1 Trust Issues

Where is it? Should be here, hanged with my other jerseys. Or did I leave it a drawer?

Did I hang it somewhere else?

Or is it in the washer?

No, no, no, no. Has to be here. Let's see, is it in a drawer? Or hanging with the shirts? Or on the desk, the chair, the nightstand, the bed?

Yeah, there it is: Majestic. Beautiful. Rad as fuck. With its vertical lines, blue and green, and its logo on the chest: St. Berenstain falcons fc. Do they put it there because you have your team in your heart? Ha. Could be. Well, I put on the best jersey ever and look at myself in the mirror. Almost look as good as the players.

Anyway, I get out of my bedroom, go through the hallway, get to the living room, and there's Trini, my mom. She is sitting in one of the couches, and she is wearing the same yellow nightgown as always, a nightgown that looks bigger and bigger on her.

"Did Trini eat today, Ms. Mary?

"Yes, Mr. Jorge." Ms. Mary's sitting beside Trini, and she's the nurse who takes care of her. "She's eating better now."

"She's too thin."

"No, Mr. Jorge, she's eating well. She just can't gain too much weight in a short period of time."

I dunno. Well, I go to the kitchen and open the second drawer from the top. From there I take out a box of chocolates. I open it and eat two of them.

"How's Trini's blood pressure, Ms. Mary?"

"Yeah, I have it right here," Mrs. Mari gets up from the couch, takes the blood pressure monitor from the table and puts it aside, since there is a notebook under it. She takes it and looks for something through the pages.

While she's distracted with that, I open the second drawer from the bottom, leave a few chocolates there and close it. Since there are no doors or walls between the kitchen and the living room, Trini sees everything I do. I would give her some, but Ms. Mary says that Trini has to eat healthier and takes them away. And then she eats them, that bitch.

I'd rather leave them there, and Trini always grabs them when she can.

Hope she enjoys a little more the time she has left.

"Look, Mr. Jorge," Ms. Mary shows me something written in the notebook:

Somethigwritteninthenotebook.jpg in the comments

"Ok. Well, see you soon, Trini. Please eat something. Love you," I get closer and kiss her on her forehead. She just stares at me.

The geriatrist says that she can talk, that there's no reason for her to not do it.

But she just stares at me.

Anyway. I'm leaving now. I head to the main door and open it.

"Oh. Mr. Jorge, Trini's running out of Donepezil," Ms. Mary says before I leave.

"Already? But I just refilled her prescription, didn't I?"

"No, Mr. Jorge. She's running out."

Shit. So many fucking meds and she's worse every day. Should I keep buying them or just let her enjoy the time she has left without all this shit?

Whatever. I'm leaving now.

Just when I arrive at the stadium, Vero, my girlfriend, cancels. A headache and she's feeling like shit. That sucks. Also Beto's not coming, even though he bet against me.

And I really wanted to see his face when his fucking Hounds end up losing.

But at least Jaime and Javier are right there at the entrance.

"Ready to lose, Bitch," I get near Javier and hug him. He's wearing the Hound's horrible, black-and-red jersey.

"They are the locals, and they've been way superior" he says. "Bet for them is a no brainer."

"If you're that sure let's raise the bet to $1,000. What? Gonna chicken out?" I ask him. "And what the fuck are you doing here?" Now I ask Jaime. "What's the point of coming if you're not gonna gamble?"

"This match already fixed," he says. "Don't think so? How many millions are at stake? Don't you think there's at least some players betting for the other team and letting themselves lose?"

"If no one finds out, why not?" says Javier. "And how they'll find out? You have to suck at selling it, right?"

"Exactly," Jaime says: "that's why they do it: this is a business. They control everything. Bread and circus to the people. They distract us from the important stuff, keep us ignorant, and profit from our distractions. Larry Strange already said it on his podcast: this is the strategy of the New World Order."

"New World Order or not," says Javier, "the Falcons are gonna lose."

"It's already fixed," Jaime insists: "they're gonna lose."

