Fox Magic by Beverley Brenna

Author:Beverley Brenna [Beverley Brenna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Red Deer Press
Published: 2019-08-13T15:13:35+00:00

The school day ends early because of a staff meeting. Chance’s dad is waiting for her in the car.

“Can we just go home today?” Chance sighs.

“What about my exercise?” her father says. “I’m turning into a couch potato! Let’s just take an hour for something

healthy, okay?”

Chance shrugs. Might as well go along with it. Easier than arguing.

They drive to the bowling alley and her dad stops the car.

“Bowling?” says Chance.

“Might be fun,” grins her dad. “My inner bowler has been striking to get out.”

Chance shakes her head at his bad pun but opens her door. Might as well get this over with.

“Did you know that the earliest form of bowling dates to ancient Egypt, over five thousand years ago?” her dad asks. “Then Edward III banned it from England so his troops would practice more archery, but Henry VIII brought it back.”

Chance just shrugs again.

Inside the bowling alley, it’s all lights and music. Rock videos are playing on screens at the front, and spotlights dapple and dance along the wooden floor. Chance slips into the bathroom for a moment while her dad gets the bowling shoes. When she comes out, he’s looking for her.

“What?” she says. It’s too loud in here to make out what he’s saying. He’s asking something but she just can’t hear.

“Just the toilet,” she snaps, and takes her shoes.

He gives her a strange look but writes something down on a piece of paper. When they get to their seats, she can see that the girl at the counter has already entered their bowling names on the screen above their lane. Forrest Gump. And The Toilet.

“What did you tell them that for?” Chance yells. “That’s dumb!”

“Well, it’s what you said,” her father answers. “I didn’t know. When we used to come bowling all the time, you always wanted to be Poop Dog or Baby Dipes. I thought you were just, you know, following tradition.”

She shakes her head. That was years ago. She remembers that her father always had a couple of empty beer bottles lined up after those games. And then more beer would come out at home. But there’s no beer on the table now.

“And Forrest Gump?” she asks.

“I like that movie,” her father says. “And as Forrest said, Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”

Chance thinks about Georgia and the treats she always carried in her pockets. Prettily wrapped Saskatoon Berry chocolates, and big round Rogers’ Coffee Creams.

Her father is talking but she can’t hear.

“Never mind. Let’s just play!” she says.

At first, Chance isn’t very good, but after a few tries she begins to get the hang of it. She’s grown since the last time they went bowling, and now she can control the ball much better. Before long, The Toilet is beating Forrest Gump 180 to 125.

“No fair,” yells her dad. “You’re younger than me.”

He winds up for a spectacular last throw, and somehow his shoes slip on the waxy floor and he ends up on the ground.

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