The Legends (37 page)

“Thank you, Chad" Brian replied. “The knee is still a bit sore.”

“Well it won’t stop you from celebrating now, will it?” Chad asked. “My folks have invited everyone over, win or lose, and my recruiting efforts have been fairly successful. Nearly everyone is coming.”

Brian replied, “Well I don’t think a shower first would go amiss. I wouldn’t want to put everyone off their food.”

Chad laughed, “No problem old man, it will take everyone a while to get there anyway.”

Outside the stadium, Brian and his entourage encountered Brian’s parents, Cathal and Evelyn chatting pleasantly with Chad and Charlie’s parents, Patrick and Beatrice Pembroke. The couples had met at earlier matches and although they weren’t exactly social friends, they had their children’s schooling in common – and of course soccer. Mr. Pembroke, smiled broadly when he saw the group of students and announced, “Now there’s the man of the hour.” He extended his hand, which Brian shook firmly after he disengaged from Kate freeing his right arm.

“Well done young man,” Mrs. Pembroke added, her arms crossed against the chill in the November air.

Brian’s mother, Evelyn rushed forward to embrace her son, while his father stood next to Mr. Pembroke, smiling broadly.

Brian returned his mother’s embrace but winced when she shifted from side to side. Stepping back quickly she exclaimed, “Brian, pet, you’re hurt. Is it the knee?”

“Still a bit sore from that knock,” he replied.

“Sore,” Cathal said, visibly concerned. “You are having trouble standing up. We must get you to the hospital immediately.”

Brian, seeing the party he was so looking forward to fading away, immediately protested, “Ah no, Dad. It’s just a little stiff. Kate figures it needs to be iced down and if it is still sore in the morning, then we can talk about the hospital.”

“So Dr. O’Donnell,” Cathal said addressing Kate with a smile, “is that your professional opinion?”

Kate blushed slightly but immediately responded, “Yes, Dr. O’Sullivan, ice for the first twentyfour hours to keep the swelling down and then heat to improved the circulation. Perhaps the hospital will be necessary but with our health system, you know you would only be sitting there for hours on end and it would probably be the morning before they got around to Brian anyway. It is far better that the patient be comfortable with his knee elevated and iced as soon as possible.”

Brian and his friends were staring at the normally serious Kate admiring her cheek and wondering what had gotten into her. The adults were suppressing grins but they were also impressed at the manner in which Kate delivered what sounded like perfectly reasonable medical advice.

Mr. Pembroke replied, “Excellent Dr. O’Donnell. Your diagnosis and treatment wouldn’t be in any way compromised by the party that you don’t want your friend to miss.”

“Absolutely not,” Kate replied with a flip of her hair. “The best interests of the patient’s health always comes first.”

Everyone laughed at that except Kate who was doing her best to keep a straight face.

“I’ll tell you what,” Evelyn announced. “We will take our young hero home so that he can clean and we can make up a few ice packs. We will then drop him down to the Pembroke’s and pass him into the care of his personal physician and she had better be sure that he sits quietly, as difficult as that might seem, with his leg up and the ice firmly in place.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Patrick added, “with one modification. Cathal and Evelyn, you are most welcome as well. There will be a number of other parents in attendance and we have plenty of room so we won’t be in the young people’s way, or more importantly, they won’t be in our way.”

With that, the group dispersed and headed for their cars looking forward to meeting up again shortly. As he left the girls Brian turned back to Kate and quietly said, “Thanks again Kate. That’s twice you rescued me. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

It was past nine o’clock by the time Brian and his parents arrived at the Mansfield Manor House where Chad and Charlie lived. No one seemed concerned with the time because it was Friday and everyone could sleep in the next day. Brian struggled to balance on an old pair of crutches that his father dug out of some musty closet. The crutches were wooden and the rubber supports that went under the armpits were cracked and rock hard. The rubber grips were also well past their sellby date and Brian was disgusted to be seen with such monstrosities. Brian was perfectly willing to limp along but his father informed him, in no uncertain terms, that taking his weight off the knee and using the crutches had become a non-negotiable condition for their attendance at the Pembroke’s party. Although he had been hurting for only a few hours, Brian was already impatient and couldn’t bear to think what it might be like if he was forced to hobble along for days, or even weeks. At least his father did promise that he would get proper crutches at the hospital.

