It sailed into the air. The Eastville defenders watched it spin behind their wall.
And drop safely at the boots of Josie, who snapped a quick, hard shot that belted past the goalie’s sprawled legs and into the goal.
Josie threw her hands into the air and fell to her knees. The Rovers were quick to jump all over her as the Eastville Kings players dragged themselves away from the goal area.
Vince and the Rovers’ parents burst into a celebratory frenzy. With their banner flying high behind them, they waved streamers, cheered and blew party horns.
Jasper felt like he floated back to his position with his boots hardly touching the ground.
‘Lucky shot,’ Badger hissed.
‘No it wasn’t,’ Jasper replied. ‘It was the sign of a good team.’
‘So what are you going to do if I disagree … punch me?’
During their last game against the Kings, Jasper had lost it over something Badger had said about Aamir. Jasper promised himself it would be the only red card he’d ever see up close.
‘Because if you do …’ but Badger was interrupted by the ref restarting the game.
The Eastville Kings played well, keeping the ball close to their feet and guarding possession carefully, but as they were moving in on the Rovers’ goal, Nippy intercepted a long cross pass and dribbled the ball speedily away. She passed to Nutmeg, who tapped it across to Jasper. Jasper was quickly surrounded by two defenders, but seeing Aamir on the wing, he sent him an outside hook. Two Kings players closed in on Aamir, who heard Lil call from behind. In a flash, he lifted his foot above the ball and dragged it behind him.
Lil ran onto the ball, giving Aamir time to break away from his defenders into free space. He sent her a quick wink before Lil sent the ball back to him. Aamir sent a well-struck lob into the air, bending it perfectly around the goalkeeper’s head and into the goal.
Right on full-time, the ref signalled the end of the game and shook his head, knowing not one of the Rovers was listening to him.
Aamir looked to the sky and yelled before doing a backflip from where he was standing. The Rovers surrounded him and quickly collapsed into a rolling scrum of wrestling, jostling players. Aamir’s dad raced from the sidelines and, through great, heaving sobs of happiness, recorded the Rovers’ grand final victory celebrations.
Through the jumble of arms and legs, Diego caught sight of Tricky standing by himself. Diego pulled himself away from the rumble and, pushing his hair out of his eyes, walked over and stood in front of him.
‘What?’ Tricky asked.
‘This.’ Diego leapt forward, grabbed his shirt and pulled him to the ground in a classic Diego wrestling hold. ‘You big dope.’
‘I am not!’ Tricky wheezed.
‘You are! And I’m not letting you up until you admit it.’
Jasper laughed and looked towards his mum and dad. In a sea of waving pompoms, streamers and banners, his mum was jumping up and down with Aamir’s mum and sister, Nadia, and Jasper’s dad was standing beside them, looking at him with that same proud smile he would have had even if they’d lost.
He heard the cheers and cries of the crowd all around him. He looked up and saw the crowd screaming and cheering, and behind them were Ronaldo, Beckham and Vieri. Kewell and Viduka. Pelé and Warren. Even Higsy and Richy. And best of all was his grandad. They were all in the grandstand, crying out and applauding with the crowd. Hundreds of thousands of them. He stood up and waved to them all, nodding his thanks. If it hadn’t been for their support, he might not have been here, on the final day of the World Cup. Celebrating the ultimate victory. The crowd threw flowers into the air that haloed around him and sank at his feet; girls blew kisses and sent paper aeroplanes at him with their phone numbers, and FIFA officials nodded their heads, knowing they had witnessed one of soccer’s finest moments.
Vince unravelled himself from the scrum. ‘Go the Rovers!’ His almost hysterical voice and hugging brought Jasper back from the World Cup to the Western District.
By now the parents had gathered round and were handing out drinks and oranges. Jasper’s mum and dad smothered him with kisses and hugs, repeating ‘I’m-so-proud-of-you’ a million times. Ronaldinho nosed his way past dusty boots and fallen down socks until he found Jasper. He nuzzled his furry head against him.
