Scary Uncle Jose

 It was Sunday morning Jack could not wait to go out and play with the boys of his community. Cricket was his favourite sport, and playing it was something he looked forward to all week.

After forming teams, the friends started the day’s match. Seeing Jack’s excitement, everyone decided to let him bat first.

Jack took his position at the crease and confidently told the bowler to throw as fast as he could.

Within seconds, a red ball came flying towards him. Swinging his bat with all the energy in his body, Jack heard a loud noise. When he saw it flying across the neighbourhood, he knew he had hit the biggest six of his life. All the boys cheered loudly.

Scary Uncle Jose

Enthusiasm soon turned into horror as Jack saw where the ball landed. It had crashed into the window of the most terrifying man in the neighbourhood - Scary Uncle Jose. Scary Uncle Jose was an old man who never spoke to anyone or left his house. Jack had heard there were two things he always carried - a stick and a frown on his face. What a monster!

Feeling scared, Jack made his way to Scary Uncle Jose’s doorstep. He saw the door of the house open slightly. He had an idea. He could go to grab the ball secretly and run outside before Scary Uncle Jose even had a chance to notice. Jack tiptoed inside. He saw no sign of the monster, but what he saw shocked him.

There were shelves full of cricket trophies.

The little intruder could not believe his eyes. He peeked at the trophy near to the window and saw it said‘ MAN OF THE MATCH — Jose, 1981’.

As Jack admired the collection of awards, he heard a voice behind him. “I see you like cricket”, said an old man smilingly.

Could this really be the ‘Scary’ Uncle Jose that Jack had heard about? Jack apologized for the broken window, and to his surprise, he was immediately forgiven.

Scary Uncle Jose

He could not resist his curiosity, so he pointed towards the trophies. Uncle Jose laughed and told him that he had been the Captain of the Indian Cricket Team about forty years ago. He had played against the best players from all over the world. Jack could not believe his ears. The person he thought was a monster actually happened to be a legend.

He found out that Uncle Jose had to retire from cricket when he suffered a leg injury during a game. That is why he had to carry a stick. This is also why he could not leave the house-he was in too much pain. Jack felt ashamed for assuming the worst about his neighbour before he had even met him. There was nothing scary about Uncle Jose at all.

From that day onwards, visiting Uncle Jose became Jack’s new favourite weekend activity. The two neighbours would sit down and discuss cricket. Jack helped his new friend around the house.

 He would go to the market and get him the groceries he needed. He helped him clean his trophies. He brought his friends to meet Uncle Jose as well. They all sat down and listened to imaginable stories of the greatest matches one could imagine.

Jack felt lucky his ball had crashed into Uncle Jose’s window. It had been a special day indeed.