✅ My Sister's Problem

108. Registration & Preparation

This bonus chapter is dedicated to Traycie, with thanks for all your support. Thank you!

"Not worried you'll have an accident?" Lindy teased as I queued to register for the skating run. It was always oversubscribed, probably because of the thrill of speed. On inline skates, you can go fast enough that the world around you becomes a blur; and that seems to convince every kid who's seriously practised to think they're some kind of world champion. I get it, it's a major thrill, but it also means that there's always a crowd on the starting line. The sports day here didn't turn anybody down; but competitors who didn't register in time for a spot on the line would have to start from the parking area at the top of the cliff, giving them a serious handicap.

They raced anyway. They were confident, and loved the thrill of high speed. It was the same for me; I didn't know if I would be competitive, after nearly a week when I'd barely been allowed any exercise, but I knew I would love the race.

As my brain finally took in what Lindy had said, I turned to give her a piece of my mind. But she was out of reach by now, laughing to herself. I shook my head and ignored her. Even if anyone in the crowds had heard, they would have assumed she meant a gravel rash and broken bones accident, not the wet pants kind. My secret was safe here, and I knew that Lindy wouldn't risk worsening her own punishment by messing about at an event that meant so much to me.

As I waited to sign up, I thought about what other events I would be taking part in. The skating race would be a lot of fun, but that wasn't really the important one. It was one that I always entered because it was a lot of fun, and because I had confidence that I could do pretty well. The final event, the marathon, was one that everyone would take part in; there were lemonade stands and little pop-up cafés all along the route, bidding for the best locations in order to cater to the runners who didn't manage the complete route. I'd finished it every time we'd been here on sports day in the past, with only one exception. But I knew that put me in the minority.

Between the rest of the events, there were quite a few that I was interested in, but it was hard to say which one was the biggest deal. I wanted to focus my attention on something that would be a real challenge, but would still be fun. Maybe I would pick a target sport this year; whether archery, darts, or throwing bean bags into moving targets like some kind of carnival game. Those were the ones where Lindy used to do well, and I expected that was where she would focus her attention this year. So maybe being able to claim a medal would give me some sense of achievement. Of course, I knew it was unlikely. But the idea of competing against my sister directly had a weird kind of appeal to me; and I didn't want to leave that until the Marathon.

Maybe it would have been better to join one of the hockey squads, or football or something. People were put into teams at random for the sports day; and a whole team could get a medal, which improved your odds a bit. But the downside of that was that the team sports knockouts often took up most of the day, and that might not leave time for two other events. It was a case of fitting in the things that I wanted to take part in, and hoping that they didn't clash with each other. Of course, Lindy would be in the same boat if she wanted to sign up for an aesthetic event. Last year, she had spent the whole sports day doing a painting of the athletes, a montage of all the different sports she had watched, and had earned a silver medal for her efforts. But this year, when we were competing to reduce the time we would both have to spend as babies today, I wondered how she would balance participation in her favourite activities against the possibility of getting multiple medals.

Okay, I didn't know what I was doing. But I was sure that the whole day was going to be fun. And as soon as I had signed up for the inline skating descent...