Am I a football player? No. I mean, yes, a few minutes a year.
Am I a stargazer? Sometimes. When suddenly one falls out or a new one is born.
Am I someone who talks about football every now and then? Yes, when I am at the bar over a cup of coffee and it happens that there is a game on the TV.
On Thursday last week I went for a walk in the park. There were some middle school students playing football. I saw they had Down syndrome. There were girls with balance problems and boys who kept swinging their heads. They played with great enthusiasm, while a teacher in a red miniskirt refereed the game barefoot in the grass. I was the only spectator. A severely disabled girl playing in goal approached me, stumbled, and asked me seriously if I wanted to cheer for her team. Then the others came too. After a short discussion, I finally agreed to cheer on both teams.
It was the most exciting match I had ever seen in my life. In the midst of all those balls that came and went there was a boy who did not play. He stood there, in the middle of the field, staring at the sky.
“Come on Henk! Move those legs! ” shouted the teacher.
“I don’t want to play football. I want to look at the stars. “
“This is no time to look at the stars, Henk! Power! Move those legs! “
In Henk’s team there were some guys with severe handicaps and for this they were losing 3 to 0. Suddenly the girl playing in goal dragged Henk out of the field and let me in. The teacher whistled. The other team protested, but it was done now. The girl pulled off my jacket and placed me in the door in her place. Even though the players didn’t have much strength in their legs, I was a little afraid of the ball. At one point I saw a boy in front of me, who with some difficulty weakly kicked the ball. I saw her roll towards me, and a second later I saw her no more. Where had she gone? Behind me, at the bottom of the net! It was less easy than I thought; on the other hand, those footballers were from the country of Gullit and Van Basten. I positioned myself bent over my knees, concentrating on following the ball carefully, but I still hadn’t recovered from the first goal that another boy was running towards me. I’m not making this up. The ball passed under my nose and entered the goal. 0-5.
The girl brought back my jacket and helped me out of the field.
I heard Henk’s voice: “Playing football is not important,” it said. “Come here and look at that star.”
“A star? With the sun? It’s impossible!”
«Yes, yes, come and see. It’s a new star. “
“A new star?”
“Yup! Come here, put yourself where I am! “
“Come on, Henk! Move those legs! ” shouted the teacher.
I walked away with Henk. He ran while still looking at the new star, and I went quietly towards home, passing through the woods.
Translation by Elisabetta Svaluto Moreolo
Kader Abdolah with The path of the yellow slippers (Iperborea; translation by Elisabetta Svaluto Moreolo) is a finalist for the Lattes Grinzane 2021 Award. strong female characters: from the beloved mother to the migrant Aurelia. History with many autobiographical implications given that the author, like Sultan, finding himself in the condition of someone who is deaf and dumb in a Holland whose language and habits he does not know, matures the choice to learn Dutch to write. Thus the design of the impervious paths of life becomes a hymn to the joy of narration, in which the fairytale tradition of the Thousand and One Nights and the passion for cinema converge. “
The other finalists are: Maylis de Kerangal (France), Bernardine Evaristo (UK), Nicola Lagioia and Richard Russo (USA). The award ceremony, during which the winner will be announced, based on the votes of the 400 students of the school juries, will take place on Saturday 2 October in Alba, conducted by Loredana Lipperini, and will be offered in live streaming on the website and on the Facebook page of the Bottari Lattes Foundation. On this occasion, the Canadian writer Margaret Atwood will receive the Lattes Grinzane Special Prize and give a lectio magistralis. Admission is free subject to availability (reservations required www.fondazionebottarilattes.it). Furthermore, on Saturday 2 October, at 10.30 am, the five finalists will meet the students of the school juries at the Castle of Grinzane Cavour. Finally, on Sunday 3 October Abdolah, Atwood and de Kerangal will be in Turin, each for a public meeting organized by the Turin International Book Fair, starting at 3.30 pm (info: www.salonelibro.it).