Flip the Silver Switch

by Jackie Yeager

  “This looks funny,” says Jax.

  The whistle blows. The preceptors begin frantically rolling the dice on each side of the table. This continues for several minutes before someone finally rolls a double.

  “A pair of fives from the white team!” yells a referee standing at the head of the table.

  A boy in white quickly ties the scarf around his neck, puts the hat on his head, and pulls the gloves on. “Hurry!” calls his teammate as she hands him the fork and knife. He does his best to cut the chocolate, but it slides away from him and only a small piece slivers off. Meanwhile the red team keeps rolling, but they have no luck. They begin chanting, “Double, double, double!” when suddenly a small blonde girl finally gets one.

  “A pair of twos for the red team!” calls the referee.

  She quickly puts the hat on, throws the scarf over her shoulder, and pulls the man-sized gloves onto her tiny hands. She fumbles with the chocolate, desperately trying to unwrap it while the white team rolls another double.

  “A pair of fours from the white team!”

  The boy slides the chocolate, knife, and fork down to a girl at the end, and pulls off the hat, scarf, and gloves. His hair is standing up from static, and the whole table laughs. His teammate grabs the pile of clothing and tosses it to her. While she gets dressed in the clothing, the referee calls out again, “Another pair of fours, now from the red team. It looks like the game is tied!”

  I watch, mesmerized by the rolling dice and flying pieces of chocolate. Cutting the chocolate must be harder than it looks. Soon the preceptors are rolling the dice faster and faster, and the gloves and scarves and hats are thrown from one person to the other. Another blond boy’s hair is full of static, and the whole bunch of them are laughing.

  The chaos continues, and the referee yells, “A double three for red!” The clothes fly, and a girl pops a piece of chocolate into her mouth. And soon, “Another double for red, this time a pair of ones!” The last boy quickly puts the clothes on, cuts the rest of the chocolate bar in half, and shoves both in his mouth. As soon as he does, the referee exclaims, “The win goes to red!” Their team jumps into a heap on the ground and the white team is left shaking their heads.

  A preceptor at the bottom of the pile eventually emerges with a huge grin. Both teams shake hands, stand in a row in front of us, and bow. “Thank you for watching the Swiss Chocolate Game. We hope you’ll come back soon!”

  Ander looks at me and exclaims, “That was awesome! Do you think they have extra chocolate?” Before I can tell him not to be so rude, the preceptors step over the ropes and pass out pieces of chocolate to the crowd.

  I pop the small square into my mouth and let it melt. “I think this is the best chocolate I’ve ever tasted.”

  “Come on, guys,” says Mare. “I don’t see the Switzerland boys here. They must be watching another game. Let’s try to find them.”

  “Maybe we could watch another game,” Jax suggests.

  “Well, yeah,” she responds. “But if we happen to see them watching a game, then we may as well watch with them, right?”

  Jax doesn’t answer her, so I pull his arm and drag him along behind me. We come up to another red flag with a picture in the center. A banner with the word Dinifri is stuck into the ground next to it.

  “What country is this?” asks Jillian.

  “I don’t know,” I reply.

  “I think it’s Morocco,” says Jax.

  “It looks like we missed the rules, but it might be cool,” says Ander. “Let’s watch for a second.”

  We find a close spot on the grass. The square field has been marked off with paint and four smaller squares are painted inside it, one in each corner. Another square is also painted in the center. Four objects are piled up in the center square, maybe rocks. The referee is holding a baton type object. It looks like it might be a piece of cardboard rolled up with string.

  Two teams with five players each are standing on opposite sides of the field. One is dressed in yellow and one in red. The referee blows the whistle, and the two teams take turns trying to knock over the pile of rocks in the center by tossing the baton. It takes several tries, but once the yellow team knocks them over, chaos erupts. It looks like now the yellow team is trying to pick up all the rocks in the center and put one on each of the four corner squares. But the red team is throwing the baton at them. This must be how they play defense, because each time someone on the yellow team gets hit with it, they’re out. And every time it happens, the game pauses. The red team dances and chants something that sounds like, “Chi, chi, ka, kahh,” in celebration for several seconds. Then the action suddenly starts back up. By now the yellow team has lost all their players except one. Three of the rocks are in a corner square, but one remains inside the yellow player’s hand. He races for the empty corner and a red player throws the baton his way. The yellow player dives under it, crawls on the ground, and quickly places the rock inside the final square.

  The referee shouts something we don’t understand and then announces in English, “The yellow team is victorious!” The yellow team cheers and walks over to the red team to shake hands and pat their opponents on their backs.

  Both teams approach the large crowd. A tall boy cups his hands to his mouth so he can be heard above the noise. “Thank you so very much for watching. Dinifri is a very competitive game that we love in Morocco. Feel free to sign your team up for a game as well.”

  We look at each other and grin. “I want to try that one,” I say.

  “I’m in,” Ander replies. “What about you guys? Should we sign up?”

  “Maybe,” says Jillian. “Let’s watch some more, and then we can decide, okay?”

  We continue walking around the campus checking out as many games as we can and come across Queimada from Brazil and Bocce from Italy. When we get to the United States field, we see a large crowd has gathered to watch Nacho Cheese Ball.

