Honey
by Ryl

Honey Wheeler tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and sat up straight. Adjusting her pad of paper just so, she held her pencil ready. Count the number of times the players wearing whitepass the ball, John had said. It couldn’t be that hard. Of course, she admitted to herself, she wasn’t always known for being the most observant person. But probably it would be easier to count the passes than to remember the make and model of a car, right? It’s not as if cars were interesting... Still, as one half of the someday Belden-Wheeler detective agency, she felt a need to prove herself. Trixie wasn’t the only one who could be observant!

She wrinkled her nose in distaste as the video began to play. What kind of a background had they chosen? Couldn’t they find anything more aesthetically pleasing than a heavy red curtain as a backdrop? It was almost as tacky as what the Sleepyside Theatre group used. Oops… had she missed a pass already? Honey winced and started making tally marks on the pad of paper without taking her eyes off the screen.

Her eyes were starting to water with the strain of not blinking, but she was determined to not miss a second of the video. But it would be so much easier if the girls in black didn’t keep getting in the way! And why did the white team need to turn around so much? Didn’t they know that she couldn’t tell if they were passing or faking when they turned their backs? This was why she’d given up basketball, she reminded herself. Too complicated! Now, if they just had to count how many baskets the white team sank, she would have been okay. But there wasn’t even a basketball net. No, they had to be on a stage with a hideous red curtain.

Honey’s eyes narrowed as her eyes flicked back to the heavy red curtain. She blinked once, then twice, then several times in rapid succession. Was she going blind? she wondered. The ugly red curtain was now an ugly gold curtain! She tried blinking again, but the curtain remained gold. Could she actually have damaged her eyesight by not blinking? She could still see clearly, though, and the girls were still wearing white and black. So maybe she wasn’t going colour blind.

Shoot! She was supposed to be counting passes, not studying the curtain! How many passes had she missed? Honey sighed at her own inattention. Now she knew how Trixie felt when she was caught daydreaming in math class. There was no hope that she’d get the right answer. “Stupid curtain,” she muttered under her breath. If she couldn’t concentrate for a short video, how did she think she was going to be a good private investigator?

With a sigh, Honey made random tick marks on her page, doing her best to judge how frequently the ball had been passed. Thank goodness the results of the survey were anonymous! She blew out a breath of relief as the video finished and smiled brightly at John. After all, it wasn’t his fault that she couldn’t concentrate. And the least she could do is be friendly after flaking out on the assignment.

Her smile disappeared as she realized she still had to fill out the questionnaire. The rest of the Bob-Whites were already writing away, so she tried to shake off her feeling of guilt of not paying as much attention as she should have.

1. How many passes were made by the white shirt team?

Honey winced and scrawled a number. Twenty sounded good. After all, it was an even number, and a multiple of both five and ten. If she had to pick a number, she felt pretty good about twenty. Not that it would be correct, or anything helpful like that.

2. Did you find yourself counting the passes from the black shirt team together?

With a snort, Honey wrote “no”. She didn’t even count the white team passes. Why would she have counted the black team’s?

3. How hard was it for you to separate the passes from the two colours?

Hard, she admitted. Half the time she couldn’t figure out if she was watching the correct ball.

Honey made an inarticulate sound in her throat, the general equivalent of a fist-pump for anyone else. Yes! Yes, she had! Score!

5. Did you notice the colour of the curtain at the end?

Another question she could answer! This questionnaire rocked!

6. Did you notice anyone leave the group?

Honey slouched in her chair. Someone had left the group? Crap. How could she not have noticed someone leaving the group? Fine detective she was.

7. Did you notice how many girls were in the video?

She frowned. Well, each team had had four girls, right? Or was it three? How crowded had the stage been? Three. The stage would have been more crowded if there had been eight girls, wouldn’t it?

8. Did you notice how many boys were in the video?

There were boys!? No way! No. There couldn’t have been. Could there?

With a sigh, Honey set her pencil down and straightened the piece of paper. Thank goodness it was over!