I'm Game (5 page)

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Authors: Nancy Krulik

BOOK: I'm Game
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“Uh-oh,” Katie murmured.
“Thanks, Mr. Carew,” one of the women with a headset replied. “Your microphone is working perfectly.”
Mr. Carew! Yikes! Katie had turned into her father—right before he was supposed to go on TV!
“Thirty seconds until showtime!” the woman with the headset shouted.
This was
so
not good!
Just then Bob Ritchey walked onto the set. He turned to one of his assistants. “Is my hair on straight?” he asked her.
“Move it a little to the left, Bob,” she told him.
Bob Ritchey shifted his toupee slightly.
Katie couldn’t believe it. “You wear a wig?” she exclaimed. Then she blushed.
But Bob Ritchey didn’t mind. “Sure do,” he said. “And I always have to fix it before the show goes on the air.” He looked at Katie’s head. “You might want to try one yourself, Dave,” he said, calling Katie by her father’s name. “Your hair is getting a little thin on top there!”
Everyone in the audience laughed. All except Katie’s mother, that is. She was glancing around nervously. Katie knew she was looking for her. But there was nothing Katie could do. She was stuck here.
Just then red lights appeared on all of the cameras. That meant the show was starting. Music began to play, and Bob Ritchey moved to the front of the stage.
“Welcome to
Tick, Tock, Clock
, the game show that pits speed against smarts!” he said.
The audience clapped.
“Tonight we’re coming to you from the town of Cherrydale!” Bob Ritchey continued with a big smile.
Suddenly everyone in the audience began cheering wildly.
“Woohoo!”
“Oh yeah!”
“Cherrydale rocks!”
“Wow! What a great group you are,” Bob Ritchey told the audience. Then he turned to the three contestants. “Are you all ready to play?”
Katie gulped. She was definitely not ready to play. Not at all. It was her father who knew all those trivia facts. Those were things grown-ups knew. But Katie wasn’t a grown-up. She was just a nine-year-old girl.
A nine-year-old girl who was about to make a fool of herself on national TV!
Chapter 11
“Okay, let’s meet our three contestants,” Bob Ritchey continued. He walked over to the woman on Katie’s left. “Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family,” he said.
“My name is Elaine Blackwell,” the woman answered. “I’m single. I’m a doctor at Cherrydale Hospital, and in my spare time I like to skydive.”
“Wow, you must be very brave,” Bob Ritchey said, sounding very impressed.
“Nothing scares me,” Elaine assured him.
“Not even the Tick Tock Clock?” Bob asked her.
Elaine shook her head confidently.
Bob walked over and stood in front of Katie. “Dave Carew,” he said. “Tell us about yourself.”
Katie took a deep breath. “Well, um, I live in Cherrydale with my mom . . .” Katie gulped. She was supposed to be her dad! “I mean with my
wife
, Wendy, and my daughter, Katie.”
“And where do you work?” Bob Ritchey asked her.
“In an office,” Katie told him.
“What kind of office?” Bob Ritchey wondered.
“I’m not sure,” Katie replied nervously. She could feel her cheeks getting red.
“You’re not sure what you do for a living?” Bob Ritchey asked, surprised.
The audience began to laugh. Katie blushed harder.
“Um. I think I do something with computers,” Katie told him.
Bob Ritchey looked at her strangely. The audience’s laughter grew louder. Katie’s mother looked puzzled.
Katie was so embarrassed, she didn’t hear anything the third and final contestant, Arthur Somebody, said about himself. She was too busy thinking about how silly she’d just made herself look.
Or her
dad
look, actually. And that was worse!
“Okay, contestants, you know the rules,” Bob Ritchey said. “When you know the answer, hit the button. But be sure you really know it; otherwise, things can get really messy!” Bob Ritchey pointed to the stunt wheel. The audience laughed. They knew what that meant.
“Okay, here’s your first question,” Bob said. “Which is heavier, milk or cream?”
Hmm . . .
