I'm getting back into the habit of carrying a notebook with me everywhere I go. The following is a vignette from the bowling alley; I just went to watch and write, since I am physically unable to bowl due to what I think is RSI (and besides that, I'm absolutely horrible at the sport [is it a sport?] in the first place…I can't even break 70).
I'm in the middle of packing, so this is the unpolished first draft…you be the editor and I'll change everything up when I get home and realize I hate half of what I wrote. :P
Thunk, wham, Aaron hits his pin. "Something good my last round," he says, and retrieves his grass-colored ball from the carousel. Ian selects the same ball and sends it gliding over the tan lane to its destination. It hits seven pins.Dad hikes up his shorts, steps up. He's got a Color Head Pin notice, so if he bowls a strike, he'll get a free game. And crap! He hits all but one, one lonesome striped pin laughing at him from under a canopy of fake fish and sea turtles.New game. Dylan's ball is attracted to the gutter, and Dad pulls him aside to explain how to possibly hit a pin. Dylan rolls again and gets a double snaggletooth — a pair of pins on either side.Aaron says, "I'll get this form down someday and show you all," then promptly drops his ball down the lane and watches it skid to a whole lot less pins than he wanted. He tells Dylan that Dylan is killing him. (Dylan is winning by one point.)Dad claims "his" pin, the one on the far left, and sends the heavy orb away.Someone is eating a Nestlé Crunch; the scent of the sweet and salty bar mingles with the stale air of the bowling alley. Two ceiling fans spin overhead. Bowling pins crash on impact in another lane.A tall, stocky guy in jeans and a gray T-shirt laughs at himself as he flings the ball dramatically and watches it collide with the pins. His gray hair is cropped close to his head, and his belly rounds out firmly underneath his shirt. He walks stiffly from the lane to the snack bar and back again, curls a pale blue ball under his arm, kicks up his left foot and gives a good-natured laugh when the ball meets two pins.Dylan's ball heads for the gutter again. Aaron and Ian talk about what sports teams used to be in St. Louis. Ah, Saturday night at the bowling alley.
All right, so I've edited this post upwards of five times now. I need to leave.