Page 71 of Playing By Ear

Jamie turned. The referee was pointing at the penalty spot.

“What?!” Jamie stomped over, fists clenched. “We were outside the box. Anyone could see that!”

Fergus intercepted him. “I agree,” his captain said in a low voice, “but you’ll get a yellow as it is for the foul. Don’t get a second for dissent.”

The unfazed official brandished a yellow card in Jamie’s direction.

Jamie spun away, gnashing his teeth so hard they could crack.

Katie rushed to his side. “That was bullshit! There’s no way the ref had a good view of you. I was right behind him, and Liam was in both our sight lines.” She tapped her forehead against his affectionately. “Tough break, babe, but we gotta let it go.”

“I know.” He rubbed his face hard with both hands. Regardless of the location, Jamie had committed a foul. He’d need to be careful for the rest of the match or he’d get sent off, leaving the Warriors with ten players.

“Sorry, mate,” Ali said as they joined Jamie and the rest of the Warriors on the edge of the eighteen-yard box for Haggarty’s penalty attempt. “That was my fault.” Ali pointed to their left eye. “Lost a contact lens.”

“What, on the pitch?”

“Yeah, it just popped out. I got dust behind it, and I was blinking like crazy. Then boom! Gone. It was shit timing.”

“That’s not your fault, just bad luck.” Jamie was surprised he’d never seen it happen before. “Can you only half see now?”

“I can function well enough until halftime. But unless I find that stupid thing during the break, I’ll have to be subbed out.”

Mercer approached the penalty spot twelve yards in front of the goal. Heather bounced on the balls of her feet at the goal line, arms waving wide to distract her opponent.

“Oh, no.” Robert looked toward the crowd. “Bit insensitive to your man, aye?”

Jamie turned, cupping a hand over his ear to block the wind.

Over on the touchline, the Rainbow Regiment’s chant rang out:

I’m blind

I’m deaf

I wanna be a ref!

Chapter 14

Perry had never considered the word blind an insult. It’s what his mum was. It’s what he was. It was a simple descriptor.

Until now, spat by otherwise perfectly nice people.

“Fuck’s sake,” John said as he stood up. “Youse better start a new chant!”

Perry put a hand up to hush him. “Leave them. It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine!”

“Jamie’s making the universal Shut-the-Fuck-Up hand signals,” Ben said as the chant began to fade. “Seems to be working.”

A short, sharp whistle sounded on the pitch, then a few seconds later, the away fans roared with triumph.

“Mercer scored the penalty,” John said. “Right foot, lower left corner. Heather dived the right way and almost got a hand to it.”

Brodie touched Perry’s shoulder. “I’ll corral these numpties before they start that terrible chant again.” He stood and began to sing in a deep, booming voice:

One-nil to the referee