Fortunately, the puddle jumping competition was first. That way I was able to start off the day on a positive note. I won easily. My chief competitor was warned in her first round to touch each of the puddles. That slowed her down a lot. I won both style and speed.
My next event was badminton. We were evenly matched in the first round. I almost fouled out for holding the lily too long before passing it to my partner. My counterpart on the other team was having just as much trouble so in the end, that was a wash. Somehow, we eked a win. The second round didn’t go so well. We lost ten to two.
I thought Erin was going to be furious. She didn’t seem to mind. Losing early gave her more time to prepare for her next match with Becca as her partner. They won all of their matches.
Next up for me was swimming. I am not a great swimmer, but I do a little better each time. I got third in my age group. I danced a little thanks to the water spirits for that.
The creek run got cancelled at the last minute. Green sludge oozed down the waterfall and gummed up everything downstream. It was gross. Miche and others with strong water magic had to erect barriers to keep it from going further downstream.
Becca asked if I would try the hurdles. It’s not like I don’t know the course. It is the same as the relay, but with more random obstacles. The team would get one point even if I came in dead last. We were so close in score to the Orange team that I figured I’d try.
It was the nastiest, most difficult hurdles of the summer. You had to run at top speed, point your wand and hope you made the right decision. At the start of the race, the course appeared to be clear. Every ten seconds or so, another hurdle would appear and the rest would get more difficult. Luck got me through the first heat. Most couldn’t finish the course.
I thought I knew what to expect for the second heat. Wrong. I sprinted faster, ducked and closed my eyes as tree limbs swooped down. Someone called ‘water’ and I switched to skim mode. I don’t know who it was, but they saved me from an ugly mistake.
Winning the second heat earned me a first place. I cared less about winning than not having to run the course again. My breath still catches thinking about that race.
I dreaded the relay. I worried that it would be the hurdles all over again. Everyone promised there would be no obstacles for the relay. There weren’t any obstacles for the first two runners. I ran third. There weren’t obstacles like trees or rocks or water. There were invisible sprites dodging in and out trying to steal the baton. I whacked one (not intentionally) as it tried to trip me just before my hand-off. It landed on the ground with a heavy thump that defeated its invisibility. After my stint was done, I watched a couple teachers carry it to the nurse’s station.
The Sage team won the relay and the competition overall. We whooped and hollered like crazed animals. We celebrated all through dinner and the evening’s campfire. Becca and Erin showed off their considerable fire skills by creating spectacular fireworks. It was so much fun.