Chapter eight

The Football Match

The next day was the day of the big football match. Mr Hart had invited about ten people. Anna did not watch the game. She was helping Mrs Hart in the kitchen. They were making tea.

It was a good game and everyone was enjoying it.

At half-time, Peter went into the kitchen.

'Why don't you come and watch the match, Anna?' he said. 'It's really good. Come on!' Anna laughed. 'No, thanks,' she said. 'I'm helping Mrs Hart. Look, here's the tea. Can you take it in to the others?' 'OK,' said Peter. 'It's a terrific match. Mike Bailey scored a great goal.' Peter took the tea into the sitting room and the second half of the match started.

The second half was very exciting. Mike Bailey scored another goal after twenty minutes. The score was 2-0.

Then the other side scored two quick goals. It was 2-2. There were only five minutes of the match left.

'Come on!' shouted Peter. 'Come on, Mike! Let's have another goal!' In the last seconds of the match, Mike Bailey scored the winner. It was his third goal of the match.

But something was wrong! The other team's goalkeeper was injured. Bailey had been very near the goalkeeper and he had kicked the ball very hard. The ball had hit the goalkeeper's neck.

Mrs Hart and Anna came in from the kitchen.

'What's happened?' said Anna. 'What's wrong?' 'It's Brian Thomas, the goalkeeper,' said Peter. 'He's injured.' It was serious. The goalkeeper had broken his neck.

Later, they all watched the news on TV. They saw pictures of Mike Bailey's third goal. It was a great goal. They saw the ball hit the goalkeeper. It was an accident.

The TV announcer said, 'And now over to our sports studio for an interview with Mike Bailey.' They all watched the interview. The TV showed a picture of Mike Bailey and the interviewer.

'Mike,' said the interviewer, 'three goals in one match! How do you feel about that?' But Mike Bailey said nothing. He could not speak. He tried to speak, but he could not. It was terrible.

The interviewer tried another question. 'Let me ask you about the third goal, Mike. It was a great goal. But how do you feel about the injury to Brian Thomas?' It was a silly question. The injured goalkeeper would never play football again. Mike Bailey said nothing. He looked very ill.

When the interview ended, Mr Hart turned off the TV No one noticed that Anna had left the room. Mike Bailey had looked frightened. Anna was frightened too. Mike Bailey and Anna had met before. The day before, at The Corner Shop.