‘Hey you.’ Jasper picked up the terrier and they rubbed noses. ‘What’d you think of that then, eh?’
Ronaldinho barked and licked Jasper’s face.
‘Yeah, I think so too.’
‘Excuse me, everyone,’ Vince called out, but no one paid him any attention. ‘Rovers!’ he yelled louder but still nothing. He put his fingers between his teeth and whistled. ‘Hey! Look over here!’
Josie heard Vince first and tugged at the others. Eventually they disentangled themselves from their victory celebrations and hoisted each other up.
‘The trophy presentation is in ten minutes,’ Vince began. ‘But before we go over to the podium, I want to say one thing … Yeah!’ he screamed and punched his fist into the air.
The Rovers didn’t need much of an invitation to join in as well, while Aamir’s dad swooped his video camera around trying to record everything.
‘You did well. It takes a lot to be the team you are and you deserve this moment.’ Vince teared up as he looked into every player’s face. ‘The Rovers are a fine group of players and I’m proud of every one of you.’
The Rovers’ families swooped in on the players in frantic congratulatory jostling. Lil smiled and proudly nudged into her brother as he wiped his sleeve across his eyes. Noggin’s grandma wound a bright red Rovers scarf around his neck.
‘Thanks, Grandma. It’s the best.’
Aamir looked up through the dome of hands and faces and saw his dad’s camera work interrupted by joyful sobs. He pushed through to his dad and, with his mum and sister, laughed as they took turns wiping his dad’s tears with their hands.
The muffle of a loudspeaker announcing the award ceremony wafted over them.
‘This is it, everyone,’ Vince beamed. ‘It’s time to climb the winner’s podium.’
The entire grounds full of soccer fans swarmed towards the podium.
‘Jasper,’ Vince ran up behind him, ‘I want you to accept the trophy.’
‘But …’
‘No buts. You deserve it after bringing the beautiful game back to the Rovers.’
Jasper swept in a deep breath and nodded. His chest inflated as he saw the Rovers and Eastville Kings flags flying on either side of the podium, and beside it was a table with a golden soccer trophy and blue-ribboned gold and silver medallions lying in sweeping curves around it.
Aamir slapped Jasper on the back. ‘We did okay.’ He was smiling so wide Jasper wondered if it hurt his cheeks.
‘Yeah,’ Jasper nodded. ‘We did.’
The official part of the ceremony began, but Jasper found it hard to concentrate on what was being said as he looked around at the packed field, all here to celebrate their victory.
‘We’ve got some story to tell Nannu,’ Lil interrupted his thoughts.
‘It’ll be the best one yet,’ he smiled.
After the Eastville Kings stepped down from the podium with their silver medallions, the Rovers were called by name to take their place.
‘People will talk about this when I accept my FIFA award one day.’ Tricky stood tall as he prepared to step forward. ‘Watch me while I walk into my bright future.’
But as he went to take the first step, he tripped and fell face first onto the podium.
Josie laughed and helped him up. ‘You might actually have a future if you concentrated on being regular old Tricky and lose that fat head of yours.’
The rest of the Rovers followed them up the steps and accepted their medallions. They turned and faced the cheers of the audience.
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ the chairman announced, ‘it is my pleasure to present to you the winners of the Western District Soccer Championships �
�� the Rovers.’
The chairman handed the trophy to Jasper, but Tricky grabbed hold of it too and gave it a long, exaggerated kiss. The Rovers threw their hands into the air and held their medallions up to a hurricane of cheers from the crowd. Jasper held the trophy and whispered, ‘This one’s for you, Nannu.’
Jasper’s mum and dad were clapping wildly when Jasper saw his mum move away from the crowd and speak into her mobile phone. She covered one ear with her hand as she tried to speak over the noise.
He watched as her face changed, and he knew there was something wrong. He kept watching and wished that whatever had contorted her face would go away.
It didn’t.
She closed the phone, her face fraught, as if she was trying to work something out. She whispered something to Jasper’s dad and his face drained to white.
It didn’t fit, Jasper thought. Today was a great day. What could have happened to make them look so worried?
