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8-17 Doughnut
Dilemma
炸面圈的两难处境
Chapter1
Danny MacDonald
lived for football.
He played it,
watched it, talked and dreamed about it. It was
his best lesson at school and his favourite game
at break. At home lie kicked a football
around the garden, and at the park he got together
with his friends for a
kickabout.
You want to know if he was any good at
football?
He
wasn
’
t brilliant, but he
wasn
’
t bad. Sometimes he
was on the school under-twelves team,
and sometimes he wasn
’
t.
When he was, he pretended
he was playing for Lowgate United.
Danny had the Lowgate home strip and
the away strip. He also had the scarf, the
pyjamas, the duvet cover,
the notebook,
the socks, and four walls full of posters .
His favourite poster, on his bedroom
door, was a shot of Keith Connolly belting in a
winner
Keith
Connolly
was
Lowgate’s
captain
and
their
star
striker.
When
he
joined
them,
they
shot
into
the
Premier
League. He could make stunning goals out of
nothing. He could whack a ball into the net with
his left
foot from inside his own half.
Written
by
Margaret
and
illustrated
by
Scoular
Anderson
Chapter 2
One day in
January, after school, Danny hurried through his
homework. He wanted to watch TV
. Keith
Connolly was doing an interview on the
local news programme.
Danny hoped that
the television wouldn't go fuzzy or lose the sound
when Keith Connolly was talking. It was
an old set, and it did things like
that.
It buzzed and flickered a bit,
but at last Keith Connolly's smiling face appeared
on the screen.
‘What I really like
about
playing for
Lowgate,
’he said, ‘
is
the fans. They’
re the best.
They always turn out for
us. It’s
fantastic running on to the pitch to all that
cheering and
chanting
.
’
Danny wished
he
could be in that crowd at Jam Street, the Lowgate
ground, but the price of a single ticket
was way above anything he could afford.
There was no chance of the whole family
going, or even just Danny and Gareth, his little
brother.
‘You won again on
Saturday
,
’said the reporter.
‘Did the team go out to
celebrate
?
’
‘
We went for a meal
together,
’
said Keith
Connolly,
‘
but I have to be
careful about what I eat, because I want
to stay fit. I love
doughnuts
…’
Then
the sound went fuzzy, and Danny jumped up and
thumped the top of the set to make it come on
again.
He hadn't missed much. But he
had missed something important.
Keith
Connolly had been saying,
‘…
but
I
’
m not allowed to eat
doughnuts.
’
Danny
hadn
’
t heard that hit. All
he heard was Keith Connolly loved doughnuts. And
at the end of Danny
’
s
street was a bakery. It sold the
biggest, stickiest, jammiest gooey doughnuts ever
made.
1
Chapter 3
When Danny went to
bed, he lay wide-awake under his Lowgate duvet,
making plans. He had to find a way of
getting those doughnuts to Keith
Connolly.
In his house on
the other side of the city, Keith Connolly was
lying awake, too, under
his
Lowgate duvet. He
was
thinking of doughnuts. He
wasn
’
t happy.
He
wished he
hadn’t said
anything
on TV about doughnuts.
Now,however
hard he tried,
stop thinking about
them . Enormous
gooey, sticky doughnuts, oozing with strawberry
jam.
But you
can
’
t be a stop striker and
eat doughnuts.
The team
lived on chicken, fish, vegetables, pasta, and
fresh fruit. Doughnuts were made of all the things
they mustn
’
t eat
–
He groaned, pulled the
duvet over his head, and tried to sleep.
Danny knew that doughnuts had to be
eaten fresh. You can
’
t send
them in the he was going to get
doughnuts to Keith Connolly,he would
have to deliver
’
d meet
Keith Connolly face to face!
He
didn
’
t knew where Keith
Connolly lived,so he
couldn
’
t take them to his
house. And nobody was allowed
near the
team at training sessions.
He
’
d have to go
to ground on a match day, get to
players
’
dressing room,and
hand them to Keith Connolly
himself. He
wasn’t going
to leave them
with a security guard .He might forget about
them,or scoff them with
his coffee.
There were two problems.
Firstly,to get into the
ground,he
’
d need a match
added it all he used his Christmas money,
saved his pocket money,and got paid for
washing the car and walking next
door
’
s Great Dane, he could
raise
enough for a would also have
enough for the bus fare,and the doughnuts.
The second was harder.
Getting inside the
players
’
changing room at
Jam Street was like breaking into a were security
guards, and a dog that looked like its
mother was a wolf and its father was a dinosaur.
Danny would have to
work out how to get
past that lot.
There was plenty of time
. It would take weeks to save the money,so
Doughnut Day would be some time in
March or April.
Chapter4
Keith Connolly went to training every
day, trying hard not to think about more he
tried, the
more he thought about
couldn
’
t concentrate on
training .He wondered what warm doughnuts with ice
cream would be like .
The very thought made him
miss an easy header.
The
manager, Big Brian the Boss,noticed it.
‘
Twenty press-ups,
Connolly!
’
he roared.
But he had to roar it
twice,because Keith was still thinking about warm
doughnuts
The next Saturday
afternoon,Danny settled down to watch the Lowgate
match on television.
It was
watched helplessly as Keith Connolly missed an
easy penalty the post,and fell over his own
feet.
Low gate
lost 3
—
0.
2
For the rest of the season, Low gate
went from bad to lost pace and failed to score,
Every pass
sailed by him.
Big Brian the Boss
couldn
’
t understand what was
wrong with Keith.
He asked
him time and time again, but Keith,
wouldn
’
t tell.
