bringing lucy home

Chapter 30: Lucy Bronze, Gaffer

"Yea!" they all cheered together.

Lucy smiled. "This is gonna be an adventure, that's for sure. We'll get to work tomorrow, starting with this pitch. We can't keep on practicing football on this. Come tomorrow, 5 am, ready to work, yes?"

The girls talked amongst themselves excitedly, all of them fighting the urge to run up to Lucy and give her a hug or ask for a photo or something. After all there she was, a living goddess, Lucy Bronze, standing right in front of them. They all focused seriously and gave Lucy their word about the next day.

Giving them all a round of fist bumps and a wave, Lucy got back in her car and drove away, for the first time in 4 months having a job that put the wind in her sails.

That night at dinner, Lucy couldnt stop going on and on about the girls and her new job. 

"So this is exciting!" Steph said eagerly. "Your first job as a manager!"

"My hero," Keira laughed.

"What's the club again?" Steph asked.

"Stretford...somet," Lucy murmured, trying to think. Lucy shrugged as she stabbed her salad. "It's a very small club. The pitch is...awful. They've no facilities. Its like what we used to play on as kids back in god-knows-where we came from. I'm going to be tearing it up first thing tomorrow, we're going to level it out and re-work it and all that."

Keira gave her a dubious look. "That's a lot of work, Luce."

"I know," Lucy said, mouthful of lettuce. "I want to see how the girls work. It'll be good for them anyways. And how the hell can we keep on playing on that sort of godforsaken pitch?"

Steph raised her eyebrows. "Coach Lucy's a tough one."

Lucy laughed and shrugged her shoulders. "Gotta try, innit."

Keira rested her head on Lucy's shoulder. "I love you."

Lucy threw her arm around Keira. "Love you too baby." She leaned over and kissed the top of Keira's head.

"Steph and Milly had fun today," Keira said.

"Oh yeah?" Lucy nodded at Steph. "What did yous do?"

"Went to the park, sat her up and passed the ball a bit, she'd roll it back and stuff. She kept trying to stand up or whatever. Shes a lovely one, that little Milly."

Lucy nodded proudly with a huge grin. "Isnt she!" She sighed. "I don't want to miss out on it, Milly's growing up."

"You wont," Keira said reassuring her. "Neither of us will. We're all right here in Manchester."

"Still don't know what I did to deserve any of this," Lucy said, smiling. "You, Milly, Steph...all of you. This." She pointed out the house with her eyes. "I'm just...so lucky." She rested her chin in her hands. "And I don't know how."

"I don't either," Keira laughed, planting a kiss on Lucy's cheek.

The next morning, Lucy packed up her car with gloves, squares, rakes, and managed to get an old wheelbarrow in the boot of the SUV. It was 4.30 am but still Keira bid her goodbye on the front step as she left, baby Milly in her arms. The sight of them two together, Keira and Milly, the two people she loved most in the world, warmed her heart and filled her mind as she drove to the pitch of the Stretford Union Blues, keeping a smile on her face.

When she arrived, the 18 young players stood there as promised. Lucy shaded her eyes with her hand as the sun started to break through the clouds at dawn.

"Women of your word," Lucy nodded approvingly. "Good. Are you ready to work girls?"

"What are we doing today Coach?" Ellie asked excitedly, holding the football at her hip.

"Actually," Lucy laughed, amused, "almost nothing to do with football."

The players of the Stretford Union Blues all looked at each other in confusion.

"If...if I might ask, Coach," Sara broke in hesitantly. "Then what are we doing? You said to come ready to work."

Lucy nodded, and pointed at her. "And work we shall." She opened the boot of the car and struggled to pull out first the wheelbarrow, followed by the other tools and equipment. "Don't be shy, gather round. Everyone take some gloves and picks and square shovels." Confused, curious, and excited, the girls did as Lucy said. "We're tearing up this pitch," Lucy explained. "LITERALLY. You girls can't possibly become champions practicing on this sodding lot of grass, can you? No, we're going to build you a new pitch. Come on girls, lets get started."

Lucy walked to the very edge of the pitch. She paused momentarily, looking down at the dirt. Then she raised her pick above her head and sent it crashing down onto the ground, ripping out a huge lot of grass, dirt, and whatever had previously composed their awful mess of a pitch. She went at it again. Swing, drop, tear. She went along like this for a few yards before turning to the girls. "Well, come on then. Can't do this myself."

They all went full out on the grass, tearing it up into bits of turned-up old grass, small rocks, dirt clumps, and various bits of earth. With all of them working together, they were making good progress in their destruction mission.

Lucy stepped back and took out her leveler, marking how much they would need to cut into the ground to make the pitch level, and how much they would have to fill some parts in. By the time the entire lot had been overturned and was a tangled mess of dirt, the sun was well high in the sky and the girls were wiping their foreheads of sweat with their forearms.

Lucy squatted on the ground, resting her elbows on her thighs. "Everyone good?" They all nodded. "Good work. Alright, now everyone take up a shovel." Lucy demonstrated first again, drawing her elbows back with the shovel handle and then thrusting it forward, the spade digging in level across the dirt, taking up with it a heavy load of the grass, dirt, and rocks which they had just spent hours unsettling. She threw it over her shoulder to a small pile on the side and went again. The spade thunked and scraped against rock and earth as it grazed the ground, removing the loose dirt and grass from the base of their new pitch.

Again, the girls followed Lucy, taking up their shovels and sending the spades down and up again, dumping the dirt away from the new surface. Down at the earth again, pushing up through it. Going into the ground with nothing, coming back up with a new scoop of mud which they discarded. It was long, hard and hot work, sucking all their energy and strength. The sun beat down on the back of their necks and their hands ached from gripping the shovels and lifting the heavy dirt. When Lucy let them have a water break, they pulled off their gloves, wincing as they saw that all the skin on their palms had been rubbed off and blistered by the work. They exchanged glances which meant they hoped Lucy would end the job soon. She didn't.