Are you ready to meditate with Cori?
Climb up into bed and get super,
Super comfortable.
Make sure that you're wearing your favorite pajamas.
They're comfy and cozy and all is well in the world.
So you can relax your body and let go of your busy,
Busy day.
Today was the day,
Guys.
Today was the day where the boys versus the girls in basketball was happening.
Heidi,
Cherry,
Vea and Sasha were over at Tucker and Leo's house,
Along with Poe and Mr.
Kitty.
The dogs and the cats were all in the kitchen,
Having a very funny morning.
They'd been catching up and laughing about all sorts of stuff.
And then Cherry changed the vibe.
Oh,
I'm Jake.
Oh,
I'm Jake.
I just realized we're all together.
You know what that means?
Tucker said,
Oh,
I know what that means.
I won't be a minute.
Tucker and Cherry were very much on the same wavelength.
A few of the other cats and dogs looked at each other as if to say,
What are those two talking about?
But then,
Moments later,
To everybody in the house,
Things were very different.
But for Tucker,
He went outside.
He went over to the Buddha statue and dug up his magical stone.
He lifted her up to the sky and wiped off all the dirt.
And there she was,
His angel.
She was fluttering her wings,
Hovering in the sky,
Smiling down on him as she said,
You get one wish.
Just one wish.
And Tucker said,
Oh,
We've got some serious business today,
My beautiful angel.
Serious,
Serious,
Serious business.
My wish is that we become human so we can be brisky-boo.
And my wish is- No,
She said.
You get one wish.
Just one wish.
Tucker,
The dirty cheat,
Was going to wish that they won.
Luckily,
The angel caught it and knew it and intercepted.
Tucker looked down.
He was wearing a big baggy black t-shirt and some workout shorts.
They went all the way down to his knees.
They were perfect for basketball.
And then he had his high tops on.
They were black.
He went into the house and everybody was dressed for action.
Heidi,
Cherry,
Vea and Sasha were all wearing the same colour.
Bright yellow.
Bright yellow with purple numbers on the t-shirts.
Big baggy shorts like Tucker's.
And high tops.
All different colours.
The high tops were important.
They needed to protect their ankles.
When Tucker looked at Leo,
Mr Kitty and Poe,
They were all wearing the same.
Black.
Black t-shirts.
Black shorts.
Black high tops.
It was like the angel had added in extra uniforms.
Heidi,
Cherry,
Vea and Sasha were all wearing purple headbands.
And purple wristbands.
And the boys were all wearing black headbands.
And black wristbands.
Leo was stood there holding the basketball.
OK,
Looks like we're ready,
Said Leo.
The day has come,
Said Poe.
D'Angelo looked at Vea and said,
Don't worry,
I'll take it easy on you.
And he gave her a little wink.
Vea said,
Oh,
Please don't.
We're going to beat you guys so bad.
D'Angelo started laughing and Vea started laughing.
Cherry said,
Right,
Come on,
Let's go,
Let's go,
Let's go,
Let's go,
Go,
Go,
Go,
Go,
Go.
Oh,
Girls,
We need a name.
We need a name.
The girls and the boys all left the house.
And as they walked to the local park,
The girls thought about a name for their team and the boys thought about a name for their team.
But the rule was they couldn't tell each other until they got to the basketball field.
And then they could say who they were.
The girls decided on Sparkle Demons.
Because,
You know,
They sparkle and shine and all the good stuff.
The boys decided on The Shadows.
Ooh,
Said Heidi.
Cool name.
You know,
It fit them because they were all wearing black.
They looked all dark and mysterious.
Sasha said to Leo,
I've been so looking forward to coming from Mexico just for this.
So glad that you all waited for me so I could be here.
Everybody said,
Yeah,
No problem,
No problem.
And gave Sasha big hugs.
Poe said,
You know,
Spots are not really my thing.
I choose to use the language of the voice.
The spoken word.
I pen.
My mind.
Tucker said,
Well,
Get out of your mind and get in your body and let's play basketball.
He nudged him in the back and Poe moved forward a few steps as if he was falling over.
But Heidi was stood next to him and she caught him and she said,
It's OK,
Poe.
You watch,
You're going to be really good at this.
Poe blushed a little bit and smiled.
Jerry said to Tucker,
It's on.
It's on.
It's on like you've never known.
Tucker said,
Oh,
Fighting words.
We'll see,
Girlfriend.
Cherry froze for a second.
I went,
Jay,
Did he just call me a girlfriend because I'm his girlfriend?
Or did he just call me girlfriend because I'm a girl and I'm his friend?
Or did he just call me girlfriend because it's cool to say girlfriend?
What did he just mean?
Was going through Cherry's mind all in that second.
Cherry got a hold of herself and got in formation with everyone else.
They all stood around Leo still holding the ball.
Leo announced the rules.
These are the rules.
First one to 20.
What?
Said Cherry.
No clue what he was talking about.
First one to 20.
That means you guys are over there.
We are on this side.
If you score a goal or like,
You know,
If you get it in the basket,
That's one point.
If we get it in the basket,
That's one point.
It's the first one to 20 baskets,
Basically.
Ah,
Said Cherry.
Is there any rules?
Yes,
There are quite a few,
But we don't need to worry about those today.
What we do need to worry about is you can't run with the ball.
You can only take three steps.
That's it.
OMG,
Said Cherry.
They always look like they're running with the ball.
No,
They're actually not.
