The Leather Football

I watched in dismay as my leather football flew over the playground fence, my leather football signed by the whole 1971 Aberdeen football squad -'The Dons ' , that I had won in a drawing competition.

Willie, my best pal, and Step Hen , the new boy in our class, were having a kick about at playtime, and Willie was pretending to be Joe Harper, took the penalty kick and missed scoring by miles, volleying the ball over the ten foot fence into Wifie Smith's garden, and scattering powdery earth and plants everywhere.

Wifie Smith stormed out into her garden and shouted at us 'You boys haven't heard the last of this, I will be to see the Headmaster later today!'.

She grabbed the ball up in a claw like hand, and slammed the door like my Mum did when she was in a huff.

Wifie Smith was quite ugly,with a scar on her chin like a chocolate chip  and dressed in black, she had obviously forgotten her witch's hat like lassies wear at Hallowe'en.

Wifie Smith lived in a house behind the school, and all the kids in our class said that she was a witch, maybe she was, but she was certainly scary

She had several cats, and crows seemed to congregate in her garden, her prize winning very neat and tidy garden , which put a lot of the gardens in our scheme to shame, at least , that's what my Dad had said. 

Dad told me that Mrs Smith had won 'Aberdeen in Bloom' several times, and she had flowers named after her; he didn't mention that she was a witch. Willie's older brother claimed to have seen her flying about the scheme at nights on her broomstick, which was propped up against her garden shed at daytime.

Anyway, we were deciding what to do next, and Willie was getting upset, trying not to cry.

'Dinna greet' , said Step Hen, we can get it later, when she's out.

Willie cheered up at bit at that, maybe we could get it later.

Step Hen's real name was 'Stephen' , but we gave him the nickname when he came to our school and it just stuck.

He was always really precise about how you spell his name, and made a big fuss about it.

He was really brainy, and I always copied the answers from him when we did Maths.

The bell rang to tell us that playtime was ended, and we went back to the classroom, we were doing our history project about Aberdeen, and Miss Watson was telling us about Union Street in its early days , and when St Nicholas Church , known as 'The Mither Kirk' was built. I was interested in history, I liked learning about old things, like dinosaurs and fossils, and of course my home city.

I hated Maths, and couldn't do it.

Me, Willie and Step Hen all sat together , and Miss Watson always shouted at us for talking, but thats what pals did in class, wasn't it?

We were waiting for the Headmaster's secretary, Mrs Brock to come for us.

We waited and waited.

I began to imagine what would happen, like at home when my brother and me got into trouble.

The Headmaster would shout at us,and we would be handed a letter to take home to our parents, and this would be considered a reprimand, maybe we would get 'the strap'.

The bell rang at 3.30pm, that was the end of the school day, no Headmaster, no reprimand, no strap.

Maybe Wifie Smith would cast a spell on us, maybe she was doing that right now, standing over her cauldron, talking to her cats.

Tonight was Cub Night though, so I would play more football with my brother and other boys I knew from the other school at the other side of the housing scheme.

I liked Cub Night, as it was on Wednesday, one day nearer the weekend, as Dad often said.

Dad drove us home in his Morris Minor, and luckily didn't mention the leather football, my prized possession.

Neil and me told of our winning the game tonight and the prospect of a weekend camp in the Summer next year.

As we drove past all the houses in our scheme , and passed the school, I looked up into the sky, and could see no signs of a witch on  a broomstick, Willie's brother must've been speaking rubbish.

When we reached the front door, there was a parcel addressed to me, David McKenzie, this was weird, it wasn't my birthday or Christmas, so who was sending me a present?

I ripped the paper open and found my ball, the leather football!

There was a note inside written in  really bad writing as if a spider had stepped into some ink and walked across the page.

Dear David,

I have decided to return your ball and not take the matter any further as your friend was obviously upset at kicking the ball into my garden, something he didn't intend doing. I was young once, you know, I wasn't always the old crone, you all are scared of.

Yours Faithfully

Christina Smith ( Miss)

I couldn't believe this, how did she know my name and address, maybe she was a witch, but meantime, what would I say to Dad if he asked ?

Would I say that it was one of my pals messing about?

Yes, but no doubt Neil would start winding me up as brothers did.