"You faithless bastards," I tell them. "Whatever this match is fixed or not, the Falcons gonna fuck the Hounds up."

And they did:

New Zeland Hounds 1 – 2 St. Berenstain Falcons FC

"What did I tell you? What did I tell?" I get uncomfortably close to Javier and shake his shoulder. He looks so fucking stupid with his shitty Hounds jersey. "You can pay with cash, transfer, deposit, food stamps, debit or credit card plus fees. Everything except with your body. But if it's your sister's tho…"

"I'll pay you when I get my paycheck," he shoves off my hand and heads to the exit.

Gonna cry? Ha.

I text Beto to pay up. He left me on seen, the bastard.

No matter: I put my arm around Jaime, we reach Javier, and we three go to the bar to get fucking wasted.

I'm back home. Everything's dark. I turn on the lights and walk to the kitchen without making a sound. I open the second drawer from the bottom. The chocolates are gone.

Then I go into the hallway and open Trini's door a little. She is asleep in her bed. Everything seems fine. I close the door and go to sleep.

"Fuck you, asshole!" Beto yells at me right when I answer his phone call.

"Ehhhhh… fuck you? What's up?"

"Don't act like you don't know. You wanted to screw me over."

"You are already screwed, but what you talking about?"

"The match, asshole. The Hounds won."

"Yeah, sure. The Falcons won."

"I just watched the replay. They ended up 4 – 0. The Hounds destroyed the Falcons."

"Dude, I saw it live yesterday. It was 2 – 1. The Falcons won."

"If you don't want to pay, just tell me, you asshole."

"Why the fuck I'm gonna pay you when you lost?"

"Fuck you!" and he hangs up.

The fuck? "If you don't want to pay, just tell me". The audacity.

Anyway, I receive a message. Is it Beto's?

Messages.jpg in the comments

Ok, I open YouHub.

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And there are many more videos that say kinda the same thing. Anyway, I choose the first one and fast forward to the end:

New Zealand Hounds 3 – 4 St. Berenstain Falcons FC

"Wow, what a match. The Falcons did the impossible and ended up victorious."

"That's right, Professor Mendoza. Nobody expected this score. With Brian Ibárraga, Pedro Gonzáles Chomsky, Henry Muller and José Meyer's goals, the Falcons managed to take the undefeated Hounds' place in the semifinals. They were practically the favorites of the tournament."

"Yes, and all of this was because Jorge Valdivia's direction and strategy."

"Without a doubt."

Wait. What? Wasn't the score 2 – 1?

No. This must be another match.

I go back to the menu and play the second video:

New Zealand Hounds 0 – 0 St. Berenstain Falcons FC

"What a disappointment, Professor Mendoza."

"Totally agree, Castañeda. We all expected more from both teams. But, anyway, that's soccer sometimes."

"Jorge Valdivia's direction was extremely mediocre."

"But I think Meyer's injury was way worse."

The third one:

New Zealand Hounds 7 – 0 St. Berenstain Falcons FC

"To be honest, this score was more than expected. The Hounds are simply superior."

The fourth one:

New Zealand Hounds 2 – 1 St. Berenstain Falcons FC

"It was a surprise to watch the hounds win the match."

What the fuck?

Moremessages.jpg in the comments

Ok. I choose the first one:

New Zealand Hounds 1 – 1 St. Berenstain Falcons FC

Andmoremessages.jpg in the comments

I do so:

New Zealand Hounds 3 – 4 St. Berenstain Falcons FC

Again:

New Zealand Hounds 2 – 2 St. Berenstain Falcons FC

And again:

New Zealand Hounds 10 – 9 St. Berenstain Falcons FC

And again:

New Zealand Hounds 4 – 7 St. Berenstain Falcons FC

CHAOS IN SOCCER

What began as an alleged error on various digital platforms, has become a phenomenon that can even endanger not only football, but all sports.

Johan Stratberg, CEO of Goonglr, owner of several digital platforms such as YouHub, gave a press release this morning and assured that they are already working on a solution on these glitches. He also reiterated that the only entity in charge of providing the official results of the matches of each sport are their respective associations—even though more and more of them present the same flaws in their webpages.

