Pinocchio

Pinocchio

By: Trev Benson

She sat on the outside step of her front porch laughing with her mother about the new Olympiacos women's volleyball Mascot. A tall plump woman dressed as a lioness with the word Piraeus stamped on her chest. To her recollection lioness are or suppose to be the pinnacle of hunting prowess. But this lioness rarely moved; which brings amusement to herself and her mother Jennifer. She suggested the Mascot be changed to a flying fish because players are jumping as high as the can but can’t seem to ever get the ball.

“If the mascot becomes a fish then the fish will lay on the court swirling for two hours; which is perfect for our current mascot”.

As a child Mira enjoyed playing volleyball, she once came in second place in the USYVL United States Youth Volleyball League. Now 23, she enjoys watching volleyball with her Mother instead of playing the game.  She stopped playing volleyball because her right arm was stuck in between the spokes of her bicycle.

At 6 years old Mira had a Mongoose Scan R60 BMX Bike with which she rode on the street in front of her house. Until one day her father called her inside so he can tighten the chain on her bike so it might not slip again while the she mounted and pedaled. The realignment of the chains requires the bikes’ up side facing down, which leaves the front wheels open and free for spinning. Not knowing the consequences of her actions she spins the wheel and puts her right arm inside the spokes to try and stop the wheel as her father approaches from the veranda in the back yard. Unable to remove her arm because it was entangled with 20 spokes made of iron she screams in pain; as loud as nothing you’ve ever heard before. The next-door neighbor Peter Shellsburg heard the loud scream and ran to the fence to find Mira almost blacked out with one arm covered in blood, her face drenched in water as if she took a dip in his pool earlier.