Thursday 14 August 2014

Short Story (serialised): The Big Game - Part Two


“Are you game to predict the outcome, Murray?”
            “Kurt, it’d be a brave sportscaster who’d predict this one. There are so many factors: unfamiliar venue, a new type of ball…”
            “Enlighten the viewers about this new ball, Murray.”
            “As dedicated basketball fans know, the UBL use a variety of balls during the play-offs: the Mercury, the Pluto, the Alpha Centauri and so on. In today’s final they’ll play with a World 2008, a ball neither team is familiar with.”
            “But they’ve used World balls before.”
            “Sure, who can forget one of the greatest finals in UBL history when they played with a World 1945?”
            “God’s looking to repeat that epic victory in today’s final. What challenges will the World 2008 present to the players?”
            “It’s a heavier ball, weighing ten billion whereas the 1945 weighed three billion. It’ll be harder to handle because it’s made with considerably less ozone layer. And the players will have to watch the top spin because of uneven wealth distribution.”
            “Sorry, Murray, we’ll have to leave it there. Sports fans, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: God and Satan are facing off for the toss-up.”
            “God’s got it and flicks it back to Raphael, Raphael dribbles, he beats Idi, beats Stalin, good defence by Hitler, but Raphael gets the long pass away to Gabriel who’s blocked, but wait, God comes up the inside and gets a bounce pass from Gabriel. God’s well outside the key, he shoots and…yes, a three-pointer and the Grand Canyon is formed.”


Part Three continues tomorrow

The Big Game was first published in The West Australian newspaper and was reproduced in the short story collection, Aotearoa Sunrise.


For more information: www.biggerthanbenhurproductions.com

1 comment:

  1. Funny. I'd never heard this version of the formation of the Grand Canyon... I like this part:

    “It’s a heavier ball, weighing ten billion whereas the 1945 weighed three billion. It’ll be harder to handle because it’s made with considerably less ozone layer. And the players will have to watch the top spin because of uneven wealth distribution.”

    ReplyDelete