‘What’s he going to do about the skipping ropes?’ Sam was in the next lane to Laurie.
‘Goodness only knows. Improvise?’
Sam laughed. ‘Yeah. We should finish as quickly as we can, so we can watch him.’
‘Hey!’ Ross’s voice sounded from inside the egg. ‘I heard that...’
Laurie rolled her eyes as the parent who had been given the starting pistol walked along the line to make sure everyone’s toes were behind it. That was taking it all a bit too seriously. But as she looked down the course, she couldn’t help feeling her heart beat a little faster. Couldn’t help weighing up the opposition. Sam was the strongest of the bunch, and while Laurie was pretty confident she could beat her in normal circumstances, a chicken suit and a hip that shouldn’t be overstressed would give Sam an advantage.
‘Ready... Get set...’ The starting pistol sounded and Laurie started to run. She and Sam got to the upturned gym benches, which were serving as balance beams, at the same time. Something was amusing the crowd, she could hear ripples of laughter.
‘Oh, no!’ She heard Sam’s exclamation and looked round. Somehow the egg had got dislodged and Ross had become disorientated, veering blindly off course.
‘I’ll go and get him. You go.’
Sam hesitated.
‘Go! You can still win. Honour of the clinic, eh?’
Sam grinned. ‘Okay.’ She jumped onto the beam, making her way adroitly along it, just as the man who had just passed them overbalanced and stepped off his.
Laurie started to run back towards Ross. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. Laurie Sullivan. The most focussed, competitive member of any team. She flung her arms around the egg, and Ross stilled suddenly.
‘Who’s that?’
‘Laurie. Come along, it’s this way...’ She tried to adjust the egg so that he could see through the eye holes, but it wouldn’t go all the way. That would have to do.
They made their way over to the beams, and once Ross found his he made a good job of traversing it. Then she ran for the slalom, checking that he was still with her.
‘Crawl tube’s next.’
‘You’re joking, aren’t you?’ She heard him chuckle. ‘You go...’
From inside the plastic tunnel she could hear the crowd’s reaction. Ross was obviously playing this for laughs, and when she emerged from the other end she saw him bending over to mimic an egg-shaped crawl. The skipping ropes were out of the question as well, but as she picked hers up and started to skip, he copied the motion with his legs.
Her father would have been screaming his disapproval. All her life Laurie had been taught to compete, no matter what the context or whether the race was supposed to be fun. She’d left her father behind, but the guiding principle was so ingrained that it had turned into an instinctive reaction. Something she couldn’t throw off.
But her father wasn’t here. Ross was. There was a long straight run to the finish line, and she saw Sam at the other end, cheering and clapping. As Ross made his way at a slow canter, she ran behind him, stretching her arms out to make it look as if she was pushing him.
Everyone laughed. And the feeling was... Freedom. She felt free.
But as Ross made the finishing line, he tripped, staggering to one side and making a half-turn before he lost his balance completely. Laurie held out her hand to save him, but grabbing hold of a papier-mâché egg to stop the fall of a six-foot man was never going to work. He went down in a cloud of paper and dried glue, and Laurie only just managed to keep her footing.
‘Ross! Are you okay?’ She bent back the paper that was still covering his face.
‘Yes. Yes, I’m fine. You didn’t fall, did you?’ The tenderness in his eyes was all-consuming. People were crowding round, and she didn’t even see them.
‘No. Just managed to stop myself.’
‘Coming through...’ She heard Sam’s voice. ‘Coming through!’
A flash of blue satin on the grass beside her brought her to her senses. She could stay here on the grass with him for the rest of the afternoon, but that was sure to be remarked on by the teachers and the parents.
‘Ross. Stay down.’ Sam’s put her hand out to stop him from sitting up and he ignored her completely.
‘Too late.’ Laurie shrugged. Ross was getting to his feet, brushing pieces of papier-mâché from his hair.
Sam puffed out a breath. ‘Really, Ross. Laurie and I could have demonstrated all sorts of things to the kids. Neck braces, broken arms...’