Revenge

The group stage has ended, and so has the Round of 16. Last Friday was the first gameless day. I lay on the couch, quivering: an addict going through withdrawal.

Today I’ll cheer for Colombia.

On Sunday I played pickup soccer. As usual, Stephen was there, and so was David, who’s visiting from Texas. We all played on the same team. Our opponents protested — the teams were “unfair,” they said — but we vehemently denied this (David has gotten very fat, and I’m no spring chicken, either). And so, in inhuman heat, we trudged and panted up and down the field. We won nearly all of our seven or eight games (we twice tied and never lost). Our opponents scored just one goal all afternoon. The brothers all scored golazos.

Our parents have arrived from Ecuador. For the next few months they (and David) will live a couple of blocks away from us in a tiny, one-bedroom house.