Normal service resumes

Wednesday morning began with a miracle.

Barry was dressed.

Marmaduke was dressed.

And Alfie was smiling.

Mrs Brand stood at the bottom of the stairs and stared at the three boys.

“Is everyone ready?”

“Yes!” shouted Barry.

“Yes!” shouted Marmaduke.

“Yes,” said Alfie.

Mrs Brand narrowed her eyes.

“You’ve remembered your football boots?”

“Yes.”

“Water bottles?”

“Yes.”

“Packed lunches?”

“Yes.”

“Barry, are you wearing two matching shoes?”

Barry looked down.

There was a pause.

“No.”

Mrs Brand sighed.

“Of course not.”

Barry was wearing one football boot and one trainer.

“It makes me faster.”

“It doesn’t.”

“It might.”

“It won’t.”

Marmaduke looked at his own feet.

“I’ve got two football boots.”

Mrs Brand smiled.

“Excellent.”

Marmaduke looked pleased.

“Unfortunately, they’re both Barry’s.”

Barry looked down.

“Oh.”

Normal service had returned.

Alfie was different that morning.

He was still sensible.

Still serious.

Still the sort of child who would probably remind a police officer that they had parked slightly over a yellow line.

But he was happy again.

Yesterday had been difficult.

He’d tried to ignore the school bully. 

He’d played his football.

He’d followed the rules.

And, with a little help from Barry and Marmaduke’s extremely enthusiastic sideline support, he’d shown everyone exactly what he could do.

Most importantly, he’d finally told the adults what had been happening.

And that had made a difference.

The football camp coaches had spoken to the school bully. 

Not angrily.

Not dramatically.

Just firmly.

They had explained that football involved tackling, competing and being determined—but it did not involve deliberately hurting people, insulting teammates or trying to make somebody miserable.

The school bully had been given a choice.

Change his behaviour or spend the rest of the week watching from the side.

Apparently, even the school bully preferred playing football.

Who knew?

When they arrived at camp, the school bully was already there.

Alfie spotted him.

For half a second, he looked nervous.

Then the school bully walked over.

“Hi.”

Alfie blinked.

“Hi.”

The school bully shoved his hands into his pockets.

“I was being a bit of an idiot yesterday.”

Barry gasped.

Marmaduke whispered:

“He admitted it.”

“I heard,” said Barry.

The school bully looked at Alfie.

“Sorry.”

Alfie nodded.

“Okay.”

“Are we alright?”

Alfie thought about it.

“Yeah.”

The school bully smiled.

“Good.”

Then he turned to go.

Barry stared after him.

“That was surprisingly easy.”

Alfie nodded.

“Sometimes people just need to be told when they’re doing something wrong.”

Barry frowned.

“But where’s the exciting bit?”

“There isn’t always an exciting bit.”

Barry looked disappointed.

“That seems unfair.”

The morning session was a dribbling competition.

Barry immediately became extremely interested.

“What’s dribbling?”

Alfie explained.

“You control the ball with your feet while moving.”

Barry nodded.

“So you kick it.”

“Not really.”

“You run after it.”

“No.”

“You kick it and chase it.”

“Barry.”

“What?”

“Just watch.”

The coach demonstrated.

Alfie went next.

He was brilliant.

He weaved between cones, kept the ball close and finished with a neat shot into the net.

The coach clapped.

“Excellent.”

Barry nodded thoughtfully.

Then it was his turn.

He kicked the ball.

It rolled straight past the first cone.

Barry chased it.

It rolled towards the car park.

Barry chased it faster.

Marmaduke chased Barry.

The coach chased Marmaduke.

Alfie stood beside the cones with his hands over his face.

“That’s not dribbling!” he shouted.

Barry shouted back:

“It is if you’re very fast!”

Five minutes later, the ball had been retrieved.

Nobody had been injured.

The coach looked relieved.

“Let’s try again, Barry.”

Barry nodded.

This time he concentrated.

He tapped the ball gently.

Left.

Right.

Left.

Right.

He made it around the first cone.

Then the second.

Then the third.

“I’m doing it!” he shouted.

“You are!” called Alfie.

Barry grinned.

Marmaduke was jumping up and down.

“GO BARRY! GO BARRY! GO BARRY!”

Barry reached the final cone.

Then he tried to do a fancy turn he’d seen on television.

His feet became tangled.

He fell over.

The ball rolled away.

Barry sat on the grass.

There was silence.

Then Marmaduke shouted:

“FANTASTIC FALL!”

Barry laughed.

Even Alfie laughed.

And just like that, things felt normal again.

At lunchtime, the boys sat together.

Alfie was chatting to some of the other children.

Barry was trying to make his sandwich stand upright.

Marmaduke was watching.

“Why are you doing that?”

“I’m building a sandwich tower.”

“Why?”

“Because sandwiches don’t have enough architecture.”

Marmaduke nodded.

“That makes sense.”

Alfie looked over.

“No, it doesn’t.”

Barry added another layer.

The sandwich collapsed.

Marmaduke applauded.

“Excellent architecture.”

Alfie shook his head.

“You two are unbelievable.”

Barry grinned.

“Thank you.”

“That wasn’t a compliment.”

“I know.”

After lunch came a shooting game.

