Copaca-barmy

They were a close group of friends.

It was one of those freakish combination of events that had brought them to this point in their young lives.
If you had the time, inclination and resources you might be able to track back through perhaps two or more generations of their relatives and plot how good fortune, misfortune, mishap or just sheer good luck had put those individuals in a particular place at a specific time and which started the chain of events to this very point.

If money was no problem you could even investigate genetic lines to indicate any predisposition to atheticism, agility, good hand to eye co-ordination and many other physical and mental traits that were a characteristic of the 8 youngsters.

The permutations behind such matters of conjecture numbered in their millions or could be further complicated by human migration cross country or across continents, freewill or enforced decisions, the prospect of illness and infertility, war, famine, pestilence and just plain accidental death.

In the timeframe of just two generations the most common cause of fatalities in their part of the world included gunshot wounds, being trampled by a herd of cows, drinking unadulterated ethanol spirit, falling off a horse, being crushed by a falling tree and venereal disease.

Life expectancy was a little over 40 years of age anyway and so a premature demise by other means than natural did not present too many difficulties in choice if any sort of an active life was sought .
A bleak picture so far for the distant relatives of our gang of eight.

Oh, I forgot to mention the hazards presented by the environment ranging from a risk of being swept away in a flash flood or landslip, scorched in a wildfire, falling through the earth's crust in a quake, struck by lightning, deep frozen in drifting snow, petrified in ash in a volcanic eruption or swept out to sea by a freakish wave.
Death could approach in the seemingly innocent guise of a sore throat, slight initial fever, yellowish skin tint, a burst or rupture of a vital organ, headache, itchy rash or with no prior warning before hitting the ground hard and for the final time.

Children born into this heritage and surviving to maturity were to be celebrated and what better way to give them a good head start in life than to give them a strong and distinctive name.

Our eight heroes possessed such names.

Dante, the oldest bore the name of a medieval scholar and writer from the other side of the world but picked out by proud parents themselves brought up in the catholic faith. His namesake had served the church well by putting the fear of God into the hearts and minds of the masses.

Victor, second eldest of the group was so named after the outcome of civil and political struggles in the history of the nation and in which various distant relatives had no doubt fought and possibly on opposing sides.

Maxwell was named after a brand of coffee made from the produce of the family plantation.

Bernard. A common name passed down through the male line of this particular family although its origins were lost to those of advanced years but still with a lucid living memory albeit of hazy and mixed up faces, times, places and people.

Oscar's parents had met in a darkened and intimate picture house back in their home town both being fans of the big screen. The issue of a boy and heir, out of wedlock, was frowned upon but their joy was unfettered by convention and they awarded themselves their own  academy award for best baby in the world.

Jo was a common shortened form in the South Americas of the ever popular and reverential Joseph with the choice in later life whether to maintain the two letter form or upgrade.

Fred's naming was a bit of a mystery. No-one else in the genealogical representation of that family had been called Fred, Frederick, Fredo, Alfred or even Freda on the maternal side. An uncle had, at one time, owned a tortoise called Fred but to think that perpetuating the memory of a reptile in a human family member was ridiculous. There had been rumours and hearsay about an affair between said Uncle, subsequently despatched on a long but non-specific journey, and the soon to be Fred's mother some 9 months before but never proven apart from an uncanny resemblance in certain facial features between the two.

The last and youngest of the intrepid band could in no way be confused in name with any other member. Indeed, apart from a well known comic book character and ability to mutate into a large , when angered or provoked, green coloured creature there were no other known namesakes. The lad even in his adolescent years did in his large build frame share a trait with the unfortunate graphic creation of the artists at Marvel and his mother and father did consider him too, to be rather incredible.

His presence amongst the eight was a perfect compliment to the cumulative skills and abilities and so Hulk, Dante, Victor, Maxwell, Oscar, Bernard, Fred and Jo had found their way to making up the backbone of the 2014 Brazil World Cup Football Squad.