Page 45 of Valentine Nook
What’s shy about it, I don’t know.
It also looks easy enough, though from the way Lando’s looking at me, I suspect he thinks otherwise.
“Afternoon, Your Grace,” the man behind the counter greets. “Come to give it a go?”
“We have, Mike,” Lando replies, peeling notes off a stack he pulls from his pocket. “And we’ll take a couple of buckets. It’s my friend’s first time at the coconut shy.”
I thrust my hand out to Mike. “I’m Holiday. I’m new here.”
Mike gets that look people do where he can’t quite place me, but he shakes my hand anyway and heaves the buckets of balls on the shelf in front of us. They’re roughly the same size as a baseball, though a little heavier, but I’ll make it work.
Iknewall those hours spent pitching to Tanner would come in handy one of these days.
I curl my fist around the first ball. “So what? I have to knock the coconuts off?”
“Sure do. Just aim and throw,” says Mike.
“Let’s see what you’ve got, Hollywood.”
I grin wide at the two men staring expectantly at me, and as I pitch my fist back, I realize the back of the booth is empty.
“Hang on, what do I win if I get them all?”
“Anyone who knocks them all off wins dinner for two at a restaurant of their choice in the village,” Mike replies.
“No stuffed bear?”
Lando shakes his head. “No.”
I put the ball down. “I’m used to winning a stuffed bear.”
“You need to knock them all off before we can negotiate prizes.”
I was going to go easy, but the smile he’s wearing is so placating that I’m going hard.
“I’d like to negotiate now if it’s all the same to you.”
Lando scratches through his beard, and one thick eyebrow rises. “All right, if you knock them all off without missing a throw, I’ll add a stuffed bear to the prize.”
“An extra-large, life-sized one.”
“Life-sized?”
“It’s what they have at the fairs in America.”
“Okay, a life-sized bear.” He holds his hand out, and I shake it.
“You have yourself a deal, Gracie.” I toss the ball into the air and catch it. “Let’s see what I can do.”
Pitching my arm back, the first ball flies out of my hand with enough speed and accuracy not to only knock the coconut in the middle but crack it open.
“What the . . .?” Mike’s reaction is exactly the same as Lando even though I can tell he’s trying to hide it.
“Beginner’s luck.” I lift a shoulder and throw him a wink.
The second coconut doesn’t crack, but it falls off just the same.
The third, fourth, and fifth follow.
