“A curse!” Ziggy said with his eyes widening. “Don’t curses come with ghosts and monsters?!”
“There’s no such thing as curses, or ghosts, or monsters,” Rider said seriously.
“I don’t know, Boss,” Rora said. “I have a good luck charm, and when I don’t bring it to a game, my favorite team always loses. If you believe in luck, then bad luck can be the same as a curse.”
“Hear me out,” Frenchie said to Rider. “Legend says there was once a young goalie who devoted his entire life to soccer. When he finished school, he tried out for the big leagues. He didn’t make it onto either the Dynamos or the Cougars, so he swore revenge on both teams. That’s where the Goalie’s Curse comes from! This goalie promised that if both teams ever made it to the championship, neither team would win. The teams have never made it into the championship at the same time . . . until this year.”
“Bow-wowza!” Ziggy said. “It is the curse!”
Rider rolled his eyes. “Sounds like a soccer legend to me, not a curse. What we need to do is stick to the facts and clues that we know.”
“The only clues we have are a Cougars uniform at the Dynamos field, and a Dynamos uniform at the Cougars field,” Rora pointed out. “Sounds to me like both teams are in trouble. Maybe it really is the Goalie’s Curse.”
“It’s not a curse,” Rider stated.
“I don’t know,” Westie said. “There are things even science cannot explain.”
“Not you too,” Rider said to his friend. “Whoever did this is a real-life criminal who is going to spend time behind real-life bars.”
“I hope you’re right,” Frenchie said. “I can’t stand the idea of a real-life curse!”
“Well, correct me if I’m wrong,” Rider pointed out. “The curse is meant to stop either team from winning, right? Well, even though one player and one mascot are missing, the teams can still play. Nothing is going to stop the championship game. If the curse were real, then something would have to completely stop the game from ever happening.”
Frenchie’s phone rang. He answered it and heard someone shouting on the other end. When the pup hung up, Frenchie looked pale, as though he had talked to a ghost. “That was the mayor,” Frenchie said. “There’s been another incident at the stadium. All the seat number stickers were removed and scattered across the field.”
“The curse!” Rora, Ziggy, and Westie shouted at the same time.
