The Olympic Contest

It was true that Frank’s father had a somewhat obsessive compulsive nature but he was, for the most part, a peaceful man. This particular obsession, though, could be laid squarely at the feet of Barleybix breakfast cereal and their contest to win an all-expenses paid trip to the Montreal Olympics. The Olympics were a particular passion for both of them. Every four years they would rent a TV and watch the events from dawn to dusk in grainy black and white. Frank’s father dreamed of one day attending this fabulous sporting event but for a single parent on the dole, this was unlikely to happen.

Barleybix changed all that. For one thing, they ate a lot of it. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Not that Frank minded much but as his father was determined to win the grand prize and as the Olympics were still six months away, meal times became a little bland.

Every week his father sent off another entry and every week he bought seven new boxes of the cereal. Every day, Frank found Barleybix in his school lunchbox (chucked over the hedge at Mrs. Brown’s house on the corner before he reached the bus stop). Longing for a change of pace, Frank bought loaves of bread and chunks of cheese with his pocket money.