114 Another Encounter With Millwall Part 1 (1/2)

Chapter 114: Another Encounter With Millwall Part 1

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The match between Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace was over. Thanks to the home team's resurgence of Rebrov and prevailing 2:1 over the rival after much difficulty, their distance to the relegation zone had widened.

After the match, almost all the Nottingham media widely covered the match. All Forest players became heroes, especially Rebrov, whom the media praised to the skies. The media hailed him for regaining his status as a Premier League player.

And what about Tony Twain who directed all that? The photograph of him seeking out Rebrov, and their private conversation on the field during the halftime break, had already made the news headlines. At the post-match interview, the reporters asked Rebrov, who was elected to be the match's best player for the first time, about what his manager said to him during the halftime on the field.

Rebrov smiled and said, ”Nothing much, he just told me to pull back from my position and allow myself to play for me. After that, I saw the world from a completely different perspective.”

”...This is Tony Twain. He has the ability to turn something rotten into something miraculous. I agree with the TV commentator during the match who said he was a magician. Look at Collymore's Forest team, and then take a look at Tony Twain's Forest team. All the players are the same players as before, but the team is completely different. We obtained the crucial three points and restored our morale. Listen to the cheers inside the City Ground, the Nottingham Forest is gradually waking up!”

The moving tram gently rocked, and the carriage was empty inside except for a few old men who were having a shut-eye. The tram was traveling through the suburbs of Nottingham. Almost no car horns could be heard outside, and even the pedestrians were scarce. It was early Sunday morning, and Tang En was sitting on Hucknall-bound tram. Outside was the quiet countryside. He looked outside and then looked at the inside. A passenger on the opposite side held up this morning's newspaper and was totally engrossed reading it. On the page facing Tang En was his own picture and a bold headline:

”Tony Twain Returns!”

Seeing this, Tang En softly chuckled. It sounded like ”Superman Returns.” He had returned to the front page top headline, and the feeling of being worshipped and focused on was quite nice.

On this quiet morning, the inside of this empty tram was completely different from the impressive atmosphere of the City Ground yesterday. Twain leaned his head against the window and closed his eyes to relish the match that had just passed.

I am back again, and this time I will never leave easily.

With a silvery sound of a bell, the tram stopped rocking. Tang En opened his eyes and saw the steeple of the church on the hillside. He had arrived at his destination.

Tang En stepped down from the tram, gave his body a stretch and walked toward the church.

He had not been there for a while since the one time he was there in the summer. In the twinkling of an eye, half a year had passed. He was no longer that unemployed manager Tony Twain who was at a loss and unable to see his way forward.

Because of Gavin, he had decided to stay in the Forest team and wait for the opportunity to return to the City Ground technical area. Now he was back and had led the team to victory again. So, he returned to here again.

For him, the cemetery behind the gray masonry church was the starting point of another journey. And when he was about to stride forward, he should come back here to reaffirm his direction.

Even though it seemed to look quite close by, there was still some uphill distance from the tram stop to the church. Tang En bought a bouquet of lilies from a lonely flower shop on the street and thought about it as he held the flowers in his hand. Then he asked the florist for a card, pulled out his pen and wrote:

--to the most loyal Nottingham Forest fan, the eternal supporter of George Wood: Gavin Bernard.

※※※

There was a group of children kicking a ball in the green area in front of the church. Several of them wore the red Forest team jerseys. They yelled and clamored for the ball. When someone shot a football in between two piles of clothes, they would imitate all kinds of celebratory actions that the football stars would do.

As a child, Tang En often played this way too. However, it was not on such a good lawn, but on an embankment used to dry grains in the sun back home. They would take schoolbags, bricks, old shoes, clothes, baskets ... In short, everything that could be moved to build the goal. And then a group of children would chase a worn-out ball on the embankment. From Tang En's current point of view, even when someone from that group had shot the best ”star player” shot, it was actually a sorry sight, but everyone played happily. Next to the embankment was a pond used to raise ducks, where people would often accidentally kick the football into the pond. Even though he played badly, Tang En, a good swimmer, would always be that person who retrieved the ball from the pond every time.

In high school, he went to a boarding school in the city, where there were no shabby embankments and ponds. There was a specialized field, but Tang En had already stopped playing football. He only watched others play from the sidelines. He was the same in college. Until now, he was used to standing on the sidelines to watch others play, and even found a completely different pleasure and sense of accomplishment in it than from personally playing football.

Tang En lingered for a little while around these lovely children before continuing forward. He went around the deserted church and turned to the little path in the woods.

The cemetery was even lonelier than the church. Surrounded by the dense woods, it seemed that the temperature was one or two degrees lower than the outside. Tang En tightly bundled up his coat and went straight to Gavin's grave.

He was surprised when he saw a bouquet of lilies in front of the tombstone. Water droplets were still on the fresh petals. Whoever had left it there was obviously just here. Tang En looked up and around at the cemetery and did not see anyone.

He looked down and noticed a card was also similarly in the bouquet, so he picked it up. There was only a line on it:

To Gavin.

There was no dedication and Gavin's name was misspelled. Looking at that crooked handwriting which still looked inferior to a grade school student's handwriting, Tang En smiled.

He put the bouquet back down and carefully placed his bouquet beside it. After this, he pulled out a cigarette from his coat pocket and prepared to take a puff. The lighter was clicked on, but he watched the leaping flames in a daze instead. Then he took the cigarette out of his mouth and slide it back into the cigarette case.

He had forgotten that there was a child next to him.

So, he squatted down again and looked at the small line of inscription at the bottom of the tombstone.

When Michael had said to him at the bar, ”Tony, I'm not going to see the game tomorrow. I will not go to one again,” his face was calm as if he was talking about someone else who was completely unrelated to him. At that time, Tang En thought something must have died in his heart, even to the point that ... he no longer loved football but hated football instead. Because football took away his beloved son.

That day when Michael told him here that he was going to America, Tang En was more convinced that this was the case. Michael hated football and wanted to flee from football.

But when he later saw the fine line of inscription at the bottom of the tombstone, all the impressions that Michael had left him with were instantly flipped.