The Game

The last of the box wine was gone, box wine with sediment in it not like a good old wine but an old not so good wine that leaves your teeth grimy but was all I had, and every muscle in my body ached, but it had been a good Sunday. I thought about the game as I lit another cigarette. We had almost won, gone into penalty kicks even, but they had an unfair advantage, and some on our side, if not more, blamed our goalie threatening to make him swim back.
Before the season we only worked half-days on Sundays, and on most Sundays there was a soccer tournament. This time we were to go to them instead of them coming to us, and we came in large numbers taking 3 boats: the people carrier/cargo mover with 18 people riding low in the water, an aluminum canoe with 10 also riding low in the water, and I was in one of the new bass boats with 7 other people, and we got there first.
The village was Cumarú, and we were to play their first team, and their second team was to play São Louis. Our team was better, and we always won, but this time it was different. They had brought in a professional player from Barcelos to play on their team, and it was he who scored the first goal, but we scored the second. I’ve never seen out team play better, and it would have been terrible if we hadn’t. The ref was one of my guides from São Louis named Guilherme, and when he called time, we were tied.
They were first to shoot, and of course they chose the professional to go first who made it effortlessly in the top left corner. Wilson, our best shooter, aimed for the bottom right, but hit the post. Their second also made his. Our next 2 made theirs with their 3rd having his shot blocked, so we were still in the game. Their 4th shooter, one of their worst, made his, and our fourth hit the top of the goal bouncing out.
We should have won, but we didn’t, and they played a good game even apart from the professional. It just wasn’t our day, and we left before the second match because we needed to get back for dinner. Our boat ran out of gas on the way home because it was new, and we didn’t know its limitations, so the people mover towed us in, and we ate dinner as soon as we got back.
Finally after 7, the generator was turned on for the night, and the tanks were filled, so I could finally take a shower, and a shower has never felt so good.