  Witch Girl—I mean Martina—from Michigan walks up to Mare and me. “Wow, it looks like the crowd is here to watch Nacho Cheese Ball, not the amazing team from New York for a change. How is that possible?”

  Mare glares at her. “What are you talking about?”

  “Oh please. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice all the people watching you at the Showcase Festival earlier.”

  I look at her confused. “Well, yeah, but I’m sure they were watching everyone else’s inventions too.”

  “You think so?”

  “Um, yeah.”

  “Well, I walked around the whole day, and all the other booths had small crowds. Of course, our booth did great, but we would’ve had even more people if they didn’t get stuck watching your play.”

  Mare shrugs. “Oh well. It’s not like we asked them to come.”

  “Sure you did.”

  “What do you mean?” I ask.

  “In the media blast.”

  “What media blast?”

  “The one sent by your principal, telling the whole world about your invention.”

  “What?” I ask. “He told the whole world about our invention? He doesn’t even know what it is.”

  “He didn’t actually say what the invention was, but he basically told anyone with eyes and ears that you created this breakthrough invention that’s going to change the world.”

  “Oh my gosh,” says Mare. “No wonder our crowds were so big.”

  My stomach suddenly feels sick. “Why did he do that?”

  Martina turns around and walks away. But before she’s out of earshot, she says, “Beats me. But I’m not sure that’s allowed. I wonder what Master Freeman would say.”

  Mare and I stand there frozen.

  “What are we going to do?” I say. “What if we get disqualified? We have to tell Seraphina and Gregor!” I grab Jillian and yell for Ander and Jax. “Come on, guys, we have to go!”

&n
bsp; “But I was just watching Nacho Cheese Ball,” Ander replies. “Haven’t you been watching these guys? They really know how to play!”

  “No, I wasn’t watching, but don’t argue with me. We have to go!”

  Mare shoots dagger eyes at him. “Now, Ander!”

  “Okay, okay.” He sprints to catch up with me. “What’s going on?”

  “I’ll tell you when we find Seraphina and Gregor.” We race to the hill where they were sitting with us before, but they aren’t there anymore. “I have no idea where they are!” I twist my head in every direction to find them.

  “I’ll just track them on my watch,” says Jax.

  “Good idea,” says Jillian.

  He taps his watch a few times and sees that they’re over by the Canadian field. We race toward it, cutting through the crowd of kids. “Excuse me,” I say.

  “Sorry!” yells Ander.

  “Excuse moi!” yells Jillian.

  I look at her over my shoulder.

  “What? Can’t I at least pretend to be French for a few minutes?”

  “I don’t care what language you speak as long as you keep running!”

  We find them along the ropes of the Canadian field watching curling, a game played on ice with brooms and a big rock shaped thing. “Awesome! Let’s watch this!” says Ander.

  “Ander, can you focus, please?”

  “Sorry, I forgot.”

  We skid to a stop next to Gregor and Seraphina.

  Seraphina sees us first. “Oh hi, guys, what’s up?”

  “Well,” says Ander. “We really want to stay and watch curling, but we have something big to tell you. I don’t know what it is because Mare and Kia wouldn’t tell us until we found you.”

  Gregor’s expression looks worried. “What is it, girls?” I grab both of them and drag them away from the ropes.

  “Tell him, Mare,” I urge.

  “Okay, so remember Martina, the girl from Michigan?”

  “Yes, I remember,” says Seraphina.

  “Well, we just saw her and she said that Principal Bermuda sent out a media blast about our team. He told them all about our amazing invention. That’s why so many people came to our booth. They all heard about it and wanted to see it.”

  “I never heard anything about the media blast,” says Seraphina.

  “But are we going to get disqualified?” I ask.

  “Did the blast say what your invention was?” asks Gregor.

  “No,” I say. “Martina said he didn’t say what it was, just that it was super cool and will change the world and it’s the best kept secret of the week.”

  “Hmm,” says Gregor. “It’s sounds like he’s building up interest in your invention in case it wins. Very smart I must say.”

  “But is that against the rules or not?” asks Ander.

  “I don’t think so, but I don’t know for certain.”

  “And can’t he get in trouble for interfering with the competition?” asks Jillian.

  “Well, he didn’t directly interfere with the competition.”

  “Yeah, but why is he telling all these people about us?” I ask. “Why is he doing all these TV interviews and media blasts? Why can’t he just leave us alone?”

  Seraphina shakes her head. “Don’t worry. He can’t do anything more to your team. He can’t hurt any of you anymore.”

  My head knows she’s probably right, but the rest of me has a hard time believing that. Besides, he’s trying to make us famous or something, and I don’t like it. I don’t like anything that he does. Not one bit.

  Seraphina looks at her watch and bites her lip. “Oh no.”

  Gregor frowns. “What?”

  “I have a message from Andora. She wants to see me in her chambers immediately.”

  Oh no. The media blast.

  Gregor’s face turns serious. “I’ll stay here with the team. Please let me know what she says.”

  “This is bad,” I say. “What if we get disqualified?”

