His excitement about disappointing people emanated right from the moment Oliver was born. What a cheeky block. It's a healthy baby, the doctor said. Nothing disappointing is notorious in that baby -if anything, he's a well-endowed baby-.
Where was such joy to disappoint then? Was it perhaps in his telltale smile? The way he looked at his parents when they first held him skin to skin? Who are we to know when they are all sharing the joy: well, it's a baby boy! The sense of collective happiness is at its highest, with a birth that promises a new beginning to a family escaping the same-old darkness.
The town of Dinnington made that happiness more collective. As a proud mom was returning home from the hospital, there he was, a football-promise lad who could not go to war. Little Oliver is wearing the baby-size Liverpool FC uniform. And, as the son of a hard-core, frustrated footballer, this time, there's hope: just a matter of becoming some months old and his baby will be ready to kick the ball.
What else can bring happiness when we give birth to men?
Women.
What young Oliver causes is nothing but chaos. His mystery just makes young ladies fight each other. At least, that's what his friends say -and his two uncles whisper-. Shall women be the end of his Liverpool prospects? His weird smile never tells. Anne is her name, and the sunset is her fairy tale, as she doesn't let Oliver take his bus home without first letting him know: you're kind of cute.
Next thing you know, he asks her out. Out out? That's for you to judge: a date in the break between classes is the only thing a 15-year-old can afford. Look how proud his mates are. Certain rumours had started to go around, as he was about to graduate from high school and hadn't kicked a ball. But it's all clear now: Anne kisses him against the wall, and in Dinnington, it's well-known that women rule the world.
Oliver's friends became Oliver's fans, as he dates the most popular girl in school. Is anyone hearing a wedding march? Not quite yet - let them first graduate and at least have a proper date. You'll agree that they may need a date they can afford with their own money, not the one their parents have sacrificed for.
Let's not go too far in the future. Oliver's father is in a universe of happiness to see his baby boy introduce him to Anne. They can have anything they want. The dad will pay for it, and you have little to wonder why. He is hopeful that Oliver was perhaps not meant to be a Liverpool player but a successful lawyer married to a beautiful wife and two or three children.
Since the father made a life out of Law, he tells Oliver that, unlike growing potatoes in the lands of his town, the degree of Law shall be the future of his own. And you're yet to understand why Oliver enjoys disappointing because what the family, girlfriend and all friends see is a young lad submitting an application to study Jurisprudence at Oxford.
Again, a collective hope became a Dinnington joy. The now law student has an entire neighbourhood, hoping he goes as far as representing them in such a world-class university. As Oliver welcomes late Law school parties full of things that the Law forbids, hangovers unfold a universe of issues that no one saw coming.
The Norwegian Embassy welcomes Anne as she does paperwork to study abroad. Everyone who thinks to know Oliver would hope to see a heartbroken lad. But there he is: miles away from town, smiling at the present and confident about his future. What is it that he sees and we can not see? His independence, he may say. You'll now have to be in his shoes should you wish to obtain answers. Something that people with high expectations don't like quite much.
What did Anne do to him? A protective mother wonders.
He switches Law for Theatre.
Oxford for Soho.
Class-clown! says his father, while a West End production opens auditions for a lawyer.
Oliver does make it to the stadium, though. Who are we to judge! It's Beyoncé landing with her Renaissance tour. It's almost like Oliver left not only his hometown but also the friends he thought were friends and the family he thought would always be for him. Perhaps it was a two-way hope because they all hoped for many things from him:
He wasn't meant to be a footballer. He wasn't meant to bring a wife home. He wasn't meant to be a well-known layer. He wasn't meant to be Dinnington's pride. He was meant to be himself. Oliver's most powerful skill is leaving behind anyone, refusing to accept his true self. Disappointing people is his DNA; don't forget that cheeky smile he was born with.
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