Authors: Ahmad Ardalan
He pressed play again, and he saw Yaturo with the stadium still in the background. This time, Yaturo said, “September 11, 2001—what a sad, sad day for the United States of America. December 26, 2004—what a disastrous day for the people living along the Indian Ocean…” And then, the tape went black.
In complete and utter shock, John stood and went to the bathroom to splash cold water on his face. His head felt as if it might explode any minute, and he was trembling violently. He ran outside to smoke a cigarette, trying to get a grasp of everything that he’d seen on that strange tape from that strange box.
Over the next two hours, John watched the tape at least ten more times in deep concentration and focus, studying it, trying to find any error in it. Is this…real? Or is it just some silly prank those four were playing? You know, video technology lets people do amazing things nowadays. But he was…he was talking about two world disasters way before their time. Everyone knows 9/11 changed the world and spawned wars, and that tsunami took the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. What…how? And who is he? But John’s many questions only seemed to lead to more questions
Being a journalist and organized by nature, he took the time to write down all the information, including the names and dates and everything mentioned on the tape. He immediately turned to the Internet for help. The Web was teeming with people named “Yaturo,” as it seemed to be a common Japanese name. The address on the business card didn’t get him anywhere, as it was really just the name of a place, offering no exact location. When he Googled “Lisa Farry” and “John Humphrey,” he had no luck piecing anything together. Fortunately, though, his search for “Jim Owen Steadman” did afford him some answers.
The results of that search included information and snippets about fifteen or so people. John was specifically looking for a guy in his late forties or early fifties, since the tape was allegedly recorded in 1986, while he was still in his twenties, and nearly three decades had passed since then. John assumed Mr. Steadman was likely still living in England, and after narrowing his search based on those criteria, he finally restricted his hits to four people in the UK, one of them in Dorking, aligning with the information from the tape. The guy was fifty and listed soccer as an interest of his, so it seemed John had the right guy—as long as the Jim Owen Steadman on the tape and on the Internet listing was actually telling the truth. The photo on his profile on the social network where John found him didn’t seem to mesh, but John knew as well as anybody that twenty-six years can take a toll on a person’s appearance, among other things.
John was completely intrigued, and the natural inquisitive nature of the reporter in him demanded that he take action. He knew there was no better way than to hop on a plane and go visit the guy. Things needed to be clarified, one way or another. The truth was, it was the best diversion from his shattered reality that John could have hoped for. It was a chance to get away from Susan and those painful memories, a chance to solve a mystery. He thought if it was true, something great might come of it. John was still a dreamer, and even if it turned out to be nothing at all and the tape was merely a fake, a prank, at least the trip would be a welcome escape for him from the reality of home.
Before visiting the guy, he wanted to stop in Estadio Azteca in Mexico City to check out the authenticity of the video by investigating the camera angles around the stadium. He requested a week off from the paper, and there was no objection, as he hadn’t taken a vacation in over a year. All it took was a short call to his boss.
In spite of his anger and angst with his wife, he hadn’t forgotten his son, of course, and he visited Susan’s parents’ home to bid the kid goodbye. While he was there, he wouldn’t say a word to Susan. He realized there was nothing left of their relationship, and he should have made the decision to leave her two years earlier, when she started her nonsense with that awful attitude and constant bitterness.
Come to think of it, though,
he rationed,
if it wasn’t for me catching her in bed with another man like that two days ago, I wouldn’t have found that box floating in the sea
. In some odd way, he had Susan to thank for the adventure he was about to undertake.
The flight was booked for Monday, and all was ready for the trip to Mexico City. If everything went well, John would be off to Dorking via London. It was a good thing he still had his credit card to add to his measly $2,700 that was left over from his stock market fiasco, and he hoped that would be enough for now.
John made a DVD copy of the movie, scanned the business card, and had a replica of the ring made. He was thoroughly prepared. He took several names from Jim Steadman’s profile; he would contact them if he was unable to locate Mr. Steadman himself. He even took the box along. When it came to details, John was an expert, which probably stemmed from all his years of working as a journalist. His continuous hunt for stories had brought him to this.
He decided to visit the cliff where he had found the box just before sunset, hoping it would bring him some kind of luck and prepare him for the unknown. “What a view,” John said. Exactly two days prior, he planned to jump from that same cliff to end his life in the abyss. “How a moment can change a person’s life,” he said to the crashing waves. No matter what lay ahead, it was the start of a new life for him.
Chapter 2
After a flight that lasted just over five hours, John finally landed at Benito Juárez International Airport in Mexico City, the second largest airport in South America; he hadn’t been to Mexico in over six years. The last time he was there was on his second wedding anniversary, a surprise trip he had planned for Susan to Cancún, but that felt like a lifetime ago.
After picking up his bag, he took Metro Line No. 5. Once he’d gone through several station changes, he would hit the Xochimilco Light Rail that was scheduled to stop at Azteca. John never would have guessed the Mexican Metro system was so huge and connected. It was a bit smaller than NYC Metro, of course, but busy nonetheless.
