‘Going Places’ is the story of an adolescent girl called Sophie. She hero worshipped a footballer called Danny Casey. She thought he loved her, she loved him but she was disillusioned at last. The story in fact tells us one of the characteristics of an adolescent. Sophie was a young girl in school. She had all sorts of unrealistic dreams. She would own a boutique shop. She would earn the necessary capital by working as a natural manager without training and experience or working as an actress. She would not realize that she would end up working in the local biscuit factory as the girls of poor families like hers usually did. She was passing through her adolescence, eager to enter the adult world like her brother Geoff. One day she met Danny Casey, a talented footballer of a club called the United Club. She asked for an autograph. As there was no paper and pen he promised to meet her the next Saturday and give her the autograph.
Danny Casey was a celebrated footballer. He was an idol to many including Geoff, his father and Sophie. Adolescent girls, like Sophie fall in love with such celebrities as boys fall in love with cinema actresses and girls with actors. Sophie thought that Danny was in love with her and loved her. She thought that she too loved him. She was very excited and shared the treasured secret with her brother Geoff. Neither Geoff nor her father believed in her seriously. Geoff thought that Danny must have a string of girls and he had no reason to be interested in a poor girl like Sophie. But Sophie was confident that Danny would meet her the next Saturday.
On the appointed Saturday, she walked by the bank of the canal and sat on a sheltered place waiting for Danny. She was full of excitement. She waited pretty long but there was no Danny. She began to doubt if Danny would turn up at all. She was worried to think how embarrassing it would be for her. Her brother had told her that Danny would never turn up. Now he would prove right. Her worries were not emotional but about the failure of her love. She rose to go back. Yet she hoped against hope that Danny would meet her in the arcade in front of the Royce’s Store. But Danny never turned up. Sophie’s fantasy came to an end.