Katie thought. Cream felt heavier than milk when you drank it. She reached for the buzzer.
Suddenly, she noticed a camera with a red light. It was pointed right on her.
Katie was on TV!
All she could do was stare at that red light.
She was frozen.
Beep.
Elaine pressed her buzzer. “Milk,” she shouted.
“You’re right!” Bob Ritchey cheered. “Next question. How many points are there on the Statue of Liberty’s crown?”
Katie knew that one! She’d read it in her dad’s book. She reached for her buzzer and . . .
Beep.
Elaine hit her buzzer first.
“Seven, Bob,” she said.
“Right again, Elaine,” Bob Ritchey replied. “Let’s see if you can make it three for three. Where is the red light on a traffic light located—on the top or on the bottom?”
Beep.
This time it was Arthur who pushed his buzzer first.
“The bottom,” Arthur said confidently.
Bob Ritchey sighed heavily. “I’m sorry. That’s wrong,” he said. “A red light is always located on top.” He smiled at the audience. “But you still have a chance to stay in the game. All you have to do is . . .”
“Beat the Tick Tock Clock!” the audience shouted out in one voice.
“We’ll find out what your challenge is as soon as we come back from this commercial break,” Bob Ritchey told Arthur.
At that moment, the red light turned off. Katie breathed a sigh of relief.
Well, at least I didn’t answer anything wrong,
she thought to herself.
Of course, she hadn’t answered anything
right,
either.
Chapter 12
The wheel stopped on the picture of the snake when Arthur spun it. That meant Arthur had to wiggle his way through a slimy, greasy maze on his belly. He put on a yellow slicker that made him look like a banana.
The Tick Tock Clock started to count down.
“Come on, Arthur, slide!” Bob Ritchey shouted excitedly. “You can do it!”
Arthur was sliding all over the place on his belly. “Whoa!” he shouted as he tried to push himself uphill on the part of the maze that was like a slide. “Whoa!”
“Only five more seconds!” Bob Ritchey warned.
“Whoops!” Arthur exclaimed as he slid backward.
“Five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . . one!” the audience shouted.
The buzzer sounded.
“I’m sorry, Arthur,” Bob Ritchey said. “But the Tick Tock Clock has spoken. I’m afraid you’re out of the game.”
Arthur struggled to stand up and shake Bob’s hand. “Whoa!” he shouted again as he slipped and landed back on his belly again.
Bob Ritchey laughed and walked back over to where Katie and Elaine were standing.
“Okay, we’re down to you two,” he said. “Here’s your next question: What bird moves the fastest?”
Before Katie could even think, she heard Elaine’s buzzer ring.
“The ostrich, Bob,” Elaine said proudly.
“You’re right,” Bob Ritchey cheered. He turned to Katie. “Come on, Dave. You have a lot of catching up to do.”
Katie frowned. He wasn’t kidding. Couldn’t she get at least one question right? Her dad was looking like a fool in front of everybody.
“What does Popeye eat to get strong?” Bob Ritchey asked.
Katie smiled. She knew that one. Instantly she slammed her hand down on the buzzer.
Beep.
Suddenly, all the cameras turned in Katie’s direction. The red lights were all focused on her. She stared at them and smiled. Her lips felt glued together.
“Do you have an answer, Dave?” Bob Ritchey asked.
“Um . . . spaghetti!” Katie blurted out.
Immediately, the studio audience started laughing.
“Sorry, that’s wrong,” Bob Ritchey told Katie. “The correct answer is spinach! Popeye eats spinach to get strong.”
Katie bit her lip. She couldn’t believe it. She had given the wrong answer to the world’s easiest question! Even Suzanne’s baby sister would have known that one! Katie wanted to crawl offstage.
“But don’t worry, Dave,” Bob Ritchey continued. “You can still stay in the game. As long as you can beat the . . .”
“Tick Tock Clock,” the audience chanted.
Then an alarm clock went off. “Oh, we’re out of time.” Bob Ritchey turned and smiled into the camera. “Dave’s challenge will have to wait until Monday.”

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