They both looked at Jasper and he knew. They didn’t have to say anything.
That sneaking fear that Jasper had had all the way to the game suddenly made sense.
He raced off the podium and ran towards his parents. Without a word, they made their way to the car, hurrying as fast as they could.
JOHNNY SAYS:
No other sport reflects life more than soccer. Perhaps that is one of the reasons it is so popular around the world. People relate closely to the ninety minutes of drama that unfolds before them in a match. In half the games we see, the best team doesn’t win, just as in life the most deserving person isn’t always rewarded. Soccer teaches you that life is sometimes unfair and it also teaches you that you have to just keep going in the face of adversity.
‘He’s had a stroke.’
The doctor said it like he was talking about someone else. Not Jasper’s grandad. How could he? Nannu was strong and healthy and took care of what he ate and had hardly had a sick day in his life. The doctor couldn’t be talking about him.
He couldn’t.
‘Is it bad?’ Jasper’s dad’s voice sounded small and shaky.
‘It was a mild stroke and he seems an otherwise fit man for someone his age.’
‘He played soccer for Australia,’ Jasper blurted out then squeezed his lips shut. His mum had her arms around his shoulders and held them even tighter.
‘That would explain it then.’ The doctor smiled warmly but Jasper only wanted to yell at him. Tell him he’d got it wrong. That he was a liar. Nannu couldn’t have had a stroke.
‘And that’ll help him a lot in his recovery, but I can talk to you more about that later. You can stay with him as long as you want.’
‘Jasper!’ Lil raced down the hospital corridor towards her friend, almost bowling over a nurse and knocking over a bearded man on crutches.
She came to a stop before Jasper, puffing.
‘Nannu’s had a stroke.’ Jasper frowned, annoyed with himself that he’d said it out loud, like somehow that was going to make it real.
‘I know. My mum phoned your mum.’
Vince and their parents hurried into the hospital behind her.
Lil took Jasper’s hand and squeezed it tight. ‘He’ll be okay, Jas. He will.’
It was the first time someone had said it, and he knew how much he’d needed to hear it.
Jasper remembered the last time he’d been in a hospital. It was after Lil had been floored during a game with the Reds, and the usual Lil smile and energy had been swapped with a white hospital gown version of herself. He needed Lil to be okay. To see her smiling again and know that the girl lying motionless and bent on the soccer field was just some kind of bad dream that didn’t belong to him. Didn’t belong to any of them.
It felt right that this time she was beside him.
‘Can you come in with me?’ Jasper asked.
Lil looked up at Jasper’s parents. They nodded.
‘Sure I can.’
‘We’ll wait here,’ Vince said, as if he’d wait forever if he and his parents needed to.
Jasper followed his mum and dad into the hospital room. There was white everywhere. White walls, white floor and white sheets tucked in tightly and rising up to the whitened face of Nannu.
He stepped back like he’d been pushed in the chest. He’d never seen his grandad look so small. It was like he was someone else’s grandfather, not his, not this sick old person in hospital. Sick and maybe never going to get better.
Jasper wanted to run out of the room, run down the corridor and back to when Nannu was well. He’d give up the trophy, he’d give up the win, he’d give up anything, even playing soccer again.
What he couldn’t do was live without Nannu.
‘He’s over the worst now,’ a nurse with kind eyes stepped in behind them and whispered to Jasper’s family. ‘It may take some time for him to come round, but it’s best if you let him wake up when he’s ready.’
‘Thanks,’ Jasper’s dad’s voice cracked slightly, and for the first time since they heard the news, that small crack made Jasper want to cry.
‘Call me if you need anything. There’s a buzzer by the bedhead.’
‘Thank you. We’ll stay here until he wakes up,’ Jasper’s mum took charge.
The nurse left the room.
‘Come and sit over here.’ Jasper’s mum nodded to a chair beside Nannu’s bed.
Jasper stayed where he was, his feet glued with invisible cement. He heard the wheezed breathing that struggled in and out of Nannu, like any minute he’d stop because it was too hard to make it happen any longer.
