Over The Top: Chess

my eyes are fuzzy? If I take my glasses off, I can see even less!

"Put them back on four-eyes!"

That was Daimon. He always calls me that.

The teacher ignores Daimon.

"You stand here," the teacher says to me. The other boys move in closer, in a curve round the teacher. He begins to throw the ball to us, one at a time. When he gets to me he throws it really soft. It hits my hands and drops to me ground. I hear the team sigh.

"Hopeless!" they say, "Totally useless!"

I throw the ball back and feel my face going red. I wish I were somewhere else.

"Keep trying" the teacher says, "Practice makes perfect."

"But sir, I can't see it!"

"Yes you can," he says, "Just focus on the ball and you'll be able to catch it."

I try to focus. The ball comes towards me again. It strikes my hands and my fingers close over it. It was a fluke but I caught it. I hear the other boys cheering, but they're mocking me. I can hear the way they cheer. It was such an easy catch.

APRIL 2nd

Dear diary, why do I have to go to this school? I have asked my parents to let me go somewhere else but they won't change their minds. They say sport is good for me. They say that it builds character. I don't believe them. When I watch sport on TV I see men punching each other in the rugby games. I see men shouting at refs. and throwing their tennis rackets down. I see cheating all the time. I like my character as it is. I don't want sport to build it. My character might not take the beating!

Today I prayed as I walked home. Dear God, please make me good at cricket. I don't know if God heard me. He might be interested in cricket. I don't know. Mum says he's interested in everything, but I think he's too busy running the world to bother with me.

Today I noticed that there are other kids in the school who hate cricket too. There might be more. We could start a Cricket-Haters Club. I could be the president. I'm good at writing and keeping records. We could play chess instead.

Mum was really kind tonight. She told me I had to make the most of my disability. She said that maybe, when I was older and she and Dad could afford it, they might take me to Europe to see an eye doctor. (That's funny. See an