Page 59 of The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly

Kit: Alive, but so bored. Laundry is going, so I have time to kill. (And watch this guy eat cheese.)

Jett: Do your homework.

Kit: Thanks, Mom, but it’s only Saturday. I’ll get it done tomorrow. Plus, I left it at home. I think I’m gonna practice some Knight moves, just to throw the cheese-eater off.

Jett: Don’t do anything until I get there. I’ll bring my video camera and film it for the sake of the documentary.

Layla: I’m on my way too. Which laundromat are you at?

Kit: The Wash Basket by my house.

Mags: Knight training at the laundromat? I’m in.

Alex: Me too. Though I’ve only got a few hours before I have to work.

Penny: I’m going to the hospital to visit Chris, so I can’t make it. But send me videos!

Lizzy: Boo! I’m at my grandma’s in Wisconsin. Can’t make it. Send me pics too!

My washers are done, and the Mountain Jr. is loading his laundry into his car by the time Jett, Layla, Alex, and Mags arrive. Jett has his camera, and Layla carries an armful of pool noodles.

“Safer than practice swords,” she says with a smile. “And less likely to get the police called on us.”

“You’re a genius,” I say, holding the door open for her.

Once we’ve switched my laundry over to dryers and Alex has handed out granola bars because they’re the friend who always shows up with snacks, I explain to them the training setup I’ve been planning.

“Okay, so I think we need to work on both our ground routines and some of the jousting.” I point to the bank of washers running through the middle of the laundromat. “We can pretend that’s the tilt, and then we can come at each other across it with the pool noodles.”

“Please tell me we get to use those laundry carts as horses,” says Mags with a wicked grin. She points to the two metal carts sitting near our chairs. They’re the kind with four small wheels, a large metal basket, and then two poles with a third across the top for hanging laundry. Decidedly meant for low-impact situations, not jousting.

“We’re absolutely using those.” I return her grin. “Want to start with the jousting or the floor routine?”

Alex grabs a green pool noodle. “Floor routine. En garde, Girl Knight!”

I grab a pink pool noodle. Darting around the Wash Basket, Alex and I go through the steps Chris taught us. Forward, back, forward again. I lunge into Alex’s guard, and then they do a forward roll out of the way. On the other side of the laundromat, Layla and Mags spar in a similar routine using blue pool noodles. Jett films it all, sometimes on one side of the room and sometimes on the other. He even climbs onto the bank of washers to get a bird’s-eye view of the action.

After nearly twenty minutes of ground fighting, we’re all panting and our pool noodles dangle limply from our hands. Alex hands out water bottles, and we slump together on the hard plastic chairs, catching our breath.

“That was amazing,” Jett exclaims as he reviews the footage. “I think you’re all getting much better!”

“We better be,” says Layla. “The tournament is less than a week away. We’ve got to be flawless.”

“I’m so stoked,” says Mags. “I invited my boyfriend and my parents. I think Lizzy told me her grandma and a few of her cousins are coming.”

“Yeah, my parents will be there too,” adds Alex. “They haven’t been to the Castle in a few years, but as soon as I told them I was fighting, they bought tickets.”

Just hearing my friends speak of the tournament sends a flutter of butterflies into my throat. I should correct them. Tell them this is far from a sure thing. But they all look so happy going over the moves and talking about the costumes. I don’t want to take that from them. Plus, I can still figure this out. There’s got to be a way to convince Len to let us fight.

“So, um, did you know jousting is the official sport of Maryland?” I say, changing the subject in what’s got to be the least subtle way possible. “Yeah. Since the 1960s. Apparently it was huge in colonial times and they still have tournaments. Both men and women—they call them Knights and Maids—ride out.”

Alex rolls their eyes at the “Knights and Maids” bit, but otherwise everyone is startled by my revelation.

“That’s a fairly amazing fun fact,” says Jett. “I don’t even think our state has an official sport.”

“I’ve been doing research for the interview on Monday,” I admit. “In case I get asked a bunch of questions about jousting.”

“What’s happening Monday?” asks Mags, shooting me a look. “You going to tell someone at school this?”