  Mare huffs. “If we get disqualified because Principal Backstabber is the biggest jerk ever—”

  “Don’t panic yet. Let’s wait to hear what Andora says. In the meantime, I suggest you direct your attention back to the games and choose what activities you’d like to sign up for.”

  We huddle together and I force myself not to think about what Andora and Seraphina are talking about. I try not to think about Martina or Principal Bermuda either. But this could be the end for us. No sports, no games, no competition. No making Grandma Kitty’s dream of talking to her mother a reality. Nothing.

  “Kia, are you listening? What do you want to do?” Jillian is staring at me.

  “Oh, sorry. Whatever you decide is fine.”

  In the end, we pick Nacho Cheese Ball, The Swiss Chocolate Game, and Queimada, so we head over to the sign-up table.

  We play Queimada against Brazil first, and then the Swiss Chocolate Game against Italy. At first it’s hard not to worry about Seraphina’s meeting, but the games help me push it out of my head temporarily. I decide I shouldn’t worry because Grandma Kitty always says that worrying is just imagining the worst possible outcome, and I definitely don’t want to do that.

  Next we move over to the Nacho Cheese Ball field.

  “We need a strategy this time,” says Ander. “Like we need to have an actual offense and defense planned. Last time at Camp Piedmont we didn’t know what we were doing. We’re lucky we got as far in the tournament as we did. But there’s bragging rights at stake here. This is an American game. I want to be sure that no one beats us, especially no one from another country. What do you think? Should we make an actual game plan?”

  “Sure,” I say. “I’ll play offense or defense. It doesn’t matter to me.”

  “Me either,” says Jillian.

  “Alright, then since I’m the only one with any real sports experience, I’ll be the captain. I think we should start with positions. Jax, no offense, but you’re pretty slow, so it wouldn’t make sense to have you running for the target on offense. But you are big, so that would make you intimidating, meaning you’d be awesome at defense. Okay?”

  “I’m good with that.”

  “Okay, great. And, KK, since you’re fast like me, I think we should be offense.”

  “Okay.”

  “Then Mare, since you can be intimidating too, why don’t you be defense with Jax? And Jillian, you could be a floater. You could do both defense and offense depending on where the action is.”

  Jillian makes a face. “I don’t want to be a floater. I’d rather have one position all the time.”

  “I’ll play floater,” says Mare. “I’ll get more action that way.”

  “Okay, perfect,” says Ander. “Those are the positions.”

  We get our equipment and find out that Nacho Cheese Ball is shorter here than normal, so the games are capped at 100 points. The first team to reach that scores wins. We face India in the first game and then Ireland in the second. We win against both teams and as we race off the field still wearing our silver suits and covered in cheese, a news reporter comes racing toward us. He escorts us to a quiet place away from the action, pulls down an air screen from absolutely nowhere, and shoves a microphone in my face.

  “Hi Kia, I’m Steven Sanford from Nightly News Tonight. We’re broadcasting live on the events of today’s Sport and Game Festival at these Piedmont Global Championships. Much has been said about your team, the Crimson Five, as you’re now known. Our viewers are interested to hear about your experience so far. I see you’ve just finished playing Nacho Cheese Ball, the game invented in the USA. How did it go today?”

  I’m stuck for what to say at first, wondering why anyone would care how we’re doing in Nacho Cheese Ball. “It was a good match, I think. A little messy, but fun.”

  Ander leans i
n toward the microphone. “We won both games, one against the team from India and one from against the team from Ireland. They were worthy opponents though and gave us a challenge.”

  Soon after, the man from the news show leaves, and Seraphina finds us. “Good news, my Crimson Kids. You’re not disqualified.”

  “We’re not?” I ask.

  “No. Andora had a question about my Preceptor Project.”

  “You mean, the game from the aero-bus?”

  “Yes.”

  “And she didn’t say anything about Principal Bermuda?”

  “Oh, she had plenty to say about him, but he didn’t break any rules—this time.”

  I let out a breath. I hate Principal Bermuda.

  After the festivities wind down, we head back to the tree suites. The lengthening shadows follow us along the brick path. If I wasn’t here with my whole team, this walk might feel creepy, but maybe it just feels this way because Principal Bermuda keeps popping into my brain. I just don’t trust him. I thought we could get away from his tricks here, but I have this awful feeling he has more planned.

  THE TASKS

  After breakfast the next morning, we meet with Seraphina and Gregor in the forest behind our tree suite. We shuffle through the leaves and branches and gather around a birch tree. Pinned to it is a copy of the Global Task. We gather close to read it, but it’s hard with so many fallen tree branches in the way.

  The world is full of life-changing inventions.

  Your task is to take an invention commonly used by people today and re-imagine it. It must continue its current function but also yield a new, life-changing function. Your task solution must be created using skills from all six categories, take no more than twelve minutes to present, and include lyrics to a song.

  Seraphina crunches the branches with her purple sneakers. “We’ve brought you back here so that you can get started on the Global Task. Here is where you’ll think about possible ways to solve it.”

  “Where?” asks Ander. “Aren’t we going to brainstorm?”

  She smiles. “We’re not brainstorming yet. You haven’t had time for your brains to process the task.”