Ben had to go to the shop to get bread.
He met an old friend called Miranda who said
She'd heard that he'd lost with a bet on a race.
He cursed an old horse and its pitiful pace.

She looked at her watch and she said she was late
For basketball practise at quarter to eight.
She told him she'd like it if he came along
To see them and say where their game had gone wrong.

A female sports team was enough to entice
Ben to go there and to offer advice,
Despite his poor knowledge of all sorts of sports
Involving two teams on pitches or courts.

Even at training with only one team
They still got defeated. Their low self-esteem
Inhibited all their attempts to improve.
Too often their feet were reluctant to move.

Some were impeded by window-like glasses
That often fogged up, and when they made passes
They frequently missed. Their team-mates would duck,
And when they looked back, they all said, "Bad luck."

Ben doesn't know any coaching techniques.
He can't motivate or inspire when he speaks.
But still he came up with a very good plan.
A woman called Edith was their only man.

Without her high heels she is still six-foot-two.
She's a search engine who seeks something new.
She loves to explore in the city at night
Till darkness expires when the dawn brings daylight.

She's like a magnet for strange situations
In dim attic rooms or abandoned train stations,
Appointments for parties with some rich stock broker
In smoke-filled apartments where people play poker.

She won in a game with a man who's unknown.
A fake horse's head was concealing his own.
She finds little pubs in dark, hidden places.
Her entrance brings fear and surprise to old faces.

They've lost out to life. They go there to hide.
The most recent female they saw was a bride
Who entered the pub underneath a white veil.
The bouquet she held left a flower petal trail.

She jumped on the bar and she ran back and forth.
She smashed many bottles of whiskey and port.
She lifted her veil and her laugh brought distress.
This bride was a monkey inside a white dress.

These are the places unearthed by Edith.
Her mind needs adventure and she tries to feet it
With late-night encounters with painters in diners
And sad bounty-hunters disguised as coal miners.

Ben somehow had to convince her to play
For a basketball team full of people who stay
At home in their houses when daylight departs.
They feared the unknown and its sinister arts.

They also feared much of the world that they know.
Jane hasn't been right since reading some Poe.
He tried to portray them as mad little hatters
With strongly held views on the smallest of matters.

He told her they like to give names to their shoes,
And they tend to blame little elves when they lose.
He said they're eccentric and seem like a dream.
She was intrigued by this curious team.

And this is why Edith agreed to be part
Of a basketball team who were lacking in heart.
She soon realised they would lose to their shadows.
Their fears would be grounded if they really had foes.

She was determined to turn them around,
To make them feel taller while standing their ground.
She managed to talk her team mates into taking
A team-bonding trip. The thought left them shaking.

Their trip started out in a pub on a street
Where people who've lost eyes and fingers will meet.
And then they moved on to a place where a man
Was holding a hawk, and the team nearly ran.

But Edith convinced them to stay where they were.
Most of the rest of the night was a blur.
She took them to places where people dug holes,
Playing a violent form of lawn bowls.

They saw a magician consuming a mouse.
It wasn't a trick. They entered a house
Where Spanish guitarists played beautiful songs.
It gave them a soundtrack that righted most wrongs.

They became lost in a sea of loud voices.
They started to think that it could be as nice as
A quiet Sunday stroll in the summer sun's lighting,
Despite all the drinking and crying and fighting.

They met with a man who was wearing a sock,
And a woman who said she could pick any lock.
For her pet penguin she'd hired two male waiters.
The basketball team became more than spectators.

They joined in the fun for the rest of the night,
And into the morning with dawn's first grey light.
They woke up and vowed to avoid drinking booze.
Some had acquired impressive tattoos.

But Edith succeeded in easing the grip
Of fear on their minds. After their trip
They seemed more assertive than they were before.
They cast off the frightened expressions they wore.

They chose to use fear on opponents instead,
Instilling a growing foreboding and dread.
Winning provided a much greater thrill
Than seeing opponents composing a will.