Football Match

me and the angel of death sitting at my house watching a football match at the champion's cup, between Liverpool and Manchester, the story evolves from there.

Football Match

By S.Z.

It was 22:47 O’clock, a Saturday evening, not just another Saturday.. It was a Saturday of football, and what a game may I add. Manchester-Liverpool, when the hell was the last time there was a champion’s league finals between to English teams? I was so stoked, nonetheless since I was a Manchester fan.

You see? This was our thing, watching football games at Saturday, because that’s the only time he had for us, he always had pressure from work, so much that sometimes in halftime, during commercials he would go for “just a second” to “fix something” that has to do with his job.

To be fair? I did not understand him. F****n’ A, Saturday night, T.V.’s showing Ronaldinio’s goals from half court at slow motion and he goes to fix something about his work, sometimes that would bother me so much I could eat myself but I never said anything, I did that once and that only made him explain me all sorts of details about his job.. And if there’s something I most hated was when people tell you about their not interesting problems at their not interesting job.

This was our deal, you see? We don’t talk about work, that never caused a problem on my end, but of course, probably so because I did not have one. I have just noticed it was soon 23:00 and the game was about to begin, and the table was already set… Game starts at 23:00 and it’s not like him to be late, especially because we only have 2 hours to spend with each other anyways, and here it is, clock turns 23:00 and there’s a knock on the door.

Who is it?

Oh, it’s the angel of death

Come on in buddy, I pulled out a six-pack from the fridge, Ice cold Tuborg-Red, just the way he likes it, so what’s new? I said. He started telling me that he just bought a new car, a red Mazda 6, God! I hate that color, but of course, I smiled at him and told him gees man! That’s awesome! I see you’re making some huge progress with your work, just don’t make your money on my expense. As I said that, I started to laugh and as I saw he did not respond I poked him in the rib with my elbow, he still did not get it…

It was in that point when I noticed he had something sad in his eyes, not that I have looked into his eyes god forbid! Everybody knows you should never look into the angel of death’s eyes, just something about his voice, something oh so sad… that you just know that, when speaking to somebody over the phone that if he has that voice, there’s must be something sad in his soul, and if the soul is sad then the eyes look sad to, because the eyes are like the opening to ones soul, everybody knows that.

The angel of death told me that’s bullcrap, and there’s no such thing as soul, he’s an atheist, but nonsense, between us, there’s no such a thing, even if somebody is telling you he does not believe in anything he probably still believes in something, even for just a little bit.

He decided not to elaborate, I assumed it was probably because Barcelona did not make it to the finals this year, he was such a huge fan of Barcelona, and in the half finals, in the game between Manchester United and Barcelona, when his team lost, I knew he was upset, just did not assume he would take it this hard.

Oh well, we sighed, the game is starting! We yelled and raced towards the cozy point at the sofa, that’s how it is, running inside my house, chasing each other to the sofa, me and the angel of death. Before I even got to say Jack Robinson he was already with his feet on the table, sitting on my sofa with our feet on the table, me and the angle of death… Having a conversation like two men, well, not exactly two men, a man and the angel with our feet on the table, watching a football match, completely normal.

So, how are thing like aye? I asked him, and he said “you know” I noticed he was still bummed out, “Did you see what a c**t this judge is?” the angel of death screamed, while spraying sunflower kernel’s from his mouth, “Look at that! It was obviously a red card! F*****g dick head, I hope they burry his mommy today I tell you!”, “Hey! Hey! No moms!” I said, after all, it’s not her fault I thought… and so on, as we were cracking pistachios and sunflower kernels into the ash tray, the angel of death came up to me with some weird question “Say, do you believe in the afterlife?” I was so amazed by Kaka’s goal, I jumped and screamed “Goal!!!”, what a good f*****g football player, hugging, me and the angel of death, two men, completely normal.

I even caught the angel of death cracking a smile for a moment, we came down and set back, “You know?” he opened, “Had I known he was such a great player I wouldn’t have taken his mother the other day”, “Yea” I mumbled… and as we started focusing back on the game, or was it just me, he asked me that question again “Do You?” he said. I was shocked by his question.  I had a certain vibration of chill going all through my body, the type of chill you only get when the angel of death comes to your home. I calmed down for a moment and responded “dude? What’s bothering you? Sit and watch the game would you?”. “F**k it!” he yelled, “it’s always the same thing with you, there’s nothing but football in your head, every time I come, I can never talk to you” a wave of heat came burning through my head “who are you trying to impress here? Then come another day, you have to want to speak in the middle of the f*****g champion’s league? And Manchester-Liverpool? F**k sake, what are you acting on me for a year and a half as if your schedule is really so busy, as if you were some angel, you’re only the angel of death!” I yelled back at him, and felt so relieved.

