Little Croker Read online

  ‘Animal, Da!’ answered Danny, but the trial wasn’t on his mind. He just couldn’t get Granny’s story out of his head.

  Mick had persuaded Danny to stay at home and not even bother to go and watch training that night. The more rest the better, thought Mick.

  Danny didn’t mind. Actually he preferred to stay at home, as being a spectator at training or at matches was frustrating and he would only be itching to get involved.

  Mick was only gone about half an hour when the doorbell rang.

  I wonder who that is? thought Danny. Maybe Da forgot something.

  Danny opened the door and there was Jimmy, panting like mad.

  ‘What’s up, Jimmy?’ Danny was getting worried. Jimmy had that familiar ‘Jimmy look’ on him that he got when something was wrong.

  ‘Get your coat, Danny,’ instructed Jimmy.

  Danny had never heard Jimmy give an order with such urgency.

  ‘Why?’ he asked

  Jimmy paused, then said, ‘It’s your daddy, Danny.’

  ‘What’s happened to my dad?’

  ‘I don’t know, Danny. He just collapsed.’

  ‘Is he all right, Jimmy? Is he all right?’ Danny was almost crying now. His dad was his whole world.

  ‘I think so, Danny. He’s gone off in an ambulance.’ Jimmy didn’t sound very convincing.

  Danny ran in, completely forgetting about his sore leg, and grabbed his jacket. Jimmy had his car already ticking over outside.

  ‘What about my granny?’ asked Danny as they drove by Shady Cedars.

  Poor Jimmy was sweating – this was just too much for him.

  ‘We better not tell your granny yet, Danny. Don’t want to frighten her now do we?’

  Jimmy’s words reminded Danny of Granny’s fright earlier that day.

  ‘No, sure my dad can ring her later, Jimmy, can’t he?’

  ‘Good man, Danny. Of course he can.’

  When Danny and Jimmy arrived at the hospital, they were told that Mick was unconscious and the doctors were carrying out tests, and to expect a long wait before any news.

  ‘Why is he having tests?’ Danny kept hounding Jimmy for answers.

  Eventually poor Jimmy couldn’t handle any more.

  ‘I think we should give your granny a ring,’ he suggested.

  ‘I thought we didn’t want to frighten her?’ asked Danny.

  ‘Just tell her your daddy had a bit of a fall or something, and I’m popping over to pick her up.’

  Jimmy gave Danny a few coins for the phone.

  ‘You don’t have to collect my granny, Jimmy, she’s going to ring my Uncle Larry and get him to bring her over,’ reported Danny when he got back.

  ‘Your Uncle Larry?’ said Jimmy. ‘I thought your Dad and your Uncle Larry didn’t get on well.’

  Danny just shrugged his shoulders.

  * * *

  At last, a doctor arrived. She brought Danny and Jimmy into a private room; they were both as white as ghosts.

  The doctor didn’t tip-toe around them, ‘Your father’s had a stroke, Danny,’ she said.

  Danny looked at Jimmy.

  ‘Do you know what that means, Danny?’ she asked.

  Danny’s eyes were filling up. He nodded his head.

  ‘He’s just had a lot of tests,’ she continued, ‘but it’s a little early to know exactly how well he will be when he wakes up.’

  ‘What does she mean, Jimmy?’

  Jimmy tried to answer, but he couldn’t manage to get any words out.

  The doctor told Danny and Jimmy that they could stay in the room, and it wasn’t long before Granny and Uncle Larry popped their heads in the door.

  Larry was in and out of the room like a yo-yo, trying to get more information for Danny and Granny, but the doctors just kept telling him that it was too soon for answers.

  Although Mick was in intensive care, Danny and Granny were allowed to see him for a few minutes.

  Danny was heartbroken when he saw his dad. Mick didn’t look like the strong, bubbly figure that Danny was so used to. He looked fragile lying so still on his bed. Danny’s tears began to flow, and he felt his granny’s old and shaking hand grasp his, and that felt strange, but comforting.

  Danny and Granny travelled home in the Bentley that night to Granny’s flat, and although Danny was tired, he lay back on the new leather recliner and twiddled with the buttons all night, thinking about his dad, all alone in hospital.

