Read Online Aftershock by Bernard Ashley - Free Book Online Page B

any old shirts and blue team bands, with the captain wearing them crossed – as if it was a games lesson. But nothing could detract from the way Makis played against them. From the start, all David Sutton had to shout was ‘W’ or ‘M’, and Makis and the other forwards would switch their formation and have the Griffin Road boys tied up over who was marking whom, chasing the ball about and tripping over in confusion.
    And somehow the size of the ball, the fit of his boots, and the passing with both the insides and outsides of his feet all felt natural to Makis. He obeyed his captain, but he wasn’t afraid to do his own thing. He’d never felt so much in control. He was the player who saw where the openings were – and calling for the ball, he made the best of them. Even with most of the Griffin Road team surrounding him, he could beat the tackles today and make the passes that scored goals. He didn’t score himself; he didn’t need to, because whether it was in a ‘W’ or an ‘M’, or a chase-the-ball ‘S’, the game was easily won, five-nil.
    â€˜Well done, the Reds!’ shouted Mr Hersee; and he made the team shake the hands of all the Griffin Road players. ‘First time Imeson’s ever been in the final!’
    â€˜Good luck to you,’ the Griffin Road teacher said. ‘You’ve got a good little inside-forward there.’
    â€˜Magritis.’ Mr Hersee
still
hadn’t got Makis’s name right. ‘Greek lad from one of the islands. I’ve been bringing him on, nurturing the boy.’
    â€˜Well done. He’ll probably win the Cup for you.’
    And Mr Hersee walked over to shake Makis by the hand –
actually to shake his hand, man to man.

    Sofia didn’t think much of
Robin Hood
,but she worked hard at the words. She thought the story was strange – all that hitting people with long poles and shooting arrows all over the place.
    Robin was on top of the castle wall
.
    The moat was down below
.
    His men were in the boat
.
    â€œCome up!” Robin called
.
    â€œCome up by the rope.”
    Sofia read it with Makis. ‘Huh! Jump off, stupid Robin,’ she said. ‘Make a splash. Fly like Icarus!’
    They both laughed. ‘The next book’s different,’ Makis told her. ‘You’re going to like it.’
    â€˜The men went to the wall
.
    They went in the boat,’
    she read.
    â€˜Very good!’ She was showing some of her old spirit. But they soon put
Robin Hood
to one side, and from behind his back Makis produced
The Man Who Ran to Sparta
. Sofia’s eyes shone at the sight of the cover – which showed the herald Phidippides running across rocky ground. Makis knew she’d enjoy learning to read even more if the story meant something to her.
    â€˜Do you remember this story?’ she asked him. ‘I used to tell it to you as a little boy, the way my mother told it to me.’
    Makis nodded. He’d remembered it all over again when he was reading the book at Imeson Street. The famous runner Phidippides was a Greek hero – and Makis had imagined himself a hero, too, as he’d read it. It had made him feel that he had his own Greek place in the world, no matter where he was living. The world was a lot bigger than Denny Clarke’s Camden Town.
    â€˜Shall we start?’ he asked.
    But there was no reply; and when he looked round at his mother he saw that her eyes were welling with tears.
    â€˜Tomorrow,’ he said. And he whisked the books away, while Sofia went quickly to the kitchen to wash some vegetables under a noisy tap.

    Makis was in the team for the Cup Final. He expected to be, after that handshake from Mr Hersee, but earthquakes do happen, and worlds do get turned upside down, so he couldn’t be sure until he saw his name on the notice-board in the school corridor. All the details of the match were there today: the date, the time, the