✅ My Sister's Problem

114. The Big Finish

"Thank you," I said again, and eventually went to find somewhere to sit while I waited for everyone else.

I might not have earned a medal, but one of the little cafés at the end of the street handed me a complimentary toffee sundae to replenish my energy. The waiter said it was on offer to anyone who finished before it started getting crowded; and I wondered if their intention was to have somebody on the podium with a branded glass or something, for easy advertising. Or maybe he just liked me; the guy was tall and kind of cute, and flashed me a smile when he saw me looking in his direction. I wondered how he would feel if he knew I was wearing a wet diaper; and that mental image was weird enough for me to laugh at myself a little. But it wasn't long before Mum joined me, and Lindy a few minutes later. She didn't look tired at all, so she clearly hadn't done the marathon. But the big grin on her face and paint streaks on her top told me that she'd found her own niche to compete in.

"You both done all your events?" Mum asked, and we both nodded. If we hadn't used all four coupons, there was probably nowhere still accepting entries.

"I've not got all my results yet," Lindy said with a shrug. "The marathon photo shoot and chalks are being judged now, so I won't know how well I did until the final awards ceremony, with the marathon people."

"We'll head home and check who has most medals after the ceremony then. I'm sure I'll be on the edge of my seat." I had to agree. I was excited to find out how Lindy had done; and whether she'd got any medals. And at this point, she wouldn't know either. The judges would be making their decisions; the participants in the aesthetic events would be as surprised as everyone else when they were called up to the podium.

"Good luck," I told her with a smile, and then shifted position. My diaper was starting to get uncomfortable; I had really soaked it, and I was starting to feel the need to go again. "I'd better use the restroom before the awards," I mumbled, and started to stand.

"Aww, does baby Sally need a diaper change?" Lindy squawked. "Poor little baby, do you need Mummy to help you?"

"Linda!" Mum warned.

"It's okay," I muttered, forcing a smile. She must be able to see me blushing crimson, and she knew she'd hit the mark. But somehow this time it was the good kind of embarrassment, though I couldn't quite see what made it different. "Lindy knows she can't beat me in the races, so she has to take a cheap shot occasionally when she gets the opportunity."

"Oh yeah? I'm sure I did better than you. I bet you anything that I'll have more time off my punishment once we add up the medals. There were more than a dozen people in front of you, so it has to be a bronze here. Right?"

"That's the challenge?" I asked. "Most time once we convert the medals? I'm sure I can beat you there."

"Wanna bet?"

"Sure. I'll just go change."

I didn't have any spare underwear after I took my diaper off; but I knew that I wouldn't really need it. I'd gone without underwear a few times in the past, and I knew nobody would ever see.

When I got back, we could sit and watch people crossing the finish line for a little while longer. But the event didn't wait for the last walkers. A minibus turned up a little while later, having followed the course and picked up any slow runners who thought that watching the closing ceremony was more important than finishing under their own steam; and then they were calling people up onto the stage.

Lindy must have borrowed a camera from someone; or asked Mum to bring hers without telling me. Because she'd submitted a picture of me close to the finish line. I couldn't work out where it had been taken from; one of the balconies, probably. But the odd angle made it look like I was about to run straight into the front wall of a bistro, attracting a little laugh from the judges. That was one medal; Lindy was one of three photographers who had tied for a bronze. And looking at how well they captured the energy and excitement of the race, I was sure that they deserved it just as much as the painters.

The photography was followed by the results for the marathon itself. The first three people to finish got a gold medal, because there were so many entrants. And then behind them, ten people claimed silver. But I was laughing on the inside as I was called up to the stage. Silver was also my reward, for finishing first in my age category. That was something that Lindy probably hadn't been accounting for when she estimated that she could win. And maybe she didn't know about my performance in the other events either.

After that, we watched as a big screen behind the host showed paintings and drawings of the various events through the day; a dozen different artistic disciplines, many of them showing off a shortlist of a half dozen pictures before the judges announced the final winner.

I smiled when I saw Lindy up there again for the chalk art. These artworks were on walls and pavements all over the town; and the ones deemed good enough would be sprayed with an anti-vandal protective coating, so that they would be preserved until next summer. I knew that Lindy had tried it once before, and I vaguely remembered seeing some experiments with coloured chalks in her room at home, but it hadn't been something I expected her to compete in.

Her picture was chaotic and abstract, a 'happy Picasso' as one of the judges described it. The image was broken up by a dozen sharp lines that somehow became arrows, darts, and javelins. And in this particular case, the photograph shown on the screen to demonstrate her artwork was taken from a little further back. From this angle, some of the buildings in the park were visible beyond the wall she'd been drawing on; and many of them met up with lines of similar colours at the edge of the piece to give the impression that her drawing continued beyond the picture, a dozen projectiles of different kinds shooting off the edge of the wall to point at the archway. And where there was an irregular protrusion on the edge of the canvas, Lindy had sketched a couple of tiny figures; runners who would have lined up with the actual people emerging at the end of the old high street when the contest ended.

"An extraordinary example of working with the medium, and turning every limitation into a form of expression," the host gushed, after showing a varied selection of artwork from locations all over the town. "We have no hesitation in awarding the silver medal in chalk at to..." he hesitated, and everyone held their breath. "Linda Bernstein's 'Every Target'!"

Lindy grinned, and returned to the stage again. They put the medal around her neck, beside the bronze one for photography, and she raised her fist triumphantly. Then they called up the gold medal winner. There were four medals awarded in total for the chalks, with two awarded bronze, and all four shook hands before laughing and hugging like old friends.

I was so proud of my sister, and barely paid attention to the rest of the show as the watercolours were awarded. Regardless of how many minutes we had managed in total from our various medals, I knew that we had both done amazingly well. But a few minutes later, as I thought back about her victorious picture, and what I'd seen of her through the day so far, I finally realised that she'd managed to outwit me after all. I hadn't seen it until the last minute, and I had to give her the credit for coming up with something I would never even have considered. If there was a contest for pranks, she would surely have won gold this year. And I couldn't wait to congratulate her.