Extra Time – Morris Gleitzman

‘Wow,’ says Mum. ‘Not surprising,’ says Dad. ‘Good on you, Matt.’ But then Mum and Dad glance at each other, and I can see what they’re thinking. Leg pins. ‘Be careful, love,’ says Mum to Matt. ‘Have fun, but take it easy.’ ‘Don’t worry,’ I say to Mum. ‘The other boys are giving Matt the royal family treatment,’ Uncle Cliff helps Mum feel better too. He tells her and Dad about the photos he’s put on Facebook. ‘It’s everything we’ve been doing,’ he says.

That isn’t totally true. There are lots of photos of the pork and pistachio paté and Mrs Jarvis’s hedge and Gazz’s waterfall and the training centre and Mrs Jarvis, but Uncle Cliff has very kindly made sure for Mum’s sake that there isn’t a single photo of a grim face or a rough tackle. Mum and Dad relax a bit. Sort of. After we all go to bed, I creep into Matt’s room. I knock first.

It’s best with older brothers, even in digs. ‘Yo,’ he says. I go in. His lamp is on and he’s lying on top of the bed in his pyjamas, bouncing a rolled-up sock between his knees. ‘Can’t you sleep either?’ says Matt. He sits up and I sit next to him. ‘Mum and Dad were feeling really proud of you,’ I say. Matt nods, but doesn’t say anything. We both know Mum and Dad were feeling a lot of other things too.

‘You can be the one, Matt,’ I say. ‘I know you can. David Beckham signed with Manchester United when he was fourteen. No way is he chunkier than you, and I reckon you’re more determined than him. And more talented.’ We look at each other. I can see Matt is having worried thoughts. Probably about leg pins. I try not to let him see the thoughts I’m suddenly having.

Does this mean we won’t see Mum and Dad for a long time? Does it mean I’ll have to leave school? I’m not even sure if that’s legal at ten. Matt puts his arm round me. Which is a surprise. He doesn’t do that much these days. I want to snuggle into him and let him cuddle me. But I don’t. Right now he doesn’t need a sooky little sister, he needs a manager.

Matt is frowning. I know he’s thinking about Mum and Dad. About how tired they looked tonight. About how much they need a long rest. Ideally in a big comfortable house with automatic blinds. I’ve never seen Matt look quite like this before. He definitely is more determined than David Beckham. OceanofPDF.com I’m glad Mum isn’t at Matt’s first training session. I’m glad she’s on the other side of the planet in bed.

Not having to see what Matt’s doing. I can hardly look myself. The trainers made the boys pair off and take turns to keep the ball away from each other. Matt chose Ayo. I would too.

My heartfelt gratitude to Belinda Chayko, Anna Fienberg, Laura Harris, Heather Curdie, Tony Palmer, Anne McNulty, Amrit Bansal-McNulty, Janine Wood, Sam Miller, and the Premier League families who generously shared with me their experiences and friendship. Morris Gleitzman grew up in England and came to Australia when he was sixteen. After university he worked for ten years as a screenwriter. Then he had a wonderful experience.

He wrote a novel for young people. Now, after 34 books, he’s one of Australia’s most popular children’s authors. His books are published in more than 20 countries. Visit Morris at his website: www.morrisgleitzman.com OceanofPDF.com Also by Morris Gleitzman The Other Facts of Life Second Childhood Two Weeks with the Queen Misery Guts Worry Warts Puppy Fat Blabber Mouth Sticky Beak Gift of the Gab Belly Flop Water Wings Wicked!

(with Paul Jennings) Deadly! (with Paul Jennings) Bumface Adults Only Teacher’s Pet Toad Rage Toad Heaven Toad Away Toad Surprise Boy Overboard Girl Underground Worm Story Aristotle’s Nostril Doubting Thomas Grace Too Small to Fail Give Peas a Chance Pizza Cake Once Then After Now Loyal Creatures OceanofPDF.com For Jono OceanofPDF.com OceanofPDF.com ‘Hey, Sutherland,’ yells an unfriendly voice. ‘If you got any last wishes, make ’em now.’

Matt and the others stop playing. We all turn. This waste ground next to the cattle yard is the best place in Australia for a kick-around. But it does get a bit crowded sometimes. Coming towards us across the crunchy brown grass, dust puffing up from their boots, are six kids. Big ones. They’re all wearing orange soccer shirts. I sigh. Why can’t people leave Matt alone? Sometimes I think he won’t get any peace till every soccer show-off in town has tried to prove they’re better than him.

‘Your day of wrecking has arrived,’ says the captain of the orange team to Matt. ‘I think you mean day of reckoning,’ says Matt. ‘Get your words right,’ I say to the orange captain. The orange captain ignores me. That happens quite a bit when you’re a younger sister. The orange kids are all glaring at Matt as if they don’t like him, which is really unfair.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 0165312e94e3bad8
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 3,486,753 bytes (3.325 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781743480700
• Pages: 176
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 183.03 minutes
• Total Words: 36,607
• Total Characters: 196,972
• Average Words per Page: 207.99
• Average Characters per Page: 1119.16

Most Frequent Words

matt (540), says (524), uncle (294), cliff (282), say (225), it’s (183), i’m (173), mrs (167), he’s (166), like (162), jarvis (158), don’t (156), mum (137), ayo (137), see (135), look (121), one (120), get (117), bit (114), dad (110), know (105), doesn’t (98), think (94), good (93), back (83), ken (83), got (79), time (77), gazz (74), big (73), matt’s (73), looks (70), people (69), tell (69), want (69), really (68), soccer (67), even (67), ball (64), i’ve (64), can’t (63), first (62), team (61), com (59), pitch (59), that’s (59), they’re (58), come (58), going (57), now (54), oceanofpdf (54), doing (54), way (52), two (50), probably (50), michel (49), isn’t (46), players (46), give (45), orange (45), you’re (45), we’re (45), much (45), something (45), still (44), nkrumo (44), kids (43), take (43), playing (42), right (42), looking (42), gives (42), there’s (41), gets (41), well (41), club (41), fun (40), goal (40), make (39), boy (38), home (38), jean-pierre (38), terrine (37), training (37), better (36), play (35), she’s (34), anything (34), head (33), things (33), face (32), boys (32), lot (31), try (31), car (31), feel (31), match (31), academy (31), next (30), cattle (30).

PDF Download