by Joe O'Brien
‘Sarah! Yes! Nice to meet you too,’ said Mick – his voice trembling slightly.
‘I just wanted to thank you for having Todd on your football team.’
‘Not at all,’ said Mick. ‘We’re thrilled to have him.’
Danny walked over.
‘Da, Mr Dunstan wants to know if anyone wants tea?’
‘In a second, Danny. I’m just talking to Todd’s mam.’
‘Hi Danny,’ smiled Sarah. ‘Todd’s been telling me all about you.’
Mick could see Principal Dunstan anxiously waving over to him.
‘I’m sorry, Sarah,’ apologised Mick after the interruption, ‘Would you like a cup of tea?’
‘Sorry Mick. We have to go. My aunt is at home on her own.’
‘Well, it was very nice to meet you. I’ll see you again some time.’
‘That’d be nice,’ smiled Sarah.
Mick went over to where Mr Dunstan was serving tea. He turned around to wave goodbye to Todd and Sarah, but they were already gone out the door.
Chapter Nine
‘An AFL Coach?’
It was Saturday 16 May and there was just one week left before Littlestown Crokes were to co-host the county Féile.
There was no game on that day, but Mick had arranged for all his players to meet up for an hour’s training, just to keep them sharp. After warm-ups and a few exercises with Jimmy, Mick set up a smaller pitch on the Little Croker and split the boys into two teams to play a half-hour friendly match – fifteen minutes each half. That was the length of a match in the Féile and Mick thought this would be a great opportunity to get a look at Todd’s progress.
‘That’s superb, Todd. You’re getting it now,’ praised Mick as he watched the game.
Todd had come on really well. All Danny’s hard work with him was paying off. It was obvious to Mick and everyone else that Todd was a talented footy player and that he was gelling into the sport of GAA very quickly.
‘Call them in, Jimmy,’ yelled Mick.
Jimmy was acting as referee, which gave Mick a chance to concentrate on his players. The boys ran over and crowded around, listening attentively to Mick.
‘Right, boys. Well done. I don’t have to remind yiz that the Féile kicks off next Saturday–’
‘Do you think we can win it, coach?’ asked Liam Darcy.
‘Of course,’ answered Mick.
‘But we’re not doing that well in the league.’
‘Look, boys,’ said Mick. ‘If you believe you can win it, then I believe you can win it. Whatever teams we’re playing in the first round, at least we’re playing them here on our own turf. That’s a great advantage. Isn’t that right, Jimmy?’ asked Mick.
‘That’s right, Mick. And there’ll be great home support boys. That’ll give yiz a real boost.’
‘Exactly,’ agreed Mick. ‘The main thing is that you enjoy the whole experience and whatever result comes out of all this, myself and Jimmy will be very proud.’
All the boys cheered. Mick was great at building up their confidence.
‘Okay, boys,’ he finished. ‘Same time for training on Tuesday. Great work today. See yiz all then!’
Danny had arranged with Jonathon and Todd to go back to Splinter’s house and play on the Play Station for a while. As they were about to head off, Mick called Danny over.
‘Danny, son,’ he said, ‘will you give Jimmy a hand to bring all the stuff back to the house. I’m heading off to the shopping centre from here. I want to pick up a few messages for your granny. She hasn’t been able to get out since she picked up that cold.’
Danny nodded.
‘Yeah, sure. If Splinter and J and I all help we’ll be finished in no time!
* * *
Mick was standing by the soup section, close to the end of the aisle, when suddenly he heard an enormous clatter coming from the other side. Mick chuckled a little to himself, then felt a bit guilty for laughing at the poor person on the other side who had obviously knocked a load of tins over.
I think I’ll see if they need any help! thought Mick.
As he turned the corner and looked down the peas and beans aisle, he could see a very flustered woman down on her knees trying to pick up tins of curried beans which had been in a ‘special offer’ display and were now rolling all over the floor.
Mick knelt down to help her.
‘Your knight in shining armour!’ he joked.
The very embarrassed woman lifted her head and smiled. To Mick’s complete surprise it was Todd’s mother, Sarah!
