'They Think It’s All Over. It is Now!' by Julia Smith

 

I’m watching a man dressed as a Roman gladiator on television, wildly waving a flag. The week has been unterminably long and hot; my feet are twice their usual size and your droning voice is not wise given that I skipped last month’s period and could kill you right now without thinking twice. You’ve been going on about the need for logical thinking in our relationship, just another way of saying I’m too emotional. I’m willing to accept that’s true just to watch this game in silence and I don’t even like football that much.

 

“We need to measure our words, think things through, not get carried away,

 

Darling, what we need now is…”

 

“Rigore!” says the match commentator.

 

“Rigore, my love?” I finish his sentence for him and pray for a swift passage to the knockout stage.

 

And the crowd grows wild.