Paris / Ted Lasso

47. Earl

Delicate / Jaime Lannister out now!

"And we're in the final minute of added time. AFC Richmond and Nottingham Forest are level with two goals apiece. Obisanya switches play. He finds Rojas, who has room. Oh!" The whistle blew. "And it's a penalty!" Arlo declared. "A giant opportunity for the Greyhounds to change their club's tide here."

"Come on, come on, YES!" Poppy declared jumping up. This was it, they were getting back in the big leagues. 

"Huge relief for Colin Hughes after he was liable for Forest's equalizer. Richmond has started the season with seven straight ties... and if this match ends in a draw, they will tie the record, which is currently a tie between Southampton and Swansea." Arlo went on. "Chris, can you even imagine starting a season with seven consecutive draws?"

"I sure can, Arlo. And that's because I'm a right-brained dominant with a knack for make-believe."

"Is it okay if I pray?" Nate questioned from the sidelines. 

"Yeah, of course. But to which god and in what language, you know?" Ted countered, Nate blinked back at him. ''You could cross your fingers, make a wish." Nate crossed his fingers, beard did too. "There you go." Ted hesitated before he crossed his fingers too.

"The Richmond faithful, who've recently gone through so much, still fervently behind their club." Arlo added. 

"And a hush falls over Nelson Road... With the exception of Richmond's venerable mascot, Earl Greyhound, howling his encouragement." The whistle blew again. "Will Dani Rojas deliver the good boy their first win of the season?"

Birdie bounced excitedly on Poppy's lap as Dani lined up the shot. All eyes were on Dani. 

"Football is life." As Danni kicked the ball their mascot broke free of his leash and ran onto the field chasing after a bid.  There was a collective awful gasp from the crowd as the ball connected with Earls head. Birdie screamed covering her face with her hands. 

"Oh, my God."

"I promise that's not what I wished for." Nate declared.

+ 

"You don't think that people will hate us because of it, do you?"

"Well, it was obviously a horrible accident, but I guess that one perk of being in a lower division now is that not every game is televised." Higgins countered.

"Yes, but, Higgins, the Internet." Poppy corrected holding out her phone. 

"Oh, right, the goddamn Internet." Higgins muttered.

"Oi, Twitter is going bonkers. Look." Keeley declared. 

"Oh God," Poppy groaned.

"Where is Birdie?" Rebecca questioned. 

"Saying a prayer of Earl." Poppy remarked. "She wanted a moment of peace and privacy. So say goodbye." Ted grabbed Poppys hand but just as quickly dropped it when he looked at the new reports blowing up his phone. 

"Oh, God. Did we really make Michael Jordan cry?" Ted questioned through an exasperated breath. "Oh shoot, I gotta go." Ted remarked getting up, he kissed Poppys cheek and she loved it before he ran out. 

"Oh wait-" Rebecca said but he was already gone. 

"Whats wrong?" Poppy questioned. 

"Higgins, Did you write a statement for Ted?" Rebecca questioned. 

"Yeah, I did." Higgins agreed. "But then he said, "Now, don't you fret, Boba Fett". Higgins relayed. "He's got it covered."

"Oh God." Rebecca countered. 

"He's got this." Poppy assured. "Have faith in him, I do." 

"go down there in case he needs saving." Rebecca countered. 

" All right, Marcus, what do you got for me?" Ted questioned in the press room. He knew today would be a difficult press conference.

" Coach Lasso, how are you feeling about the team's efforts today?"

"Well, I feel like everyone played their hearts out, especially Sam." Ted remarked. "Just gets better and better every game. He's really helping us fill that giant Roy Kent void, you know." Roy was a giant void and Poppy missed her constant grumpy buddy marching around. 

"And how many more matches you think can end in a draw before you hit the panic button?"

"Well, Marcus, there's two buttons I never like to hit, all right?" Ted mused. "And that's "panic" and "snooze"." Ted decided and there was a scattered laughter among the room, his gaze settled on Poppy however and she smirked back at him as if to say we hit snooze five times this morning. Ted felt a blush creep up his neck at her heated gaze. Ted cleared his throat. " Who else? Uh, what about this fella right here?"

" Trent Crimm..."

"The Independent." The other journalists echoed, Trent glanced back at them. Poppy chuckled. 

"You are well known Trent." Poppy remarked. "It's a sign of admiration... or-"

"The independent, yes." Trent agreed turning back around. "I was wondering if you had any comments on Earl, the dog Dani Rojas killed today." Trent questioned. Ted pursed his lips nodding slowly.

"Mmm. Trent Crimm, bringing that heat." Ted agreed with a heavy sigh. "Yeah. Well, when I was three years old, I got attacked by our neighbor's dog. I don't remember it happening, but my mother said it was pretty... pretty scary, you know. I do remember being afraid of dogs while growing up though." Poppy realized how much and how little she knew about Ted. She loved that he was so open to everyone, sometimes his stories didnt seem to make any sense until they were done and how they connected with what question was actually asked. 

 "Like if I was at a friend's house for a sleepover or something, they'd have to keep their family dog outside, otherwise I'd bawl my eyes out." Ted informed them, he didn't know the meaning over overshare but it usually worked in his favor. "Then in high school, our neighbor, Mr. Grady, well, his wife passed away. And he was real sad about that, as you can imagine, and he just kinda stopped taking care of their dog. Same one that bit me. His name was Hank. And so I started looking after him, you know. Feeding him, taking him on walks, playing fetch, all that fun stuff. Eventually, Mr. Grady's son moved his dad into a nursing home, and he asked if I wanted to keep Hank, and I was like, "Yeah. Heck, yeah". Ted informed them. Poppy had talked about getting a dog but it was a lot of work, Ted had never mentioned this before, but she was more set on getting a cat, which they did while Ted was busy training like crazy to get the guys back in the primer league Poppy and Birdie adpoted a kitty cat. 

Ted told them a bird and cat watch out, it made Birdie laugh all the way home as she snuggled her kitten close. Poppy knew Ted had this under control, he always seemed to know what to say.

 "And then a year or so after that we had to put Hank to sleep. It's funny to think about the things in your life... that can make you cry just knowing that they existed, can then become the same thing that make you cry knowing that they're now gone. I think those things come into our lives... to help us get from one place to a better one. And I hope we helped Earl do just that." Ted remarked the journalists went silent. "We gonna miss him around here a whole bunch. Yeah." Poppy didnt know how he did it but he did it. He silenced a group of over eager reporters. They all took an unofficial moment of silence for Earl it seemed before Trent spoke up again. 

"And how's Dani doing?"

"I haven't spoken with him yet, but I just hope he's not being too hard on himself, you know." But Dani was repeating a Spanish prayer as the shower sprayed down on him fully clothed.