Raja looks at the water accumulated in the field with yearning. All the summer, he has waited for this moment. To play ball in torrential rainfall. To slide in the mud. To reasserting his dominance on the field. All the summer, he had waited and now he is thinking it over. He has a boil on his ankle and his new slippers are way too slippery to be worn on the field. It isn't the pain he is afraid of. That and worse he has lived though and emerged victorious. It's the scolding that he is bound to get.
He waits a little bit longer. The other kids arrive in ones and twos and give him glances ranging from taunts and puzzled to appealing. The first goal and a shriek of delight.
Why me, he wonders, shooting dirty looks heavenwards.
Another goal. His side needs him. He kicks off the slippers and joins his comrades with a war-cry hailing the hero.