And as I came down he said “So, Do you?”, “Don’t know I said, I think so but between you and me? Who knows? What do you think?” “I have no idea” he said. “What a jackass this judge is, it was clearly a penalty shot, son of a b***h!”

The wave of chill passed, and so we sat for like a hour and a half plus four minutes addition, Manchester won, we were so happy, we went down on a six pack of Tuborg and sat on my porch to speak for a bit, we led a cigarette, it was Marlboro Light…

If there’s anything good about this life it’s a beer with a cigarette, I don’t know what’s so god damn good about it but I can only imagine that the only thing better than a cigarette with a beer is a cigarette after sex, but it has been so long for me, so long since I’ve been with anyone, in fact I haven’t been with anyone since the army, when I still had a goal in my life, I thought I might go work, travel, study… but since then I only went down into my depression and did not see any point of doing anything other than eating, drinking sleeping and occasionally every Saturday watch a football match with a true friend… even though he wasn’t mortal he understood me, and I understood him, in silence, some of our conversations were absolutely telepathically , he has promised me that one day he would teach me that trick and he thinks that I have already all forgotten about this promise but I didn’t.

Taking the first blow of my cigarette, the smoke is curling into the open black sky’s overwhelmed with stars, so beautiful.

“Say buddy, is there anything that you are sorry of?” he asked, “It doesn’t have to be something you did but it could also be something you wanted to do but didn’t or never gotten to do” he elaborated.

Where does he come up with his questions I thought?  Only god knows. “To be frank, I’m sorry I left Sarah, even though she had small tits, this girl, she would f**k so well”, I said… the angel of death smiled “yea... You could see on her that she ain’t indifferent” he smirked. “Is there anything else?” he asked. And then it suddenly struck me, like a lightning, I rolled my eyes back in my head, as if they could gaze into my brain, with memories so old, feels like some of them are already covered with dust, and I remembered that before I lost all my aspiration in life I used to dream about being a fireman or doing Angelina Jolie… of  course I’d much rather being a fireman but it takes a lot of self giving and perseverance which are two traits that I and my teacher from the 10^th grade Dina have noticed I obviously lack.

“To be honest, my biggest dream was being a fireman, but I would settle for doing Angelina Jolie or some black chick, you know, to mark a V in some box…” “I once had an Ethiopian chick” he said as he laid back in his sit with his beer and his cigarette, indulging it, “You’re so right, you don’t know what you’re missing, you have to mark a V over it” he said.

We used to have such weird and funny debates over the porch. With our mutual cigarette… the type of debates that used to make you think that they would make great material for some book you never had the power of writing.

“what would you say if I had told you that I have to take one soul today and I have the opportunity to choose between two people?” the angel of death said and he had a very evil smirk on his face, not that I have looked upon his face, but clearly if I had looked at his face then surely it must have been there, and obviously it had to be evil. I have calculated it over in my head and I had come to a conclusion that I was already emotionless and lacking any sort of empathy since the 4^th grade when my teacher Debra said and I agreed that I lack any emotion or some sort of empathy, and if I had any left? They probably died at my service in the military anyway, as a combat soldier, dealing with citizen terrorists... and so “who?” I asked.

“well, I am so sick and tired over flipping coins and throwing dice, this s**t ain’t random I tell you, but letting you choose would surely be interesting” as he was speaking I started feeling oh so excited, just like as if for a moment, I, myself, was the angel of death himself, and so I rushed him to give me the details and he began to elaborate “well, the first option is the judge’s mother from the game today..” he looked me in the eye and as he saw the smile that was beginning to spread upon my face he knew I was already making up my mind over the judge, but since he was not only really smart but also was such a good friend, he had already known me all too well to gesture me to not jump into conclusions yet and to wait for the second guy, and so, he continued “Or a guy who lives in Petach Tiqva, one of the worst cities in Israel, at Ramat Verber, which is one of suckiest neighborhoods there” we started laughing at this guy, the angel of death shook too much he had to take another blow out of his cigarette to calm himself down to restrain himself from all the laughter and excitement, so he continued “He lives at the worst street at his stinking home, this guy I tell you, has never done anything to benefit the universe once so ever… this guy I tell you, he lived on his parents expense till the age of 30, and after which? He kept living off of their heritage, he hasn’t earned a single penny in his life and as he has no friends nobody would care if he would stop existing once so ever…”