He couldn
’
t
say,
’
The truth
is,boss,I
’
m dying for a doug
hnut,
’
He
’
< br>d feel stupid.
Doughnuts
followed him into his sleep. He dreamed of scoring
in the World Cup by belting a doughnut to the
back of the net.
In the mornings ,he drove to the jam
Street ground the long way round,so he
wouldn
’
t smell
the doughnut in the bakery.
If he saw the security guards eating
doughnuts he had to look away Even the
Boss
’
s head, which was bald
and
sun-tanned and often glistening
with sweat, made him think of a golden brown
doughnut sprinkled with sugar.
His playing became worse and e drew one
week and lost the fans talked about free
transfers. Big Brian the Boss worried
about relegation.
Everybody
at Danny
’
s school said Keith
Connolly should be sold. Danny stuck by his
hero.
’
What he needs is
a doughnut,
’
he
though, as he washed cars and walked the Great
Dane.
Chapter 5
On the morning of 16 March, Danny was
up early.
He had a ticket
for the Low gate game against Sprint United.
Sprint were having a brilliant season.
Danny
’
s
strip was
spread out on the bed and he had bought a packet
of dog chews. They might come in useful with the
dog at the ground.
He was at bakery door
before it even opened.
There was no point in getting just one
doughnut. He bought four, glistening, puffy, jammy
doughnuts Packets
of four were on
special offer. He put them in a sandwich box from
the kitchen, so they didn
’
t
get squashed, and
so he
wouldn
’
t have to see them
all the time. They looked so good.
He was too excited to eat much at
lunchtime. All he wanted was to get on the next
bus to jam Street.
He was at the front
door,with the box under his arm,when he heard a
muffled sniff. He looked round.
His little brother,Gareth was sitting
halfway down the stairs. He
didn
’
t say anything, but he
rubbed his eyes
quickly.
‘
Wha
t
’
s the
matter?,kid
？’
said he knew.
‘
Want to
come,
’
said Gareth.
Danny felt
really bad.
’
Look,when
you
’
re a bit older
we
’
ll go to matches
together.
’
He wished he could
take
Gareth with him.
He thought of the doughnuts
in the of Connolly
wouldn
’
t want four,would he?
‘
How
about a doughnut?
’
he
said,and he left Gareth,jammy and a bit comforted,
sitting on the stairs eating a
doughnut.
Chapter6
At the ground,
Danny found his place. He had chosen a spot near
to the exit,so that he could nip out at half
had the dog chews ready to bribe the
guard
’
d have to dodge the
security guards somehow.
The cheering and chanting began,and the
stamping and had to stand on tiptoe to see,but he
3
was part of clapped and shouted as the
teams ran on to the pitch.
Then the whistle blew and they kicked
off.
After
that,he thought he
’
d rather
not Connolly wasn
’
t was on
the
substitutes’ bench
.
After all his
efforts,for all those weeks,he
wouldn
’
t even see Keith
Connolly he
’
d been younger
he
might have cried.
‘
Subs
’
bench is the best place for
Connolly,
’
said a man near
Danny.
’
Then should sell
him.
’
‘
They should
give him away,
’
said somebody
else.
’
Free,in a packet of
cornflakes.
’
Everyone laughed
except
Danny.
Lowgate
were
playing
two
other
strikers.
Their
names
were
Steve
Hackett
and
Jim
Mackay,but
everyone called
them Hack and Mack.
They did their best,but it
wasn
’
t and Connolly were a
good combination. Mack and Connolly
were a killing combination.
But Hack and Mack together just
couldn
’
t get it right,and
Sprint United were on top form.
Danny winced
as the first
goal rocketed into the Lowgate the second one
floated into the top corner, he shut his
he opened them again,Keith Connolly
was slipping away down the
players’
tunnel
.
Chapter 7
This was his the box of doughnuts
under his arm,Danny bolted for the ran round the
back
of
the
players
’
changing
ducked
behind
a
dustbin.
Two
security
guards
stood
on
duty
at
the
of them looked big enough to stop a
tank with one hand.
One was listening
to a radio,and the other was filling in the
crossword in his newspaper.
Between
them lay The that a dog?Even lying down,it looked
half as tall as started at the
dustbin, and stood up, snarling.
‘
Shut
up,Vinny,
’
said one of the
guards.
‘
I
’
m
listening to the match.
’
Danny took a dog chew from his pocket
and dropped to his held out the took care not to
look The Dog in the eyes.
‘
Good
boy,
’
he whispered.
‘Good lad,
Vinny.
Vinny was big, but he
wasn
’
t really much of a
guard dog. He trotted up to Danny. Then he sniffed
the chew,
decided he
didn
’
t like it, and growled
again.
Danny tried a chocolate
flavoured one. Vinny still
wasn
’
t interested.
There were three doughnuts in the box.
Keith Connolly wouldn
’
t eat
three, would he? If Danny
couldn
’
t get
past
this dog, he wouldn
’
t get
any at all.
Danny opened the box. Vinny
sat down with his head on one side and his tail
wagging.
When Danny put a doughnut in
front of him, he took it lovingly between his
forepaws. He settled down to
lick off
the sugar.
The guards
hadn
’
t even looked up. Danny
threw his empty Coke can as hard as he could, and
as it clanged
and clattered the guards
sprang to their feet. So did Danny.
‘
He went that
way!
’
he yelled, pointing.
‘
And the other one went
–
um
–
that way!
’
The
guards
raced
in
opposite
dashed
for
the
changing
room,
and
found
himself
in
the
corridor lined with closed doors.
4
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