Mr Fingerton’s ‘Eyes - Chapter 10

 

Mr Fingerton’s Eyes

A Novel

By Paul McCann

Chapter 10

The New Coach

 

 

The morning was dressed by a sunrise that commanded the flowers to open and the birds to sing . He listened from his bedroom window the sounds of his mother busy in the kitchen .

He could smell the bacon cooking and looked at the clock sitting on top of the set of drawers beside his bed . There was just enough time to have breakfast as today he was leaving early due to his new exercise routine that he hoped would help him get fit as he also was going to become the new school football coach . 

The voluntary position happened by accident at a staff meeting a few weeks previously .

The principal would normally ask before the meeting started for someone to help make some tea or bring the biscuits to the staff room ,  so on that morning of the staff meeting he asked the group of teachers present , 

“Is there any one here who would like to help” ..

and before he finished the sentence Mr Fingerton had already raised his hand , but it much too quickly because the last part of the sentence was …

“With coaching the school football team. “

Mr Fingerton was the only person standing there with his hand in the air so the principal thanked him for his willingness to help .

All of the other teachers applauded his kind offer to help .

There was no backing out now as everyone had seen what had happened so for the next few weeks before the football season started , Mr Fingerton would be walking to and from school in an attempt to get fitter for the coaching position .

He had also been reading some books about coaching techniques because he knew nothing about the game .

His mother was so proud of him.

and couldn’t believe his brave offer to help . He never wanted to disappoint her so he never mentioned to her that he had accidently offered to help and played along with the courageous new coaches’ role .

After breakfast he got ready for school his mother kissed his cheek as he went out the front door . Part of him revelled in him becoming mother’s brave hero  and he held his head up and threw out his chest as he walked along the street .

He saw a lovely lady crossing over the crowd . Suddenly a speeding car came from nowhere and never had any chance of avoiding the lady . The speeding cat went straight through and disappeared like the lady well .

Then he knew he knew it had been  one of his usual  visions .

The car and the lady were nowhere to be seen .

Her face haunted him all that day. 

and he still remembered how gracefully she walked before the accident .

After school that day , he had football practice on the oval .

He took a bag of footballs from the gym and some football jerseys in a bag .

On the oval a strong breeze was blowing . So, he thought he would give instructions on how to use the breeze as an assert and how to defend against the breeze .

He told his boys if the wind was in their favour to keep having shots at goal . Eventually one would go into the goal . Then if they were playing against the wind to hold on to the ball to prevent the other team from shooting at the goals .

He encouraged all the players in the team to support each other on and off the field and most importantly was for them to

have fun . Even though Garden Street team had never won the competition , they had to keep believing in their team and never give up . Mr Fingerton wanted to change things and hopefully this would be the season of change for the school team to achieve success .

Meanwhile there were times in his first year as  coach that he kept thinking the same thing , over and over again .

“What have I done “

 

Strangely enough he had done more than he ever realised because now he had kudos  among his peers in the staff room. He was like the new kid on the block . One or two were even a little envious of his new popularity with the teaching staff . 

The  first game of the season began and Mr Fingerton was there early the school to  meet and greet the team and their parents ., The boys looked ed up and ready for the first game . They won the coin toss and decided to switch around to kick off from the other end of the field . The kicked off with a clever lob towards goal of the opposition . The centre forward for Garden Street took control of the ball and raced towards the goal taking a shot that just missed by inches . This seemed to encourage the team . Halfway through the first half of the game once again the  centre forward ran with the ball as if it were attached to his foot with a string , suddenly another child dressed in old football shorts and boots came running up through  the centre of the field with a ball at his feet and took a shot the ball went straight through the nets behind the goal . and disappeared as did the child Then another child appeared from nowhere  flying a kite that seemed to be hovering  up in the sky , but after a few moments he and his kite also disappeared .

Mr Fingerton was so busy with the apparitions that he missed the goal his team had just scored . 

The parents who stood around the oval were screaming with delight . In the second half a strong wind arrived that favoured the Garden  Street team

and as instructed they took plenty of shots at the goal which resulted in them scoring again .

The first game ended in a 2-nil win  Garden  Street . A perfect start to the season .

End Chapter 10

Link to Chapter 11

https://www.abctales.com/story/mcscraic/mr-fingerton%E2%80%99s-eyes-chap...

 

Mr Fingerton’s Eyes

A Novel

By Paul McCann

 

 

Mr Fingerton’s ‘Eyes 

A novel

By

Paul  McCsnn