Apart from the moldy old crutches that were neither comfortable nor cool he was also annoyed that Gráinne was to be left at home, despite Brian’s insistence that she was practically part of the team. “I know they have a fancy house,” he complained, “but she is hardly likely to relieve herself on their carpet.” Unfortunately that argument was also doomed to fail. And then of course there was the shopping bag filled with smaller plastic bags of ice and wrapped in towels that would be applied as soon as Brian found a seat. All in all Brian was beginning to think that the “conditions” for his attendance at the party were beginning to get a little much.

Patrick and Beatrice Pembroke greeted the O’Sullivans at the front door and brought them into a large foyer where Cathal presented the bottle of wine he brought for the hosts. The five were joined by Charlie who emerged from a staircase leading to the basement. The young woman in her stocking feet ran toward her parents and slid across the tile floor to a stop next to the recent arrivals much to the displeasure of Bernice who rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Our daughter, Charlotte,” she announced with a sigh. “Charlotte, you do remember Mr. and Mrs. O’Sullivan.”

“But of course,” Charlie answered. “Hi Mr. and Mrs. O. Come on Brian. The gang’s all here.”

“Right then,” Patrick Pembroke concluded, “Cathal, Evelyn step this way. We have been formally banned from venturing into the lower floors of the house and apart from the meet and greet, our heirs have been banned from the upper floors.”

Cathal followed his host replying, “That sounds like a reasonable arrangement.”

Evelyn handed her shopping bag with ice to Charlie and told the girl that she was counting on her to be sure Brian’s leg was elevated and packed with ice at all times.

“No worries, Mrs. O,” Charlie replied with a smile. “I’m sure Kate and I will take good care of our injured warrior.”

With that they headed for the stairs, Charlie leading the way. Just as they reached the stairs Charlie looked back and noticed that Brian was trying to figure out how to descend stairs using the crutches without killing himself. “What are you like,” she said in mock exasperation. “You have to carry the crutches in one hand, hold the rail in the other and hop down. Haven’t you ever used crutches before?”

“No,” he replied with an embarrassed smile. “And I hope I won’t ever have to use them again.”

At the bottom of the stairs, Charlie and Brian passed through a small corridor with doors on either side and then through a door directly ahead into a massive family room with all the accessories anyone could imagine. One corner held an entertainment center with a big-screen television and state of the art sound system. The room also included a bar area with a number of comfortable seats and the other end of the room held an American style pool table and very professional looking dart board. Along another wall were an assortment of old fashioned arcade games and even a pac-man and a lady pac-man table, which doubtlessly predated the birth of any of the children. Nevertheless, from the attention they were receiving, pac-man had hardly gone out of style.

There were about thirty or forty young people in attendance, mostly first year classmates from St. Killians. In addition, a few older players and friends also chose this party over any number of others that were undoubtedly taking place throughout the townland around the school. When Charlie and Brian came through the door everyone started clapping, much to Brian’s embarrassment. Charlie, however, waved her hand in the distinctive manner of a beauty queen or the Queen of England, thanking everyone for so warmly welcoming her arrival. “But I was only gone for a moment,” she said in mock astonishment so the cheers for Brian immediately turned to boos for Charlie, which suited Brian just perfectly.

Kate and Libby hurried over to join Charlie in escorting Brian into the party. Nearly all the guests came over to greet Brian and to congratulate him on the match so for the moment, he was the center of attention. The trio opened a path for Brian and escorted him to a large brown leather recliner near the entertainment center. “Your throne,” Charlie said presenting the chair with a flourish.

“Yes, for a king,” Libby added.

Brian handed Libby his crutches and took his seat while Kate relieved Charlie of the shopping bag. In a few moments she elevated Brian’s legs and arranged an ice pack for his knee, holding it in place with one of the towels Brian’s mother had provided. When she finished her ministrations Kate sat on the arm of the chair and asked Brian if he was comfortable.

Brian replied, “Perfect, thank you Kate. But really, I’m fine so please stop fussing over me. I think there is a party going on.”

