Tug-of-War Tumble

Well, the bean bag toss was a total disaster for us! None of the top-scoring teams earned a point! I was so nervous about the war, I missed all three targets. Harry threw his bags way too hard. They would have been home runs in baseball!

Mary was still talking about the event as we headed over to the nature area.

“There I was,” she said, “ready to take a well-planned aim, and just as I toss my bean bag, Harry goes, ‘Kaff! Kaff! Kaff!’”

“Mare!” Harry laughed. “I got a tickle in my throat. Coughing is not a crime.”

“Well . . . both times, you got a coughing attack right when I began to throw! It messed me up!”

“Not the third time, Mare, I didn’t cough on your third try,” Harry added.

“Well, I was waiting for your cough, and that distracted me.”

“Your bean bag clung to the side of the board. Just missed the target again.”

Mary exhaled like a dragon.

I knew I had to keep an eagle eye on Harry. If we were going to win the last event, it had to be fair and square. No more shenanigans, as my grandma would say.

Mr. Skooghammer, our computer teacher, was waiting for us in the nature area. Since he was wearing shorts, we could see his hairy legs. His red beard and mustache made him the hairiest guy at South School. Although our principal, who was standing next to him, was hairy too, Mr. Cardini had his mustache turned up perfectly on both ends. His T-shirt had a picture of Italy on the front, and the five Olympic rings in blue, black, red, yellow, and green on the back.

“Buongiorno!” Mr. Cardini said. “Welcome to the tug-of-war event. Get a pair of garden gloves from Mr. Skooghammer so your hands won’t get rope burn.”

Harry squirted some water in his mouth, then in mine. “We want to be last,” he said. “Let’s get at the end of the line behind Ida and Sid.”

I nodded.

We all watched the principal tie a red handkerchief in the middle of the rope. Mr. Skooghammer placed orange cones two yards on either side of it.

“Whichever team pulls the red scarf past their cone wins!” Mr. Skooghammer explained. “You and your partner can earn three points together. Be sure you are on the same side as your partner, though.”

Mary suddenly appeared. “I overreacted about your coughing, Harry,” she said. “I’m sorry. I just want to win like you do!”

Harry shrugged. “No problem, Mare.”

Then she added, “I notice you guys are both getting a sunburn. I bet you didn’t pack sunblock. Here, you can use some of mine.”

“Gee, thanks, Mare,” Harry said. And he squeezed some lotion into his hand and rubbed it over his lower arms and face.

I did too. “Thanks,” I said. I was thrilled those two were making up!

When Mary ran back to the front of the other line, Harry and I got ready.

“On your mark!” Mr. Skooghammer shouted.

Harry and I put our gloved hands firmly around the rope.

“Get set!” Mr. Cardini yelled.

“PULL!” both men roared.

As soon as Harry and I grabbed the rope and started to pull, our hands slipped right out of our gloves! We fell backward onto the grassy field while the rest of our team went flying forward.

Harry and I looked up. We both had grass in our hair. Our gloves were on the ground. And the other team was cheering madly, “We won! We won!”

After we picked ourselves up, Sidney came rushing over. “Why did you two let go?”

“We didn’t!” Harry objected. “The rope slipped right out of our hands.” Then Harry and I stared at our palms. They were covered with grease.

“How did they get so greasy?” Sid asked.

“THE SUNBLOCK!” Harry and I said in unison.

I slapped the side of my head. Man, I thought, why didn’t I see through Mary’s sneaky plan!

I wasn’t just tripping over my own feet or missing targets. I was losing my smarts!

“It was Mary!” Sid exclaimed. “I remember now she offered you guys that stuff. I know she wanted to get even with you, Harry, and make you lose. But it’s not right she made all the rest of us lose too! I’m telling!”

While the winning team was still jumping up and down, Sid stomped over to the principal. Harry and I waited and watched as Sid gave Mr. Cardini an earful of facts. Then the principal made a beeline for Mary and had a few words with her.

Boy, was she stunned! Mary looked like she had swallowed a bug!

“Scuse! Scuse!” Mr. Cardini called out. “Due to certain unfortunate events, we need to do the tug-of-war again!”

While Mary’s team groaned, our side got excited. We had another chance!

The principal came over and squirted our hands with hand sanitizer. “Rub them clean, boys.” And then he handed us another pair of gloves.

“ON YOUR MARK!” Mr. Skoog-hammer shouted again.

Harry and I grabbed the rope and got a good footing.

“GET SET!”

I was ready to tug with all my might!

“PULL!”

“Heave ho, guys!” Harry yelled. And our side started to drag Mary’s team our way.

Suddenly, we stopped going backward and were being pulled forward.

Now we were inching toward Mary’s side!

“We can do this, guys!” Harry yelled. “PULL HARDER!”

Our side stopped inching forward and started hauling the other team our way.

Sid was grunting as he pulled.

“Keep it up!” Harry hollered. Inch by inch we moved the red handkerchief closer to our orange cone.

I could hear Mary screaming, “NO! NO!”

“YES! YES!” Harry and I answered as we yanked the red cloth past our cone.

Mr. Cardini blew his whistle! “We have a winner!” he shouted.

Our team cheered as Harry and I slapped everyone five!

Mary plopped on the ground. She was pooped!

“Magnifico!” Mr. Cardini exclaimed. “Great effort, kids!”

I dashed over and checked our teacher’s clipboard. Ida and Song Lee were already there. Mary had lost one point for bad sportsmanship! “Sid lost one too?” I whispered to the girls.

“He did,” Ida replied. “I saw him untie Harry’s shoe when I was running back to tag him. That was awful. I had to tell the teacher. It just took me a while to do it.”

When I looked over at Mary, she was standing with the principal. Sid was there too. “And we’ll discuss the consequences later,” Mr. Cardini said.

“The Speedy Spiders are the winners for Room 3B!” Mrs. Flaubert announced. “Congratulations, Harry and Doug!”

Harry and I gave each other a bear hug.

Then Sid and Mary came up to us.

“I’m sorry about the sunblock,” Mary said softly. “I think I was desperate.”

“If I were in my right mind, Mary,” I replied. “I would have said no thank you!”

“And I’m still sorry about that shoelace business,” Sid chimed in.

“Well,” Harry said, “I found out how it feels when someone cheats you out of something. Doug and I could have set a new school record today. But I did mess you guys up during that jump roping and I’m sorry about that. So we’re even, okay? Just . . . don’t ever go near my shoelaces again, Sid, or . . .” Harry held up a fist.

“I promise,” Sid said. And he held up a fist too. “Don’t you tell jokes while I’m jumping rope!”

“Won’t happen,” Harry agreed.

I felt a big sigh of relief. The war with Sid and Mary was over! Harry wasn’t a big fat cheater after all. Mary and Sid were!

“We did it, Dougo!” Harry said.

“We did!” I replied. Maybe with a few shenanigans, I concluded.

“I can’t wait to pick that perfect prize for our class!” Harry exclaimed.

“I can’t wait to see it!” I replied.