Page 82 of Knight Moves

“Stop,” I shouted.

Everyone froze.

What was I doing? I had to guide themeverystep of the way. I was the only eyes of this operation. Success would hinge upon me using the limitations given and a lot of creative thinking.

Think outside the box.

I ran over to the awning fabric. “Bo, Wally, Mike, and Kira, walk toward the sound of my voice.” I kept shouting and encouraging them until all four stood next to the fabric. I quickly did the same for the others until I had those I wanted at each pile.

“Bo, kneel and reach out in front of you.” When he did what I asked, I explained further. “You’ll find a large canvas tied with some kind of rope. It looks like it’s tied in a bow. Undo the tie and unroll it. It’s large, so Kira, when Bo tells you he has freed it, get down on your hands and knees and help him smooth it out. Jax, you and Mike take three steps to your left and then ten steps forward. You’ll find four large poles at your feet. One end is sharp, so be careful. Pick them up and stand by to bring them back to Bo and Kira on my command. I’ll be right back.”

I ran over to Frankie and Wally, who stood patiently waiting for me. “Guys, there are four coils of rope in front of you. Each of you pick up two and then wait for my next instruction.”

I dashed over to Hala, who stood near the bag with what I assumed were stakes and hammer. Upon closer inspection I saw the bag had a knot in it.

“Hala, sit down and grab the soft cloth bag that is front of you. It’s next to a hammer. Forget the hammer for now. Focus on the bag. It’s tied with a knot. I need you to untie it so we can get what’s inside.”

“Okay,” she said and promptly sat down. I guided her to the bag and she pulled it in her lap and started working on the knot.

“I’ll return in a minute,” I told her and ran back to Frankie and Wally. They had successfully gathered all of the ropes.

“Good job, guys. Follow my voice this way.”

I led them over to where Bo and the rest of his group were trying to unroll the fabric. It wasn’t going well. The fabric was only half unrolled, and they were arguing. Kira was sitting on half of it, Jax had his knees on another part, and it was crooked. They were completely clueless as to what to do, and that was my fault.

Despair shot through me. Time was ticking. We’d never be able to complete this station and move on if they didn’t know what they were doing.

I replayed Mr. Donovan’s instructions word by word in my head, looking for a loophole. Then, I suddenly had it. He’d told me I couldn’t tell themwhatthey were assembling, but he never said I couldn’t describe theeffectit would provide.

I clapped my hands so everyone stopped talking and listened. “Guys, we’re already down at least fifteen minutes,” I said. “We need to focus so we can get this task done. Trust me, it will be nice to have a little shade when you’re done. I don’t think it will take us longer than ten minutes, although I haven’t done anything like this since my last Girl Scout campout.”

Bo stilled, and then a smile crossed his face. One by one, I saw the understanding dawn on their faces. Bo felt the fabric and then told Kira what to do. Jax and Mike bent down to help. Suddenly everything started falling into place. Now that they understood what they had to do, they could coordinate their own efforts. Relieved, I dashed off to see how Hala was doing with the knot. She was still struggling.

“Angel, I can’t get it,” she said in frustration. “I can’t see what I’m doing.”

“I know it’s hard, but you’ve got small hands like me. You’re the best person for this job. Just keep it at. You can do it.” I instructed her to turn over the knot a couple of times, but without being able to see, she wasn’t making any progress. Encouraging her to keep trying, I ran back to the other group.

They had already spread out the awning and positioned the poles so the ends with the metal spikes were all aligned and pointed down. Those spikes would go into the ground and the other side would slide through the grommet hole at the top of each corner of the awning. Once those top poles were through, the ropes would loop over the metal top where it came through the fabric and be tied to a stake and pulled taut. Now that everyone knew what we were doing, the process would be a lot faster, since they would understand the mechanics.

“Great job!” I shouted enthusiastically. “I need one pole and one coil of rope at each corner. Remember, sharp point of the pole pointing down. Slide the other end of the pole through the grommet, then loop the rope in, too. I’ll be back in a minute.”

I rushed back to where Hala was swearing in what I assumed was Arabic. “I take it that means you’re not making progress.”

“It’s not working, Angel.” She threw the bag to the ground. “I can’t undo the knot.”

I knelt down to inspect it closely. The cord was extremely thin, which made the knot small and difficult for her to feel with just her fingertips. She picked it up again, and I tried to direct her, but it just wasn’t happening.

I glanced over at the others. Time was slipping away at an alarming rate, but they’d assembled the tent and gotten the poles and the ropes looped through the grommets. Now they were standing there waiting for one thing to secure it. The stakes. But once we got the stakes, how in the world would they hammer them blindly?

Hala had started making small, panicked noises as she struggled with the knot. What in the world were they thinking when they presented us with an impossible task?

I froze for a moment considering that.

Impossible.

Maybe itwasan impossible task.

Perhaps they never intended for us to get the bag open. It could be that recognizing that was part of the test. I pulled the card out of my pocket and read the instructions again.

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