Chapter Text
Joe arrived at the cafe first. After sitting down, he closed his eyes for a moment and enjoyed the warm wind on his face. When he heard a noise to his right, he saw a young woman saying sorry to another woman for knocking over her cup of coffee with the side bag.
Joe: "You must be, Miss Freeman."
Nile: "Please call me Nile. Miss Freeman is my Mother."
Joe: "And you can call me Joe."
Nile nodded as she placed her side bag on the empty chair.
Nile: "Is it okay if I use a bathroom before we start?"
Nile placed a hand on her stomach.
Nile: "This little rascal has been kicking my bladder the most of the day."
Joe: "Take the time you need, Nile. Should I order something for you?"
Nile: "Yes, please. The rascal demands cake, but I have decided, as the responsible mother, that I am telling myself I am, that we're eating a sandwich first."
Joe: "I will order you both things."
Joe ordered the food for Nile together with a glass of water while he decided to have a cup of tea. When Nile returned, she opened her side bag and found her laptop before sitting down.
Joe: "When will the rascal be here?"
Nile: "In five months time. The rascal and I have agreed that we will wait with the birth until her father is home from Afghanistan."
Joe: "I hope he will make it home in time and alive."
Nile: "Thanks, and thanks for taking the time for this interview. May I ask why did you said yes to me about an interview and not the other journalists? I know there have been plenty who have asked."
Joe: "Because I have read all the articles you have written about all the other football players. You show them the respect they deserve, and as an American, you have your football facts straight."
Nile: "I can thank my father for that. He loved football."
They exchanged a smile just as the food was placed on the table. Nile ate a bit of the sandwich while Joe drank his tea.
Joe: "Plus, you only asked me once to tell my story. And you're the only one who wants to do the interview on my terms. That's why I'm sure when you publish the story, it will be the truth and the whole truth. Nothing made up."
Nile: "I will keep my promise and let you read my article before I post it."
Joe nodded.
Joe: "Thanks."
Nile: "Are you ready, or do you need a moment?"
Joe: "I'm ready, so please start."
Nile: "I have looked into your youth as a football player. Was Rotterdam the place you learned to play football?"
Joe: "No. I was born in Rotterdam to Tunisian parents. When I was three months old, my father got an offer to teach at the university in Tunis, and my mother followed him, so I grew up playing football on the streets of Tunis. When I turned five, my parents decided to move back to Rotterdam because the school system was better there. And right after moving back, my mother signed me up for the local football club."
Nile: "That must have been a big change - I mean, going from the streets to a football field."
Joe: "It was, yes. My first coach meant that playing football on the streets what was gave me my strong legs and made me a great forward."
Nile: "I can only agree with your coach."
Joe drank the rest of his tea.
Nile: "When you were twelve, you broke your leg."
Joe: "The only time I attempted trying skating. Everyone was so mad at me for breaking my leg because I couldn't play the rest of the season, except my parents. They were grateful that I got the chance to do something other than football all the time."
Nile: "And it was there your way of playing football changed. Can I show you something?"
Joe: "Of course."
Nile turned her laptop around and showed Joe two video clips—one when Joe was eleven and one when Joe was fourteen.
Nile: "When I did my research for this interview, I found these video clips of you on YouTube where you're dribbling a football. I noticed there was a difference in the way you were dribbling - it was almost like football didn't have the same interest anymore at the age of fourteen, then at the age of eleven. Am I wrong to assume it has to do with those months you couldn't play football because of your broken leg?"
Joe: "That is a very keen observation, Nile, and you're right. Something did change."
It was there Nile noticed the sadness in Joe's eyes.
Joe: "I met a boy while recovering in the hospital. Like me, he had broken a leg, so we were stuck in the same room for a week while recovering. He was so different from me in every possible way. He loved stories, books and animals and had a view of the world I didn't have. Let's just say that when that week was over, something in me had changed forever."
Nile: "The other boy - did you meet after leaving the hospital?"
Joe: "No, he was from Italy and on a holiday in Rotterdam with his parents when he broke his leg, so we stayed in touch through letters. I won't tell you the content of those letters he wrote to me, but I can tell you that receiving a letter or two from him was the week's climax."
Nile looked in her notes.
Nile: "If I have done my math correctly, you would have been close to fourteen in 2010 so why letters instead of emails? I mean, you could write to each other many times each day."
Joe: "Because he hated all the modern technology. To him, it was like losing something important if people gave up writing old-fashioned letters. And because he was like he was, he also wanted to make sure that mailmen got paid for their jobs so they could feed their families."
Joe smiled to himself.
Nile: "He sounds like someone special to you."
Joe: "He is. Everyone should have a friend like him. It would make the world a better place."
Joe ordered more tea, while Nile ordered apple juice.
Nile: "You kept playing football until you were nineteen when you turned down a big contract from Ajax Amsterdam. Why? You weren't injured and in perfect form. So says your medical papers."
