It was the usual, too many kids outside of Alana's window. She woke up to the sound of kids playing football on the side of her house, and all she could do was roll her eyes and shout.
"Hey! Keep it down!" she yelled out of her window as the sun started to rise. "You see that? The sun isn't even up!" she pointed towards the sky. "So be quiet!" Alana pursed her lips and ducked out of the window.
"Hey!" she heard a voice mock her. "You're yelling at us." Andrew said to her as he toyed with the ball. "Lighten up and why don't you play with us?" he asked. Some of his friends laughed at that. "Or do you play games for girlie girls?" Andrew's pre pubescent voice taunted.
"Leave me alone." Alana ordered as she pointed an accusing finger at them. "Stop taunting me, I'm gonna tell mama if you do." Andrew's facial expression changed into one of amusement.
"Do it!" he yelled with a grin, kicking the ball through the window. The ball flew through the room that only consisted of a lamp, a clock and two beds for the twins. He loved making her upset because her reaction was always funny. Alana watched as the worn ball struck the lamp and it fell to the ground, shattering in the process.
"That's it!" Alana shouted in a no longer sleepy stupor. "It's Sunday and it's 6am, stop playing football when it's so early in the morning! This is not the world cup." she yelled loud enough so they could hear her as she ran down the stairs to chase them off. This was typical, minus the football through the room bit.
"Come and get us then!" Andrew shouted as he took off down the dusty road with his eight friends. Alana was fed up and started running at them as fast as she could. It didn't take her long to get out of the house due to its small size. "Nah nah nah boobie!" Andrew teased. "Guys! Count down to the world cup is 15 days, it is almost the world cup Ana! Viva Brazil!" Andrew took off at full speed while throwing up the peace sign with two hands. The road was sandy but hard as she excelerated, passing by homes that were smaller than hers.They were lucky to have a three bed room home, most had one. Alana ran until her bare feet were sore, by then, Andrew and his friends were long gone down another road and probably teasing her behind her back.
"I hate these boys." she said as she put her hands on her hips while she observed the sun rise. The sun was brimming on the horizon as she took it all in. Part of her loved the thrill of chasing the boys down the street as this occurence happened twice every week.
She walked towards the sun rise as the hot Brasil sun started to shine on her face. Alana smiled as she felt the increase in temperature. The hot Brasil air would constantly remind her of incoming activities. She turned on her bare feet as the dust settled on the ground with a smile once she started down the road back to her home.
She loved the walks back and often enjoyed being on her own for those ten minutes. She knew that Andrew would be back soon for his ball, so Alana knew that hiding it would give her always sweet revenge. Just watching him look for it would send her into fits of laughter and would cause Andrew's eyes to squint at her and for them to have constant arguments.
Every tine she stepped back into the house, her mother would greet her by telling her not to come in with dirty feet.
"Alana, dust your feet off! They're dirty!" she would yell from the kitchen. Normally, she would find her father taking food to go on his way to work, but she assumed that he had gone on his way already. Her mother knew that Alana loved to run outside after her bother, but she was constantly worried about her going off on her own. Even though her daughter liked being alone early in the morning, doing what? She never knew.
"Yes mama, just give me a minute." she would call from the entrance. Alana would ignore her mother's instructions and go right to looking for the ball. The radio would be on by now, blasting Brazilian music at full volume. She found it next to the broken lamp, deflated because of being punctured by broken glass. As she smiled fiendishly, she held the ball in her hands.
"Aw, isn't that too bad." she said to herself, sarcastically at that. She chucked it over her head and it hit the corner diagnolly across from her. Alana glanced all around the room to make sure no one saw, not even her own sister. "There we go." she pulled out boots from a stash in her bed. Football brought her a certian comfort, to play on her own is the way she liked it. Not only did she use two months worth of babysitting the Terrible Two next door, she also had to use three months of pay from making food for parties with her sister in order to buy a pair of Nike boots so that Alana could properly play football.
