The Robot at Sports Day

10 pages · 6 min · ages 7+

It was Sports Day, and Priya had a plan. Every year, she came last in everything. Last in the sack race. Last in the egg-and-spoon race. Last in the three-legged race, because nobody ever wanted to be her partner. But this year was going to be different. This year, she had a partner: a round, silver, springy partner who did exactly what you said. “Sprocket,” said Priya, “today, you only listen to me. Nobody else. Not one word. Understood?” “Instruction received,” said Sprocket, and his antenna glowed yellow.

Then Mr. Dash blew his whistle. Mr. Dash was the sports teacher. He wore a bright red tracksuit, he had a voice like a trumpet, and he never, ever said anything normally. “Right, team!” he boomed. “Hold your horses! We start in five minutes!” There was a whirr and a click. When Priya turned round, Sprocket was gone. Five minutes later, he came back from the riding school next door, holding two very surprised horses by their reins. “Horses held,” said Sprocket.

“Sprocket!” hissed Priya. “I said, only listen to ME!” “Instruction received,” said Sprocket, and he took the horses back. First came the running race. The children lined up on the white line. Priya crouched down, ready. “Ready,” said Mr. Dash. “Steady… and run like the wind!” Sprocket spun. He spun so fast that he became a whirlwind. Whoooosh! Sun hats flew. The finishing tape flew. Grandpa's flat cap flew right off his head and landed on top of a goalpost.

Everybody else crossed the finish line while Sprocket was still spinning. Priya came last. Again. “That was your fault,” she told Sprocket. “I only did what he said,” said Sprocket, a bit wobbly. Mr. Dash marched over. “Come on, Priya!” he said. “Chin up! Pull your socks up!” Whirr, click. Sprocket pulled Priya's socks up. Then he pulled everybody's socks up. All the way up. Past their knees. Past their tummies. All the way to their noses.

Priya sat down on the grass with her socks round her ears. This wasn't working. Sprocket did exactly what anybody said, and Mr. Dash said the silliest things in the world. Grandpa came and sat down next to her. He had got his cap back. “You know,” said Grandpa, “sometimes the silly way is the right way. You just have to say the right silly thing.” Priya thought about that for a long time. Then she took the pencil from behind her ear, and she wrote something on her hand.

The egg-and-spoon race was a disaster. “Don't count your chickens!” shouted Mr. Dash, and Sprocket ran to the school farm and stood in front of the chickens for ten minutes, very carefully not counting them. The sack race was even worse. “Jump to it!” called Mr. Dash, and Sprocket jumped so high on his springy legs that he landed on the school roof. The whole school cheered. Priya did not cheer. There was only one race left, and it was the one that mattered.

The three-legged race. Priya tied her right leg to Sprocket's left leg with Grandpa's red scarf, in a double knot. All the other pairs were already wobbling and falling over, and they hadn't even started. “On your marks,” said Mr. Dash. “Get set…” Priya looked at her hand. She took a deep breath. “Sprocket,” she said, loud and clear, “STICK TOGETHER!” Whirr. Click. CLANG! Sprocket's feet went magnetic, and his leg stuck to Priya's shoe buckle like glue.

“GO!” They went. Step, step, step, step, perfectly together, like one person with two very different kinds of legs. They didn't wobble. They didn't fall. They zoomed past the other pairs, past the flying hats, past the school farm, and straight over the finish line. First! Priya had never come first in anything in her whole life. She jumped up and down, and Sprocket jumped up and down with her, because they were stuck.

At the end of the day, everybody sat on the grass for the ribbons. Priya got a blue ribbon, the very first one she had ever won. She held it so tightly that it went a bit crumpled. Sprocket got a special golden ribbon, for Most Surprising Sports Day. Mr. Dash had never had a Sports Day like it. He was so happy he could hardly speak. So of course he blew his whistle, threw his arms out wide, and shouted: “Well done, everybody! Give yourselves a big hand!”

There was a whirr. There was a click. And Sprocket unscrewed his left hand, held it up, and gave it to Priya. The hand waved. Priya laughed so hard that she fell over backwards. Grandpa laughed so hard that his cap flew off, again. The horses from next door looked over the fence. And Mr. Dash, for the first time in his whole life, didn't say anything at all.