Emilio By ReadWorks
Emilio couldn’t believe his luck. He re‐read the newspaper headline once more, just to be sure. But the letters were still there, in that order, proclaiming the same thing: Brazil would host the biggest soccer tournament in the world, aptly named the World Cup. It was happening at the same time that he would be in Brazil visiting his grandparents! The implications were huge and very exciting.
I can spend time with Grandma and Grandpa, and I can go watch some matches, Emilio thought. Maybe Grandma will want to come too; I’m sure she loves soccer, even if she doesn’t love it the way that Grandpa does. Grandpa loved soccer enough for the entire family.
Some of Emilio’s earliest memories were of his family visiting Grandma and Grandpa in Rio de Janeiro. They would fly eight and a half hours from Miami to Rio, where Grandpa would meet them at the airport in his old red Mercedes. Emilio dreamed of driving that red Mercedes someday, with Grandpa next to him. He thought that maybe he could this time when they would go to World Cup matches together.
Emilio looked at the newspaper for what seemed like the twentieth time. “Brazil to Host World Cup,” it said, followed by the article. But Emilio wasn’t interested in the details — not yet, anyway. He turned the page. “Rio de Janeiro Mayor Thrilled With Announcement,” he read. The next page had another soccer‐related headline. Emilio knew that in the days to come, the paper would become a battle ground of its own, with optimistic headlines fighting for space against all the unhappy headlines complaining about how much money this would cost Brazil, and how poverty in the country would be ignored for another year. Emilio hoped one day to be a journalist and write for a newspaper, ideally about sports. His trip to Brazil would be good practice: he could watch some matches, read the articles written about them, talk about the games with Grandpa, and perhaps even try his hand at writing. Emilio knew the rules of soccer even better than his father did. Emilio could also predict which player was going to do what more quickly than his dad could.
Emilio’s mother enjoyed the games, but she talked too much during the matches. She was always interrupting the commentators. Usually she had something to say about the players’ facial expressions. She always laughed when one of them tripped and fell over. She never believed that the players were actually hurt when they fell. “Look at that; the other guy didn’t even touch him!” she would say when the fall was replayed in slow motion. Emilio’s father would huff at his mother and ask her to please be quiet, and Emilio and his sister Sophia would exchange amused glances from the couch.
Emilio checked the time. The clock read 10:23 a.m., which meant it was 11:23 a.m. in Rio. Emilio thought, Grandma and Grandpa would have finished their first round of coffee and returned from their morning walk. Grandma would slowly start preparing lunch while Grandpa sat in his favorite chair with the paper. Now was a good time to call. He carefully dialed their number, making sure to start with the country code.
“Si?” a creaky old voice answered. “Grandma, it’s Emilio!” he said. Each time he heard his grandparents’ voices on the phone he realized how much he missed them. It made him even more excited to visit Brazil. “Oh, Emilio! How are you?” Grandma said, becoming louder as if shouting into the phone would help her voice travel all the way to Emilio in America. This always amused Emilio. He used to do that when he was a little boy, until his father explained to him how voices traveled through the telephone wires and that distance didn’t matter.
"I'm great, Grandma! I can't wait to see you over the summer. We can go watch World Cup matches together!"
