Then again, Daniel saw something strange. Light slowly formed a hole in his eyes as he woke to the world around him. In an instant, the world was revealed. Except everyone looked strange. There was a female with pointy ears clenching a dagger between her teeth and holding two more, one in each hand. An older person, also with pointy ears, stood over him with a look of concern. He held a sword. Daniel blinked and blinked again. The older one bent over and spoke something to him in a strange language. Amazingly, Daniel understood it.
“We are waiting,” he said. And that was it. The vision faded, like the others, and Daniel found himself looking into the faces of the referee and his coach. Except the referee was holding a whistle in his mouth, and a red card and booklet in his hands. His coach wasn’t holding a sword, but was holding a clipboard. Daniel sat up and rubbed his eyes.
“Easy there, son.” The coach laid him back down.
“I’m okay. I really am.” Daniel hopped up. “What happened?”
The referee spoke. “As the ball hit your head, Rick Heinwurst tackled you in the back and landed on top of you. I gave him a red card for the foul and now you have a penalty kick to take.”
Daniel grinned. “What are we waiting for, then?”
As Daniel walked to the penalty area, the crowd applauded. Daniel saw Rachel in the stands, looking concerned. He gave her a wave to show he was okay, and she grinned and waved back
From then on, it was all business. Daniel set the ball on the marker and readied himself for the biggest kick of the season. He stole a quick glance at the goalie, who had taken a few steps to his right, thinking Daniel would kick it there. Daniel grinned. The whistle blew and he ran forward. Immediately he realized that the goalie had crossed him up, diving left. Daniel forgot the soft kick he was planning and kicked as hard as he could. The ball flew towards the top corner — and bounced off the hands of the goalie and back into play.
The Raptors celebrated, thinking that a tie was as good as a win and certainly better than a loss. But what they had forgotten was that time was still left on the clock. Daniel flew towards the bouncing ball, now traveling down the line, and brought it under his control. He sized up his angles and saw Marks waving for a pass. He made up his mind quickly and passed, praying for the pass and successive shot to strike true. The ball gave a little hook, and Marks headed it past the goalie’s desperate lunge. Goal! The whole Nighthawks team mobbed Daniel and Marks, yelling at the top of their lungs. The crowd stood and applauded. As they trotted off the field, they slapped five with their coach and friends, and went to find their rides home.
Chapter 1.5-2
Chapter 1-1.5
The Epic of Verarde
Chapter 1
Tweeeeeeeeeeettttttttttt!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Daniel slowly got up, rubbing his head. The referee came over to him.
“You okay, son?” he said.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” He looked over in disgust at the player who had just tripped him.
“Got you, man, you’re too slow.”
Daniel got up. “Rick, will you just stop?”
“Rick, will you just stop?” Rick imitated.
“Watch it, Heinwurst,” the referee warned. Rick smirked. “Whatever,” he said, and walked off nonchalant.
Daniel’s coach motioned him to take a break. As he came to the sidelines, he heard his sister say from the stands, “What happened, Daniel?”
Daniel looked toward his younger sister, Rachel, and walked over.
“Nothing really. Rick just tripped me.”
“He’s been beating you up a lot lately,” Rachel observed.
“Yeah, I know,” Daniel remarked sarcastically. “He never pushes anyone around.”
In the distance, thunder sounded. “I think that’ll come up on the way home,” said Rachel.
“I hope not,” Daniel said.
Daniel’s coach yelled, “Get back out there, Daniel! You’re in for Singleman!”
As Singleman came out, they slapped five.
“Watch out for Rick. He’s nasty today,” Singleman warned.
“Thanks, I will.”
Daniel took up his position at right striker and made sure his laces were tight. He looked at the scoreboard. His team, the Nighthawks, was tied 2-2 with its rival, the Raptors, with 10 minutes left. “Gotta focus, gotta focus,” he thought.
The ball was kicked and the game restarted. A scuffle began for the ball as five players converged on it, then it squirted out towards the Nighthawks’ left defenseman. He took it and ran with it, then passed to Daniel’s friend, Solomon Marks. Daniel looked around for a spot to get open for a pass. There! In between the two Raptor defenders was a wide-open spot in the goal box. Marks had advanced the ball past the opposing midfield and done some fancy moves to get past a defender. Now he was heading down the sideline, looking for someone to cross the ball to.
Daniel made his move. He sprinted past the two defenders and got in the clear, waving frantically to his teammate. Fortunately, Marks spotted him and crossed it perfectly, straight and low. Daniel tensed, waiting for his moment, then jumped.
As his forehead met the ball, several things happened. First, his body was knocked to the ground by some unseen force. Then, he saw something strange. Actually, a few things. A creature with a sword jumping over rocks. Someone who looked like his father smashing a medieval-looking weapon into someone. And a body with no face making a strange, unearthly laughing sound.
