, I don’t want you puking on my back.”

“No and no.” said Jace. “Where are we going?”

“I told you.” she said. “To meet some of my friends.”

“In the forest?”

“Next to the forest.” she said. “We can’t play in the city because there’s not enough space. I remember Barlum having at least ten parks. Albik has only one.”

“Why don’t you people play over there?” asked Jace and immediately felt stupid. He remembered the number of times he and his friends had to go back home with their shoulders slumped because their favourite park was occupied by a bunch of grown ups playing cricket.

“There’s a lot of people who prefer to spend time over there. At this time of the day the place is swarming with middle aged men who are jobless. They seem to think that a game of football will help them solve their problems.”

Some things never change - thought Jace. “Wait a minute. Did you just say football?”

“Yeah. You don’t know football? The one where a bunch of people kick the ball and put it in the net?”

Oh, I most certainly do - thought Jace. If there was one thing that Jace was good at, other than archery, it would be football. He had represented Karnataka in the nationals only to lose in the semifinals against Delhi.

“I didn’t know you played football.” said Jace.

He could see a barren area which appeared to be at least a hundred meters long.. The forest was at least a couple of hundreds of meters from here.There was a cluster of teenagers standing at the middle of the ground.

“We all like to play. Although I’m a bit bad at it.” said Grace. “We’re here.”

Grace parked the bike under the shade of a tree that was nearest to the wasteland. They got off and headed towards the ground. The people broke off from their cluster and turned to look at Grace with smiles on their faces. Jace could see that there were nine people, four girls and five boys. They were all wearing tank tops and shorts of various colors.

One of them came towards them, or at least towards Grace, and said, “For a moment we thought you weren’t coming. So we were busy making teams.”

“Jace, this is Sergio.” she said and turned to Sergio. “He’s new here. So let him play.”

“Hey” said Jace.

Sergio didn’t greet him back. “We can’t make teams. One of the teams will end up getting an extra player.”

“It’s alright.” said a girl whom Jace couldn’t see simply because his view was covered by Sergio. “I’m willing to play with one less player. Let him play.”

“He’s going to be in your team.” said Sergio. “I’m getting Grace and Max. He’s not yet called.”

“No problem.” said the girl. Sergio went to one side of the pitch and stood there. Grace and four others went in his direction. Jace went to the opposite side where the girl who had stood up for him was standing.

He could see that she was a black woman with a round face. Her hair, which was dark, was shoulder length. “Thanks” he said.

“It’s alright. I’m Antonella.” she said. “Are you good in football?”

“Yeah. I’m a good defender.” he said.

“Good. Then you’re my centre back. Cynthia and Takefusa, you two are gonna have to work a bit hard in midfield. Track back as soon as they’ve got the ball. And Adah, you’ll be the forward. Don’t expect to get too many balls from them” said Antonella and pointed to both the midfielders. “They’ll be a bit busy. So you’re gonna have to do some solo work. Now let’s go and win that bet!”

They broke off from their huddle and stood in their designated positions. Jace turned back to see Antonella, who was looking straight ahead at the opposition, and said,”How much did we bet on?”

“Three thousand mal” she said. “Just so you know, we’re playing golden goal.”

Golden goal was a game in which the first team to score won the game.

“That’s a lot of money.” said Jace. He was sure that there was just two hundred mal in his pocket. A quick calculation in his mind told him that he was four hundred mal short. I can’t lose.

The opposing side broke from their cluster. Sergio was the only defender. There were three midfielders and a forward. Grace was the attacking midfielder. Jace made a mental note of the formation and it didn’t take long for him to realize that his opposition would be in the offensive mode right from the kick off.

“Antonella.” called out Sergio. He was smiling. “You’re a man short. Start the game.”

“That’s so generous of you.” said Antonella with a slightly sarcastic tone in her voice.

“I hate that guy.” muttered Cynthia.

“Alright.” said Adah and passed the ball to Takefusa from the center of the field.

Jace could see that these people were good in football. He watched Takefusa dribble past an opposition midfielder and switch the play by passing the ball to Cynthia. She did not waste the opportunity as she dribbled a bit forward and with a step over easily beat the midfielder who was defending her. She cut inside and squared it to Adah. Adah took this big chance and shot the ball first time but watched it go over the crossbar as Sergio deflected it with a header.

Why didn’t I get a team like this in the semifinals? - thought Jace.

It was Takefusa who went to take a corner and it wasn’t the best of efforts. The ball swerved a bit too close to the goalkeeper who chose to punch the ball. Grace, controlled the ball really well with a brilliant first touch and dribbled towards Jace with incredible pace. Jace had played this scenario over a hundred times and knew what to do.

He kept his eyes on the ball and with his body slightly angled and trailed back along with her, ensuring that there was no way she would get past him. Grace did a step over and gave a through ball to her teammate. Didn’t see that coming - thought Jace as he raced his way towards the net.

He knew what was going to happen and he knew what he had to do. Everything depends on the timing - thought Jace as he watched the Antonella rush in towards the attacker. The striker chipped the ball over her head, and Jace dived with his body a couple of feet off the ground. With a flick of his head, he sent the ball back to Grace.

Jace knew he didn’t have time to rest on his laurels and was instantly on his feet and was annoyed that the midfielders had still not arrived. Grace took a shot and it was aimed for the top corner. Her skills were evident as the ball curved towards the top corner, only to be saved by a diving Antonella.

“That’s brilliant.” said Jace and was pleased to see the ball go out.

One of the midfielders from the opposition took the corner, it was headed straight to the hands of Antonella. She did not waste any time and quickly threw the ball to Cynthia who was a bit free. Cynthia was brilliant with her acceleration as she was instantly clear of the defenders.

With a quick glance she noticed that Adah was marked by Sergio. She decided to take the ball all the way towards the opposition as she dribbled straight ahead. Having no choice, Sergio tried to cut back her run and went for the slide tackle. With a perfect back heel, she passed the ball to Takefusa, who gave a lofted through ball to Adah.

The opposition goalkeeper rushed forward and Adah realized that she took off a bit too early as she saw the ball approaching a little slower than she had expected. Having no choice, she went for the magnificent as she spun around and took off into the air and scored the perfect goal with an overhead kick.

“That was brilliant!” said Jace as he ran with his towards Adah, who was now sitting on the ground with a big smile on her face.

“No.” said Adah. “I do this almost everyday. You’re the one who saved the match with that header.”

Jace was genuinely surprised at the amount of respect he got for clearing the goal as more and more praises poured in from both the sides.

“That was a great game.Will you join us tomorrow?” asked Sergio.

“If you want me to.” said Jace.

“Sure. You’re gonna be in my team.” said Sergio.

“Two defenders in the same team?” asked Adah with a fake worry in her voice.