The Gollywhopper Games (9 page)

Out fluttered the envelope. Lavinia, quickest to the floor, picked it up.

Before she could open it, Carol made an appearance. Either she materialized from nowhere, or she’d been somewhere in the shadows the whole time.

“You guys,” she said. “You did a great job, but if this were the whole ball game, I’d wake up bald tomorrow morning. The other team is ten seconds in front of you. Get moving!”

L
avinia crept her index finger under the flap of the envelope.

“Rip it!” Rocky shouted.

Lavinia jumped, sending the envelope airborne.

Gil snatched it before it landed.

Puzzle #2

“My coat keeps me the warmest during this

January freeze,” bragged Tracy.

If the above sentence equals ZEBRA,

then what does the following sentence equal?

The pain in Matthew’s elbow lingered

through the month of March.

(Move to table #2,

directly behind the piñatas.)

The only things directly behind the piñatas were one cameraperson, a pair of four-foot dice, and an even larger cup and saucer.

“Who stole table number two?” said Rocky. “Gil?”

Gil spun around, ready to glare. Instead he shot out his arm, alongside Rocky’s ear. He pointed. “‘Behind,’” Gil said, “depends on where you’re standing. Turn around.”

Green lights blinked on the other side of the piñatas.

All five ran to the table and gathered around the three boxes: My First Calendar, I Want to Be a Doctor, and Bowling Buddy.

“Oh, great,” said Bianca. “I thought I knew this one, but they don’t have a math game on the table. There should be a math game.”

Gil knew he shouldn’t take time to ask. “Why should there be a math game?”

“The sentences are supposed to equal something. Isn’t that math?”

“Yeah,” said Rocky. “I’ve never seen math like this.”

“Maybe it’s not math,” said Gil, exhaling.

Rocky exhaled louder. “But they say, ‘equal.’”

“The sentences,” said Lavinia, “don’t need to equal anything mathematically. Logically speaking, if you assign numerical values to the letters according to their positions in the alphabet, the letters in the sentence will add up to more than the letters in the word ‘zebra.’”

Rocky snickered. “What’d she say?”

If there was such a thing as a funny nightmare, Gil was in it.

“If it’s not math,” Bianca said, “what is it?”

“It’s boring,” said Thorn.

Bianca stuck her tongue out at him. “If you’d help us figure this out, maybe you wouldn’t be so bored.”

Rocky slapped her on the back. “Good one, Bianca.”

Three TV cameras captured that whole scene. Gil wished the cameras could capture the three of them and ship them off to Neptune.

Gil turned his attention to the puzzle, now in Lavinia’s hand. “Okay,” he said, trying to steer them back. “‘“My coat keeps me the warmest during this January freeze,” bragged Tracy.’ What could possibly lead us to the word ‘zebra’?”

“I’ve only been able to rule out things,” said Lavinia. “The sentence does not remotely concern a zebra. Zebras don’t live in climates with January freezes.”

“But last January I went on an African safari, and we saw zebras,” said Thorn.

“I don’t believe they had you in mind when they designed the puzzle,” Lavinia said.

Gil smiled. Go, Lavinia.

They stood in silence, staring at the paper.

“What you said before, Lavinia? That the sentence isn’t about zebras? This could be a stretch,” Gil said, “but the second sentence mentions March, part of a calendar. So maybe we shouldn’t pick My First Calendar. It also talks about elbow pain, so maybe we shouldn’t pick I Want to Be a Doctor, either.”

Lavinia rubbed her neck. “You’re implying that because the sentence doesn’t mention bowling, that’s
the answer, but I can’t buy that. The first puzzle literally spelled out the solution.”

“Yeah,” said Gil. “I thought that was a stretch.”

“No, it’s a joke,” said Rocky. “We’re wasting more than penalty minutes looking at this. Let’s pick bowling. Now!”

“No,” Gil said. “You heard the rules. If we mess up, we need to start—”

“Shush,” said Lavinia. “I’m onto something. I was looking for letter patterns….”

“Get to the point,” said Rocky.

Lavinia stopped, closed her mouth.

“Forget him,” said Bianca. “Keep going.”

“Look at this sentence,” Lavinia continued. “‘“My coat keeps me the warmest during this January freeze,” bragged Tracy.’ It contains all the letters in the word ‘zebra’.”

Gil blinked. The letters popped at him, right there—all the letters together. “Look. Between ‘freeze’ and ‘bragged’. Slide the two words together and—”

“Find the word in the second sentence already,” said Rocky.

Gil and Bianca read together, “The pain in Matthew’s elbow lingered through—”

“Bowling,” said Bianca.

Rocky grabbed the box. “That’s what I was going to open ten hours ago.”

“Cool!” said Bianca. “‘Elbow’ and ‘lingered’ together. I mean, how did someone think that up? Those Golly people must be really smart. You, too, Lavinia, for figuring it out.”

