Future Queens of England (23 page)

Ben left Louise and the other supporters at the side of the pitch and ran over to where his team were congregating.  “You’re not doing bad, guys,” he congratulated.  “Half-time and still nil, nil.  That’s the best our school has ever done against them.”

“Nil, nil is not good enough,” Tony grumbled.

“But they’re the best team in the league,” Ben exclaimed.  “You are really holding you
r
own here.  It’s brilliant!”

“It’s not good enough,” Tony repeated.  “We need to do more; we only need a bloody single goal.”

“He is right,” Uwe said, backing Tony up.  “We only need one.  We must all focus.  You must all do whatever it takes,” he implored.

The sound of the whistle interrupted their discussions. Ben turned around and trotted back to join the supporters.  “Good luck, guys.  Make me proud.”

“Let’s do this!” Tony shouted, holding his hockey stick high above his head.

“One goal!” Uwe bellowed and raised his stick too.

The others followed suit and raised their sticks.

“Let’s go!” Tony screamed before breaking ranks and running back to the centre of the pitch to where Lex was waiting for him.

“Back for more?” Lex snarled.  “You’ve got balls.”

Tony smirked.  “I could say the same about you, darling.”

The two teams swapped ends and scowls as they crossed at the centre of the pitch.

The home umpire dropped the ball at Tony’s feet.  “Team Queens start play,” he said.

Tony looked at Lex.  “Are you sure you’re ready?” he patronised.

“Always,” she replied before taking a few steps back into her half.

The whistle blew and Tony ran forward dribbling the ball.  Lex stepped forward to intercept him and swung her stick.  Their hockey sticks collided as they fought for possession.  Lezzy Lex hooked the ball backwards away from Tony but he quickly countered and pulled it back towards him.  The others watched on as their captains duelled ferociously.  Their grunts could still be heard over the shouts and cheers from the sidelines.  Tony gritted his teeth as he lost and regained possession time and time again.  Occasionally Lex would let out a high-pitched moan as she tussled against Tony.  Lex’s eyes began to sting as she concentrated intensely on the ball and the position of her hockey stick.  Eventually her eyes began to water and she was forced to blink.  As she did so, her contact lenses slid momentarily from the centre of her eyes, causing a mild blurring.  This brief distraction gave Tony the chance he needed and he seized control.  He swept the ball away from her, and bent one knee as if to move left.  Lex mirrored him and stepped across to tackle him again, but Tony quickly lunged to the right and slid past her.  With an incredible surge of speed he dribbled the ball towards her goal.  As soon as he had broken free Tony saw Uwe run to take position in front of their opponents’ goal, just as they had in training.  Tony put their well rehearsed manoeuvre into practise and whacked the ball up the pitch towards Bruce, who had taken his position accordingly on Tony and Uwe’s cue.  Carol ran over to intercept Bruce but he outflanked her and passed the ball safely to Keenan.  Uwe readied himself as Keenan played his part, but Lex saw Uwe hovering in anticipation and raced towards him.  Uwe signalled to Keenan that he was in position and Keenan nodded in acknowledgement.  He pushed the ball past his opponent, Kath, before passing the ball across to Uwe.  Uwe ran into the ‘D’ and gritted his teeth.  A shiver ran up his spine as the ball rolled towards him.  He could almost taste the victory.  The keeper stepped out of the goal and Uwe skilfully dribbled the ball around her and faced the open goal.  He lifted his stick, aimed and swung, but before his stick made contact with the ball Lex shoulder-barged him to the ground and smacked the ball out of the danger zone.

“Pwheet,” the away umpire’s whistle screeched.  “Flick!” the umpire bellowed at the top of his voice whilst running over to Uwe.

Lex immediately began to protest.  “What! I didn’t touch him.  He must have lost his balance as he swung for the ball.”

The umpire in the away team’s half ignored her momentarily and gestured for the umpire from the home team’s half of the pitch to join them.  The second umpire ran up the pitch accordingly.

“What did you see?” he asked the home side umpire.

“A deliberate foul.  Without question!” he replied firmly.

“I concur,” the away umpire stated.  “Penalty to Team Queens!” he declared.

“You have to be joking,” Lex cried out in frustration.

“Any more complaints and you’ll get carded and sent off,” the away umpire warned.

Lex stomped off towards her team-mates.  Tony walked across to Uwe and put out his hand.  Uwe took it and allowed Tony to help him to his feet.

Tony leant over to Uwe and spoke in a gentle tone.  “This is your big chance, Uwe.  We all know that you can do this.  As much as it pains me to say it, you’re the best player on the whole team.  You’ve got natural talent.”

“
Talent hits a target no one else can hit, but genius hits a target no one else can see,” Uwe declared pompously.

“Whatever,” Tony said.  He then slapped Uwe on his backside and pushed him forward.  “Just make us proud!”

Tony began to chant Uwe’s name over and over again, and the rest of the team joined in as the crowd cheered and joined the chorus line.  Uwe swelled with pride and took a moment to survey the court, and he strutted back and forth like a peacock.  The world seemed to slow down as Uwe concentrated on his breathing.  He steadied himself and visualised the ball hitting the back of the net.  His palms started to become so sweaty on the handle of his hockey stick that he could not grip it properly.  He wiped his left hand onto his shorts, followed by his right hand.  He swallowed and took another deep breath before stepping into the ball and with a quick fluid movement he scooped the ball soundlessly towards the net. 

The onlookers strained to see where the ball was.  Uwe let his stick rest against his hip as he too looked to see what had become of his ball.

Suddenly the umpire raised his whistle to his lips and let out an ear-splitting peep, and then he took the whistle from his mouth and announced, “One-nil to Team Queens!”