Jasper’s mum whispered into his ear, ‘It’s okay, Jasper. You can go closer. He’s only asleep.’
Jasper edged closer with Lil at his side. His eyes filled with wavering tears that blurred everything around him. He blinked them away angrily. He couldn’t cry. If he did, he felt like he’d be giving up, like he was saying it was all over and there was nothing he or anyone else could do.
He sat in a grey chair beside Nannu, with its cold steel arms and a rock hard cushion beneath him. Everything seemed so foreign to him, as if the world that was around him belonged to someone else. He felt like he was a stranger who had no idea where he was. Every part of his body tensed up. His clasped hands were pinned between his legs. His teeth were clenched and a hardened frown chiselled into his forehead.
Jasper’s mum slid another chair beside him. Lil sat down beside Jasper, leaned over and, working her fingers between his palms, slipped her hand into his. She squeezed it tightly and smiled. Jasper relaxed a little. He tried to smile back but it didn’t work. Lil looked like she understood and kept her hand there.
After a few hours had passed with no one saying a word, Jasper’s mum and dad left to get a coffee.
‘Would you two like anything?’ Jasper’s mum whispered.
Jasper shook his head, not taking his eyes from his grandad.
‘No thanks, Mrs Zammit,’ Lil answered.
As their quiet footsteps left the room, Jasper gasped an angry breath. ‘I should have known.’
Lil paused. It had been a long time since she’d heard Jasper speak. ‘Known what?’
‘I should have known he was sick. I was so busy thinking about the team that I didn’t see it. How could I have been so selfish? He’d promised he’d come to the game, and when he told me he couldn’t make it, I should have known something was wrong.’ Jasper looked down at the cotton waffle blanket. ‘He’s never broken a promise to me. I should have known.’
Lil squeezed his hand even tighter. ‘You couldn’t have known.’
‘Yes, I could have. If I had’ve thought about it, I would have worked it out. I would have seen it in his shoulders.’ Jasper sniffed.
‘Sorry?’
‘He told me when the Zammit men have a problem you can see it in their shoulders, and that was what was so strange about Nannu today. Before the game. His shoulders were stooped and tired; I thought it was because he’d been digging in the garden too long, but now I know it
was because he was sick.’ Jasper wiped his nose with his sleeve.
‘Jasper, I don’t mean to be disrespectful to Nannu, but he can be a stubborn man when he wants to, and even if you had’ve worked out what was wrong, he never would have admitted it.’ She paused. ‘And my guess is, he didn’t want to ruin your big game.’
‘But the game doesn’t matter, not when it comes to him.’
‘I know,’ Lil said softly.
They sat quietly, watching Nannu’s wrinkled face, listening to his laboured breathing, hoping that with every second he’d wake up and tell them everything was going to be okay.
JOHNNY SAYS:
You don’t know what you have until it’s gone, in life as in sport! So it’s important to enjoy every game and give it your best, with no regrets.
‘Shouldn’t you be celebrating?’
Nannu had opened his eyes and saw his grandson with his head cradled in his arms on the bed. Jasper sat up, unsure of whether he’d been woken by a dream or by something real.
‘Nannu? You’re okay?’
‘I think so,’ he answered croakily.
And now that his grandad was with him, it finally seemed all right to cry. Jasper couldn’t help but blubber all over him.
Nannu stroked his weathered hand over Jasper’s messy hair. ‘It’s okay. Everything’s all right. I just checked out for a bit of a rest. Everyone needs a rest.’
Jasper cried, ‘I thought … it’s just that …’
Nannu looked down at his grandson. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’
He took a slow, deep breath. ‘And Lil’s right, you know.’
Jasper sniffed. ‘Lil?’ It was only then he noticed she wasn’t there.
‘You shouldn’t have known anything was wrong. I didn’t let you. I didn’t want to believe it myself. I’ve been healthy all my life. I didn’t know that …’ He wheezed through a quiet cough. ‘And you’re not selfish.’ Nannu looked him square in the eye. ‘Not an ounce of you.’
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