“Of course, you were the one to first notice
bowling
.”

“I was, wasn’t I?”

“That’s so sweet,” said Rocky, mimicking their voices and mangling the Bowling Buddy box to get at the envelope. “But now,” he said, his normal tone returning, “stop gabbing like a bunch of old ladies, and come look at this stunt.”

Stunt #2

IT’S ONE, TWO…

FIVE STRIKES, YOU’RE IN.

JUST FIND THE GIANT,

WHITE BOWLING PIN.

They raced toward the rear of the room where a bowling pin, at least ten feet tall, swayed from the ceiling over a regulation bowling lane. Instructions dangled.

Stunt #2

LET’S GO BOWLING!

YOUR GOAL:

You must knock down all the pins five times.

AS IN REGULATION BOWLING:

You must stand behind the red foul line
when you roll the ball.

UNLIKE REGULATION BOWLING:

You may roll as many balls
as it takes to knock all the pins over.

AS IN REGULATION BOWLING:

The pins will reset automatically.

UNLIKE REGULATION BOWLING:

Your best bowler can do most of the bowling.

But each of you must knock down
at least five pins.

“I bowl,” said Gil, shoving the rules into his pocket. “Who else bowls?”

“I do,” said Rocky.

“I bowled once at a birthday party in first grade,” Lavinia said. “It wasn’t that difficult.”

“Good,” said Thorn, sitting down. “This is the first bowling thing I’ve seen.”

“I’ve been bowling, but I’m terrible,” said Bianca. “Can I go first to get it over with?”

“Go,” Gil said. “It’ll be easier to knock down your five when all ten are standing. Then Rocky or I will take over after that.”

Bianca walked to the foul line with one of the five green balls and stuck her fingers into its holes. She swung the ball back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. Then she released it. The ball sailed in the air and landed six feet down the lane with a thunk. “Oh, no!”

“What’s wrong, Bianca?” asked Gil. “Your ball’s going straight. Watch! Watch! Seven!”

“It’s not that. I broke a nail.”

“Big deal,” said Rocky, already posing, ball in hand. He took the classic four-step approach and
thundered the ball down the lane, toppling two more pins. Not waiting for his ball to return, he picked up another and rolled it, wiping out the last pin.

“Great, Rocky!” Gil patted him on the back, then plopped a ball into Thorn’s lap.

Thorn turned it around a few times. “Which fingers go where?”

“No time for a lesson,” said Rocky. “Just get up and go.”

Thorn heaved the ball at the pins. It bounced twice and skipped into the gutter. He tried another. Gutter. Another. Gutter again.

“I’ve got a really, really good idea,” said Bianca. “Do it the kid way.”

“Excuse me?” said Thorn.

Rocky grabbed the ball from Thorn and thudded it behind the foul line. “Now straddle the ball, and shove it from behind.”

Thorn did, and the ball wobbled, creeping down the lane, trying to decide to go straight or veer left.

Before it got to the pins, Rocky thunked down a second ball. “Don’t wait. Go again.”

Thorn shoved it, too.

All five of them stood there for what seemed an eternity, waiting for the balls to strike.

“Hey, Rocky,” said Gil. “Something look strange to you?”

“Yeah. I’ve never seen a ball move that slowly.”

Gil shook his head. “I mean, down the lane. See?”

“I see he knocked down three pins. And that second one is gonna hit more.”

“Yay, Thorn!” Bianca said. “Six. You’re done.”

“My turn again.” Rocky grabbed the ball and rolled. By the time he hit three more, he had another ball in his hands.

“Wait,” said Gil. “Something looks strange.”

“Your face.”

Gil ignored him. “There’s tons of markings on the lane.”

“They always have those arrows so you know where to aim.”

“Rocky,” said Gil. “Look again.

This one has too many, and they’re circles, not arrows.”

“Let me see.” Rocky put down the ball and started running up.

“Stop!” Lavinia said. “You can’t go over the foul line.”

“The rules say don’t bowl over the foul line. You don’t see me bowling,
do you?” Rocky skidded to a stop. “Hey! Some of these circles have lit-up letters. I’ve never seen anything like it.” He bent to inspect.

“Come back, Rocky!” shouted Gil. “I bet we get a letter for every pin we knock down.”

Rocky ran and skidded back. The second he stepped onto the right side of the foul line, Gil bowled one ball, then another. Thorn’s last pin, down.

“What letter did you get?” shouted Rocky.

“Forget the letters until we knock down all the pins. Go, Lavinia.”

She rolled the ball down the lane as if she had been doing it for years. Six pins fell.

When Gil finished off the other four—giving him the five he needed—Rocky was right behind him with a ball. He launched it as soon as the pins had reset. A strike.

“You’re on a roll, Rocky. Finish up,” said Gil, feeding him another ball.

Rocky rolled two balls in rapid-fire succession, wiping out all ten.

The team raced to the little circles on the lane. Each contained a lit-up letter.