‘I knew I remembered that voice from somewhere,’ she joked.
Poor Mick’s cheeks looked as if they were on fire.
‘Todd’s mam!’ stuttered Mick. ‘Sarah! I didn’t know it was you.’
‘Does that mean you wouldn’t have helped me if you did?’
‘Oh no!’ answered Mick. ‘I mean, yes!’
Mick was getting a bit flustered now.
‘I’m only pulling your leg,’ Sarah smiled. ‘Thanks for helping me, especially as nobody else bothered.’
Mick smiled. He looked like a teenager in love for the very first time.
* * *
Sarah had persuaded Mick to let her buy him a coffee for helping her. She felt it was the least she could do, and although Mick really should have been getting back to his mother’s house with the shopping he accepted without any hesitation.
‘Have you been in Australia long?’ Mick asked her as they drank their coffee. ‘Only you still have a bit of a Dublin accent.’
Sarah nodded. She couldn’t answer straight away as her mouth was full of cream doughnut.
‘Quite some time. Most of my life actually,’ she eventually answered. ‘I moved over there with my mum and dad when I was fifteen. So, I suppose about twenty-three years now.’
‘You look very young for your age’ said Mick.
Sarah blushed.
‘Oh! I wasn’t trying to embarrass you,’ said Mick.
‘It’s fine,’ said Sarah. ‘I haven’t had such a nice compliment in a long time.’
Mick really liked Sarah, and he wanted to get to know more about her.
‘Are you separated long from your husband?’ he asked.
‘About a year,’ answered Sarah. ‘How did you know?’
‘I overheard Todd mention it.’
‘It’s great that Todd has joined your football team. He really loved his footy back home. It’ll be good for him,’ smiled Sarah.
‘He’s settling in great. It must be hard for him having to leave his footy behind especially seems that his dad is a top coach in the AFL,’ said Mick.
Sarah lifted her head from sipping her coffee.
‘Excuse me?’
Mick just stared back at Sarah, wondering what he had said wrong.
‘Todd’s dad isn’t an AFL coach!’ laughed Sarah.
‘He isn’t?’
‘No! He’s a motor mechanic.’
‘Oh!’ said Mick, looking very surprised.
There was silence for a moment or two, then Sarah spoke again.
‘That’s really funny. What made you think that Todd’s dad is an AFL coach?’
Mick wasn’t sure whether he should answer that question, but after one look at Sarah’s worried face he knew he had to.
‘Overheard that too,’ he said.
‘Todd was telling somebody that?’ asked Sarah.
Mick nodded his head.
Sarah looked very worried now.
‘Is everything okay, Sarah?’
‘I’m not sure,’ said Sarah.
Mick looked confused.
Sarah opened up to him about how they had come to be in Ireland.
‘Todd’s dad and I have been separated for about a year. Todd took it very badly at the beginning. It looked like he was just about getting used to us living apart, but then Scott met another woman.’
‘Oh!’ said Mick, raising his eyebrows.
Sarah continued.
‘Do
n’t get me wrong. I was fine. I had moved on. Scott and I had grown apart over the last few years of our marriage. We just sort of fell out of love, I suppose.’
Sarah appeared to drift in thought.
Mick waited patiently. He knew that this must have been difficult for her, but at the same time he felt good that she was telling him this.
‘Poor Todd,’ said Sarah, putting her hands to her face.
Mick reached out his hand and touched her arm for comfort.
Sarah smiled.
‘I’m okay. Sorry Mick. You don’t need to be hearing all of this.’
‘No! It’s fine,’ said Mick. ‘Get it all out. You’ll feel better. Trust me. When my wife died, I kept a lot of my pain inside. You’re better off talking about things. A problem shared is a problem halved,’ smiled Mick.
Sarah smiled too.
‘His dad used to go to all of his footy games, but when Valerie came on the scene, Scott just seemed to lose interest in Todd. That had a bad effect on Todd. He even insisted on changing his surname from Bradshaw to Bailey, when I decided to go back to my maiden name.’
