Sunday, 2 December 2012

The Flaming Flamingoes (Contd...)

These stories are all works of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events and places is totally coincidental.

Three days after the match that ended up a fiasco when the whole Flamingo team almost got their asses kicked by angry spectators out for blood, my mind without warning, slipped into a "what if" mode.  What if those gang members hadn't been distracted by that Jackass? What would have happened if Dan's bodyguard Rab hadn't reached us in time? What would have happened if we hadn't stuck close together during the actual melee?

These thoughts came out of nowhere as the consequences of the rash decision to go and play in unfamiliar terrain suddenly struck like a thunderbolt. My family blissfully unaware of the terrible chaos that almost engulfed my friends and I, were out and as I stood in the front porch of my parents house, my stomach started churning and doing somersaults all at the same time. My knees suddenly felt weak and wobbly that I had to grab the wall to keep from falling over. The delayed shock made me feel like throwing up. Bent over and trembling, I managed to crawl all the way upstairs into my bedroom and slipped under the covers. Shivering, trembling and curled into a ball, I lay there and gradually drifted off into a deep sleep.

When I woke up, it was dark outside. My anxiety had vanished. It was as if it had never happened. I don't know how long I was out of it. I was just glad that no-one had bothered to look in on me. I eased myself off the bed and took a quick shower. I then dressed very quickly so I can catch my artist friend at home before it got too late. I had some posters to collect and distribute across the town. You see even then back in the day, I knew about the power of publicity. I also had an instinct about using spin to unnerve opponents. 

The kicks and bruises from our trial match was a lesson learned and I was determined to do what I can to un-settle our next opponents, Monarchs. I wanted to mess with Zeke's head, get him doubting his own and his team's ability to beat us, so I commissioned an artist to make some posters advertising the match between the Flamingos and Monarchs. In the poster, the Flamingos image will be more flattering and will make the Monarch's image look shabby in comparison to ours. I wanted to chip away some of Zeke's cockiness before we met on the pitch.

That plan almost backfired on me...











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