The Contract

Leaving Finch Farm Training Ground behind, Dalglish flagged down a taxi. Back to West Derby. Dalglish had settled everything. "I've made the arrangements at the hospital. There's a full-time carer with Grandma Mason around the clock, so neither of you needs to sit there and worry." "Go to school as usual tomorrow. Remember, your schooling can't be thrown away." He turned his head toward Du An beside him, his tone a little more serious. "You're different. From now on, the most important thing for you is to train properly and get used to football as fast as you can. Your foundation is far too weak, and you need to make it up within a year. Understand?" "Don't worry about the contract. I'll give you an answer tomorrow." Du An answered quietly. Soon the car stopped at the door of their home. The two of them pushed the doors open and got out. Du An waved to Dalglish through the car window and said, "Thank you." Beside him Ethan followed at once, raising his voice. "Thank you, Mr. Dalglish!" Dalglish waved back through the window and smiled. "Live well. Kids from Liverpool have never been knocked down by hard times." Before the taxi pulled away, Du An thought he heard the driver shouting, "King, could I have your autograph? My God, I'm a die-hard Kopite..." A moment later the car vanished at the end of the street. The brothers pushed the door open and went in. The empty room, without the sight of Grandma bustling about, felt cold and bare. Du An tried to sort through his tangled thoughts. Playing football was the only way to earn money fast right now. But the professional game was full of variables, unknown risks at every turn. He could not lean on it alone. He had to keep some insurance — for himself, for this family. He turned to Ethan beside him and said seriously, "You just study hard and keep your mind on school. I'll figure out the money." Ethan looked at his brother, did not argue, and nodded silently. When they were little and scuffled with each other, he used to refuse to give in — what makes you the older brother? I want to be the older brother too. In this moment, he understood that he could never be the older brother. The night deepened, and the lights went out in the house. From the bed beside him came Ethan's steady breathing. The boy's feelings had risen and fallen several times over the day; he was very tired. Du An had no trace of sleep. After lying there a while, he simply rose quietly and went to sit on the living room sofa. Outside the window the night was thick. The room was so quiet he could hear his own heartbeat. Grandma unconscious, what Dalglish had said about Hillsborough, the Everton trial, the contract Liverpool might offer — scene after scene rose before him... He turned to look at the shoe cabinet by the door. As of today, a pair of football boots of his own was there. He could even picture how furious Grandma would be if she recovered and came home and saw it. She would certainly throw them into the bin outside. In his old life there had been no football. He had shied away from football, hated all the pain football had brought. But in a scant half day he had been shoved onto this road by force. The road ahead was vast and trackless; no one knew where it ended. Suddenly, something stirred in him. Three floating transparent beads appeared before his eyes. The leftmost bead was a pale blue. After all the touches in the afternoon trial, the blue had spread; it covered roughly one-twentieth of the bead. Still a tiny amount, but at least Du An now knew how to increase it. Every touch of the ball quietly fed this bead. The red bead was still a steady three-quarters full, built up by his years of exercise. As for the rightmost bead, it was still transparent all through, unchanged. He had yet to grasp what the three beads were for, or which ability each one corresponded to. But he was clear on one thing: these beads, which only he could see, might be his reliance. Perhaps they would let him walk the unknown road of football a little more smoothly. Deep in the night, Du An fell into a heavy sleep at some unknowable hour. In a hazy dream he stood on soft turf, running without end, turning back... But the edges of the dream were blurred: the stands, the players, the crowds at the ground all dissolved into vagueness. He had never truly seen what a professional match looked like. His mind could not piece together a complete picture of the pitch; all that was left was the pure instinct to run. The night passed without a word. Mornings in Liverpool are usually a fine drizzle. At seven in the morning, it was a full two hours before the state secondary school's nine o'clock start. The doorbell rang. Du An woke with a start, most of his drowsiness gone in an instant, and got up to answer the door. Outside, rain and mist drifted. The cold air woke Du An completely. Dalglish stood on the steps with a food container in his hand, and his face lit with a smile when he saw Du An. "Morning." Du An stepped aside to let him in and pulled the door shut behind him, shutting out the cold air. "Wake Ethan first." Dalglish set the containers on the dining table. "After breakfast I'll take you to meet someone, then drop you at school." Du An nodded and went into the bedroom to wake his sleeping brother. Ethan rubbed his eyes and got up, still half asleep, but the moment he saw Dalglish he was mostly awake — he too was waiting on his brother's future. The night before, he had seen Du An sitting on the sofa for a long time. At that moment, there had been a feeling in Ethan's heart he could not put into words. The two of them washed up quickly and sat down to eat. When the meal was over and everything tidied away, the three went out and got into the car. The car left the old West Derby streets and headed for the northern outskirts. On the way, Dalglish laid out everything clearly. "We're going to Kirkby Training Ground." "Liverpool's first team uses Melwood, right here in West Derby, close to these old streets. Your grandfather Old John moved here back then on purpose, to be nearer the club — he went to Melwood year after year to watch the first team train." "But Kirkby is different. It's the club's own youth academy ground, further out, and every age-group player trains there." He turned his head toward Du An. "I'm taking you to sign your contract today. I've settled it with Heighway — you're getting a formal apprenticeship contract." "The usual youth apprentice wage is only seventy to eighty pounds a week, but with me vouching for you and saying your gift is special, the club has broken its rules and given you a hundred and ten pounds a week." "Everton's people see too little. Liverpool doesn't. We're willing to pay early for a prospect who's worth it." "From next week you join the squad officially. Heighway himself will handle your training from then on, and he'll set it all out clearly for you. All you have to do is train steadily..." At this news, Ethan beside him could no longer contain his excitement, his eyes shining. "God... Du An, you're going to join Liverpool! You're going to wear the Reds' shirt and play for Liverpool!" Ethan's whole heart was full of excitement at the thought of Du An playing for Liverpool. Du An, silent the whole way, was excited too. Not because he would play for Liverpool, though. It was that number echoing over and over in his mind — a hundred and ten pounds, every week. He did not understand how brutal the competition in the youth ranks was, or the hardships of the professional road, or the weight behind this contract. He only knew that this steady weekly wage could make life completely different. It could hold up this utterly collapsed home! In the eyes of those Premier League stars, a hundred and ten pounds was perhaps just a tip left casually after a meal, not worth mentioning. But to Du An now, to this family, it was life-saving money. The only hand reached out to him in a hopeless place, a beam of light that crushed the darkness. Du An felt his eyes sting. He forced down the surging emotions and did not let the tears fall. He could not say whether he loved football, and could hardly speak of hopes for the future. But after everything that had happened yesterday, in this moment, he made a silent vow in his heart. As long as Liverpool was willing to give him this chance, this wage, he would fight with everything he had, run to the end for this club, give it all!