Water Brigade Washout

As we moved on to the second event, I tried to have positive thoughts. We were headed for South School’s new nature area. It was shaded and involved more water.

Mrs. Matalata, our art teacher, welcomed us to the water brigade event. She had a flowered scarf tied around her hair and was standing next to a big bucket of water.

“I love your T-shirts!” she exclaimed. “What great artists you are!” That put a smile on my face.

“Okay, kids! Let’s get started,” she said. “In this event, you have to walk across the field with a cup of water. One partner will line up here on my side; the other partner will line up at the other end of the field by Mrs. Michaelsen.”

We all waved to Mrs. Michaelsen, our librarian. It was fun to see her in a baseball cap.

Mrs. Matalata continued her instructions. “See how fast you can run over and back without spilling too much water. The first team to finish with no less than six ounces wins!”

Harry patted the water bottle that was hooked on to his belt loop. “I’ve come prepared, Dougo!” he said. “This will give us an advantage!”

And that’s when my eyeballs zeroed in on Harry’s water bottle. The top had a spray trigger! Oh no! I thought. Was he planning to squirt extra water into his cup when no one was looking?

As I walked over to the far side, I thought about what I could do.

By the time I got to Mrs. Michaelsen and her card table of filled water cups, I was freaking out. My palms were sweating so much I had to wipe them on my pant legs. When I looked again at my hands, they were shaking.

I took a full cup and went to the starting line. The water inside was beginning to swirl around and around. I could see the black line on the outside of the paper cup for six ounces. The water level was now above it.

When I glanced at my competition, Mary, ZuZu, and Ida were on either side of me. The kid with a doorknob T-shirt was raring to go!

“On your mark . . . ” Mrs. Michaelsen called out.

“Get set . . . ”

I had to stop Harry from cheating.

“GO!” Mrs. Michaelsen yelled.

Ida and Mary took off like me, walking fast, holding their cup of water out in front of them. ZuZu ran ahead!

As I hurried across the field, my cup looked like it was attached to a milkshake machine. It shook constantly! Water began sloshing out!

I could hear Harry yelling, “Go! Go!”

By the time I was halfway over to him, ZuZu had already passed his cup to Dexter. I was sure Harry would squirt more water into our cup. The water level was below the black mark already! Now there was no way we could win.

Unless . . . Harry cheated!

Ida passed her cup to Sidney, who took off like a rocket. Mary gave hers to Song Lee. Song Lee walked swiftly but steady. By the time I got closer to Harry, I was so nervous, I lost my balance and tripped over my own feet! My paper cup landed in the dirt upside down while I did a belly flop onto the grass!

I felt like crying.

“Are you okay?” Harry asked as he dropped to his knees in front of me.

“I’m fine,” I groaned.

Harry offered his hand and helped me up. “We’ll win the next one,” he said. Then he squirted water in my face. “You need a refresher,” he added.

“Thanks,” I said as I wiped the dripping water off my cheeks.

Did I misjudge Harry? I thought.

Harry watched the rest of the race, and even congratulated the Dashing Doorknobs, who won the event. Dexter and ZuZu finished before them, but their cup had less than six ounces of water. Mary and Song Lee came in second.

“You just earned one point for good sportsmanship, Harry,” Mrs. Matalata said. “You didn’t complain about not getting a chance to do the water brigade. And you were very understanding to your partner.”

Harry flashed a toothy grin while Mary rolled her eyeballs.

“We’re going to win, Dougo!” Harry declared.

“We can!” I agreed. If Harry plays fair! I thought. I needed to show Harry that we could do that!

As soon as Song Lee and Mary checked the teacher’s clipboard, they started jumping!

“We’re in first place!” Mary bragged.

Sidney looked at Harry. “Your team and mine may be tied for third, but you’re going down, Harry, in the next event!”

Whoa, that didn’t sound good.

I knew I had to keep an eye on Sid and Harry. The war was about to begin.