In the last few days, and despite these statements, the shares of platforms such as YouHub and PlayBook have fallen by 23% and this trend is expected to continue.

The fuck?

"I'm telling you, bro". Jaime keeps talking about his conspiracies: "check out LarryStrange's podcast; he explains it all: everything was planned by the casinos and the media to invalidate the score. If there is no way to check which one is official, then they can choose whatever suits them best…" he's gonna keep talking for a while.

Anyway, we're in the bar getting wasted, as always.

"Hey," Javier leans towards me. "Can you pay me that bet?"

"What bet, bro?"

"The one from the Falcons' match. You haven't paid me yet, and without that $1,000, how I'm supposed to pay rent?"

"Wait, wait, wait. The Falcons won, and we didn't bet $1,000."

"How much you think we betted?"

"$500, right? That's our usual bet."

"Yeah, but you wanted to bet $1,000 cuz 'the Falcons gonna fuck the Hounds up'. Didn't you say that?"

"Probably, but I didn't bet $1,000".

"You sure? Wouldn't you bet $1K on your Falcons?"

"Only if I'm really sure they gonna win".

"Weren't you sure that night? You even called us 'faithless bastards' when we told you your Falcones were gonna lose. What? Gonna chicken out?"

"No, but $1,000's a lot. Jaime, did I bet $1,000?"

"How should I know?" he has a point.

"But still, the Falcons won," I tell Javier.

He shakes his head.

"The Hounds won."

"Bro, I'm pretty sure the Falcons won."

"What was the final score, then?"

"3 – 1, right? I dunno, but they won."

"If the score was 3 – 1, according to you, who scored?"

"I dunno."

"So, how can you say the Falcons won when you don't even know who scored?"

"I remember they won."

"Oh, how convenient. The time you bet $1K you only remember they won. You don't know either the score and who scored the goals. You only remember they won. Dude, if you didn't want to lose $1K you should have bet the usual $500."

"But the Falcons did win."

"You sure?"

"How could I forget?"

"You also bet with Beto, right? Did he pay?"

"No, he even called me an asshole, that asshole. He was saying over and over again that the Hounds won."

"They did."

"No, the Falcons won. If they didn't I would've paid him."

"The $1K?"

"No, without that money how can I pay for Trini's medicine?"

"So, you're saying you couldn't pay the $1K?"

"How could I?"

"Doesn't it make more sense that he called you an asshole because you didn't pay him?"

"Yeah, but the Falcons won, dude. I clearly remember we got fucking wasted after the match."

"Jorge, we get wasted after every single match. If the Hounds would've won, wouldn't you get wasted?"

True.

"You know what?" he continues. "Let's call it even. No one knows exactly what happened. It's the fairest thing to do."

"Ok", we shake hands, and that's that.

"Welcome back to 'Half time', your expert panel of everything sports related. Tonight, we are going to talk about the game that started it all: The St Berenstein Hounds against the New Zeland Falcons. All of us present witnessed the game, so we can say with total certainty that the Crows won 3-1."

"No, they lost, Professor Mendoza."

"Yeah, the Falcons won."

"We all knew the Falcons were the favorites, Professor Mendoza."

"But the Hounds won."

"You are right, Professor Mendoza, the Hounds won. And I don't know what match you are talking about, guys."

"Come on, Rodríguez, how in the world the Hounds could win? Jorge Valdivia's direction and strategies were simply awful. There was no way they could win."

"Excuse me, Professor Mendoza, but I don't know what you get from this. The Hounds won, and we all know it."

"I don't get anything from this. I'm just doing my job as a journalist. You should do the same".

"I'm sorry, Professor Mendoza, but the truth is clear: the Hounds lost."

"Can you stop this? You're supposed to be professional journalists. You can't just lie on live television".

"With all due respect, Professor Mendoza, we take our job very seriously, thus I can't understand why you're so eager in lying. That's not journalism."

