Because I am desperately trying to actually get Boots to Bottles moving forward, you get a little treat from it!
It’s already over 2,500 words and I have Jamie only finally having finished talking about Pre Dad and Beginning of Dad time.
“But the shine on having a kid with learning difficulties despite mad footy skills faded pretty quick. I’m dyslexic, so I stayed late after school working on how to get better at me reading. Or having someone doing reading with me so I could do me homework faster.
He wanted me to spend that time getting better at playing. And it didn’t matter explaining that all the academies have education requirements. Which is when he really started in on the names, didn’t he?
Which I were already used to with me classmates. People were either too smart, which were considered bad. Or normal which was good. Or…I don’t actually gotta use the word, right?”
And he finally looked up but it was to lock eyes with Doc Sharon. She was the one who told him that ‘facing reality’ didn’t mean accepting the labels others put on him. That was a phrase society used to keep people down.
She didn’t disappoint, letting him know with a nod that he was okay not saying it. Roy had taken an especially deep breath right after he said it, making him brace for whatever he was gonna hear from the coach. But he didn’t say anything at all. Plus Keeley had grabbed his hand when he said that, which were nice. It kind of felt like the whole room disagreed with his dad actually.
“Like, I know even now people think I’m thick. Which can be true. But I actually like learning. Just gotta do a couple extra steps to really do it properly. It doesn’t make me stupid, cause the actually stupid thing to so would be giving up just cause things are hard.
And I don’t do that. I’m not afraid of hard work. Wouldn’t have gotten to the professional level at all if I were. And wouldn’t have come back to Richmond if I let having to prove I deserved to be here intimidate me.”
