Busby Babes Signing Off…

 “’luck’, that’s all he said”, Robert replied.

“Why? I mean generally everyone says good luck as a token of bidding bye.”, I asked.

“Well, you asked me what Billy told me for the last time and I told you what he told me last time, I guess I am done here. Anything else?”, Robert asked.

“That’s enough for now, yeah. But just one more thing, this ain’t have any connection to my report, this is just coming out of curiosity that, does it still hurt? I mean, losing your companions, losing championship, losing titles?”, I asked him.

“Companions, yes. Others, don’t.”, He finishes.

I had nothing in my mind to continue the conversation to this well-prepared man when he added, “look, kiddo, do you believe in god?”

“Uh…in some yes, yes, sir, I do. Do you?”, I asked in reply.

“I’m 78 now. Faith is like a gadget to me, can’t be faithful. But, tell me, you are what? 27? What makes you certain about your stand?”, he asked as like he is interviewing me.

“26, actually. Nothing makes me certain, I just kind of trust that god is in there somewhere. Frankly I have my own apartment and so many things that my parents never thought of me. So, well, yes, I trusted him and you see, shit happens and you can’t blame god for that as…”

“Then why praise him for the goods?” he interrupted me and added this question that muted me for a while.

He continued, “I remembered the day. We won the English League. celebrating like never before. Drew our home lag with Birmingham City by 3-3. Geoff, Mark, Tommy, Billy was my senior in the team. Billy was one of the team mates who adored me very much. He was very gentle and had a very good sense of humor. Bert told us that club has talked to British European Airways who managed a plane for us to get us to Belgrade for the away leg against Red Star.”

He waited for a second. He smiled for once. Then he continued, “we drew that match at 3-3 and was enough for us to make it to the quarters as per the away goal rules and in that time we were quite unbeaten in home and also was enjoying a non-defeated 11 games’ streak. We were all set for Manchester and that motherfucking asshole Johnny, that li’l bustard lost his passport. You know Johnny? Johnny Berry? One of the greatest outside right forward till date?”

I knew him so I nodded. He continued, “he used to forget things. Well, the takeoff from Belgrade was delayed about an hour thanks to Johnny and we reached Munich for refueling at 13:15 GMT.”

There was a silence for a moment. Robert was silent, me having nothing coming out of my mouth. I picked up a glass of water and offered him. He drank some, cleared his voice and said,” you know the pilot, Captain James Thain was originally a sergeant. Well, I was beside Billy. The takeoff began. Snow was falling, causing a layer that blocked half of the runway. The first takeoff was devastating. Billy said, “bad luck captain. Bang this girl of yours a bit harder so that she can know her daddy.” We all smiled, the cap too. The second one, failed again. Something happened to us all after that. Kenneth, the second pilot asked Thain to stop the takeoff and wait for the night but as we were going to miss our scheduled match he tried for once more and this time the left wings of the plane were on fire.”

“Billy pushed me from the chair and told me to get out of the plane. Thain started evacuating the passengers. Harry helped the passengers to get off the plane. There was a chance of explosion. Everybody was in a hurry but the gate was very small in size.”

He was a bit in tears then. “Thain just stepped outside and the chance charmed. Explosion happened. 3 more died on their way to the hospital and Billy with other 19 passengers died in the explosion.”

“I never talked about this like this before. If you ask me why today as you may, it’s because when you questioned me about how I feel the time was 3:15 p.m. You know what it means, son? It is the time when our second takeoff was failed and moreover it was the time when Billy told me, ‘luck’!”

“I don’t know what he meant by that. Maybe he was not sure to pick the right between the good and bad or maybe he just knew and didn’t want me to tell the lie instead he had hidden the truth. Harry was filled with blood on his face and he thought himself as he was dead. Well, luckily he wasn’t. but the other 23 wasn’t that somebody. Were they?”

“the clock still shows the time. Somewhere beneath, it hurts. I never looked at the clock whenever I come close to it because I don’t know why but I can’t.”

He stood up. Picked up a replica of the match ball of the match against Red Star and headed back to the exit door. He stopped after a few steps and looked at me, came close to me, bent a bit and whispered to my ears, “sometimes when I feel helpless, I pray to Billy cause that son of a bitch saved my 78 years’ old ass’s future. He earned my faith. So just tell your god or whomever you before you put your faith on that, ‘Fuck faith! Earn it!’ luck, kiddo”.

I came out of the canteen and lit up a cigarette. My senses were searching for some fresh air so I looked up in the sky and suddenly on the South-East corner of Old Trafford I saw it. The Munich Clock. The time as stopped at 3:30 and the date mentioned there as 6^th February, 1958. The moment when the Busby Babes signed off. The moment when I wasn’t even on this earth, but still I feel a thing deep inside me, somewhere and it hurts. The moment that made my interview with Sir Robert Bobby Charlton a bit nostalgic.

‘luck’! I knew the meaning, but today, I earned it!