Then he was just adding jokes “and I’ll tell you more than that” he said while shaking his beer, the water gushing from one side to another, almost reaching the top, spilling on the floor, but not doing so, “If he would die in bed? The neighbors would not notice until the smell of his corpse would overcome the foul smell of his neighbors, who lives one floor under, apartment, in which he cooks weird oriental foods whose smell repels even cockroaches… “and only then” he added “after the neighbors would start knocking at his door, and one of his “retarded” neighbors would start banging on the door, demanding him to ‘turn of the scent’, and of course he wouldn’t give a f**k about them, because his dead, then, and only then will they call the police and they would break into his house only to find his dead body, to be a month old already” I laughed so hard, and my laugh and the angel of death’s laugh was so loud as our voice waves mixed together in the night sky’s, dark, magical, filled with stars.

Sitting with each other and because it felt like so much fun, we led another cigarette, we didn’t have almost any beer left in our bottles but as any smoker knows, you always keep the last sip for the end of the cigarette… as our laughs began settling down, and we sighed, we began to smoke our cigarette, laughing at that pathetic being, that lifeless creature, “listen!” I said, “Between you and me? This man is already dead, and we both know you can’t be arced to start filling some forms about this judges mother who didn’t do anything wrong in her life, and then starting to make all sorts of explanations to god about her sudden death, anyways, he is already had enough of you after you began killing all of his favorite musicians at the age of 27 for giggles, do this lad a favor and take his poor life already, think about it, we live at the same neighborhood, it would save you the travel and you could stay longer and we can drink some more, think about it? Going to work drunk, you would probably kill his retard neighbor instead, would be so funny” we laughed so much.

If there is something I loved about the angel of death is that he knew how to separate his private life from work, one may think that a guy like the angel of death probably doesn’t watch football matches or have a good laugh with an old buddy but he was a great guy, not that he had always been great, he ain’t a goody two shoes either, he’s been around doing lot’s of nonsense during his work, but when it comes down, in the end, he is a great friend, my best friend, and when it was just me and him he didn’t give me any angel of death bullshit, it was just me and him, two gentlemen, watching a game on T.V. smoking a cig, cracking pistachios and sunflower kernels drinking beer and laughing.

We spoke a bit more on this and that that evening and ran through a lot of our common memories of our mutual past, it almost felt like a reunion of some course I had in the army, just that this time this guy sitting here with me, was really a friend and as sure as I knew that tomorrow a sun will dawn I knew that we weren’t going to separate, never!, until it was very late and the angel of death had come to me, looked at me and said..

I guess this is it then, any last words?

Be it a good Saturday I guess, and a good week of course, don’t feel bad about this guy, he had it coming

The angel of death suddenly looked at me and for the first time ever I looked into his eyes, those innocent eyes, true eyes, the eyes of a real true friend, of a sensitive man, full of compassion, they looked to me so sad when we were starring at each other when then it hit me, how the hell was I looking into the angel of death’s eyes?

You are not serious! I yelled, next month there is starting the new Spanish league, and the pre-matches of UEFA cup, I have already ordered us new scarves, I thought we were friends.

The angel of death put his head down, he couldn’t look me in the eyes, everybody knows that the angel of death can’t look into one of people he kills eyes, it might make him regret.

“You are already living for 300 years, you have had a heart attack for three times, you  had a stroke two times, and you kept on living, I’ve been getting phone calls at you for 278 years, ever since you had been 22 and you have lost your direction and purpose in life, every week I am getting a phone call about you, and I keep telling them that I will come to your house at Saturday and look for your soul, and ever since I keep coming to your house, every weekend we sit together and watch the game and I keep telling them that you weren’t at home” “for 278 god damned years!” he sobbed “doesn’t it sound to you rather too much? And after all it was you who called your own destiny, you said it yourself, that you were already dead inside”

“You will not put words in my mouth!” a piercing shout that sliced through air, it was heard over the whole stinking neighborhood, that’s how the angel of death’s like… every time he loses an argument he must put words into your mouth, just like my teacher at the 1^st grade, Keren, “278 years we were friends, hell with that, we were best friends, sitting at my house, watching a football match, and never, you never said a word, and now? Now you come proving me? When it’s already too late?”

I thought we don’t talk work, the angel of death was trying to avoid the awkwardness, and he sighed.

“f****n’ A man” “f*****g A” I repeated, lowering my tone gradually, I have never felt more helpless, even more than that time I had to pay the water bill and I had no clue how am I going to do it.