  Chapter 8

  At the Hospital

  Danny skipped school the next day and got the bus with his granny to the hospital.

  Danny was in pretty good form going in. Ah, sure, Dad will be sitting up reading the sports section of the morning papers, he thought. But when they got to Mick’s room, Danny was horrified to find that there was absolutely no change, and Mick was still unconscious.

  They sat watching over Mick for ages and ages waiting for some sort of movement or something from him.

  ‘Danny, pet!’ said Granny. ‘I’m gasping. Here’s a few quid. Go and get me a cup of tea from the machine, and get yourself a drink, too.’

  * * *

  Danny kicked the drinks dispenser as if he was taking a forty-five on the Little Croker. It had swallowed one of his coins.

  The machine wasn’t co-operating and Danny cracked. He sat down on a chair beside it and cried with his face in his hands.

  ‘Are you okay?’ A girl, a little older than Danny, sat down on the chair beside him. She was quite a pretty girl, all dressed in Abercrombie.

  Under normal circumstances, if a girl like this took any interest in Danny – and it hadn’t ever happened yet – he would be mortified to be caught crying.

  But right now Danny didn’t really care what state he was in.

  ‘I’m Trinity,’ the girl said, ‘What’s your name?’

  Danny removed his hands from his face and like a true young gentleman, snorted to clear his gunky nose.

  ‘Danny. Danny Wilde.’

  ‘Are you okay, Danny?’ repeated Trinity. It seemed to Danny that this girl was a little too concerned, considering she didn’t even know him.

  ‘What do you think?’ answered Danny cheekily.

  Trinity turned her nose up at Danny, and in a very mature voice replied,

  ‘Well, if you’re going to be rude!’

  Danny didn’t like being called rude, and it didn’t take him long to apologise to Trinity who had got up to leave.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ said Danny and he looked as if he meant it too.

  Trinity sat back down, and Danny began to spill all his problems.

  ‘My mam died when I was young,’ he cried. ‘I don’t want to lose my dad too.’

  Trinity put her arm around Danny.

  ‘I know how you feel, Danny,’ she comforted. ‘My father died a few years ago and my mother means the world to me.’

  Danny stopped sobbing, partly because he felt a little guilty now that Trinity was probably starting to feel a little sad too, and partly (and more importantly) because he didn’t want to look like too much of a softy.

  ‘Who’s your father’s consultant?’ Trinity queried.

  ‘Eh!’ Danny had to think, and while he was thinking, he also thought that was a really weird question for her to ask him. How old is this girl, twenty-something? he thought.

  ‘Mrs Dawson, or something like that,’ Danny remembered.

  Just as Danny spoke her name, Dr Dawson appeared through a door at the far end of the corridor.

  ‘That’s her there!’ said Danny.

  ‘Don’t worry about your father, Danny,’ said Trinity.

  ‘Why?’ asked Danny.

  Trinity stood up and walked towards Dr Dawson. She turned to Danny and smiled at him.

  ‘She’s my mother, and she’s really good at her job!’

  Then Trinity Dawson disappeared through the door at the end of the corridor, with her mother.

  Danny sat on his chair for a few minutes thinking about Trinit
y.

  He’d never really thought about a girl or girls, before. He only ever had time in his thoughts for football. Girls were a total waste of time!

  But it seemed at that moment that Trinity Dawson had appeared to Danny for a special reason, and Danny was thankful for that – Trinity’s words of comfort had made him feel better and hopeful. Maybe girls weren’t that bad after all?

  * * *

  When Danny got back to his dad’s room, his granny was standing outside the door.

  ‘What kept you, Danny?’ asked Granny

  ‘I was just talking to the doctor’s daughter!’ replied Danny.

  Normally an answer like that would trigger Granny’s curiosity, but not this time. She had something important to tell Danny.

  ‘Your daddy’s awake!’ she announced with a little smile.

  ‘Savage!’ said Danny, and he immediately thought of Trinity and her kind words.

  ‘Can I go in and see him?’

  ‘Not yet, pet,’ said Granny. ‘The doctors are in with him. Where’s my tea?’

