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Chapter 18
The Bathtub Regatta
“Despicable Kevin” is an old tin bath, which has been painted yellow inside and out, and has been reinforced with what looks like blue wooden pallets strapped all around it. Sat inside are two bizarrely dressed sailors who look like bananas wearing dungarees and ridiculous over sized goggles.
Next to them are two men dressed as Vikings, sitting in a wooden bathtub with the name “The Do Drop Inn” plastered along the side. The Vikings seem to be more interested in the fake ale in their exceedingly comic and massive tankards than in paddling “The Do Drop Inn” to the shore.
On the far side of the Vikings are two sharks sitting in another bathtub emblazoned with the name “The Hammerhead”!
This can mean only one thing. The flotation ceremony for a new ship is already under way, and now it’s time for the fun stuff, the bathtub regatta!
Hayley Wilde is so excited. She hasn’t seen a bathtub regatta since she was six years old. Back when her mum was alive. She’s eight now, and she’s the guest of honour, sitting high up in the official suite nestled amongst the judges.
Selected from hundreds of entrants, she won “Best Overall” in the schools’ writing challenge for a story that had few rules, but had to be entitled “What does the future hold?”
Hayley will be awarding the prizes at the end of today’s race.
Aboard the freshly completed ship The Vorpal Sword, anchored 200 metres offshore, MaxChaos is standing atop the dais and is about to strike the dinner gong. The Vorpal Sword is the latest addition to the Garrison’s fleet, a mighty, well equipped vessel, but for today it has only one fo’c’sle cannon at the ready. Loaded with a dummy charge, it will signal the start of the race.
Ten amusingly decorated bathtubs, each crewed by two people in fancy dress, are now under starter’s orders. On the
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