‘Ah!’ said Mick.
‘Scott is a good father – he always was. He’s coming over next month to see how Todd is settling in.’
‘Really?’ said Mick with a hint of disappointment.
‘Todd started getting involved with some bad kids in Australia, he was getting into trouble a lot. He got expelled from school, Mick.’ Sarah looked to Mick with real guilt as if it was all her fault.
‘You’re not to blame,’ comforted Mick.
‘Really!’ said Sarah. ‘I should have done more. I didn’t realise at the time that he had strayed so much. He used to be such a good, happy boy. That’s why I brought him here. I received word from Ireland that my aunt Peggy was ill. She was my dad’s sister. My parents are both dead,’ added Sarah.
‘Sorry to hear that,’ said Mick.
‘Anyway! Here we are, back in Ireland.’
‘Are you here to stay?’ asked Mick.
‘Not sure. I was hoping that a break from home or a new start for Todd would do him good, but if he’s spinning these lies to his new friends, he’s obviously still very angry with Scott. I’m worried, Mick.’
‘Don’t be,’ said Mick. ‘I’ll keep a good eye on him. He’s on the team now and he has this big competition coming up.’
‘The Féile!’ said Sarah.
‘That’s the one,’ said Mick. ‘It’ll do Todd the world of good. He’ll be grand.’
Sarah smiled. Mick had put her mind at ease.
* * *
Later that evening, while Mick was getting the dinner, Danny said something to him that set off alarm bells.
‘Todd’s a bit of a weirdo, Da.’
‘How’s that Danny?’ asked Mick, while reaching for the salt.
‘He just stormed off in a huff earlier from Splinter’s house.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t know,’ shrugged Danny.
‘Something must have happened!’
‘Not really! Splinter had got a hold of a book from the library. It was a book on all the AFL coaches and players, present and past. He kept asking Todd to point out his da.’
Mick nearly let his fork drop.
‘Then what?’
‘That’s when Todd freaked. He got really angry. He just knocked the book out of Splinter’s hand and stormed off. It was mad!’
Mick had a big decision to make.
Should I tell Danny the truth? he thought. Maybe I’d better!
So Mick went ahead and told Danny everything that Sarah had told him.
‘Keep it to yourself, Danny,’ he warned. ‘I only told you so you know what’s going on with Todd. You have to give him time, son.’
‘I will,’ said Danny. ‘I can’t believe it though. It was all lies about his da being an AFL coach!’
‘I’m warning you, Danny’ said Mick. ‘You can’t tell anyone. It won’t help Todd.’
Chapter Ten
An Unexpected Visitor
Danny did just as Mick asked and kept Todd’s secret to himself; when he saw Todd in school on Monday morning, he didn’t let on that he knew a thing.
Todd apologised to Danny and Splinter for his outburst in Splinter’s house on Saturday.
‘It’s sound, Todd,’ said Splinter. ‘I can understand. You probably used to get a lot of kids hassling you about your da, back in Australia – him being famous and all that. I think it’s savage that your da is famous.’
Todd just smiled and nodded.
For the first time, Danny could see that Todd wasn’t telling the truth; his smile was false.
Once Todd caught up with Jonathon at training the following day and apologised to him too, Danny could see the relief on Todd’s face.
This is really bothering him! thought Danny. I think all this lying is hard for him. He seems to really need us as his friends, otherwise he wouldn’t have made such an effort to say sorry!
Tusesday night training went ahead as planned for Mick and his players.
Mick had his players well and truly fired up now for the Féile.
He couldn’t have been happier – until Thursday came along.
It was the last training session before the big competition and Todd hadn’t turned up.
Mick had a word with Danny after training.
‘This isn’t good, Danny.’
‘I know,’ agreed Danny. ‘He didn’t turn up at school today either.’
‘What?’ said Mick. ‘Why didn’t you say so son.’
Danny shrugged his shoulders.
‘We’re going to have to go around and see if he’s okay. He might have hurt himself or maybe he’s sick.’
‘He didn’t look sick when he was in school yesterday.’
