The race

E was in a big race. I went to watch with D and G. It was raining. But then it is summer. I was wearing my spotted coat.

There was a big crowd. They must have known E was running. We sat in the stand. We watched others run. They were warming the track for E.

There was a tent in the crowd. It looked like my coat but with different coloured spots. It was sat on a seat watching.

I saw someone jumping over a pole. They kept on knocking it off. They should have gone under. There was plenty of room.

Someone else was throwing a big ball. They spun round, yelled and threw it. It didn’t go very far. It didn’t bounce either. It’s a shame they didn’t have a proper ball.

Someone else was throwing a long pole. I’m glad M wasn’t here. She would have told them off.

There was a sand pit. Much bigger than mine but it was short of bits and pieces. There were no spades or buckets. There were flags but they were small and not very colourful. A man was playing in the sand. He had a tape with him and a board. He kept measuring the sand and writing things down. He had to stop as big people kept jumping in. I felt sorry for him. It is hard enough building a castle without having sand jumpers.

It was time for E’s race. He lined up with some other boys. They were big. E is small. A man fired a gun. I don’t know where the bullet went but I am glad I ducked. It must have scared the boys. They started running. Some went fast. They must have been really scared. E went slow. He wasn’t scared. E doesn’t scare easily.

The race took a long time. They kept going round the same track again and again. It was a funny thing to do. One time they came round I thought E would stop. It had started to rain and we had his coat. But he kept going. He was overtaking boys like D overtakes cars on the motorway. But with less fuss.

Someone rang a bell. No-one stopped. E started to run even faster. He was running his fastest. He went really fast past the stand. Everyone clapped. He overtook one more boy just before the line. He didn’t win. The most scared had already finished.

The race was over and it was home time. E was tired. He shouldn't have run so far. I saw the man in the sand pit. He was still measuring. He still hadn’t started building. I saw the tent. It got in a car and went home.