The Danny Casey story

That evening, Sophie tells Geoff a secret: she has met Danny Casey, the young Irish football star who plays for United, the team the family supports. She says she met him in the shopping arcade, while looking at clothes in a shop window.

Geoff does not quite believe her. Her father, overhearing, looks at her with scorn: it is 'another of her wild stories', he says, and he warns that she will end up in trouble one day with her fantasies.

Her father loves football and is a great fan of United. He thinks young Casey is a genius, and worries that fame at such a young age might spoil him. His own proudest boast is a small one: he once knew a man who had known Tom Finney, a great footballer of his day. In a way, the father lives at second hand through his heroes too, just as Sophie does.

Sophie then tells Geoff more: Danny Casey asked to meet her next week, to give her his autograph properly, because she had no paper with her. She makes Geoff promise to tell no one, especially not their father.

On Saturday, the whole family goes to watch United play, as they do every week. Casey scores a brilliant goal, and United win. Sophie glows with pride, as if he were already hers.