Gala Day Games (based on a true story!)
“Arrrggghhh!” cried the teacher as the bucket of water above emptied over her in one large, cold splash. The dunking seat was proving hugely popular with school children and I had watched more than one soaked teacher limp off to get changed.
It was a glorious autumn day for the local school gala and I sat down near the bouncy castle kingdom to enjoy my lunch. Three sizes of castles were being guarded by a pretty lady in a straw hat and summer print dress. She smiled at the people passing and chatted to the children while keeping a watchful eye on the castles. A queue of six families kept her busy for awhile, giving change and fastening bracelets to the children’s wrists.
I spotted a young boy sneaking around the back of the middle castle. While the straw hatted lady was busy selling tickets, the middle bouncy castle started sinking and the little boy ran laughing from the back of the castle. The ticket lady turned and saw the collapsing castle, shrieked and dropped her basket of wristbands. She threw her arms in the air and looked around wildly for help. She looked so funny, like an old agitator washing machine as she twisted from castle to crowd. Swish, swish, swish.
A woman I recognised as the school librarian emerged from behind the castle and at the same time the lump of deflated plastic started to come back to life, air filling it’s turrets and walls. I was close enough to hear her say to the straw hatted lady, “Well we do teach our children to turn things off!” The perpetrator of the crime was being marched to the other side of the field by his parents and the straw hatted lady sunk into her deck chair in relief.
Word count 300
May 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment