So Arthur was lucky for once. The odds on Darling Mary were 10 to 1. If you put one pound on a horse at ten to one, you win ten pounds and you get your original one pound back too. So Arthur went back to Middleford a little bit richer.
One day during his first week at work after his holidays, Sheila’a brother, Michael, came into the library to borrow a book about soccer. (In England there are two kinds of football: Rugby Football or rugger, and Association Football or soccer.) Michael is a keen supporter of Middleford Rangers, the local football club. He goes to watch them every week during the soccer season if they are playing at home. He sometimes watches them play away, if the match isn’t too far from Middleford.
Michael had a spare ticket for Saturday’s home match against Didcot United. Arthur, as you can imagine, is not a great sportsman, but he had nothing to do that Saturday, so he accepted Michael’s invitation to go with him. Middleford Rangers was not the best team in the Football League. In fact it was the worst. It was near the bottom of the Fourth Division. But this season they had a new center forward, Fred Merton. He came from Neasden Rovers, a club at the top of the Second Division. In the first six matches of the season he scored ten goals for his new club.
So Arthur met Michael outside the ground at a quarter to three on Saturday, a quarter of an hour before the kick-off. They went through the turnstile and walked up to their seats in the stand.
***
- It’s very crowded today, isn’t it?
- Well, this is a local derby, of course, and there are a lot of Didcot supporters here. Those people in red and white scarves are the Didcot chaps.
- I suppose, if you think about it, I’m a Didcot supporter really. Didcot’s nearer to Applefield than Middleford is.
- Don’t talk so loud then. If you say that too loud in this part of the ground, you’ll be a bit unpopular.
- Oh, they’re coming out now.
- Yes, that’s Fred Merton over there, the one with the long hair and the beard.
- Fred! Fred!
- The crowd seems to like him. Why’s that?
- Well, if you score ten goals in six matches, you’re the local hero.
- What are they doing now?
- The referee and the two captains are tossing up to see who’s going to kick off and who’s going to play at which end. Good. Now, they’re kicking off. Middleford’s goal is the one nearest to us.
- I suppose the Didcot team’s the one in the red shirts and white shorts.
- Yes, and Middleford are all in white today …
- What’s happened now? That Didcot chap’s rolling about on the ground and the referee’s writing something in his little book.
- That means Fred’s in trouble.
- Quite right too. I saw him. He kicked that Didcot player deliberately.
- What did you say, mate?
- I was talking to my friend, actually.
- What did you say about our Fred?
- Well, he kicked that poor chap. It was a deliberate foul.
- Say that again!
- It was a deliberate foul. Oh! My eye!