‘Did you notice anything wrong with him, Danny? Was he upset or anything?’
Danny shook his head.
‘No, he was in animal form. Probably the best I’ve seen him in since I’ve known him.’
Mick and Danny hopped into the car and drove to number twenty-seven Clifford Road.
‘Seventeen, nineteen, twenty-one … there it is!’ pointed Danny. ‘Todd’s mam’s outside!’
Sarah was sitting on the wall of the front garden, reading a book.
Mick rolled down the window and smiled out.
‘Hi, Mick,’ greeted Sarah. ‘Hi, Danny.’
‘Eh! We were just…I mean, Danny here was worried about Todd,’ said Mick, ‘and I just brought him around to see if he’s okay. Danny was saying that he wasn’t at school and when he didn’t turn up at training–’
‘He’s fine,’ interrupted Sarah. ‘His father arrived last night and it was a bit of a surprise for Todd – he was so excited to see him he couldn’t go to school or training.’
Mick felt a bit bewildered. I thought Todd was angry with his father! he said to himself.
Sarah winked at him.
‘Oh!’ said Mick. He got the feeling that Sarah was only pretending that Todd was delighted to see his father because she didn’t know that Danny knew the whole story.
‘Would you like to go in and see Todd, Danny?’ asked Sarah.
‘Not if he’s with his father,’ said Mick. ‘We don’t want to disturb them.’
‘It’s fine,’ said Sarah. ‘Scott’s been out cold for the past couple of hours – jet lag.’
‘Animal!’ said Danny, and he got out of the car.
‘Just a few minutes, son!’ said Mick.
As Danny went into the house, Sarah immediately began telling Mick how she’d telephoned Scott at the weekend to tell him about Todd.
‘Scott was very upset,’ said Sarah.
‘I can imagine.’
‘But it was a bit of a shock to us all when he turned up at the house late last night.’
* * *
There was no sign of Todd as Danny walked through the sitting room and out into the kitchen.
He noticed the back door was
open, and as he was just about to walk out into the garden, he heard voices – loud voices.
Todd and his dad were having an argument!
I thought his da was asleep! thought Danny as he hesitated just inside the back door.
‘Can’t ya just be happy, mate, that I’m here?’ said Todd’s dad.
‘Nah! Why should I be?’ said Todd.
‘Aw, come on, son. Can’t we put all this behind us and start again. I’m really looking forward to seeing ya play in this tournament at the weekend.’
‘You’re not coming,’ said Todd.
‘Come on, Todd. I’m after taking annual leave to be here. Come on, mate. It’d be like old times. I’m dying to see ya in action again. I tell ya what. We could go down to the local park tomorrow arvo and kick a bit of footy, if ya like?’
Todd kicked a stone and it ricocheted off a wall and nearly hit his father.
‘It’s not called footy here. It’s GAA. Now rack off, ya loser.’
‘Don’t talk to me like that, mate. I’m still your father.’
‘It’ll never be like old times. You screwed that up for all of us when ya decided to get a new girlfriend!’
Todd was getting really angry now.
Danny didn’t know what to do. Todd really hates his dad! he thought, I shouldn’t be here listening.
Suddenly, Todd turned to come back into the house.
‘Todd!’ called his dad, but Todd didn’t turn around.
Danny jumped back and acted like he was only just coming into the kitchen.
‘Danny!’ said Todd.
‘Hiya Todd,’ smiled Danny. ‘Your mam sent mein. I just came around to see if you’re okay.’
‘I’m fine, mate – fine.’
Scott walked in to the kitchen.
‘G’day,’ he said.
‘Eh, howya!’ said Danny.
This was a very awkward moment indeed.
‘Aren’t ya going to introduce me to your mate, son?’ smiled Scott.
Todd just stood still as if he was frozen to the spot.
Danny put out his hand to Scott.
‘I’m Danny, Todd’s friend. We’re on the same football team.’
‘Pleased to meet ya, Danny mate. I’m Scott, Todd’s father. I guess ya gathered that already!’ said Scott, shaking hands.