Well,
Oh,
Oh gosh,
That's really complicated.
OK,
How about this?
No rules.
You just have to get the ball in 20 times.
No rules,
Said Heidi.
Do you know what you're telling Cherry?
Tucker said,
Oh yeah,
I know what we're telling Cherry and I'm ready.
Cherry had the biggest smile.
Poe was the one that blew a little whistle that he had around his neck to say start.
At first it was crazy.
Everybody was running all over the place screaming.
Well,
The girls were.
The boys were running all over the place shouting to each other.
And that wasn't really information either.
The ball was going absolutely everywhere.
Cherry was tickling Tucker at one point to try and get the ball off him.
And he said,
That's against the rules.
And Cherry said,
There's no rules.
And then she snickered like the most evilest person on earth.
Tucker looked at Cherry as if to say,
Who is this?
And Cherry looked back and said,
Girlfriend.
She managed to tickle the ball out of his arms.
Tucker was very ticklish.
And then she ran as fast as she could and then aimed for the basket,
For the ring.
And missed.
Darn it,
She said.
Bear in mind,
None of these guys had played basketball before.
They were all terrible.
Leo was probably about the best one out of them.
But that's because he likes to watch it on telly.
He had a little bit of an idea of what you do with the ball.
Everybody else was terrible,
Man.
Oh,
Gosh,
They were terrible.
They were pushing the ball through the legs.
They were pushing each other around.
Vaya jumped on Mr.
Kitty's back.
D'Angelo was back at one point.
And D'Angelo helped her to score.
And everybody else on his team was like,
What are you doing?
And he said,
It's love.
I'm sorry,
Love confused me for a second.
And then he started laughing.
And he gave Vaya a peck on the cheek.
And then he ran off in the other direction.
As if he was back in control of himself.
And he knew he was supposed to be trying to beat the girls.
At this point,
The scores were quite unfair,
To be honest.
The girls had three points.
The boys had 11.
The boys were thrashing the girls,
Literally.
Cherry said,
Oh,
It's time for technique.
It's time for business.
It's time to do something different,
Girls.
Because I am not going to lose.
I am not going to lose.
They all huddled together as if they were playing rugby.
They decided that they were going to step up their tickle games.
Everybody was going to tickle.
So as soon as the boys got the ball,
The girls were going to run at them.
Cling to them like a little monkey.
And tickle and tickle and tickle until they dropped the ball.
The technique worked.
It worked amazingly.
Because Poe,
D'Angelo,
Leo and Tucker were all big suckers for tickles.
So even in their human form,
They couldn't stand it.
They instantly started to look as if they were going to purr or close their eyes.
And do their dog or their cat actions when they get petted.
This is so nice.
The girls knew it as well.
And as soon as they dropped the ball,
One of them would run for the ball,
Grab it and go and score.
It was working.
It was working.
They were even picking each other up to score so they got closer to the ball's net thing.
It was now 9.
13.
The boys were still winning.
13.
Even with all the tickles.
The game went on for quite some time.
The girls actually got past the boys at one point.
15.
14.
But then the boys snuck it back.
17.
15.
18.
15.
19.
15.
O.
M.
G.
Said Cherry.
If they win,
Oh gosh,
It's going to be horrible.
We're never going to live it down.
They're never going to shut up.
You know what they're like.
They go on and on and on,
Bragging all the time about how brilliant they are.
It's going to be the most annoying thing in the world.
Heidi said,
I agree.
Finally,
Sasha and Faya came into the huddle and said,
No way.
We can't let them win.
They had a very trickster idea.
They were going to use their smiles.
Their smiles that were breathtaking.
The one that made the boys melt.
Every time one of the girls got in front of the boys,
They did their smile.
And the smile melted the boys' hearts and they dropped the ball.
And they did this technique over and over and over until they won.
They won.
They won.
2019.
Hallelujah.
Was what Cherry was singing right in front of Tucker's face.
Tucker said,
You guys cheated.
Heidi came over and said,
Tucker,
When there's no rules,
You can't cheat.
Leo said,
She's right.
Darn it.
And then they all came together in a big huddle.
And the boys went,
One,
Two,
Three,
Whoa.
And they did this thing with their hands.
And then they said,
Good job,
Girls.
Good job.
Well done.
Everybody hugged.
Everybody laughed.
Everybody congratulated each other.
Because really,
The girls knew that they played it.
They played it.
They played it low.
They had to cheat.
They knew that the boys were actually,
From technique-wise,
Definitely better.
But the girls were smart and there were no rules.
And,
You know,
It ended up being a lot of fun for everyone all around.
And they decided that they would like to play basketball again.
In fact,
They decided that they would like to know the rules to try and play first one to 20 with rules next time.
But until then,
It was a really,
Really good game.
The kids walked all the way home.
Faya and Mr.
Kitty held hands.
Poe was walking quite close to Heidi.
Cherry was on Tucker's back.
He was giving her a piggyback ride all the way home.
She was complaining about how much her feet hurt because she won.
You know,
That's what happens when you win.
You get carried all the way home.
And Sasha and Leo were all the way at the back.
And occasionally,
Their hands touched as they walked together,
Talking about how long she was in town,
How they could go meet in the morning by the fence on their back garden.
And Leo smiled and stared at her big,
Big eyes,
Falling into them as if they were pools of love.
Love was definitely in the air.
As well as cheating.
And basketball.
And being cool.
And walking all the way home.
Together.
