The smallest visitor in the chamber was accused of cheating. 🌰
THE BOOK OF TAD
PAGE 129
THE SEED-HUSK MATCH 🌰
Zale put a round seed husk in the shallow groove beside Glint.
“A visitor. Appalling manners.”
A small current rolled it towards Glint’s sound flipper. He stopped it, aimed and sent it back.
Zale missed.
“You did that on purpose,” Glint said.
“I’ve been insulted by an invalid.”
“Then win.”
Zale lowered his face almost level with the groove. The next shot struck the rim, spun over his head and drifted towards Finley.
Finley caught it before it reached his new strip.
“Out.”
“There’s an out?”
“There is now.”
Vael offered to keep score, though neither player accepted his reckoning. Glint wanted points for accuracy. Zale wanted points for distance, difficulty and how unfortunate he felt.
“I refuse the last category,” Vael said. “It has no upper limit.”
TurboTAD joined them carrying lunch and had a bowl placed in his flipper as a goal. He held it while Zale missed it twice.
Pip ate with Marno, beyond the flying husk.
When Glint tired, he kept the husk beside the lantern. The final score remained disputed. Finley wrote none of it down, which everyone except Vael agreed was probably best.
Glint fell asleep before they could arrange a rematch, his sound flipper still curled around the groove’s edge.