Chapter 31 #2
In the third and last game the noise in the sports hall was so loud that all Britt-Marie could hear was a sort of sustained roar, and her heart thumped so hard that she lost her sense of touch, while her arms waved around her body as if they were no longer hers.
Their opponents were in the lead by 2-0, but with another few minutes to go, Vega thumped in a goal for Borg with her whole body.
Immediately afterwards, Max dribbled his way through the entire opposing team and scored, watched every step of the way by his begrudging father.
When his head popped out of the pile of arms and legs of his teammates, Fredrik turned around in disappointment and walked out of the door.
Max stood motionless by the sideline, staring at him as the referee blew the whistle to restart the game.
By the time the roaring spectators had woken the boy up, their opponents had hit the post once and the crossbar once, and the whole team except for Vega was lying scattered on the floor.
Then one of the opposing players gathered himself to take a shot at the open goal, and that was when Vega threw herself in front of the ball and covered the shot.
With her face. There was blood on the ball when it bounced back to the player.
He could have killed the match by tapping the ball in with the side of his foot, but despite this, the player stretched his foot for a hard shot.
Max ran straight into the pile of bodies and threw himself forward with his leg stretched out.
He made contact with the ball but the opponent hit his leg.
Max yelled so loudly that Britt-Marie felt as if she was the one with the broken leg.
The match finished 2-2. It was the first time in a very, very long time that Borg had not lost a soccer match. Vega sat next to Max on their way to the hospital, singing extremely unsuitable songs all the way.
Ben’s mother is standing in the doorway. She looks at Vega, then at Britt-Marie, then she nods as you do at the end of a long shift.
“Max wants to see you two. Just you two.”
Fredrik swears loudly, but Ben’s mother is implacable.
“Just these two.”
“I thought you were having the evening off,” says Vega.
“I was. But when Borg plays soccer the hospital has to call in extra staff,” she says severely, even though she’s quite clearly trying not to laugh.
She throws a blanket over Ben on one of the benches, and kisses him on the cheek. Then she does the same with Dino, Toad, and Omar, all still sleeping on the other benches.
Britt-Marie feels Fredrik’s hateful stare at her back as she and Vega follow her down the corridor, so she slows and walks behind Vega, to stop his stares hitting the girl.
Max lies in a bed with his leg hoisted up towards the ceiling.
He grins when he sees Vega’s swollen face as she comes walking in.
“Nice face! Totally an improvement on how you looked before!”
Vega snorts and nods at his leg.
“You think the doctors can screw on your leg straight this time, so you can learn to shoot properly, or what?”
He sniggers. So does she.
“Is my dad pissed off?” asks Max.
“Do bears shit in the woods?” Vega answers.
“Really, Vega! Is that the sort of language you use when you’re in a hospital? Well, is it?”
Vega laughs. Max too. Britt-Marie inhales, deeply self-controlled, turns, and leaves them and their language to it.
Fredrik is still standing in the waiting room where they left him. Britt-Marie stops, at a loss. Resists the impulse to pick one of Vega’s hairs from his arm, where it landed while they were locking heads and yelling at each other.
“Ha,” whispers Britt-Marie.
He doesn’t answer. Just glares down at the floor. So she summons what voice she has left in her throat and asks:
“Have you ever loved anything as much as these children do, Fredrik?”
He raises his head and drills his eyes into her.
“Do you have any children of your own, Britt-Marie?”
She swallows heavily and shakes her head. He looks down at the floor again.
“Don’t ask me about what I love, then.”
They sit on their chairs without saying anything else until Ben’s mother reemerges. Britt-Marie stands up, but Max’s dad stays seated as if he can’t summon any more energy. Ben’s mother puts her hand consolingly on his shoulder and says:
“Max wanted me to tell you that he’ll most likely be able to start playing ice hockey within six months. His leg will be completely back to normal. His career shouldn’t be in any danger at all.”
Max’s father doesn’t move. Presses his chin hard against his throat.
Ben’s mother nods at Britt-Marie. Britt-Marie sucks in her cheeks.
Ben’s mother is heading for the door when Max’s father finally lifts his hands to his eyes in two quick movements, tears dripping between his fingers, down into his beard.
He doesn’t have a towel. The tears stain the floor.
“Soccer, then? When can he start playing soccer again?”
At a certain age almost all the questions a person asks himself are about one thing: how should you live your life?