Through Dented Glasses

A sport where the players actually enjoy getting hit in the head by a ball. ~Soccer advertisement, published for the MetroStars Major League Soccer team, 1997

Mervin suffered a “soccer injury” in the form of a cut under his right brow.

“I was playing soccer with my friends in the morning…” he began.

“What? You played soccer in the morning right after you reached school?” I glowered.

“Yep,” he replied matter-of-factly and rattled on as if I was non-existent, “It was a free kick. So my friend kicked the ball. Then my friend suddenly stuck out his foot. So the ball hit his foot, reflected, hit my glasses, and then hit the ground.”

While he was narrating animatedly, his arms shot out north, south, east and west to re-enact the murderous act of the ball. Before I could un-cross my eyes, he babbled on,

“Then my glasses flew out of my face. So far, you know? Luckily my friend helped me to retrieve it. Then I fixed it back myself.”

“The glasses was damaged?” I managed to interject.

“Not really. The sides were all OK except that the support at the nose bridge was flattened. But I fixed that.” There was pride in his voice instead of guilt.

“Did you bleed badly?” I asked, seeing that the cut was quite bad.

“Not really. Actually I didn’t know that I was bleeding until my friend told me so. And that’s why I did not play soccer at all during recess and after school today!”

I rolled my eyes on his heroic tone as if he had just made a huge sacrifice. I was about to deliver my who-ask-you-to-play-soccer-so-early-in-the-morning lecture when Angel blurted,

“He actually cried when he was hit.”

I forgot my fury in that instant and asked instead, “Was it very painful?”

“Not really. I am so used of getting scratches and grazes from games they don’t bother me at all. I was just worried about my glasses. I was scared that it got damaged.”

“What? You cried because of the glasses?” This time I was more alarmed than pissed.

“Of course! This pair of glasses cost you so much! I was so worried that it got damaged because I had broken so many pairs previously and made you spent so much over my glasses. Luckily it was OK.”

I was speechless. That silly boy had gotten me amused and sad at the same time.

Because of our financial constraint, I always nagged whenever they need something from me. I never know that it would eventually become a burden to them.

Guilt and sorrow weighed down my heart.