chastened.
“Yes, Hal,” he said meekly.
Hal turned back to Thorn and repeated Wulf’s earlier gesture. “Carry on, Thorn.”
“You’re sure?” Thorn replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Nobody else has anything to say? You’re all happy for me to
carry on
, are you?” He let his gaze travel around them. Nobody spoke. “Well, in that case, I think I will. Ingvar, are you ready?”
“I’m not sure, Thorn,” Ingvar said truthfully. He certainly didn’t feel too ready.
“All right then. Now, you saw what Edvin was doing, correct?”
“Ummm… not too clearly. There was a bit of jumping and arm waving going on, is that right?”
Thorn suppressed a smile. “Yes, jumping and arm waving is apretty good description of what everyone’s been doing,” he said. Edvin looked suitably insulted by the description, but he said nothing. He suspected that it
was
a fairly accurate description of what he’d been doing.
“Very well, let’s try it slowly, Ingvar. Ready?”
“I think so.”
“I’d like you to
know
so,” Thorn told him.
The big boy nodded several times, licking his lips nervously. “All right. I know so.” But he didn’t sound convinced.
“Then here we go. One forward… two to the right… careful!”
This last comment came as Ingvar caught his left toe in the net and swayed precariously. With a great deal of difficulty, he recovered his balance and turned, peering in Thorn’s direction. Thorn waited until he was standing evenly again and continued.
“Good. Now, two forward… one left… three right… one… help him up, will you, Stig?”
Ingvar had snagged his foot again and fell awkwardly. At Thorn’s order, Stig leapt to his feet and heaved Ingvar upright.
“Thanks, Stig,” Ingvar said. Then he turned to Thorn. “I think we’re wasting time here, Thorn. I’m just no good at this.”
Thorn rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He’d noticed that as Ingvar moved, he was peering down at the net and at his feet. It was a natural reaction. In fact, he’d had to tell a couple of the boys not to do it, but instead to keep their eyes up and sense where their feet were going. He strode toward Ingvar now.
“Ingvar, can you see the net?” he asked.
Ingvar shrugged unhappily. “It’s pretty blurry.”
“I think that might be the problem. You can see it. But youdon’t see it well enough, and that’s causing your loss of balance. You’re tensing up because you’re uncertain. Let’s try something. Close your eyes for me.”
Ingvar complied.
“Now breathe very steadily,” Thorn said. “In and out. In and out.” He watched the boy’s shoulders rising and falling. “Now relax… Now imagine you can see the net. See it in your mind’s eye.”
“His mind’s eye?” Jesper commented quietly to the others. “What’s that?”
“In your case,” Hal replied dryly, “it’s a
very
small eye.”
Jesper went to reply, realized he had nothing to top that comment and shut his mouth.
“Can you see the net now, Ingvar?” Thorn asked.
Ingvar, eyes shut tight, nodded.
“All right. Then, with your eyes shut and seeing the net in your mind, let’s begin again. One back… two left… three forward… two right…”
The other boys watched in amazement as Ingvar began to follow Thorn’s directions confidently and carefully. The pace was slow, of course. But he was stepping cleanly and the tendency to wave his arms wildly and teeter off balance was almost gone. Once, his right foot caught on a strand of the net and Thorn, watching like a hawk, immediately called on him to stop.
“Stand up straight!” he ordered. Ingvar did so and breathed deeply as he recovered his balance. Then Thorn began again and Ingvar continued his slow, careful movements.
Careful, Hal noticed, but no longer cautious and lacking inconfidence. He shook his head and murmured quietly to Stig. “He’s amazing, isn’t he?”
Stig grinned. “Who would have thought Ingvar could do that—even
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