Frequently from high school through me early twenties I was either alone or with Stephen and one other. Sometimes the one other would be Randy, and sometimes it would be Chris. Every so often both Randy and Chris would be present, and even more rare my brother Mickey would join us. Mickey only joined us when we were doing sports, and often Randy was not present.
Stephen and Randy got along well nearly all the time. Stephen and Chris were always competing against each other. I was always in the middle between Stephen and Chris. It wasn't needed with Randy.
Our activities seemed to center around two main activities with Chris: tennis and billiards. Playing tennis was fun. It was nearly always two-against-one, rotating so each of us played with the others and by ourselves. What was funny about this is that when I played alone, I won easily. When Chris played alone he won. But Stephen did not. Stephen lost every time, whether alone or partnered with one of us. And yet Stephen was the quickest. In several ways he was the better athlete. But he never won. The power of friendship, I guess.
Billiards was a different matter. We didn't play teams. We played "cuthroat". One of us would own balls one through five. One would own six through ten, and one would own eleven through fifteen. The idea of the game was to be the only one with balls on the table. Chris usually won these contests, but Stephen won a fair share, too. It was an amazing stroke of fortune whenever I won - which wasn't often.
When we had this house built I found myself availed of the opportunity to purchase a very good (but small) pool table. I jumped at the chance. It's still set up down in the game room. I offered to give it to my brother-in-law, who pastors a church in Wisconsin. Thought it might be nice for the young people. But he had no interest. I expect he too strongly associates pool with bars and drinking. It's such a good table I will probably dismantle it and take it along when we leave.
Chris and Stephen sometimes came over and played. I recall playing against Chris once. I was blabbing away like I always do, not really paying attention to what I was doing. Chris just sat quietly listening and watching. When I dropped the eight ball to win he got up and said, "I don't mind racking for someone who just ran the table." Surprised, I realized I had just sank eight balls in a row. Not something I've done very often. Especially when I am restricted to solid or striped colored balls. Of course after he pointed it out to me I hardly made another shot.
There was one form of pool which I was good at, though. Bumper pool. My mother purchased me the table as a Christmas present back in 1973. It was a round table, and very cool. I immediately became very good at it. I kept records of every game ever played, complete with scores. In time, I got good enough that I could make any shot on the table in three tries, and most with a single try. Still have that table, too. It's pretty beat up now. I had taken it down because one of the supports was broken. Put it in a storage area and left it for a few years. Took it out just recently when we cleared out those rooms. The felt is all moldy. Recovering a round bumper pool table is not going to be easy. Or cheap, I imagine.
It isn't the same anymore. Stephen's gone. Randy went into isolation. I don't see Chris anymore. Even Mickey is out of state. But there was a time, and sometimes it doesn't seem so long ago, that we knew how to have fun. The knowledge is still here with me. It surfaces in memory. Sometimes life has been quite fun. You know?
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