The value of something

The Ex-footballer

My parents don’t see football as a profession. They think I should be an engineer, a doctor or an economist. It took me a good while to eventually persuade them to buy me a new football shirt for the school matches. My old shirt had worn out and made me depressed every time I put it on. But now I had a brand new shirt! I decided to wear it today for the first time during a kick-about in our street. But as soon as we had been playing for ten minutes, the shirt sleeve (袖子) was torn when I made a turn.

I didn’t pay much attention to it at first. I thought I would sew it back together after the match. But then I noticed that the whole sleeve was torn. Only a professional could mend it now. I couldn’t tell my mum and dad that my new football shirt was ruined. I needed a tailor. As I walked home, feeling totally at a loss what to do, I was surprised to suddenly come across a shop sign—“All kinds of repairs and services!”

I went inside immediately. Looking around the shop, I saw an iron (熨斗), broken toys and a broken chair. I guessed this was the wrong place and stood there, mind blank. At that time, a man with white hair came over warmly, “Welcome! Anything needs repairing?”

I showed him the shirt and expressed my request with great care, putting my fingers through the tear in the sleeve. To my disappointment, he told me that since he opened this shop, he had repaired many things except a football shirt. But he admitted he had been waiting so long to repair a football shirt.

What he said made me hesitate. Should I count on such a green hand? I was worried he would make it worse. After all, it was new, and my parents wouldn’t buy me a new one.

The tailor seemed to understand what I was thinking at the moment.

Suddenly, I noticed a photo of a football team next to the sewing machine.

Every time my family makes special plans, they end up getting canceled due to some incidents. Every time that happens, my parents would tell us to look on the bright side and make the best of a bad situation. However, I never managed to do that until this spring.

On a sunny morning this April, my aunt Kate invited us to the annual outdoor spring celebration on her farm. Since my family hadn't done anything different for ages, the whole family was very excited and everyone tried their best to make sure everything went well as planned. In order to add more fun to this exciting trip, my little sister Alice and my little brother Bill even joined me in making an extra-special treat-cupcakes. Full of joy and expectation, we were ready to set off.

The picnic was supposed to last from twelve to three. There was not enough time left. After checking the car again and again, my parents loaded books, a picnic blanket, and a whole big pack of foods and drinks into the car. The moment of our departure finally came at 11 o'clock.

However, everything went wrong the instant we bravely drove off. First, we had to stop and wait for Bill to find his shoes. Next, as we were driving down the road, we had to go back to the house because my mom left her wallet behind. Then, about halfway to Aunt Kate's house, we had to drive far out of our way to find a place for Alice to use a bathroom.

After that, my parents decided it'd be quicker to take one little side country road as a shortcut (捷径). But the shortcut ended up turning into a long way! We drove forever on a winding road with wildflower fields spreading endlessly out on both sides and the deep green pine trees going on and on within our sight. I had no mood to appreciate all of those. Spotting hundreds of birds flying in the sky, I was seized by a growing sense of desperation, for I entirely had no idea when we could hit our destination.

However, we had to stop on the way, for we were trapped there.

"Could we have a great time here?" I wondered.