Everyone has heard of the Godfathers the definitive representation of what it is to be an Italian Mafioso, from the dusty mountainside of Sicily to the posh New York avenues.
Some choose to leave the fatherland for greener pastures; some turn the du...
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I woke around 6am as usual, but this morning was different from other mornings. I had a strange dream. I saw a girl with beautiful long brown hair, but I couldn't make out who she was because her face was turned away the other side, she was wearing a beautiful floral frock and walking away.Rough guess, her age must be in the range of 12-14 years.
My 6 year old self was running behind her screaming "sorella maggiore"(big sister) and then the dream ended and I woke up with a start, it was a strange experience to say the least.
After giving myself some time to process the dream I pushed it away and started off with my day, instead of wasting too much time pondering about it. I went on run, because my brother was away on work he wasn't be able to take me to the boxing ring like usual.
After a good hour long run I rushed back into my room to finish my daily routine and head to school as soon as possible. I wore white ripped jeans with black adidas trainers tops. And tied my hair in a ponytail.
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I went downstairs to eat my breakfast with Emilia and we both went to school in my car. First lecture was English and our teacher Mrs. Martin surprised us today! She started teaching the famous play by William Shakespeare 'The merchant of Venice', instead of a dull and boring lecture we got an interesting activity.
She selected a bunch of students among us and gave us different characters from the play. We were explained the nuances and nature of the character and she gave us some time to prepare and we did a little play on the spot. School has been pretty impressive and engaging lately, far cries from the boring and mind-numbing lectures and I was really enjoying it! My life lately has been really joyful and I was enjoying every second of it.
In all the happenings I noticed one anomaly, Giovanni. He was missing from school today. I thought maybe he woke up late that's why missed the first lecture, but when he did not show up for the next few lectures I started getting concerned.
Next lecture was P.E, all of us changed into athletic wear and chose a sport for the rest of the year, I chose basketball because I loved it and was really good at it.
I walked into the gym area where Emilia was waiting for me and waved at me. I told her about my decision, which made her ecstatic since she was the basketball team captain and couldn't wait to play with me.
Soon the coach arrived. "Students gather around" he said. He had a baritone voice which suited his position. He gave us instructions about the basketball trial and soon it was in motion.
I was first to go and he made me do all kinds of activities like taking laps around the court, dribbling, defending to test my overall game, stamina and agility. About 45 minutes later he asked me to stop and announced his verdict in front of everyone. I was in the team! I was congratulated by Emilia and a few other girls and was really happy to make the team.
I was resting with Emilia at the back as the coach was busy with the selection process when I heard a few girls talking and sniggering amongst themselves. On listening closely I heard "That Aurora chick is so short and not fit to be on a basketball team, I think the coach took her only because she is the captain's best friend" even Emilia heard the exchanges and decided to take action. I tried to stop her, because I was in no mood to cause a confrontation over a silly little remark.
Emilia called them over and said loudly "if you think she isn't worth it any of you can come play against her and prove it. Its time you girls walked the big talk" The coach heard our exchange and decided to intervene "why these girls we will make Aurora play against the best basketball player in the entire school, Giovanni Romano"
"But he isn't here, he didn't come to school today" I intervened. At that very moment the gymnasium door swung open and in walked the prodigal son. He was dressed in trousers and sports jacket he removed them to reveal the basketball uniform within and said cheekily "someone remembered me?, I am here now let's play" and soon a one v/s one three pointer match began.
I wasn't really sure if I was going to beat Giovanni, he was taller and built better than me physique wise, I had never played with him so I wasn't sure of his agility or speed. We had a toss for who would start the attack and I won the toss and chose to attack.
I slowly started dribbling around not very quickly but not too slowly either, in order to gauge his game. He was easily matching me step for step and wasn't giving me any shooting space, he almost managed to snatch the ball away from me but I managed to squeeze it away at the last second and turned away to avoid his body.
I was yet to show him my true speed and agility I was just toying with him trying to make him complacent and when he would feel the game was his I would snatch it away from his mouth, leaving him to wonder what just happened to him.
After toying with him for about 10 minutes I saw my chance, from his body language it was clear he had become complacent, even in such a state I had to be very precise otherwise his height would mask my throw and it won't Reach the basket cleanly.
I dribbled and dribbled and suddenly upped my speed and did a mazy turn around him, leaving him catching thin air as I was free and jumped with all my strength and shot my shot. The ball sailed over his head into the net for a three pointer. Everyone around me was cheering and the rude girls were left eating their own words.
"Girls any more questions?" Emilia said to utter silence from the naysayers. I was congratulated by the coach for my stellar display, the icing on the cake was Giovanni's compliment "you play amazingly for someone your height" he said, this meant he was really impressed by my game.
That was the end of the P.E lecture, all students went to the locker room to shower and get ready for the next and final lecture of the day, which was history.
Almost the entire class was sleeping and no one was bothered to listen to the teacher after a tiring P.E class. The topic was an interesting one she was talking about communism and the eastern bloc during the heights of the cold war. I was all ears, listening to the fascinating tale of time far gone by where propaganda and state control was rampant and people lived paranoid lives where nothing was certain.
It made me realize how blessed I was even with all my problems and it made my mind drift to the happy events of the day and past few weeks.
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Did you enjoy this "sports" episode? Want more sporting action? Feel free to let me know in the comments Thanks for spending your precious time reading and I will see you in the next chapter.
