{"id":8391,"date":"2016-01-05T09:41:49","date_gmt":"2016-01-05T09:41:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etims.net\/?p=8391"},"modified":"2016-01-05T09:41:49","modified_gmt":"2016-01-05T09:41:49","slug":"the-infected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=8391","title":{"rendered":"The Infected"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Brian 53 sends us a wee story, which has more than one level…<\/em><\/p>\n

I sat there till the end of the game, careful to play along. I wasn’t infected you see but it was important that no one else noticed. As usual I was with the three people I cared most about, Big Tim, Paul and Wee Joe. Unfortunately both Tim and Paul had turned during the match. I tried to act normal and played along so that neither of them would suspect that I was still faithful through and through and win lose or draw was close to my heart.<\/p>\n

\n

As we sat in the car going home I reflected on the events of recent months and how the plague had spread so quickly and without warning. The cassette of rebel songs lay discarded in the well of the car with the radio tuned in to Radio Clyde, confirmation that the vehicle held infected people. I looked out the window and let my mind drift to a world before the contagion.<\/p>\n

\n

I was 75 years old and could remember the fabled ‘Lisbon Lions’ as if it was yesterday, all the games good and bad. Fuck, I could remember my first game, Clyde at Parkhead were they beat us 4-2 and the big man was playing. What a January that was, win lose or draw, this had been our fourth loss and we were desperate for a draw never mind a win.<\/p>\n

\n

A bump in the road brought me back to the present. I was in the back seat and watched in disbelief as the pair of them nodded away to the guff that was seeping from the radio. Tim was 53 and I remembered taking him to his first match, I wondered if he remembered it now that he had been infected like so many others? My mind drifted back. We didn’t know it at the time but that year was the be the end of our run, we had nine in a row and we thought it could go on forever, but there was to be no tenth. We had lost the previous game to thems and 3-2 to Motherwell again at Parkhead on the day.<\/p>\n

\n

Someone squealing in the background snapped me back then I realized it was Keevins on his pulpit ensuring that there was no let up in the spread of the disease. I wondered if he had been patient zero?<\/p>\n

\n

My thoughts drifted to my grandson and his first game, what a corker that had been. The three of us at a game together for the first time, the Sutton and Larson show 2-4 in a 6-0 drubbing of Kilmarnock. What a baptism for him. He loved it and I can remember the smile on his young face as if it was yesterday.<\/p>\n

\n

Today my family had broken tradition and my Great Grandson was at his first match aged 8 instead of the customary 12. He had loved it, his first game and we had won. He was ecstatic and like his Dad before him couldn’t get the smile off his face. \u201cMagic granda, 3 points and top of the league, do you think we will win the treble this year?\u201d I smiled, like me this Bhoy was immune to the infection and the thought warmed my heart.<\/p>\n

\n

Despite that I was at a loss and didn’t know what to do next. I never thought for a moment that any of my own family would become infected as so many good Celtic families had. I was starting to fall into a deep depression when the car pulled into the driveway. My daughter-in-law was waving us into the house and it appeared that my \u201cTea wiz oot\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

We all sat round the table in silence, I was close to tears then my grandson Paul burst out laughing soon followed by his Dad. The women of the house all looked puzzled, wondering what the joke was? Paul finally controlled his outburst and looked at me smiling, \u201csorry Granddad but your face is a peach.\u201d \u201cIt was my idea Dad\u201d said Tim, \u201cwe know how you worry about the infection and we thought we would pull your leg.\u201d I just stared at him, I was so angry that he could treat such a serious problem so lightly. \u201cCome on Dad you didn’t really think we could be infected, did you?\u201d I was so overcome that I couldn’t speak. \u201cCome on Dad you know me better than that, there’s no way I would fall for all the media shite, I don’t listen to it, I don’t read it, so how could I get infected?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

I looked up at him and then around the table, I was so pleased that my family was in the clear. The contagion was everywhere, on the TV, the radio, the papers, politicians, the police, it had even started infiltrating the blogs with the infected posing as fans, thankfully they were easy to spot as the first thing the disease did was remove common sense, intelligence and reason. The laughter and my great grandsons version of the game had us in stitches, the family motto was intact ‘Win, Lose or Draw’<\/p>\n

\n

\n

Brian53<\/p>\n

\n

Good New Year to all<\/p>\n

Thanks to Celtic Wiki for research<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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