Sophia's Freedom

Chapter 102 : One last time.

After the embarrassing first half, it was time for us to get back and prove our worth. I mean imagine, the team consists of members who have never played the game ever. Abhinu had never touched a ball for 7 years, Monika, I have never seen her touch a basketball ever, Mom, really, she never had time to play the game, she had spent all her life taking care of us, I have no clue about Jessica and Aamaya really I know her level of skill, or... do I really know her level of skill... and here I have 2 of the players who have played professionally and Abhinu's team makes us look like as if we are a bunch of rookies struggling to play the game.

I decided to ignore the moment and concentrate on the match.

After halftime.

Sanjay continued his commentary. “I see a change in the referee. It seems like Mr. Shahi is going to be the match referee for the rest of the match. He throws the ball in the air and as usual because of auntie’s height she was not able to catch the ball and uncle pushed the ball towards Joe.”

“He catches the ball and before aunty could snatch it from him, he throws it off towards the hoop of the red team and THAT’S A SCORE…”

“I don’t believe it… Joe had scored a basket from the charity stripe and the referee has indicted a 3 pointer. I guess Joe must have felt bad because of what I commented earlier”

Everyone started laughing at the comment by Sanjay. The commentary continued “Aamaya, our beautiful cheerleader has the ball now and is stepping forward, J.P. is rushing towards her to get the ball, and there, she shouts at Abhinu and passes the ball at him, he holds the ball, and instead of taking a step, he manages to pass it over to Monika who is standing next to uncle.”

“Before uncle could snatch the ball from her, she starts to dribble the ball… she takes a step back, and suddenly, took a left turn and started to run towards the blue team… It seems like Uncle must have lost his balance at the sudden trick by Monika, however, he somehow manages to balance himself. Looks like Monika has an added advantage because of her height...” He pauses again and said "I guess being a lilliput really helps..."

At that time I was mad at Sanjay for calling my sister a lilliput, but right now I needed to concentrate on the match then get angry at him for making fun at my sister.

“I can see that Vikash is now trying to tackle Monika to get the ball off from her, I don’t believe my eyes, did I just see it right… she passes the ball over to Abhinu once again and with ease, she took a dip, did a 180-degree split and slid under Vikash’s legs which were stretched for tackling her. At that point as Abhinu passed the ball over to her once again, she catches the ball and directly threw it in the air for another score.”

“I don’t believe it, in my 8-year career as a basketball commentator, I have never seen someone combining gymnastics with basketball to score… It felt like a little ninja was playing basketball and giving the men a real tough time.”

*** What Monika just performed was beyond imaginable… as a matter of fact, everyone started cheering Monika for what she just did. It was one of the greatest feats ever performance in a basketball match. By the end of the match Monika, Mom, and Jessica were the stars of the match. I still can’t believe we lost the match even though our team was much better than them on paper… I am really ashamed of myself. I am still unable to get over it that we lost by just 2 points. I never knew Mom played basketball that well ***

By the time the match was over it was 4:45 P.M. Everyone looked tired, especially the player. We decided to disperse to get some rest.

As we were leaving the ground Mom, Abhinu, Jessica, Monika, Aamaya and I walked together towards the house. 

 “Mom…I never knew you played basketball that well…” I asked her.

“Yes Mom… I wanted to ask you the same… I have never witnessed you play any game before and today you were playing like a champion…” Monika stepped in.

Mom blushed and replied, “From where do you think the two of you got your basketball genes… obviously not from your dad.” She smiled at me and then continued “Before you were born, we used to play for the Meghalaya state team.”

“We…?” Abhinu asked.

“Yes… Me… your mom” and then she put her arms around Jessica and said “Jessica”

” The 3 of us played for Meghalaya state 16 years ago and today thanks to the 2 of you” looking at Abhinu and then to me, “you made us feel that the 3 best friends are playing one last match…”

It felt like Mom’s was speaking with a heavy heart as she said the word one last time…

Mom looked at Abhinu and said “Son… do you know you and your mom have the same skills… it felt like your mom’s spirit was inside you when you were playing today… You had the potential to be one of the greatest players in the world…”

I saw Jessica hugged Abhinu as if she was proud of her and then mom said something which shocked us all. “You might not know this but when I saw you perform the Banshee a couple of times, I was surprised. You might not be aware of this, but it was your mom who discovered this technique and over the years many athletes have tried and failed at this miserably.”

*** Wow… I never knew about this. I myself have tried the Banshee a few times but I have been unsuccessful every time. *** 

“Well, Mom I guess it is in the genes then…” I said.

I saw Abhinu blush when I quoted about the genes but then he spoke up “Aunty, actually, I am not the only one who is expert in this technique, there is another one who know this technique perfectly.”

“Who is he, son? It would be an honor to get to meet that athlete one day…” Mom asked.

“Aunty, he is she, and you know her very well…”

"A she !!!" mom replied in a surprised tone and then everyone began to look at Aamaya, the only other player besides Monika, whom we know with experience in Basketball, I have never seen my sister touching the basketball for nearly 7 years now. Aamaya looked surprised and said "Don't look at me Aunty..." and then we saw her pointing her finger towards Monika and said “It’s not me… it's Monika, she is the only other player who can perform the Banshee…”

“What… Monika… are you bluffing? Monika Banshee… you must be joking right?” asked Mom.

Abhinu suddenly replied “Yes Aunty… Monika is the only other player who knows this technique… if you don’t believe me, you can ask Sagar sir about it, he has seen her do that…”

For some reason, Abhinu’s face was showing signs of sorrow. It might be because we reminded him of his Mom. However, for no apparent reason, Aamaya said something which felt like a boon in disguise for Abhinu but apparently not for Aamaya.

“You know Aunty… my brother’s skills at basketball are the best… I used to feel extremely jealous of him whenever I see him and my Aarohi plays during the interstate matches” and she suddenly hugged Abhinu by his shoulder and kissed him on his cheek.

That was something that evoked Monika’s anger and she ended up commenting in her sarcastic tone “Yes and you decided to keep hurting him because of that Jealousy… What a great sister you are…?”

All of a sudden Mom shouted angrily at Monika “MONICA… SHUT IT… SHE IS ELDER TO YOU… HAVE I NOT TAUGHT YOU ANY MANNERS… is that the way to talk to your elders… Say sorry to her…”

“It’s ok Aunty… I should be prepared for such taunts… After what I and my family have done to Abhinu, people would definitely consider me a bad person… I failed him as a sister... its fine I should be ready for such taunts... there is no need to say sorry…”

*** Suddenly everyone stopped walking as mom started to look sternly at Monika expecting her to say sorry to Aamaya. Jessica was about to say something, but mom suddenly raised her palm towards her indicating her not to say a word. ***

For some reason, Monika didn’t resist or throw a tantrum and softly said “I am sorry didi… it will not happen again…” still pointing her head towards the ground and not having eye contact with either mom or Aamaya.

“That’s ok Monika… it's fine…” replied Aamaya as she placed her right hand on Monika’s arm.

*** I decided to hold Monika’s hand and take her away from there. Neither Mom nor Aamaya said anything. I could feel that Monika had tears in her eyes and decided to cheer her up by asking her about how she performed the 180-degree split and pestering her about teaching the same so that I can perform it in the next match I get to play. We kept walking and discussing about the match that we barely realised we were back into our rooms. ***