Joe: "The simple answer is that I fell in love, not with a woman but with a man. And he was the Love of my life."
Nile looked surprised over that answer.
Joe: "You aren't the only one who looks like that when I tell them I turned down a fifty million dollar contract for love, but to this day, I'm still glad I chose love over money, even though my love story doesn't have a happy ending."
Joe touched one of his rings under the table.
Nile: "If you don't want to talk about it, I understand. We can return to talk about football."
Joe looked at Nile.
Joe: "I want to talk about it because I need to do it, but I also have to admit something to you. I had another motive for doing this interview: I want you to use your internet page's platform to raise cancer awareness. You reach so many people with your football stories, and if just one person reads my story and does a check-up with a doctor, then I will be happy. You know how men are when it comes to illness."
Nile: "I do, yes. I promise to help you because it's important."
Joe: "Thanks, Nile. Could I ask for a moment alone before I tell you the rest of my story?"
Nile: "Of course. I'm also in need of a bathroom again."
When Nile returned, Joe wasn't back again, and for a moment, she actually thought he had left, but he returned ten minutes later.
Joe: "Sorry it took so long. I had to make a phone call."
Nile: "That's okay. It gave me the time to send an email."
Joe nodded before taking a deep breath.
Joe: "Remember I told you about my pen pal?"
Nile nodded.
Joe: "One of the things we talked about while we stayed in the hospital was travelling the world together when we both turned eighteen—another reason why I hesitated signing the contract with Ajax. Around the same time I was offered the contract, the letters stopped coming. And no matter how many letters I wrote, I didn't get any letters back. My parents saw how nervous it made me, so they bought me a plane ticket to Rome and told me to seek out my pen pal, while I at the same time gave it a really good thought if I wanted to sign the contract."
Nile: "Did you go?"
Joe: "Yes, I did. After arriving in Rome, I spent the first couple of days gathering the courage to visit my pen pal. Then, after a pep talk from my mother, I knocked on his front door. His parents were so nice to me because they still remembered me after all these years. Then I asked if I could see my pen pal and it was there his parents realized that their son hadn't told me something important. His father asked me to return the day after so he had the time to talk with his son. Something I agreed to. It became a very long night while waiting."
Joe once again touched one of his rings under the table.
Joe: "The day after, I was asked to meet my pen pal's father at the hospital. I first thought it was because he had broken a leg again, but it was something much worse than that. It turned out he was fighting brain cancer. We sat a bit in silence until he told me the reason why he had stopped writing to me. The doctors had told him he was terminally ill, and he didn't know how to tell it to me. I got so angry, not at him but at the cancer, which I later was told was a normal reaction. After shouting at the universe, we sat down and talked until he fell asleep."
Joe took another deep breath.
Joe: "When he woke again, he was surprised that I was still there because all of his other friends didn't know how to handle him dying. I told him they were stupid and that he could kick me out if he wanted me to leave. It made him laugh. I ended up staying with him the rest of the week, and it was there that I fell in love with him. When I told him about my feelings, he said he couldn't bear the thought of me watching him dying because he loved me just as much as I did him. And he begged me to take the contract and move on with my life. I refused, and my luck is that I'm just as stubborn as he was. It was the only row we ever had."
Joe rubbed his face. Nile realized it was an attempt to hide the tears.
Joe: "When he fell asleep that night, I called my parents and told them I had decided to stay with him no matter how long we would get. My parents accepted my choices, and they also helped me with turning down the contract."
Nile: "How long did you get together?"
Joe: "Less than eighteen months together, but we were able to go to Kenya and see the elephants he loved so much. I won't tell you what else we did because that is between us and no one else."
Joe rubbed his face again.
Joe: "He died on a beautiful winter day with his family and me next to him."
Nile took a piece of tissue and dried her eyes.
Nile: "I'm so sorry for your loss, Joe. Do you want to stop the interview?"
Joe: "No, ask your last questions."
Nile: "I only have a few left. Why did you stay in Rome after he died? You could have left."
Joe: "Because of two things: I promised to look after his parents for him, and since my big brother is looking after our parents, I could stay in Rome. And because it's here that he lies buried, I prefer to be as close to him as possible."
Nile: "That is a beautiful thing you're doing, Joe. Looking after his parents."
Joe smiled.
Nile: "Okay, the last two questions. What are you doing today, and have you found another one?"
Joe: "Let me start with the last question. No, I'm still alone because I'm still mourning the loss of the Love of my life, even after twelve years."
Joe touched one of his rings under the table again.
Joe: "And I'm working with books. I buy, repair and sell books. It's a way of keeping him close to me. In my spare time, I coach a football team. It's a quiet life and a good one, even though I miss him terribly."
Nile closed her laptop.
Nile: "Thanks, Joe, for taking the time to do this interview. One last thing, do you have the time to look through some photos from your time as a football player?"
Joe: "As long as you promise me this, you will still let me read your article before posting it, and you will not post a recent picture of me."
Nile promised, and twenty minutes later, they parted.