Straddling the Line(81)
Lots of oohs, aahs, and applause on that one. Trevor loved to fish, and he knew several of the guys did, too.
“There are also prizes for second-and third-place teams, too, which is dinner at some of Tampa’s finest restaurants. So let’s get started.
“I’ll announce the names on each team,” Haven said. “Once everyone’s together with their teams, I’ll hand out your tote bags you’ll be using to accumulate the items, and your list of items and clues.”
She started calling names. True to what they discussed, Trevor and Warrell were on the same team, along with wide receiver Elvin Detteridge and Elvin’s girlfriend, Allison.
One rookie was paired with at least one veteran. Trevor made sure to have Haven mix it up that way, so the rookies weren’t paired up.
Haven had worked that out well.
Once all the teams were formed, Haven handed them their bag with clues and the list. “Good luck,” she said, offering him a smile. “Thanks.”
He turned to Warrell, Elvin, and Allison and pulled out the clues and items list. “You ready to kick some butt?”
Allison nodded. “Absolutely. Let’s see what we’ve got here.”
She took the list. “Oh, these are all football items. Awesome.”
“How about we let Allison be in charge of reading the clues,” Trevor suggested. “And who has a good sense of direction?”
“Well, this is your home,” Elvin said. “You should be able to tell from the clues where this stuff might be.”
“That’s true,” Allison said. “I think we ended up on the best team, having Trevor with us.”
Warrell had yet to say anything.
“I don’t know about that,” Trevor said. “Knowing Haven, she wouldn’t deliberately give anyone an advantage. Besides, she doesn’t live here, so she wouldn’t know to mark a spot that I would be familiar with.”
“Oh,” Allison said. “Good point.”
“Ready, everyone?” Haven had her phone out. “I’m starting the countdown. Ten . . . nine . . . eight . . .”
Trevor turned to Warrell. “Let’s win this, okay?”
Warrell gave a short nod. “Sure.”
When Haven gave the go signal, everyone scrambled. Some out the back door, some out the front.
“Let’s not start with the first clue,” Allison said. “Everyone will start with that. Let’s work our way up from the bottom.”
“That sounds like a good plan,” Elvin said, then looked to Trevor and Warrell.
“Works for me,” Warrell said.
They made their way down to the marina based on one of the clues, and found a team keychain hanging on the bell at the entrance to the harbor.
“Score one for our team,” Allison said with a triumphant fist pump. She slid the keychain into the tote bag. “Okay, next clue.”
Thirty minutes later, they had three of the items, but were stumped on one of the clues.
“ ‘If it quacks like a duck . . .’? What the hell does that even mean?” Warrell asked.
“There aren’t any duck ponds around here,” Trevor said, trying to think.
“How do you know for sure? Do you hang out at all the ponds?” Warrell asked.
“Well . . . no.”
“Let’s head down to the lake over there. Maybe we’ll see some ducks,” Allison suggested.
“Okay.” But he didn’t think they’d find anything there.
They ran into a few of the other teams, but no one followed them. They all looked like they were hard at work doing their own thing. He didn’t want to be distracted, though.
They’d been working on the clues, but damn that Haven, these were hard.
When they got down to the lake, they all looked around, even splitting up to wander the area.
They came up with nothing.
“It’s not here,” Elvin said.
Then it hit him. “Duck’s Bar. Just up the street and around the corner.”
Hopefully no one else had come up with the clue. They ran, and Warrell asked the bartender, who pulled out the team football from behind the bar.
“Awesome,” Elvin said. “That’s four items for us.”
“How are we doing for time?” Allison asked.
Warrell pulled out his phone. “Fifteen minutes left.”
“Let’s check out the next clue.” Allison went over the list. “Or maybe we should split up. Elvin and I will do one, and you and Warrell can do another. It’ll double our chances to get more items.”
Trevor nodded. “That works.”
Allison read them their clue—“Find me at the bottom of the barrel.”
“We’ll meet up back at the house with five minutes left,” Allison said. Then they dashed off in another direction.