Layla Garcia kept glancing through the kitchen door as she kneaded dough for the next batch of pies. Her clumsy brother was laughing along to an unfunny joke Old Miss Anna just told him at the counter. However, her focus was on their child, her gift and her warmth. She had noticed him recently going quiet and staring into space after watching Barca matches.
Layla knew her child well, of course. Somehow, her baby loved football even more than her brother did. She knew very well his oddities when it came to football; the muttering throughout a game and the lack of any reaction to the goals his team would score. Being a great mother, she also knew her Jordi's favorite player was the new kid from Argentina. His goals and dribbles were the only time she would see a look of surprise and elation on Jordi's face.
What worried Layla was his lost look after every game. Her child always had a smile on his face in anything to remotely do with football. This was a new development. Her brother had just attributed it to growth and went on with life in the carefree manner so characteristic of him. But she was a mother. She constantly worried about her little Jordi.
...
Yesterday, Uncle Ferran finally took me to buy the new jersey I had begged my mother for. I will be wearing it on my first day of school (apparently, all four-year-olds have to go). So, even though I don't want to go to this school my mother has mentioned, I have not complained because of the loosely fitting shirt on me.
Lionel Messi - #19
I hope everyone asks me about him when they look at my back. I cannot wait to tell them all how he is better than Ronaldinho and Thierry Henry. He is so wonderful that I cannot describe it. I have already had one big argument with Old Garcia when I went to the bookstore last month. He thinks this Maradona guy is the best player ever. I refuse to believe him, and I refuse to watch the videotape he gave me.
Messi is the best. I cannot predict what he will do. So many passes and dribbles I could never have seen, even if I had minutes to search. I don't know what to do now that watching football is not as easy. It is frustrating, but it is also so exciting.
I love Lionel Messi, and one day I will play with him.