Trolled by Steven Sandor

Author:Steven Sandor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lorimer
Published: 2017-01-04T16:00:00+00:00

***

Andy had put on his warm-up suit and was sitting in the stands. He’d just finished swimming the anchor leg for COBRA’s relay team. He had made up half a lap on the field, but he couldn’t make up the deficit. COBRA was a small team, and the other swimmers simply couldn’t keep pace with the other teams. COBRA didn’t qualify for the next day’s final.

Now Andy had just one event to focus on, the 100-metre freestyle final.

Coach Ocampo sat down next to him.

“You seem awfully worried,” said the coach.

“Shouldn’t I be?” said Andy. “Mark Li has been at least a half-second slower than me at every meet this year. And now he posts a crazy time.”

“A crazy time in the preliminary heats,” Coach Ocampo said. “Really, all he did was swim a fast qualifying time.”

“And?”

“And, if you spend the rest of the day worried about Mark Li, you won’t be going as fast as you can tomorrow. Worry about what you can do. Go to the warm-up pool. Work on some entries. Work on your rhythm. Worry about going as fast as you can. Mark Li is going to do whatever he’s going to do. You can’t control that. What you have to focus on is getting faster, saving your best for the final and then executing.”

“He’s right, you know,” said Enalyn, sitting down on the other side of Andy. “Just pretend you’re swimming in that lane at Earnscliffe. That you’re by yourself. Just you and the clock.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Now, let’s get your mind off tomorrow’s final,” said Enalyn with a smile. “Miriam Said’s heat is coming up.”

The dare! Andy thought. He’d become so distracted by Mark Li’s time that he’d almost forgotten about the dare.

Enalyn took Andy by the hand. She led him to a couple of seats that offered a decent view of the pool through the crowd of people gathered to watch the first heat of the women’s 100-metre breaststroke. Miriam Said’s orange cap was like a beacon. She waited for all the competitors to take their marks before finally discarding her long robe and getting onto the blocks in lane 4.

The gun sounded, and she was in the water. Her head popped up and she took a mighty breath. She brought her hands together as if she were praying, then drove them apart, with each movement thrusting herself forward.

By the wall, Miriam Said was already body-lengths ahead of the field. When she turned, she had the pool to herself in front of her. The other seven swimmers were still going in the other direction.

By the time the rest of the field had finished their turns, Miriam Said was ahead by a third of the pool. She smoothly coasted to the finish.

Andy knew it was time to dash out of his chair, run across the deck and give Miriam Said a kiss. His brain told him to get up, but his body remained rooted to the chair.

“Did you see that?” Enalyn cried. “She’s so good!”

Enalyn clapped and clapped and clapped.

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