six pins per throw, he was getting one or two half the time. The other half were
gutters.
Emily was meeting him at the bowling alley after she got off of work. He had hoped
the game would be over before she arrived. He didn’t want her to see him getting
taunted by Margaret Addison.
After the second gutter bowl in a row, William sat next to his grandmother.
“Don’t worry about the old biddies,” Patty Further advised. She then began
coughing.
“I’m not worried about it,” he told his grandmother. “But I am worried about that
cough.”
“Don’t worry about that. I can tell you don’t like to bowl,” she told her grandson.
“Why do you keep coming?”
William pondered the question. He actually didn’t know why he was still coming to
the league nights. Emily was back in town. He could be home, making sure dinner was
ready for her when she got off work. He knew she wouldn’t eat bowling alley hot
dogs, which William understood. They weren’t very good. They were a step below the
hot dogs at the gas station.
“I wouldn’t be disappointed if you wanted to drop out,” Patty told him. “It’s not a
big deal. Live your life how you want to.”
“You sure about that?” William raised an eyebrow. His grandmother spent years
trying to convince him to go to college. To do something with computers. William
wondered if she had given up on him having a successful life. That she had finally
realized he couldn’t be pushed in just any direction that was offered.
“Ha!” she exclaimed with a booming laugh. “Maybe I’m just an old woman who changed
her mind. It’s best to live your best life. Don’t worry about what anyone else