After the match, Terry handed me another hundred pounds. "Four wins," he said. "Keep it up, Danny. Keep it up." I nodded. I was exhausted. I had not slept more than four hours a night in two weeks. My body ached. My eyes burned. But we were winning. That was all that mattered.
That night at the store, I fell asleep standing up. I woke up when a customer asked for lottery tickets. I had been asleep for maybe thirty seconds, leaning against the cigarette display. The customer did not seem to notice. Or maybe he did and was just being polite. I served him, then went to the back room and splashed cold water on my face. Two more games. Just two more games. I could do this.
The fifth game was on Saturday, March 6th, away to Glossop North End, who were already relegated and had nothing to play for. The system's analysis showed a team that had given up, a team that was already on its summer holidays.