"Yeah, we have to be unbiased, Professor Mendoza. We know you supported the Falcons, but it's just unethical to fool the audience like that".

"In all my 20 years working here, I've never been treated like that! You two really disappoint me, Castañeda and Arriaga. I thought you were worth something as journalists".

"Professor Mendoza's right, you know—

"Shut up, Rodríguez. You've always been Mendoza's pet. You know nothing about soccer".

"At least I know who won this match".

"With all due respect, Mendoza, you should just retire. This is just embarrassing for you".

"I might be old, but at least I'm not a sellout like both of you. And, Castañeda, I'll tell you this: without me you wouldn't be anyone; I'm the one who got you this job".

"And I've always hated myself for taking it: we always have to do what you want, the way you want it, and exactly when you want it. Besides, can you stop being a hypocrite for a second? We all know you are also in the gambling business. How can you call yourself a sports journalist when you're profiting from bets?"

"The nerve… you speak like you didn't bet at all. But go on, please, and when you get tired of not getting another job as a journalist, you might learn to respect me".

"Shut up. You think you're the only sports journalist there? You think the media revolves around you? Maybe it did 50 years ago, when all of it was owned by your dad and his friends. Yes, I said it. It used to be that way."

"Let's go to a comercial break."

"We all know they did whatever they wanted. Both actors and actresses, to get starring roles, had to go to with them to their yachts, where they made their secret parties, and—NOW, WITH YOUR BANKMAX AUTO INSURANCE, YOU CAN TRAVEL WHEREVER AND WHENEVER, SINCE WE OFFER…

"Trini's running out of Donepezil, Mr. Jorge".

"But I just bought it, right?"

"No, Mr. Jorge. She already ran out."

"How much does it last, then?"

"Each box has 30 tablets. They lasts 30 days. Can you check on Trini while I go to the bathroom?"

Ms. Mary gets off the couch and leaves. Meanwhile I go to the kitchen, open the second top drawer, take the box of chocolates, leave a few for Trini in the third bottom drawer and eat the rest.

On the kitchen table is Ms. Mary's bag. It is open, and there is a box that seems very familiar to me. I take it out of the bag.

donepezil hydrochloride 10 mg

30 COATED TABLETS

That fucking bitch! Of the 30 tablets, there's still 18. Well, I putt he box inside my pocket.

"Trini," She is sitting in one of the couches, and she is wearing the same yellow nightgown as always, a nightgown that's looking bigger every time. "Ms. Mary's giving you your pills?"

She just stares at me.

On the table, under the blood pressure monitor, is Ms. Mary's notebook. I take it and see the latest thing she wrote down.

Latestthigshewrotedown.jpg in the comments

Let's see. I take the monitor.

"Trini, let me check your blood pressure," Trini rests her arm on the table and raises it until her wrist is at her heat's level. I wrap the monitor around her wrist and turn it on. It gradually inflates as the numbers on the screen increase. Then it lets out a bit of air and shows the results.

Results.jpg in the comments

"I've already taken her blood pressure, Mr. Jorge", Ms. Mary's standing behind us. "If you want to know it you just have to ask".

"Are you really giving her her pills?"

"You know I do, Mr. Jorge," she says: "That's my job".

"Just tell me if you're not doing it".

"Mr. Jorge, I've been a nurse for more than 20 years. I know what I'm doing".

"Then why Trini's blood pressure is that high?"

"That's because you're upsetting her, Mr. Jorge."

"And how wouldn't she get upset if you're not giving her her medicine? You're just taking it home", I take out the box she put in her bag and show it to her.

"That's for my mom", she tries to snatch it.

"Really? How fucking convenient", I put it back in my pocket. "You know what? You should leave".

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah. You're not giving Trini her medicine; you're just stealing it. Probably you're not even feeding her. No surprise she's that thin. Anyway, just go".

"You're misunderstanding everything, Mr. Jorge. That's not how things are".

"Just go. You're fired. Just go".

