"Nicholas Royle - The Cast" - читать интересную книгу автора (Royle Nicholas)

The Cast
a short story by Nicholas Royle

Zsa had been coming to the weekly games for a while, so she was there when
it happened. Possibly her presence had something to do with it, because I
would have been trying even harder in order to impress her. But still, the
point is you've got to be careful not to want something too much.
It was coming towards the end of the football season. Soon the authorities
from whom we rented the pitch would be returning it to summer use by
taking down the goalposts and corner flags. It was minor league stuff, you
see. We played in the park on Sunday mornings . But we were no less
competitive than if we were playing in front of the Kippax or the
Stretford End.
I was better in goals than any other position but that's not to say there
was no room for improvement in my game. In fact, that was true for the
whole team, even my mate Docs, who played at left-back. I would rather
have called him by his real name, which was Dave, but everyone else called
him Docs and I didn't want to appear different. That's important in a
football team.
The average age was about 25 and the other teams we played in the local
league tended to be a bit older, but we gave our best, always competing
strongly for the ball. We were still bottom and because there were teams
waiting to enter the league there was the threat of relegation. This game
was important: if we lost we would almost certainly go down. If we drew we
would still be in with a chance. But that's the lot of a goalkeeper in
every match he plays: you can't win the game, only try and stop your team
losing. So it was vital I kept the ball out of the net. It was up to the
rest of them to score goals at the other end and given that we hadn't
scored a single goal in the league all season, the pressure was on me to
keep a clean sheet.
It was a bright cold day, winter sunlight sparkling in a few remaining
frost patches and our breath froze in front of our faces. Zsa had picked
me up in her car and we arrived about the same time as Docs and a couple
of the others. We exchanged hellos and I introduced Zsa to Brian and Stud.
She already knew Docs; the three of us had been out for a drink once or
twice. I fell in step with him, talking about work and what a pain in the
arse it was to work so hard you just felt like falling asleep when you got
home, and Zsa walked with Stud and Brian. Stud didn't get his name for
nothing. I found myself keeping an eye on them at the same time as trying
to talk to Docs.
"We've got to win today," he was saying, but it hardly registered because
I was watching Zsa.
I know what you're thinking: I'm one of those jealous, possessive types
who watches his girlfriend whenever she talks to another man. I'm not
actually, but you see the thing is I knew she was having an affair. Well,
let's say I believed she was. I was sure of it. But I wouldn't have beaten
her up or anything. I just wanted to know, so that I knew. That's fair,
isn't it? I just wanted to know what was going on.
There are all sorts of signs. She stops listening half way through what
you're saying. Her gaze wanders. She tells obvious lies for no apparent