Shania giggled and turned to sit up.
Twain got up and adopted a posture of inviting Shania to take his hand by reaching out. Shania was also very ladylike when she held out her hand for Twain to hold. “Are we going to dance, sir?”
“Oh no, just taking a stroll, my lady. As for dancing…” Twain grinned. “I’m afraid I’ll step on your feet.”
“Even the blind lieutenant colonel could dance the tango well!”
“Who was that?”
“The leading man in Scent of a Woman. Have you have not watched it, Uncle Tony?”
Twain recalled a Hollywood film called Scent of a Woman in which the film’s star, Al Pacino, portrayed a blind lieutenant colonel. This role won him the 1993 Academy Award for Best Actor. The scene where Pacino held a beautiful young lady to dance the tango in the hotel was a classic among the classics.
He scratched his head. “Of course I’ve seen it. But I can’t be compared to Al Pacino.”
“But you look a little alike!”
“An older man version of him?” Twain rolled his eyes.
Shania smiled and ran away.
“Let’s race, Uncle Tony!” She stood in front and waved.
Twain looked around the strolling crowd and cleared his throat. “That’s silly.”
“Uncle Tony…” Shania looked at him and Twain put his hands up in surrender.
“All right, it’s good to exercise occasionally… Wait till I catch you, you gonna pay for this!” Twain suddenly dashed. He wanted to catch Shania unawares. But, he forgot he was on the beach. He could not exert much force on the soft sand. It was completely different from running on the firm ground. He immediately lost his balance and fell forward to the ground. He even ate a mouthful of sand and laid on the ground, coughing non-stop.
Shania was in stitches. Unlike Twain, Shania grew up in Brazil and played on the beach. She had a natural instinct for how to run on sand. Twain got up from the ground and continued to stumble after her. She skipped ahead like a small rabbit and even had enough spare energy to stop and tease him.
The young girl ran easily ahead and turned back to laugh from time to time, while the middle-aged man struggled to follow with his hands and feet at the back. It was a sorry sight. This was somewhat of an odd scene on the beach, which attracted many people’s attention. But Twain did not care. He did not feel like his actions would look stupid. It was enough that Shania was happy.
Tired of running, Twain sat on the beach. Even as the sea water rushed up to dampen his swim trunks, he just waved his hands weakly. “No, I’m not running anymore. I’m exhausted!”
Shania turned back with a grin and sat with Twain in the sea water. “Uncle Tony can’t get up.”
“Hey, to say a man can’t get up is the biggest insult to him!” Twain replied as he gasped for air.
“Why?” Shania was puzzled.
Twain had responded with a joke that had a Chinese undertone that foreigners might not understand. He could only beat around the bush to explain “That means a man can’t…”
That explanation was worse than no explanation. Shania was more confused.
“Can’t do it means can’t …um, it means a man is…” Twain said in a low voice.
Shania cocked her ear as she heard him. She covered her mouth and pretended to be shocked as she exclaimed, “That’s not decent!”
Twain was a little embarrassed and suddenly gave a sharp cough to hint that they should stop discussing the subject. He quickly found something to distract him. There was a large crowd in front of them and they were shouting strenuously.
“What is going on?” He pointed ahead and asked Shania beside him.
Shania glanced at it. “Beach football.” She knew that Twain’s addiction to football had reared its head again.
And sure enough, Twain got up and walked unsteadily towards the crowd, “Let’s take a look.”
Shania just pouted as she followed. She suddenly felt a little bit jealous of football.
※※※
Ahead of him was a beach football game that could be seen everywhere in Brazil and in Rio de Janeiro. There was no referee and no commercial sponsorship. It was just three or five good friends arranging to play with several other people in an open space on the sand. They would use clothes or shoes to create the goal and start the game with a football.
This scene was common in the feature clip which introduced Twain to Brazilian football. This was a special feature of Brazilian football, or it could be said to be a flair of Brazilian football. Playing football in the soft sand for a long time helped to enhance the player’s physical flexibility and balance, as well as his explosive force. The famous star players in Brazilian professional football were often good at beach football. And here, regardless of whether they were men or women, the skills that they displayed amazed Twain.
The players who participated in this match had no distinction of age, gender, or occupation. Children, women, and old people could all play. Anyone here could basically put the Forest team to shame with their footwork.
When Twain squeezed in, a game was already over. The losers would step off and the new team on the sidelines would step up to challenge the winners. It was quite like a single-elimination tournament, where the winner stayed on till defeated.
Although Twain’s football skill was lousy, he liked to watch people play. This was not an occupational hazard as a coach, but his hobby as an ordinary Chinese football fan before he had transmigrated to England. He critiqued others in his mind as he watched people play football. Why did he keep his comments to himself? Because he was afraid that it might cause a dispute if he said them aloud. He was always harsh.
Among the five new players, a tall young man caught Twain’s interest. He focused all his attention on the man because he felt that the person looked familiar. But he could not recall who the man was.
He could only stand on the sidelines and observe the person’s every movement in the game.
After playing for ten minutes, Twain suddenly smacked his forehead. He remembered!
Kepler Laveran de Lima Ferreira!
If anyone thought that that long and complicated name sounded too unfamiliar and had never heard of it, then he had another name which would be familiar to all gamers who had played FM 2007 before.
Pepe.