Running Out of Time
The Centerville Synchronized Runners were in their third year of existence and in their third year of trying to deal with the lone blemish in their dazzling short program: Daphne Wilkinson. If the name Daphne sounds familiar from a source other than Scooby Doo, it’s probably from the Greek myth about a nymph by that name. Her claim to fame was running from the god Apollo for long enough to turn into a plant and escape permanently. It was on the strength of that dubious connection to running that the director of the CSR, Will Cooper, had admitted Daphne into the fold when the club was first starting. That was long ago, before Will had to turn applicants away, before the club had become renowned throughout the Plains region. You call Will a fool (as many townspeople did), but he didn’t want to throw Daphne out of the club. And it was clear she wasn’t going to leave. So there she remained, a constant problem. For unlike her mythological namesake, Daphne simply couldn’t run. She more joggled along, disrupting the rhythm of the people beside her and nearly throwing the entire team off balance. What a shame, said the townspeople, dreaming greater-than-regional acceptance, if only Daphne would die, or move away, or break her leg. And people wonder why synchronized running hasn’t gained national prominence!