We met on Fridays

I´ve been doubting a lot about writing or not what comes next. I still have mixed feelings talking about it and on the other hand, it´s something very personal. Finally I decided to write the story, changing real names and unimportant small details.

We used to meet on Friday nights in a room borrowed from the City Council. Although at times there were more than thirty of us, the regular players amounted to about ten. Francis and Leo, who were brothers, would bring a big suitcase full of games and place it in a corner for everyone to take a pick. Over time and thanks to the generosity of a few, that "black box" had been filled with little chipped miniatures, card decks and the enormous rectangles of game boards, unchallenged kings of those timeless nights. Sometimes, someone would bring a roleplaying game and characters sheets but tended to give up in the face of the considerablenoise made by the people grouped around the different tables.

Though I had a good relationship with everyone, it was with Francis I shared friendship. We had a lot in common. For example we were both very fond of soundtracksmusic (one day I found him in the room with the music turn up loud and a smile from ear to ear, waiting for meto guess the title. Returns a King, I said just as I entered, and we immediately set to destroy the chorus of the song, parroting the words we didn’t know). He was one of those calm and patient people who never get annoyed; a perfect counterpoint to my - at times - exaggerated reactions when luck did not accompany me.

One night, as we finished counting the points obtained building castles, annihilating enemies or developing plantations in some exotic country, the four of us seated at the table decided to take a break. It was already past 2:00 am. It made no sense to start a new game but neither did we want to leave yet. Then Francis said to his brother:

- Have you sent the line-up? I haven’t had time. This season it is being very hard.

Listening to them a little I discovered that they were talking about a game, what else? In our world there was almost nothing else. Of course I showed interest and Francis told me it was an online sports simulator in which you competed against human managers, with up to 11 divisions and where the timing was very easy:one important game each week and a second one just for training. It sounded good. The following day I looked up the webpage and requested a team.

These were different times and it was almost two months before I was given a team. By then I had read almost all the guides I had laid my hands uponso I started to playwith a major mess in my head. On Friday nights we always took a moment to talk about HT until someone put the Eurogame board currently in fashion on the table.

Time went by and some of the regular players stopped coming because of transfers, studies, work or for personal reason of all kinds. In the end the Council decided not to renew the cession of the room, and that dealt a mortal wound to our group of crazy nocturnal players. We kept seeing each other for a time and then we gradually lost contact.

Meanwhile, in HT I reached the VIII Spanish division, got stuck and lost interest. I was not aware that I was missing much of the game by not getting into the forums and meeting the people who swarmed there. Coinciding with a period of holidays I left the game. Almost one year got by before I gave it another try.Although I lasted more time, I got stuck again. I used to sign up in HT only to do the line-ups, I talked with almost no one, and my knowledge of the game was quite basic. When I left it, that second time, I thought that it was forever.

***

I think it was in October 2010. I was going down the street when I heard someone calling my name. On the sidewalk in front of me, beside a bus stop, a totally unknown guy was signalling to me. Two details got my attention: his face was very white and he was wearing a cap that didn’t suit him at all.

It was clear that the stranger knew me, so I crossed over to see who he was. When I was only a few meters from him and heard him say my name again, I suddenly recognized the voice. It was Francis! But his appearance... I had always known him with a beard and moustache and certainly it was the first time I saw him wearing a cap. I couldn’t avoid the words that nowadays seem to me some of the worst chosen I have ever pronounced:

- Dude, what a look! I almost didn’t recognize you. And that cap? Are you a rapper now?

Without stopping smiling, he lifted the cap for a moment and I could see that he was completely bald. I was stopped short, suddenly silent and surprised.

- Come on,don't make such a face Archi. They are treating me with chemotherapy.

- So ... - I couldn’t get the words out.

- Yes, but they detected it in time. Seriously, I am well. I would prefer not speaking about it, though.

- Yes, of course. I understand. I'm sorry.– I answered.

I felt pretty ridiculous both for what I had said to him and for being suddenly without words. As always, he managed to fix it. He began to talk about some new games he had discovered, of a festival of movie music that was held annually nearby. Healso told me that his brother had left our city. At one point we remembered the old Friday game nights and we were talking about Hattrick when we saw his bus coming up. We decided to meet again soon.

- I bought the expansion for the game that I told you about, the one with the 10 players who have to manage a galactic empire. But to play that, we need an entire day at least.- He loved that kind of games. I told him to count me in and said goodbye.

I stayed there, looking at the bus.

Some months later, the cancer had taken him.

It took me some time to assimilate the idea that I’d no longer see him again, and I couldn’t stop remembering the old times and think about how fast everything happens and how little we enjoy the present and in a million more things.

A very few days afterwards, I was checking my mail and I found a message that almost made me jump out of my chair. It came from Hattrick, suggesting I took the game up again. Of course, I immediately thought of Francis and somehow, even if it sounds stupid, I took it as a sign. Now I know it was part of a general mailing campaign and that it was a simple coincidence, but at the moment it was overwhelming.

So I decided to get back to Hattrick.

***

Since then it has been almost a year and a half. This time I've changed my way of focusing on the game. If I had limited myself to only doing the line-ups and buying some players, it would have made me sad every time that I opened the page. But I had a look at the forums and soon I joined several initiatives that allowed me to meet interesting and amusing people. I involved myself as much as possible in the attempt of playing as many friendly matches as possible in a single field that led Ohcan and the Abuelos (Grandpas) federation. I took part in the ephemeral attempt for a newspaper called ÑES. I don't know how, but I became a staff member of the U20 NT of Spain, side by side with great managers who, more importantly, are very great people, and in the end I joined the federation X.21, in my opinion the sancta sanctorum of the Spanish forums. In the sportive aspect of the game I’ve also achieved a few successes but to me that has been of secondary importance.

I don't know where Hattrick will take me in the years to come. In any case I will always associate this game with my friend Francis.


Archicanciller.

Link directly to this article (HT-ML, for the forum): [ArticleID=15880]