Fancy dress race

It was nearing the end of term and the annual school plays, fun days and sports days were all the rage.

Annabelle burst through the door one evening, clasping a letter from her teacher Miss Knowles firmly in her grasp.

A parent, fancy dress race had been organised in an attempt to raise funds for having the school outdoor swimming pool cleaned.

Dad had always fancied himself as a bit if an athlete. He didn't take much persuading and quickly organised a day off work.

The good news was that a parent Mrs Buckley, part-owned a local fancy dress store. She had offered to lend several costumes to the school for the race, so that parents would not find themselves out of pocket.

The pupils all came onto the field on the day of the race and had to sit in pairs so that everyone had a friend. This was organised on a random draw basis and Annabelle was deeply put out after being drawn with Rosie Leach. Rosie was very annoying and seemed to finish every sentence with the word ‘like’.

The kids had learned about the costumes from Mrs Buckley’s store. There was a Baloo, a Winnie the Pooh, a Scooby-Doo, a yogi bear, a dumb and strangely, a president Nixon.

Rosie's mouth had gone into drive with question after question.

“Who do you think will win like?” she asked

“ How do they get the costumes off like?”

“What sandwiches do you like, like?”

“Which costume does Miss Gurney have like?”

Miss Gurney was the head teacher and Rosie had a disliking for her ever since Rosie's text message alert had interrupted Miss Gurney’s assembly address on neat handwriting. Rosie had been severely told off and had to stay behind after school one day, causing her to miss a favourite TV show.

Annabelle tried to answer the questions but almost absent-mindlessly as Rosie was getting on her nerves a little.

“ Don't know! Over their heads. Tuna. Baloo”

Ananbelle was left by herself for a minute as Rosie announce that she had to visit the loo. She returned a few minutes later with a broad smile on her face.

“ I've put itching powder in Miss Gurney’s costume” Rosie said with a broad grin spreading across her face.

The fancy dressed figures lined up on the starting line. As Miss Knowles rummaged for the whistle in her pocket, there was a commotion on the starting line as Baloo started to do what looked like some kind of weird disco dance.

Rosie started to laugh hysterically.

“That's my itching powder like!” Rosie confessed triumphantly.

“That's my dad in the Baloo costume” Annabelle wailed.

Rosie looked stunned.

“You said that Miss Gurney was in Baloo like” Rosie yelled.

“I thought you asked which costume Miss Gurney liked” Annabelle screeched, “I know she's always liked the Jungle book. But Miss Gurney is in the president Nixon costume!”

The dancing baloo had become more and more bizarre and frantic. As the whistle was blown to start the race, Baloo shot off at a weird angle, crashed into Mrs Moriarty causing her to spill a Raspberry juice all down her pretty dress and there was a splash as the costumed Baloo plunged into the outdoor pool.

Several Dads rushed to the pool and it took four of them to pull a bedraggled Baloo from the pool.

Rosie obviously denied any wrong-doing and a confused Dad received a letter in the post a few days later including a stern warning about parent behaviour and a dry cleaning bill from Mrs Buckley for the Baloo costume.

©  Chris White