Chef Pierre Roundbottom

CHAPTER 11 EXCERPT
KIDS Having Fun

“The girls should be here soon,” said Trace making the comment to anyone who happened to be listening. The annual June strawberry festival weekend was in full swing, so it was hard to tell where the girls might be at the moment.
The KIDS had entered the annual Whistling Wind Strawberry Festival Bed-Race Competition. Trace was certain the girls would be late. They still had to change into costumes and get their entry pushed into the starting lineup. If they wanted to be a part of the race, they had to get here soon!
Trace scouted the crowd to see if the girls were on their way. He saw Whitney and Hope running towards him. He waved for them to hurry. Ali and Hadley shouldn’t be far behind unless they were stuck in a crowd somewhere on the festival grounds.
The carnival area was located at the edge of the park. The tilt-a-whirl, merry-go-round and roller coasters held excited passengers as they laughed and screamed. Admittedly, some were scared, but others wanted to be tossed and twirled around on the wild rides!
Sure enough, Ali and Hadley had been participating in the laughter and screaming. They were now sitting in the top most Ferris wheel bucket looking out over the festival. Riders were being slowly released and new passengers were being loaded into the buckets. From their high view, they could see the craft and vendor booths, carnival game booths, and food tents. Ali had just pointed out the area where the bed race was going to take place. Hadley felt like she was on top of the world.
After the Ferris wheel attendant had unlocked their bucket, they hurried to the bed race staging area. The girls knew Trace would be anxiously awaiting their arrival. They hurried as fast as they could to meet up with the other team members.
Many people were starting to line the street where the competition was to be held. They waved at August and William standing with their mom in the spectator line. The boys yelled “Good luck” and gave them thumbs up! The twins were anxious for the race to begin.
As they got closer, they could see some of the entries already lined up! Some entries would be the same as they were last year. There would be the “Queen Bed.” The festival’s elected queen would sit on the bed while her court pushed her towards the finish line. The “Rescue Bed” was completely outfitted with blue flashing lights and sirens. Medical Technicians rode on the bed in full uniform. Oxygen tanks, wheelchairs and emergency equipment filled the bed. Although those were great entries, the KIDS thought they had a real shot of winning a place in the competition.
Hadley and Ali jogged over to the staging area. Trace and Jon were already there just as they suspected.
“Let’s get into our costumes,” Whitney said as the girls arrived.
“Let’s go!” said Ali.
“I don’t know why I let you talk me into doing this,” said Trace looking at his sister.
“You know it’ll be fun Trace. Get your costume bag and let’s go!”
A few minutes later they left the building and headed towards their bed. The group immediately started getting smiles and cheers from those that saw them.
Trace looked at Jon and laughed. He couldn’t help it. If he looked half as silly as Jon, his friends would never let him live it down! He had to remind himself he was doing this for a good cause, and in his heart he knew it was true.
The bed race was one of the Festival’s annual fundraisers used to support the study and treatment of children’s cancer. He repeated to himself, it’s for a good cause; it’s for a good cause. But, he really did feel ridiculous in the strawberry getup he was wearing!
Jon and Trace looked at each other, laughed and said, “It’s for a good cause!”
“Wow, you guys look great. I love the whipped cream hats,” said Hope.
All six of the cousins were dressed alike---all like fresh, red strawberries with twirled whipped cream hats! They wore long sleeve, dark green tee-shirts. Their legs were covered with matching dark green tights. Dark red material with black flecks covered their bodies. Cotton batting stuffed inside the costumes made them look like large, juicy strawberries. White felt hats resembling a large dollop of whipped cream were perched on the top of each head!
Daddy said, “You guys look great! You should get in line now. You will be racing soon!”
The two fathers pulled the tarp from the bed. The crowd exploded with a mixture of clapping, laughing, oohs and aahs!
The small bed was decorated like a rectangular slice of strawberry shortcake! The mattress was covered with a light brown colored sheet. Many stuffed strawberry-shaped pillows were piled on top of the mattress. The bed really did look like a delectable piece of strawberry shortcake!
In response to the cheering crowd, the six strawberries took a calculated bow at the waist. The crowd went wild! The strawberries were just thankful that their whipped cream hats stayed on their heads!
Strawberries Hope and Whitney climbed aboard and scooted towards the middle of the bed. They were ready for the race to begin! Trace, Ali, Hadley, and Jon took a firm hold of each of the corner bedposts.
B-A-N-G! The starting gun went off.
The Master of Ceremonies gave a play by play description of the racers. All the competitors ran pushing their beds toward the finish line.
To the surprise of the audience and the Master of Ceremonies, half way to the finish line, the four strawberries stopped pulling the bed! The two little strawberries on the bed jumped off their roost and started running around in a large circle while the other four strawberries twirled the bed in a circle!
The crowd roared with laughter and clapped enthusiastically. The strawberries enjoyed hearing the crowd’s surprise and approval. After all, who ever heard of doing a Chinese fire drill in the middle of a race?