Someone cranked up the sound system and a number of the guests began dancing, while others returned to the pool table, pinball machines and the dartboard as the party resumed.

Brian was just getting comfortable when Siobhán and Maeve rushed over. “Food and drink,” Maeve announced. “His lordship requires food and drink.”

“What would you like, Brian?” Siobhán asked. “They have all types of snacks and the pizza will be here in a little while.”

“Really, I’m fine,” Brian replied embarrassed that his friends needed to look after him.

“Right,” Maeve said sternly, “we will decide what you need and if you don’t like it, tough.” With that the two went over to the food table and packed a plate with small-spring rolls, sausages, chicken nuggets, chips and carrots and after retrieving a can of 7-Up from the refrigerator they delivered their treasures to Brian.

“So do you want this or not?” Maeve asked waiving the plate under Brian’s nose.

Brian smiled happily, realizing he was actually famished, and answered meekly, “Yes please…. Miss.”

Maeve looked sternly at Brian and replied, “Don’t take that tone with me young man or I will dump it in your lap.”

“Sorry,” Brian replied now smiling broadly while everyone laughed.

“That’s better,” Maeve replied setting the food down on the flat armrest and handing him his drink.

The party continued and everyone seemed to be having a great time. Since most of the guests came over to chat with Brian at one point or another, Brian decided that perhaps the knee was definitely a blessing in disguise, at least for the party. Most of the kids were dancing and singing and the entire middle of the room was transformed into a dance floor. Brian knew that he would have been entirely too embarrassed to dance because even though his mother had tried to teach him a step or two, he just didn’t seem to be able to make his feet follow the beat of the music. On top of that, he didn’t know what to do with his arms and hands. Sitting in the lounger with his icepack was a perfect excuse for not dancing. Then again, he didn’t have to start any conversations because lots of his classmates came over to where he was sitting and chatted with him. As a result he was getting to know them a little bit better and he figured that it would be easier to go up to them the next time he saw them.

He did notice that Kate, Charlie, Libby, Siobhán and Maeve were keeping an eye on him making sure he had plenty to eat and drink, especially after the pizza arrived. All in all, he did feel like a king on his throne because he was being so well looked after. Brian decided that he had seldom been happier, at least in the presence of so many people.

Siobhán, standing next to Brian, had filled his cup for the umpteenth time, when she asked Charlie, “So what’s with your brother. He hasn’t budged from that pinball machine for about an hour.”

“I think he is jealous of Brian,” Charlie replied. “He has always fancied himself the big athlete and I think it has finally dawned on him that our Brian is a little out of his league.”

“Jealous?” Brian asked genuinely surprised. “Sure I can play soccer but he is tall and handsome and much smarter than I am plus he has no trouble talking to anyone about anything while all I do is stutter and blush. And did you see him dance a while ago. I wish I could do half the things he does.”

“It’s a guy thing,” Charlie answered. “At least a guy thing for my brother who wants to be the best at everything. Don’t worry, he’ll be fine once he sorts things out in his head.”

“You know what I think,” Maeve said. “I think Siobhán should go over there and flirt with him. You know Siobhán, he fancies you.”

Siobhán replied, “Right, me and anyone else with a pair of boobs. Ooops sorry Brian, girl talk.”

Brian blushed slightly and closing his eyes, he shook his head. Although his face used to turn the brightest shade of red and there was nothing he could do to hide the shocked look on his face he had become accustomed to hearing this “girl talk,” so the bright red now became a more moderate shade of pink. In a way he was flattered that the girls didn’t seemed to mind his hearing their comments even though they always apologized and made it appear to be a mistake.

“Nevertheless,” Maeve responded, “off you go.”

Siobhán sigh deeply, tossed back her long blonde hair. “The things I have to do,” she moaned. Siobhán then walked over to the pinball machine with an exaggerated sway of her hips.

Maeve, Brian and Charlie watched as Siobhán stood next to Chad, walking her two fingers up and down his sleeve and whispering something in his ear. At first, Chad shook his arm as if he was trying to chase her away but she persisted and Chad, smiling sheepishly allowed himself to be pulled onto the dance floor.