  ‘Sorry, Granny. The machine was broken,’ answered Danny with a huge smile. He was chuffed. Dad’s back! he thought.

  It wasn’t long before the doctors came out and told Danny and his granny that they could go in and see Mick, but they warned them that he was very weak and had a long road to recovery.

  Danny ran in ahead of his granny.

  ‘Dad!’ said Danny and he threw his arms around his father. There was no need for him to say any more as the hug said everything about how Danny was feeling, and that was the best medicine Mick could ask for.

  When Danny sat back up onto the side of his dad’s bed, he noticed that the right side of Mick’s face was slightly droopier than the left and when Mick spoke, he struggled to get the words out properly.

  Danny’s reaction was one to be proud of. He knew a little about strokes as Splinter’s granddad had suffered from a stroke the previous year.

  ‘It’s okay, Dad’ said Danny. ‘Just rest, sure we can talk later when you’re feeling better.’

  Danny and Granny went home in Jimmy’s car that evening as Jimmy had popped up after work.

  ‘What about your trial, Danny?’ asked Jimmy as they pulled up outside Shady Cedars.

  Danny had completely forgotten about his trial.

  ‘Did you ring them?’ asked Jimmy.

  ‘I forgot,’ replied Danny. ‘Anyway, my dad has the number somewhere. I don’t know where he put it.’

  ‘Ah, sure your daddy’s on the mend now,’ said Jimmy. ‘That’s more important.’

  Just as Danny was getting out of the car, Jimmy remembered something.

  ‘Oh! You needn’t worry about tomorrow’s game, Danny.’

  Danny had been so occupied with his dad, that he had completely forgotten about Saturday’s match.

  ‘I forgot about that,’ said Danny.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ reiterated Jimmy. ‘I phoned their manager today and told him everything. We’re all in shock Danny. I thought it would be best if we got the game called off.’

  ‘Good decision, Jimmy,’ agreed Danny. ‘So we’re playing them at the end of the season?’

  Jimmy frowned. Danny knew instantly that Jimmy had made a hash of something.

  ‘What’s up, Jimmy?’

  ‘They couldn’t play the game then Danny, so we agreed to share the points.’

  Danny closed the door, and rolled down his window to talk to his granny.

  ‘I’ll be in in a minute, Granny.’

  ‘Are you mad, Jimmy?’ asked Danny. ‘Malachi’s are at the bottom of the league. We’d have slaughtered them.’

  Jimmy was sweating. He just wasn’t up for all these management decisions, now that Mick was off the scene. I shouldn’t have turned down Paddy Flynn, the Under-15s coach, when he rang this morning and offered to help me out! he thought.

  After a moment Danny just said, ‘Don’t worry about it, Jimmy. We can still win the league.’

  ‘Thanks, Danny. Of course we can, and sure your daddy getting better is more important than points.’

  ‘But Jimmy!’ shouted Danny, as Jimmy was driving off. ‘You can tell my dad, because I’m certainly not!’

  Danny slept better that night on Granny’s recliner and although he knew that there were hard times ahead, Jimmy was right, his dad was on the mend and things like football trials and league points did come second to family.

  Chapter 9

  Aylesbridge Close

  Danny’s dad improved a little over the weekend and when Danny went to the hospital after school on Monday he was surprised to see his dad and his Uncle Larry talking.

  ‘All right, Uncle Larry?’ greeted Danny as he sat on the side of his dad’s bed.

  ‘Daniel,’ replied Larry.

  ‘I was thinking about your trial this morning,’ said Mick. He spoke slowly, but managed to make himself understood.

  Danny wiped his dad’s mouth with a handkerchief.

  ‘No worries, Dad,’ said Danny. ‘There’ll be other chances.’

  ‘That’s very mature of you, Daniel,’ said Larry.

  Then Larry went on to tell Danny what the two brothers had been talking about. The plan was for Danny to stay at Larry’s house until his dad was well enough to look after him. Larry wouldn’t oblige his brother under normal circumstances, but these were not normal times and Larry knew that it must have taken a lot for Mick to ask.

  ‘Do I have to, Dad?’ pleaded Danny.

  ‘It’s for the best, Danny,’ said Larry. ‘Your father needs plenty of proper hospital care and it’s going to be quite a while yet before he’s able to look after you again, or even come home.’

