*
Later I ended up treading along the shapely path, towards the other end of the hill, which led inside the woods. As predicted the others were warming up with Missy in their usual spot. Large trees enveloped the area and shielded us from the sun’s glare. I took a moment to appreciate the shade.
“All set?” Chris strutted over, stashing his cell phone into his pocket and tugging on the end of Missy’s chain.
I wondered who he’d been calling if everyone was here already. He said we were only supposed to use the cell phones to call each other. Did I miss something? He pulled rags from his back pocket and handed them out.
“I was born ready, Coach,” Blue answered, taking the blue rag. She stuffed the material into her back pocket and lunged forward, spiking her fingers in the soil. Looking behind her, she caught Missy’s gaze. “Bite my ass and you’re a dead kitty.”
Missy huffed and waited for Chris to loosen the thick silver chain around her neck, so she could give Blue something to really talk about. “Ready, set. Go!” Chris shouted. Dust swirled from the bottom of Blue’s sneakers, as she bolted headlong into the forest.
The object of this exercise was to collect the five black bags situated in the five neighboring trees without losing the colored rag hanging from their pocket. That meant we had to outrun Missy. Missy’s job was to snatch the rag off their pockets and bring it back to Chris. They had five minutes to complete the task. It usually took them under three.
“Go get her.” Chris knelt beside Missy. The pearl-colored beast purred at the stroke of his hand, and in that split second, showed she was loyal to him. She wanted to please him in the same way we all did. As soon as Chris unleashed Missy, we watched her sprint forward like a cheetah on wings. He turned to me. “You’ll need to spend more time with her. It’ll make your training much easier.”
“Really?” I asked thoughtfully. Everyday, Blue was warning Missy about biting her on the ass and they’d only known each other for years . . .
“You’re not afraid, are you? I can’t imagine you being afraid of anything,” Chris asked smoothly.
“No way,” I said, gritting my teeth. “Why would I be afraid of a tiger twice my size? No reason. Animals love me.”
“She’s lying,” Kevin said. “If Missy’s tail swings the wrong way, she’ll be getting on a plane to California. Aint that right, Valley Girl?” He stared at me, waiting for a response.
I shook my head and turned the other way. “You're wrong, Kevin. And I surely won't be walking around here with swollen teeth marks on my ass. Like I said, animals love me.”
Kevin smiled, stretching his shoulder. “Good one.” Then he turned around. “Here she comes! Woo! My girl’s on a roll!”
Chris checked the timer and frowned.
Like I said, they were fast. They almost never broke a sweat. Every practice was basically drubbed into their heads. But none of them were this fast. I hadn’t blinked enough times before I looked up and saw Blue racing in our direction. None of the black bags were in her hand, though, and there wasn’t any sign of Missy chasing after her. Then she did something that shocked us all. She stopped running.
“Hey, Coach!” she yelled across the trail, waving her arms. “You might wanna see this.”
The Time Stopping People Page 12