"I've always had an honest life. I may be in NEED, BUT, let me be clear CLEAR, I ALSO HAVE DIGNITY, AND YOU ARE NOT GOING TO INSULT ME LIKE THAT!"

Ms. Mari takes her purse and leaves.

During yesterday's press conference, Jorge Valenzuela, technical director of New Zendaya Crows, reiterated his intention to sue Goonglr, the IFA (International Football Association) and any other media that had provided replays and match results for "clouding the victory of the Crows with their full-scale disinformation campaign."

"They couldn't be more cynical," he stated. "But still most of the replays prove our victory."

Several of the team's players have agreed with Valenzuela's statements, especially José Mayer captain of the red-and-blue team.

However, that same day, the St. Bernstain Falchions management called a press conference to announce their intention to proceed legally against the Crows.

"They couldn't be more cynical," they stated. "But still most of the replay—"You're cheating on me, right?"

I put my phone on the table.

"You're cheating on me," Vero says.

"Honey, I'm not cheating on you, I'm cheating my Falcons with you".

"Not now, Jorge. You're cheating on me".

"Hold on, hold on. Where did you get that?"

"You're telling me all the time you're going to matches. I'm not stupid: you're meeting someone else".

"Veronica, you know how much I love soccer. Of course I'm gonna go to every single match there is".

"You think I'm that dumb? You think I'm gonna believe that?"

"I always invite you to the matches, but you never go".

"No, I do sometimes, but those are boring as shit. And you only invite me 'cos you know I'm not gonna go".

"So, what the fuck do you want, that I drag you to the stadium, that I stop going just because you're that toxic, that I send you every 5 minutes a photo of mi dick so you can see no one's sucking it?"

"I fucking hate when you do that, Jorge".

"So tell me what the fuck should I do. And why you never go in the first place?"

"Oh my god! Like you didn't know I fucking hate soccer, but you don't give a fuck. You've never given a single fuck about me."

"Not even a single one. What do you do in the meantime, then?"

"It seems your girlfriend is soccer and not me".

"Tell me, what do you do in the meantime? Why I'm the only one who has to tell you where I am and what I'm doing?"

"How should I feel, then? Do you even care about me?"

"You're cheating on me, right?"

"I fucking hate that I can never have a conversation with you", Veronica makes a scene by leaving the table.

"Of course. You have to be the victim every single time, huh? And it's always my fucking fault".

"You're such a fucking hypocrite, you know that?"

"And what the fuck do you expect? According to you, I'm always the bad guy, I'm always the one to blame, everything's my fucking fault".

"You know what? If you're gonna make a scene as always, I don't want anything to do with you".

"Oh, how convenient. You break up with me right when I ask you if you're cheating on me. But at least have the balls to tell me who was scrambling your insides".

"You're an asshole, Jorge".

"And you're a whore, Veronica".

189

During a press conference held on March 20, Johan Gutemberg, IFA's director, announced that, despite the constant glitches on digital platforms and the abundance of fake news, all tournaments and matches will continue as scheduled.

"This isn't the end of soccer. We are going to make it through this," he assured. "IFA has been the biggest and most important sport institution since before the internet existed, and it will continue to be so. Despite everything that is against us right now, we will make it through this. The IFA has always been known by its values: its decency, its altruism, its love of soccer and its honesty. The only thing that matters to us is soccer, and we will provide it to every corner of the earth."

In addition, when one of the journalists asked him about the official result of the match that started it all, New Zelensky Rounds vs St. Bernstein Halcyons, Gutemberg assured that this match never officially happened. He even ventured to say that this match is nothing more than a myth created as a devious campaign against IFA.

Now, we must remember that, in recent years, the IFA has been the subject of investigation for an alleged network of corruption among directives. According to authorities from different countries, several of the IFA executives have been accused of bribery, money laundering, illegal betting, fraud, organized crime, sexual harassment, rape, homicide, terrorism, among others. Right now, several investigation folders have been opened, and even some of those directives have already been arrested.

YouHubsearch.jpg in the comments

Therestofthestory.jpg in the comments

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