As soon as he left the Metro station, he walked for several minutes before he arrived at the stadium, the Estadio Azteca. “What a beauty!” he proclaimed at the sight of the facility. This stadium was rich with history, especially for soccer fans like John. Not only did Maradona score the two most talked about goals in World Cup history there, but the arena had also hosted the greatest game of the century in 1970 between Germany and Italy. Funny enough, it was also the stadium where both Maradona and
Pelé
won their last World Cups. He decided he’d take a proper stadium tour after his personal business was attended to.
All he had to do was use his Sony Handycam to try and replicate the filming angles Yaturo had used. He hoped the footage was not a hoax. It took him an hour to shoot his pictures and make comparisons. With the help of an English-speaking woman, he had a friendly chat with one of the oldest stadium operators. Acting like a curious tourist, John asked what he need to know. Everything seemed to pan out. Due to some renovations that had taken place over the years, there were some changes in the colors, but all in all, the visit lent extra credibility to the video John had watched so many times.
Once his work was done there and all his notes were meticulously taken, John took a tour, paid his homage to the stadium and the soccer greats, and headed back to the airport. His long flight to London was scheduled to leave in about four hours, and he knew he had better get a move-on with the busy Metro connections.
The plane took off around six p.m., and taking layovers and time changes into consideration, John was scheduled to reach London early the following day. During the flight, he planned to work out every scenario that might occur and consider what he might do in every case.
How do I find Steadman, and if I do, how do I approach him?
He finally decided his best option was to tell Steadman he was doing a story for his paper covering the twenty-fifth anniversary of that famous soccer match. He would tell the Brit that he was looking for opinions and reactions from both English and Argentinian spectators on the outcome of the controversial game and claim it was luck that would have him bumping into Steadman, who just so happened to attend that game back in 1986.
When he reached London, he took a train to Dorking, to the hotel where he had booked a room. It was a small, but comfortable place equipped with modern-day amenities like Wi-Fi, and it was close to the main square of the town. He needed some sleep to clear his head and relieve some of his jetlag, and then he would start nosing around to find the guy he’d come to talk to.
He soon discovered that Dorking was a beautiful market town, with a proud heritage dating back to the Roman times, set in a wonderful landscape with the Surrey Hills to the north and the Greensand Hills to the south. The town had stuck to its roots over time, and everything seemed to be within walking distance, including the St. Martin’s Church, which was situated directly in the middle.
The B&B where John had booked a room was just off Rose Hill Street. It was a small, beautiful place, and the elderly woman who was its caretaker was kind enough to show him his room right away so he could get some much-needed rest. A few minutes after unpacking, John was fast asleep.
Three hours later, the American journalist woke up and decided right away to visit the Surrey Dorking Police Station. After a few laughs with the nice gentleman there, John had all the information he needed. In a matter of hours, he hoped to be in contact with Steadman in one of the town pubs.
To avoid suspicion, John arrived early at the bar, his notebook in hand, and introduced himself to the bartender. He enjoyed a nice pint of local cider and told the proprietor that he was there to write an article for his paper back in the States. “I’m looking to talk to people about the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1986 Argentina vs. England match,” he said.
Most of the people John talked to told him the same thing: “Maradona was a cheat! We should have won that game.” Others claimed the English defense was sloppy at the time.
In his second hour there, a guy who resembled the profile photo that John had found online made his way in. John had carefully memorized Steadman’s face and had stared at his photo for hours to be sure there was no way he would fail to recognize him. The reporter took his time studying Steadman from a distance, closely looking him over. It seemed he had gained weight, and the years had taken a toll on him. John also studied his body language, trying to compare his moves and gestures to those used by the younger man on the video. Steadman seemed to be an outgoing person who loved to laugh with his buddies over a good drink or two.
Is that really him?
John worried.
And will he open up to me and answer my questions? Will he even remember that day so long ago?
Jim was enjoying his drinks with a few gentlemen when John introduced himself. Steadman was more than happy to talk about the game, and he seemed proud to announce that he was there to see it for himself. John listened carefully; in his mind, as he listened to Steadman recall the events of that day, he somehow knew the whole thing was real. Steadman began talking about how things fell apart after the linesman gave the goal away blindly and how England never really got back in the game. He also admitted that Maradona was from another planet. John asked him about the atmosphere of the crowd that day and how long he stayed in Mexico. It turned out that he had journeyed there with two of his friends. Lisa still lived close by in Crawley, but his friend John had passed away a few years prior. He said they had stayed for a week. He didn’t mention anything about Yaturo, but that was all John needed to hear.
Just when John was about to excuse himself, though, he got more than he had asked for, as Steadman invited him for lunch the next day and told him he would try to bring Lisa to talk about the game. She even had some of their photos that he was sure she would gladly show to John for his “twenty-fifth anniversary story.”
At lunch the following day, Lisa and Steadman went on and on about the game in vivid detail. They also talked about Humphrey and how they wished he was still there. John Humphrey had taken a wrong turn sometime during his life, it seemed. He’d endured a terrible marriage and was arrested several times for domestic abuse. It was a sad ending for him a few years back, when he died from a drug overdose.
As Steadman had promised, Lisa also showed John some photos that confirmed that they were, indeed, the twenty-somethings who appeared on the tape. John asked if he could have a copy of the photos for the paper, and they kindly scanned them for him. John took a photo with both of them and thanked them for their hospitality.