Other things he could not immediately recall flashed in his mind’s eye. Himself standing in the middle of a forest. A rope bridge with tens of hundreds of people on it falling down, down, down into a great abyss, with himself unable to do anything about it. As he watched it fall, the vision faded and he realized he was blacking out. He saw the soccer ball fall down and miss the goal wide. He heard the whistle of a referee, but it sounded so far off.
Then, and only then, did Daniel give in to the darkness encroaching upon him, and sank unconscious with the feeling of failure resting deep inside him.
To be continued…
Copyright 2009 Santos DeBarros
And Now…
The Main Event! In approximately 19 minutes at 4:15 PM Eastern Standard Time, the first posting of my book will be revealed.
National Spelling Bee Recap!
I did not win the bee. However, I did much better than last year, which makes me extremely pleased, because that was my goal.
The winner, though, was Kavya Shivashankar, from Olathe, Kansas who correctly spelled “Laodicean” to win the Bee. It was a tense match between her, Tim Ruiter, and Aishwarya Pastapur, as the three clawed their way to the championship finals. A surprising elimination was that of Sidharth Chand, last year’s runner-up who was eliminated before the real battle began on “apodyterium”. His spelling was “apodeiterium”. Even so, the night belonged to Kavya Shivashankar, as she used her signature way of writing on her hand as she spelled her words to propel her to victory.
I hope anyone from the Bee who is reading this had a great time, and if you are still eligible to return, good luck!
Incidentally, I did not copy this from somewhere, although it looks like I did. I wrote this with my own fingers.
Uh-Oh!
I am sorry, but once again I will have to delay the posting of the book for possibly another week, maybe less. I have not had time to get on since the National Spelling Bee, (which I will post a review of in a few days) and consequently have not done any editing of the first chapter. But I will post the first chapter in one week or as soon as possible.
Till next time,
thisoldsoul
Update
Well, on Monday I got my braces taken off. Finally after one and a half years of waiting (possibly more). They’re off. Mmmm, M&M’s. Stupid retainer. Stop coming off!!!! Sorry about that.
Anyway, the revision is on schedule and I can’t wait to publish.
Also, I will be a contestant in the 2009 National Spelling Bee. I am not at liberty to disclose my contestant number, but I can say that this is my second year and I am very excited. Anyway…
Till next time,
thisoldsoul
Hey, I rhymed. Anyway, the book is finally finished. I can hear you all saying,”Finally! I thought he would never finish it!” But don’t worry, starting June 1, posting of the book “The Discovery” will commence.
Till next time,
thisoldsoul
The Amazing Race Season Finale!
Ah, another season of The Amazing Race has ended. This year, the winner was two brother and sister lawyers, Tammy and Victor. The gang first had to season a 145 lb. pig, then carry it up a long beach to a luau. They then had to cover it with a traditional covering before receiving their next clue. They then had to take a personal water craft along a 1.6 mile route to where a group of 100 buoys was located. They then had to find 1 0f 4 buoys that would reveal the next clue. The next job was the roadblock in which they always have the team member try to remember what happened in which leg of the race. In this one they had to make a surfboard fence where the pictures were on the surfboards. Luke and Margie arrived first and Margie said that he had been preparing for this. Luke got off to a quick start and quickly put up 9 out of 11 boards. He then started struggling with the next two and Victor and Jaime showed up. Victor was able to figure it out and quickly made it through the Roadblock. Jaime struggled with the first picture but eventually made it out second. Luke and Margie finished a disappointing third.
The final standings for the 14th season of The Amazing Race:
1. Tammy and Victor
2.Jaime and Cara
3.Margie and Luke
4.Kisha and Jen
5.Mark and Michael
6.Mel and Mike
7.Christie and Jodi
8.Amanda and Kris
9.Brad and Victoria
10.Steve and Linda
11.Preston and Jennifer
The End Is Near!
No, not for the world. But for the end of my book!! Today yours truly began writing the epilogue part to my story. I am very excited to share this with all my fans. I will begin by starting the writing process on about June 1. Then, the installments will come out either every two weeks or every week, as I have not decided yet.
Soon, very, very soon!
March Madness Final Four Picks!
It is finally time for the Final Four, and here are my picks for the two winners of the two games.
Michigan State vs. Connecticut
Connecticut wins easily over Michigan State.
North Carolina vs. Villanova
North Carolina defeats Villanova by 9.
Sunday afternoon I’ll post a double header of a recap of the Final Four and the pick for the National Championship. Then Monday afternoon comes the recap of the 2009 National Championship in Detroit, Michigan.
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