Tony ran over to Uwe and hugged him.  He lifted him off the ground and squeezed the breath out of him.  “You did it!  You did it!” Tony shouted.  Amongst the euphoria a small part of Tony’s brain reminded him of who he was hugging and he quickly dropped Uwe back to the ground.  “Err, well done, Uwe,” Tony said awkwardly, avoiding all eye contact.

The rest of the team ran over to congratulate Uwe and patted him on the back over and over again.  Then, without warning, Lezzy Lex leapt through the crowd onto Uwe and punched him in the face.  They both fell to the ground.  Tony looked around, confused, and was instantly rugby tackled by Carol.  Suddenly, a lesbian maelstrom surrounded Team Queens and began to pummel them.  The umpires blew their whistles time and time again, but this was ignored.  Ben ran over too, in an attempt to break up the melee.  Ben grabbed Lex’s leg and pulled it hard, and he stepped backwards, straining to drag her from the scrum.  The two umpires grabbed her other leg and pulled with all their might as she kicked and screamed.  Once they removed her from the fight, the three of them sat on top of her to prevent her from escaping and rejoining the kerfuffle.  Once Lex was removed, Uwe was freed up to help Tony overpower Carol.  They threw her onto her back and held her, face down, in the mud.  With the ringleaders overpowered, the fight quickly fizzled out.  Team Queens backed away, as did their opponents.  Tony and Uwe let Carol go, and then Ben and the two umpires got off Lex and let her free.

“I’ll be speaking to the league about this.  I’m sending you off,” the away umpire shouted at Lex, showing her the red card.  “And you can have a yellow card,” he said to Carol as he sent her packing.  “And you.  And you too, go on.  I will not tolerate violence in any of my games,” he said pointing at the other two offenders.

“What does this mean?” Bruce whispered to Tony.

Tony grinned.  “What does it mean?  It means that they are out of the game and that they can’t be substituted either.”  He rubbed his hands together.  “They’ve only got seven players left on the pitch and we’ve still got eleven.  This is going to be a massacre.”

The umpires conferred as they wrote down the numbers of the offending players.  Once they were satisfied they both put their notebooks away and walked to the centre of the pitch.

“Are you serious?” Yvonne said.  “How are we supposed to play without six of our players?”

The umpire sneered.  “Your team-mates should have thought of that before they launched into that unprovoked attack.”

Before she had a chance to continue the argument he raised the whistle to his lips and forced her to play on.

Team Queens squealed with delight as they passed the ball from player to player.  They tittered as their opponents ran up and down the pitch vainly, sweating like pigs as they chased the ball to the sound of laughter from Tony and the gang.  Eventually, they were put out of their misery as the umpire blew his whistle to signify the end of the game.  Tony and the team started to cheer wildly and they held their hockey sticks aloft as they began to sing.  Hugh looked up at the hockey sticks as they were being waved in the air and noticed something different.  He stopped chanting and singing and lowered his stick.  He stared at the base of the stick and a little face stared back at him.

The phantom!” he whispered.  He turned to Tony and the others. “Look, look.”  He waved the end of his hockey stick in their faces excitedly.  “Look closely, the Phantom has struck again.”  Each of the team squinted as they studied their sticks.

“You’re right, Hugh,” said Keenan, “he’s back again.”

“Who gives a shit though, eh?” Tony said, starting to dance about again.  “We won!  That’s all I care about today.”

“He’s right,” shouted Uwe, and with that they all began to sing and dance again.

The cheers died down, person by person, until only Tony was left singing.

“Hey, what’s up?  Why has everyone stopped singing?” Tony asked.  He turned around and saw Lezzy Lex standing alone a few feet away from the group.

“What do you want, Lex?” Tony said, preparing himself for more aggro.

“Just to tell you that you’d better watch your backs, guys,” the bitter voice said sternly.

“Oh really?” replied Tony, “is that supposed to be a threat?”

“All I am saying is, watch your backs, you never know what might happen,” Lex said ominously before walking back towards her team-mates and the blue campervan waiting to take them home.

Chapter
Thirteen

“You can stay in here, but you need to keep as far away as possible,” Tony said nervously.  “I don’t want you lot perving at me.”

They laughed hysterically at how nervous Tony still was around them after all these weeks.  The four of them were gathered together in a room that would only comfortably fit two people.  The shelves in the room were loaded with various creams, ointments and oils that Tony had never seen before in his life.

“It’s a little clinical in here isn’t it, Tony,” Gareth said, “hardly the place to get excited.”

“And you forget Tony, we’ve already seen you naked,” Uwe sneered. “It would be like getting aroused at the zoo in the chimpanzee enclosure.”

“I don’t care.  Sit on those chairs over there and don’t get up without warning me,” Tony ordered, “and look away while I take my clothes off,” he added quickly.

Uwe and Gareth did as Tony asked and sat down on the chairs.

“Where can I sit?” Hugh asked. “There aren’t enough chairs.”

“Just sit on that cabinet,” Tony said impatiently. “Jesus Christ, you really need to make some decisions yourself, Hugh.”

Tony started to undress to a chorus of giggles and wolf whistles. “Shut it or I’m not going through with this,” he said losing his patience.

They quietened down while Tony finished undressing. He removed everything but his socks.  He cupped himself with his right hand before climbing onto the massage table and lying down.  He stared at the ceiling; once upon a time the tiles may have been white.  In the corner there was a brown stain where once there had been a leak.

The beautician entered the room and smiled at them all.  “It seems I have an audience today then.”  She laid two towels across Tony, one over his chest and stomach and the other over his hips and thighs.