This was Alfie’s favourite.

The coach split them into teams.

The school bully was on Alfie’s team.

For a moment, Alfie wondered whether things would become awkward again.

But they didn’t.

The school bully passed to him.

Alfie passed back.

The school bully ran.

Alfie moved into space.

The school bully passed.

Alfie shot.

Goal.

“Nice one!”

“Good pass!”

The two boys high-fived.

Barry nearly fell off his chair.

Marmaduke stared.

“They’re friends now.”

Barry nodded.

“Looks like it.”

Marmaduke looked disappointed.

“Does that mean we don’t need to fight Connor?”

“We were never going to fight the school bully.”

“Oh.”

Marmaduke looked thoughtful.

“Can we fight the cones?”

“No.”

“Can we tackle them?”

“No.”

“Can we kick them?”

“No.”

Marmaduke sighed.

“Football has too many rules.”

The afternoon ended with a proper match.

This time Alfie played with confidence.

He ran.

He passed.

He tackled fairly.

He encouraged his teammates.

And when the school bully made a good tackle, Alfie shouted:

“Brilliant!”

The school bully grinned.

Then the school bully passed to Alfie.

Alfie scored.

The coach blew the whistle.

“Great teamwork!”

Barry and Marmaduke were screaming from the sideline.

“ALFIE!”

“GOAL!”

“TEAM ALFIE!”

“TEAM EVERYBODY!”

The coach laughed.

“I think they’ve lost track of which team they’re supporting.”

Barry shrugged.

“We support football.”

Marmaduke nodded.

“And snacks.”

“Mostly snacks,” said Barry.

On the way home, Alfie walked between Barry and Marmaduke.

“You were really good today,” said Alfie.

Barry smiled.

“I know.”

“You were also very bad at dribbling.”

Barry stopped.

“What?”

“You kicked the ball into the car park.”

“That was tactical.”

“It wasn’t.”

“It was.”

Marmaduke nodded.

“It was a very long pass.”

Alfie laughed.

“Fine. A very long pass.”

Barry looked pleased.

“Thank you.”

When they got home, Marjory was waiting outside with Mrs Brand.

“How was today?” asked Marjory.

“Brilliant!” said Alfie.

Mrs Brand smiled.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“What happened with the school bully?”

Alfie shrugged.

“He apologised.”

“And?”

“We’re okay.”

Mrs Brand hugged him.

“I’m glad.”

Alfie smiled.

“So am I.”

Barry interrupted.

“I fell over.”

Marjory looked concerned.

“Are you hurt?”

“No.”

“Good.”

“I fell over brilliantly.”

Marmaduke nodded.

“He did.”

Mrs Brand looked at Alfie.

“And how did Barry help today?”

Alfie smiled.

“He didn’t.”

Barry looked offended.

“I supported you emotionally.”

“You shouted ‘GO FASTER!’ while I was taking a penalty.”

“That was support.”

“You also shouted, ‘Don’t miss!’”

“Also support.”

“You shouted, ‘If you miss, Marmaduke gets your biscuit.’”

Marmaduke looked up.

“I was prepared to take that responsibility.”

Mrs Brand laughed.

“I see.”

That evening, Alfie sat on the sofa.

He looked relaxed.

He wasn’t worrying.

He wasn’t thinking about the school bully.

He wasn’t replaying yesterday in his head.

He was simply watching football highlights with his dad.

Barry and Marmaduke were on the floor.

They had discovered two cushions.

And, naturally, they had decided they were goalposts.

“Ready?” said Barry.

“No,” said Alfie.

Barry kicked the ball.

It bounced off one cushion.

Then the other.

Then hit Marmaduke.

Marmaduke fell backwards dramatically.

“GOAL!”

“You’re not the goal,” said Alfie.

“I am now.”

Barry cheered.

“WE WON!”

“You didn’t score!”

“We did emotionally.”

Alfie shook his head.

Then he laughed.

A proper laugh.

The kind that had been missing for a few days.

Mrs Brand looked over from her laptop.

Mr Brand smiled.

Marjory, sitting in the armchair with a cup of tea, watched the three boys.

“Back to normal, then,” she said.

Mrs Brand nodded.

“Definitely.”

Barry suddenly stood up.

“I’ve got an idea.”

Alfie groaned.

“No.”

“You don’t even know what it is.”

“I know you.”

Marmaduke jumped up.

“What is it?”

Barry whispered something in his ear.

Marmaduke’s eyes widened.

“Ohhh.”

Alfie looked suspicious.

“What are you two doing?”

Barry grinned.

“Nothing.”

Alfie frowned.

“That’s never a good answer.”

Barry and Marmaduke ran upstairs.

There was a crash.

A thump.

Then a loud shout.

“WE’RE FINE!”

Alfie looked at his mum.

His mum looked at Dad.

Dad looked at Marjory.

Marjory took a sip of tea.

“Parenting,” she said, “is basically just waiting for the noise to stop.”

Another crash came from upstairs.

“Usually,” she added, “after something expensive breaks.”

Alfie smiled.

He was happy again.

 The school bully had been subdued.

The football was fun again.

And Barry and Marmaduke were back to being exactly what they were supposed to be.

A complete menace.

Which, in their family, was actually quite reassuring.