“Well” he started talking, “because we are such great friends, I have been thinking over it and have decided to do something for you…” “you know because usually most of the people get around to accomplish at least one goal they had in their life, and even if it is a minor one, you never accomplished anything, and therefore as your friend I am going to fulfill one of your greatest heart wishes” I looked at him with sparkling eyes suddenly, hoping… “well, I can’t make you a fireman, that’s a lot of bureaucracy” I sighed, “yea, I guess”, and so he continued “but I did get you Angelina Jolie, she is lying in your bed, you can do her now if you want, you know, as a gift from me” I couldn’t believe it. I rushed into my bedroom and there she was, lying naked on my sheets, so beautiful, almost angelic, she looked like a nymph, and she was waiting for me. She looked a little bit troubled, probably because she was getting paid per job and not per hour, my wet dream, there, lying naked, at the distance of a touch, but somehow, I became surprised, now that I had already accepted the fact that I am not anymore a part of the physical cosmos I began to crave for something less materialistic, much more spiritual, and there I stood for a long 30 seconds, I told her to put on her cloths, and that she can take off and she shouldn’t be worried because I’m going to see to it that she will get paid for the job. She reacted very nicely and told me it’s no pressure at all and moreover she said we could have had some fun and that if I regret she is going to wait around in her car for 30 minutes near my house in case I regret before she takes off, I didn’t. What I had in mind was much better than sex with Angelina Jolie, and fair? Who would touch her when she’s 100 years old? Even though she is still as hot as she was when she was 30, but still, 100 years old?

The angel of death became a little bit stressed out from the time, he had to finish the task already and so he asked impatiently “well? What is it?”

I could understand why he got so pissed, after all, getting Angelina Jolie must have cost him a fortune, nevertheless the last present I gave him was pretty crappy as I recall, and so I said “I want to smoke one last cigarette with my best friend on my porch, and I want you to tell me who won the UEFA cup”

“I knew it.” He said and smiled, like the best friend he was he opened the door  to the porch for me and then closed it so no smoke would enter the house, and we set there and he said “I should have known, drinking a beer, smoking a cigarette, watching football and sitting together were the best things in your life” and so as he was talking he took out from his satchel 2 bottles of Tuborg Red, and a box of Marlboro Light, that’s so you could watch the game you love, with the beer you love and the cigarette you love. And so before I even got to understand what was the meaning of his last words he broadcasted into my head the whole UEFA cup games, I laid back indulging my cigarette and my beer, Manchester United won, I was so excited and overwhelmed, I cried, oh god, I was still alive to fill a lottery ticket over these games I thought, we hugged then and I finished my cigarette, took one last sip from my beer, the angel of death looked at me, but this time in the eye, he did not have any problem doing so since I was already dead from within, from a long time ago, after the army, even though I used to think always that my soul left when I joined the army, I understood it was still in my body in fact for about a year after the army, till I left Sarah…

And so he picked me up, and carried me all the way to my bed, just like best friends do for each other.

In the end, he came out a S.O.B. but screw that, I love him, he is my best friend.

And if men are allowed to make mistakes, then surely angels should be allowed as well, so from here to there I walked into that white tunnel of light and finally for the first time in my life I could feel my soul, even though it’s after I’m already dead, it felt really great, so nice… it was like walking around in underwear at your own home.

So what really happens in the next world? To be honest? I am not really sure of, and I really can’t tell anything, but the fact that there aren’t any beer and cigarettes here, neither are there any football matches, only dead football players, but I did get to meet my mom for the first time after 250 years or so, I really missed her, and once in a week, at Saturday, just before the gates of heaven close and the gates of hell open, the angel of death and I meet somewhere random, and he gets us some cigarettes and beer, and he broadcasts to our brains football matches from the future champions league, Manchester United is no longer the champion, to be fair? Being dead was the best choice I have ever made in my life.

For the first time in my life, I’m happy, unfortunately, only after I’m dead.

 

By S.Z.

Dedicated to my dear friend Assaf.

 

Author's Note

I really want to know if you like this, do you think i have any tallent for writing?
I have never published anything on the internet,
and surprisingly i have decided to publish my latest creation, which i finished editting today,
really hope you like it

Reviews

[Jules]

keep publishing :D it wasnt my cup of tea but then i never was one for football but some one will enjoy it im sure :D

[deeps]

Full of action and suspense!
A very well written story here.
Wonderful characters and wonderful plot.
Everything flowed well.
Yes! I think you have remarkable talent.
You ought to look into publishing.