[Dooley67]

While the girls team and some of the other teams laughed at the boys' predicament, Bryan yelled, "damn, what are we going to do? How do we get permanent marker off? Who's the genius who got the black Sharpies in the first place?"

"Bryan" Nick interrupted, "this is no time to worry about who got the markers. We have to figure out a way to get the letters off us."

With that, the guys got back in the showers, took their towels, soaped them up and started scrubbing themselves in hopes of either erasing all of the black or lightening it as much as possible.

"You know", Jimmy said as he scrubbed his chest and stomach, "our chests are going to be so red from scrubbing them with rough towels, that the black lettering might not even show."

George replied, "nice try, Jimmy, we may turn all red, but if the black isn't gone, the redness of our chests will NOT cover it up."

Meanwhile, Coach went looking for the coach of the Gulf Coast team as well as the head referee for today's meet. He needed to get a ruling on whether the team would be disqualified and therefore forfeit because of the lettering. This hadn't happened before so he really didn't know what the official rule was.

Coach approached Rod Bennett, the coach of Gulf Coast and Bob Neiman who was the head referee for the meet.

"Good to see you both, the first meet of the season is always exciting for the kids, and to be honest, for me too", Coach Stan said. But, we have a "situation" here that I need to get a ruling on. My guys really pulled a crazy stunt at the pep rally. They pulled off their swim pants and shirts leaving only their team suits on, and on their chests in red and black marker, the words "Tornados R Hot." I reamed them out for it, but they really meant well, and I know they feel like they disappointed me."

"That really must have caused quite the commotion at the rally", laughed Rod. "What did you do."

"Well, as I said, I reamed them out and told them to be ready for a long, hard practice tomorrow, but I also said that even though they were showing team spirit and team bonding, the time and place were wrong. To their credit, they all took responsibility for the stunt without blaming any individual."

"So, Stan, what's the ruling that you need?", Bob asked.

"The guys have discovered a situation that they hadn't planned for. When they came into the locker room, they all went in the showers to wash off the lettering. Apparently the red came off very easily, but the black didn't. Come to find out, they used permanent black markers on their chests and they can't get it off. They're in the showers right now scrubbing themselves silly with soapy towels to try to get it off. Looks like they're going to scrub their skin raw. The ruling I need is this - is there anything in the rules that would disqualify swimmers for having lettering on their bodies?"

Bob and Rod laughed, "this is something I've never come across, what do you think, Bob?"

Bob replied, "it's never come up for me either and I don't believe there's anything in the rule book prohibiting it. How do you think we should handle it Stan."

"Well, I'd hate to have the whole team disqualified and forfeit their first meet of the year. They're so psyched up for it and I think that's part of the reason they did this in the first place. But maybe we should make them squirm just a little bit to make a point. What do you guys think?"

"I'm OK with that" Rod said. "How about you Bob"

"I'm fine with it, they're just over enthusiastic kids, not too bright to use permanent markers, but no harm really done. Let's let them keep scrubbing and Stan, you go check on them but don't let on that the meet will go in as scheduled. Give them 5 more minutes and then tell them when time's up they need to be on deck."

"Thanks guys, I appreciate your understanding," said Stan. All three of them chuckled as Stan headed for the locker room.

"How're you doing?" Coach asked in a stern voice.

The captain answered for all of them, "Coach, we're really trying our best, but it's just fading a little. We're really sorry." All the guys nodded in agreement.

"OK guys, 5 more minutes, that's it. Be on the pool deck in 5 minutes."

Coach left the locker room giving no hint about what he, Bob and Rod had agreed to. In the locker room, as the guys continued scrubbing, Jimmy said, "are we going to be DQ'ed and miss the first meet of the year, my first high school meet?"

"Who knows," said Nick, "we'll find out soon enough. We got 2 minutes left."

The two minutes went by quickly. The guys all left the showers and headed for the pool deck, not knowing what was going to happen and not knowing what their fate was to be.

....to be continued