Now she was known to her mother as the one who could feel things that made her uncomfortable. As Alana pulled out her boots, a sudden feeling of abnormality fell over her. She squinted her eyes, it was as if she could almost smell it. It wasn't her normal Sunday, because it seemed to be missing some sort of element.
"Ana?" she heard her sister call from down the hallway. Katilina started running towards the room that was for the twins. "Ana!" Alana took the chance to stuff the boots back into her stash and turned around with an innocent smile.
"Yeah Kat?" she asked with her hands behind her back. Alana's eight year old mind didn't let her know that putting her hands behind her back didn't make her look any less guilty. No one was supposed to know that she bought boots with hard earned money.
"Ana. Have you seen pai?" she asked. Alana shook her head. "Are you sure?"
"No!" she didn't see why this was a big idea. "Pai is just doing business like he always does." Alana smiled.
"Ana. His stuff is gone." Katilina said while glancing inside of the room.
"Wh-what do you mean?" Alana's eyebrows knitted together as she looked into her nine year old sister's eyes.
"Alana." Katilina said while staring into her sister's hazel eyes. "This is important." Alana's eyes widened. "His stuff is gone."
"Where's he gone?" Alana asked as she followed Katilina out of the room.
"I don't know, but whatever you do, don't tell mama."
//*//
As time would tell, three days and no word from their father. Not that he was ever there to begin with, but he'd work from dusk until dawn at a rich man's house in Rio De Janerio. Alana's mother would constantly remind herself that she wasn't alone. The presence of her three children was just enough to keep her happy and distracted from all of their issues.
Alana hadn't really understood what was going on, instead, she would wake up early before school. She was getting excited the countdown to the ultimate international break. Alana was constantly mimicking what she saw on previews at her school. They had gotten a tv just so they could watch it once the tournament premired. Brazil's national team would be going for their fifth star, and it made her happy, as well as prideful for her country. Ronaldo Nazario was making his official comeback, and she was counting the days on her calendar.
"What are you doing?" Alana heard a voice call. She turned around, caught in her boots with a new ball. The ball was a gift from her friend because her friend saw major potential in her.
"Andrew?" she let the ball drop in front of her.
"Yeah it's me, what are you doing?" he asked her while pointing to her ball.
"Playing football. You know I love to play it." Alana said to him as she observed their two story house. Alana was nervous, because she felt inhumane for never spending correctly. She played it cool as he observed her boots, wondering where they had even came from.
"Yeah but like that, you'll never make club level is you can't look me and dribble at the same time." he stepped towards her while pointing at her weak foot, which was her right. "So you're left footed..."
"Yeah I am. I've always been..." Alana smiled at him. She did the elastico and kicked the ball and then headed it. She and her brother had never gotten along, but talking about football is something they'd gotten along well with.
"So have you always been up at sun rise just to play?" he asked.
"Of course I always am, I pray before I leave the house first." she said as she started to free style with the ball. He watched her in awe as she did things he had only ever seen professionals do.
"How do you do that?" he asked her. Eager to know.
"It's a God given talent Andrew, we all have something special from Him." She kicked the ball high up in the air. "Maybe pai will come back if he ever sees my skills."
"So do you think he will come back for you?" he asked. Alana closed her eyes with a sigh, but she saw the hope in her brother's eyes.
"Nope, not a chance." Alana said with a knowing smile, and kicked the ball high up in the air.
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Hiiiii guys.
So here is the insight! This was originally supposed to give you a little bit of things so that you would be able to piece some things together. I hope this was clear enough, (just so you know, this is 2002).
It may seem random, but it does link chapter 11 (just a bit) to chapter 12 (basically a preview to chapter 12).
What did you think about this?
Update soon? God bless you guys :). Update goal is a little high this time, but maybe you guys can do it? If we don't reach it by next Wednesday, then I will probably update. So here it goes...
Update goal is
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-570 reads?
I just feel that the book is long so far and maybe I need to slow down on the updating. Okay you guys. See ya.
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God bless you :)
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Dominique