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You are reading from:
MURDER AT THE WINTER GAMES
(BOOK 18)
by Roy MacGregor
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Travis Lindsay could feel the jelly bean inside his nose.
It was green - the perfect colour, a delighted, red-faced Nish had
shouted out to the rest of the Screech Owls. Perfect, he meant, for the
Snot Shot.
Travis's assignment was simple. He was to plug his other nostril, tip
his head back, and - with the help of his "aimer," Fahd - blow out so
hard he sent the green jelly bean flying across the wide hotel ballroom.
Longest Snot Shot wins.
Travis had never been so grossed out in his life.
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But then, he had to admit, how else should one feel at the Gross-Out
Olympics?
Nish was like a circus master, completely in charge. His big red face
looked like it had been plugged into a wall socket. He was sweating, his
black hair sticking to his forehead as if he'd just removed his helmet
at the end of a hockey game. He was wearing his Screech Owls jersey, the
big 44 and "Nishikawa" stitched across the back, holding a cordless
microphone and standing centre stage, conducting the proceedings to the
delight of every peewee team in attendance.
The Owls were in Park City, Utah, where the ski events at the Salt Lake
City Winter Games were held. They had been invited to the Peewee
Olympics, a week-long international hockey competition that included
teams from most places in the world that played the game.
The Owls had been delighted to run into players they already knew from
other tournaments. The Portland Panthers were there, with big Stu Yantha
playing centre and little Jeremy Billings on defence. The Boston
Mini-Bruins were there, and the Long Island Selects, the Detroit Wheels,
the Vancouver Mountain, and even the dreaded Toronto Towers.
The competition was certain to be great, but the greatest thing of all
was that the gold- and bronze-medal games were going to be played at the
famous E Center, site of the glorious Canadian men's and women's
victories in the 2002 Winter Games.
And real, genuine gold- and silver- and bronze-plated medals were going
to be awarded to the first-, second-, and third-place finishers.
The Owls could not have been more excited. Sarah Cuthbertson and
Samantha Bennett were going to play on the same ice surface that Cassie
Campbell and Hayley Wickenheiser had skated on, where Jayna Hefford had
picked up her own rebound and scored the winning goal in Canada's
remarkable 3-2 victory over the American women.
Travis and his best friend, Wayne Nishikawa, were no different. Nish was
already trying to convince Travis to try a "Mario Lemieux" and let a
pass from Sarah slip between his legs so that Nish - like his hero (and
"cousin") Paul Kariya - could score a goal while everyone else was
certain Travis would be shooting.
The Screech Owls' goaltender, Jeremy Weathers, was going to play where
his idol, Martin Brodeur, had performed so brilliantly when the Canadian
men's team won 5-2, the final goal scored by one of Travis's favourite
players, Joe Sakic.
The only Owl not so delighted - or at least pretending not to be - was
Lars Johanssen, who said he felt ill every time he thought of the E
Center and the shot from centre ice that went off Swedish goaltender
Tommy Salo's glove, his head, and his back before landing in the net and
giving little Belarus a 4-3 win and knocking Sweden, the early
favourite, right out of the Olympics.
Here, too, was where Edmonton ice-maker Trent Evans had hidden his
famous loonie at centre ice so both Canadian teams would have a little
special luck - a story that had become such a legend in Canadian hockey
that the lucky one-dollar coin was on permanent display at the Hockey
Hall of Fame in Toronto.
Nish, of course, swore he would have something buried at centre ice to
bring the Owls good luck. He would not, however, tell them what he
planned.
"Just make sure it's not your boxer shorts," said Sam. "We don't want
the ice to melt!"
******
Right now, Nish's mind was as far away from hockey and centre ice and a
gold medal as it was possible to get.
He was running the Gross-Out Olympics, an idea he came up with on the
long bus ride to Utah. Somehow - Travis didn't care to know the details
- Nish had sold the Panthers and the Selects and the Towers on the idea
since they were all staying in the same hotel.
And now, to great fanfare, the Gross-Out Olympics had begun. They would
continue for the remainder of the hockey tournament, with Nish's version
of the gold, silver, and bronze to be handed out the same day the hockey
medals would be decided.
Travis, much to his surprise, proved to be extremely adept at the Snot
Shot; the jelly bean would shoot across the room as hard as if he'd
thrown it. Perhaps it was because he was so small and his tiny nose made
the perfect bazooka for a jelly bean. Perhaps it was because he had good
wind and could release it with such a snort. Perhaps it was because he
figured he'd rather do the Snot Shot than any of the other ridiculous
Gross-Out Olympic games Nish had come up with.
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