  Danny didn’t continue the dispute. One look at his dad and he realised that Larry’s words were true, and his dad getting better – Proper better, thought Danny – was the main deal here.

  It was agreed, against Danny’s initial wishes, that Larry would collect Danny from his house the following Saturday as there was no game on that weekend. Until then he’d stay with his granny at Shady Cedars.

  * * *

  Saturday arrived and Uncle Larry and Jonathon arrived with it. They weren’t in the Bentley this time, but in Regina’s BMW x5. According to Regina that morning, you never know how a twelve-year-old boy will pack, or what junk he will want to drag along with him, so Larry brought the car with the bigger boot!

  This was to the great disappointment of Splinter who was waiting anxiously on his wall to catch a glimpse of Larry’s car, as never had a Bentley driven down his road before.

  As Larry drove through Littlestown Lawns and by Danny’s football pitch, Jonathon got a reality check as he looked out at broken trees and burnt patches of turf where night fires had been lit to warm the hands that held the cider cans that were still smouldering in the ashes.

  ‘Take a good look, Jonathon,’ said Larry with a smirk on his face. ‘This is how life could be for you, if you don’t keep up your studies, or if you waste your time on pointless sports, or whatever these people get up to.’

  Jonathon was embarrassed by his father’s words.

  ‘But this is where you’re from, Dad, and you’re successful,’ he muttered bravely.

  His dad gave no reply.

  Larry had been warned by Regina not to leave the x5 unattended, so he sat reading his paper while Jonathon helped Danny bring his stuff out.

  ‘You’ve a lot of posters on your walls,’ observed Jonathon in Danny’s room.

  Danny’s room was plastered from wall to wall with GAA posters, all of the Dubs, of course, and he’d have covered the ceiling as well if Mick had let him.

  ‘Give us a hand, J?’ asked Danny as he started to strip some of the posters to bring with him.

  ‘“J”?’ replied his cousin. ‘Who’s “J”?’

  ‘You, ya’ spanner!’ laughed Danny. ‘Jonathon takes ages to get out. Just “J” sounds cool!’

  ‘Well! I suppose “J” is better than being called af
ter a tool,’ replied Jonathon and the two cousins laughed while rolling up Danny’s favourite posters.

  Finally, after Larry had read his paper twice from cover to cover, Danny Wilde locked the door of his home behind him.

  ‘Come on, Heffo!’ yelled Danny and his Jack Russell appeared out from under the hedge of next door’s garden.

  Danny opened his door and Heffo jumped straight up onto Regina’s cream leather back seat.

  ‘Get that mutt off the seat,’ grunted Larry. ‘You didn’t say anything about a dog.’

  ‘You didn’t ask,’ replied Danny and he closed his door. ‘Down, Heffo. I’ll keep him at my feet, he’ll be no trouble.’

  Jonathon was trying his very best not to laugh or even smile as he appreciated that his father was struggling with his cousin. Jonathon was beginning to think that Danny coming to stay at his house was going to be very exciting indeed!

  With great discomfort, every now and then Larry looked into his rear view mirror to see a sight he was neither familiar with nor happy with – his son and Mick’s son horseplaying together and having fun.

  ‘That’s enough, boys!’ corrected Larry.

  ‘We’re only messing!’ tutted Danny, and he caught a glimpse of Larry glaring at him in the mirror.

  Jonathon never spoke a word to Danny for the rest of the journey and this made Danny very uncomfortable and very angry with his uncle. My dad wouldn’t treat me like that, thought Danny. Uncle Larry’s nothing but a bully, and Jonathon is terrified of him.

  Danny pressed his nose against the glass and huffed steam all over it and then wiped it making squeaky noises that he knew would drive Larry mad.

  Larry retaliated by putting on one of Regina’s opera cds.

  Heffo began to howl.

  ‘Is that meant to be music? Your woman sounds in pain!’ Danny giggled to Jonathon and he gave him a friendly elbow to try and make him join in.

  Jonathon held back the smiles that were bursting at the seams of his mouth to get out.

  Danny continued the banter as Uncle Larry was now humming along with the cd.