GOING PLACES (R.BARTON)
Main Character
Sophie - A school going girl, having fantasy nature
Jansie - Sophie's school friend, practical
Geoff Elder brother of Sophie - an apprentice mechanic, did not speak a lot.
Danny Casey - A young Irish player
Little Derek - Younger brother of Sophie
This story is all about a school going girl named Sophie. She belongs to poor family background. But she is highly ambitious. She is daydreamer by nature. She is returning home from school with her friend Jansie. She has a dream of starting boutique in the city. Her friend Jansie, who is not dreamer like her, tells her that she needs lot of money to start a boutique. At this Sophie replies that she will become a manager in beginning, Janssie again contradicts her and tries to make understand that is not easy to become manager easily. Then she says that she will become an actress. Sometime she thinks of becoming a fashion designer Although her father & brother makes her understand not to be daydreamer.
Sophie and Jansie both knew that they would have to work in the biscuit factory as they belong to a working class family. Sophie, always dreams of big and beautiful things, glamour and glory. Her ambitions are not rooted in reality. She wanted to become fashion designer as well as a popular actress. In contrast Jansie, Sophie's friend, is a realistic and practical girl. She was quite aware about her lower middle class family background. She wishes that Sophie too comes down to reality. But this does not bother Sophie.
Her father has dream of having a decent house. Her little brother makes her fun by saying that she thinks "money grows on trees". Sophie's mother has become crooked with the burden of household work. Her elder brother Geoff left the school three years ago and now works as an apprentice mechanic. He does not like speaking more. He loves to watch football matches. Sophie feels Jealous of his brother silence. She dreams of riding behind Geoff on his motorcycle. But she has good bonding with her brother.
Sophie tells her brother Geoff about her meeting with Danny Casey, an Irish sports star, in the arcade. She says. that she met him while shopping in the Royce. Sophie wants his brother attention. But Geoff does not believe. He knows that she is a hopeless dreamer and he doesn't believe in her dream. She wants Jeoff not to tell anybody about her meeting with Danny Casey. She said, she wanted his autograph for her younger brother Derek, but that time they did not have paper or pen.
Geoff tells everything to his father. It annoys his father. He says that she will put herself in trouble because of her fantasy stories. Once Sophie, Geoff, Derek and their father went to watch live matches. The United wins the match because of Casey's goal. It makes Sophie feel proud. Later Sophie meets Jansie and gets surprised by the fact that Jansie knows about the meeting with Casey. She gets angry to Geoff for spreading her secrets. Jansie assures Shopie that she can trust her.
Sophie told her brother Geoff about the date for an autograph next week. So Sophie walked by the canal along She reached a place where she had offen played in her childhood. There was a wooden bench under a tree Sometimes people come there who loved each other. She sat down on the bench and started waiting for Danny Casey.
After waiting for long time she imagined him coming. She observed him coming out of the shadows. She tries to make balance between her dream world and reality. Her strong believe broke when Danny Casey did not come. She recalled Jeoff words "he would never come". She was sad because she could not prove them wrong. After waiting for long time she went her home.
She falls back on ground of reality when her fantasy about Danny Casey breaks. Still she is in the world of fantasy. She keeps waiting in the arcade for Danny Casey. Actually she saw him in a match, in fact, it was the only time she had seen him.
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