Page 91 of Fierce-Michael

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CALM HIM DOWN

“Iknocked down five pins,” Ty yelled. His son turned and ran back and slapped his hand.

“Good job,” Michael said.

“I’m going to get the other five this time. It’s a strike right?” Ty asked.

“A spare,” he said. He looked over and saw Kelly grinning at him. It’d been Ty’s idea to go bowling and Kelly had added mini golf to it afterward. Talk about a kid’s dream day.

They’d go to lunch when bowling was done, then the mini golf and, if he knew Kelly, she’d find a way to get ice cream or some other dessert.

“What’s a strike?” Ty asked, frowning. “If all the pins are down, why isn’t it that?”

Ty picked up his ball as it came back and he helped his son line up to throw it. Not that he knew what the hell he was doing either. He just chucked it down there and hoped brute force knocked the pins down.

“You have to get all the pins down on the first throw to be a strike,” Kelly said.

“Oh,” Ty said. “Next time I’ll do that.”

Ty swung the ball back and forth, then let it go at the line.

Slowly the six-pound ball made its way down the lane. Faster than a sloth but not much more than a turtle spinning in circles.

It bounced off of one pin, knocked it down, which knocked two more.

“Almost,” Michael said. “Good job.”

Ty came running back and slapped Kelly’s hand too.

“I bet that’s better than I’m going to get,” she said.

They let Ty go first. He’d been bowling a few times for kids’ parties and enjoyed it. Michael wasn’t surprised when his son came up with this idea right away.

The fact that Ty was looking forward to spending time with Kelly was more important than anything else in his mind.

“Your turn,” he said to Kelly.

She got up and walked over to pick up a ball. She placed it in front of her, then took about four steps and swung and released it in one fluid motion. She got eight pins down.

“Yes!” Ty shouted.

She turned and grinned. “Just luck.”

“I’m not sure that is luck with the way you walked up and threw it,” he said. It seemed more natural than him.

“Maybe I spent a lot of Friday nights bowling with friends,” she said. “When I was younger. But it’s been years.”

The ball came back and she picked up and walked up to throw her second shot and got one pin.

“Next time,” Ty said.

“I hope so,” she said, winking at his son.

Michael had a feeling he was more nervous over this outing than his child and girlfriend were and he wasn’t sure of the reason for it.

He picked his ball up, took a deep breath, then walked up and threw it hard down the center. He’d grabbed the heaviest ball he could find that fit his hand and just as he predicted, brute forcehad the pins flying around, but there were three left standing after that.