THE GAMES TO (POSSiBLY) END ALL GAMES (POSSiBLY)
The strangely dressed competitor turned their head towards Frankie, Grandad, Drew and Alexi. Frankie’s stomach looped. Was it really her?
But if the Person-Who-Might-Be-Lou recognised them, they didn’t show it. They quickly looked away and took their place beside the other competitors.
Frankie’s stomach did a high jump, but didn’t stick the landing.
‘I guess she didn’t see us,’ said Drew. ‘Quick! Let’s get closer.’
Frankie wasn’t so sure Drew was right, but he ran behind his friend, the suitcase swinging from his hand, until they were standing at the edge of the field, where a guard held them back.
‘No closer!’ the guard snapped, via the padlock. They were now about twenty metres from where Lou was standing.
‘Lou!’ screeched Drew. ‘It’s us!’
Slowly, the Athlete-They-Suspected-Was-Lou turned their head. This time the athlete’s eyes connected with Frankie’s and he knew it was his sister. He saw her square her shoulders and take a deep breath.
She’s GOT to be ready to come home, thought Frankie, relieved. He knew all too well that it sometimes took a while to come down from being huffy, but there was a point at which it all started seeming a bit dumb and you wished you could take back the mean things you’d said. He was pretty sure that Lou had finally reached this moment.
Frankie did something he hadn’t done in almost forever – he smiled at this sister.
‘Lou – we’ve come to bring you home!’ he called, positive now that she would be absolutely stoked to see him.
But Lou merely scrunched up her nose and turned away, and Frankie’s skin ran cold.
‘Did your big sis just diss you?’ asked Drew. ‘How awkward.’
‘No, no, no, she just didn’t recognise me,’ Frankie replied tightly. ‘Lou?’ he called again, cupping his hands.
The first athlete was now running, javelin in hand. A moment later, the gleaming spear arched through the air to the cheers of the watching crowd.
‘LOU!’ yelled Drew, so loudly that the athletes on the field all nearly jumped out of their (admittedly limited) clothing.
‘LOU!!’ Frankie followed up, shouting with all his might. ‘LOU, OVER HERE!’
Finally, with her shoulders nearly bunched up around her ears, Lou stomped over to them. ‘What is it?’ she snapped.
‘You can’t stay here!’ Frankie cried. ‘You have to come home!’
‘I like it here,’ replied Lou firmly. ‘People talk about important things. And no-one calls me Saint Lou.’
Frankie stared at her, unsure what to say next. He’d always thought ‘Saint Lou’ was just a funny nickname. He’d never really wondered if she liked it or not.
The next competitor threw his javelin. It soared above them, striking the ground a few metres further than the first.
‘If you come back with me now, I promise I’ll never call you that again,’ blurted Frankie.
Lou shook her head. ‘Sorry, Frankie, but it’s too late for that,’ she said, picking up her javelin. ‘Say goodbye to Mum and Dad for me.’
Up until this point, Frankie had hoped that convincing Lou to come home wouldn’t be too difficult. But clearly this wasn’t the case. Lou had been in Ancient Greece for about a month, and even in this short time she seemed to have changed a lot. She looked tougher and braver than usual. The crowd cheered again as the third athlete threw his javelin.
Lou shouldered her javelin and turned away. ‘Excuse me, but I’m kind of busy right now. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m about to compete in the Olympics.’
‘Lou, you can’t do that!’ said Frankie desperately. He couldn’t believe his sensible sister was being so rash. Of all the people in the Fish family, surely Lou understood best of all how doing something like this could potentially mess up all of history.
‘Don’t pretend you want me to come home, Frankie,’ Lou said sharply, looking back at her brother. ‘It’s obvious you don’t like me, no matter what I do for you. I’ve always hoped that one day you’d get over it but you know what? I’ve given up.’
Frankie leapt straight to his own defence. ‘Well, it’s not easy living in your shadow, Lou! You’re good at everything. You win all the time. You’re super smart and EVERYONE likes you.’
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about, Frankie! You’re plenty smart and lots of people like you too, but you don’t even notice,’ responded Lou, sounding exasperated. ‘Luckily you don’t have to live in my shadow anymore, though, because I’m STAYING HERE. See you around.’
Feeling utterly frustrated, Frankie screamed at his big sister’s back. ‘Louise Fish, you are coming home with me NOW!’ He knew he sounded exactly like Ron Fish when he was trying to extract Frankie from Drew Bird’s birthday party. ‘And you are NOT going to compete in the Olympics!’
Without her even turning around, he could tell that Lou was grinning as she said, ‘Oh, yeah? Just watch me, little brother.’
And with that, Lou strode down to the other end of the field to begin her run-up. A run-up that would lead her – and perhaps the entire world – headfirst into disaster.
