The Watch - Part 18

As soon as I walked into the area of the shopping centre that holds the bowling, I was immediately hit with the noise of loud music, the sound of the bowling balls hitting the wooden runway and many dozen pins being knocked down all at once.

I’ve been here multiple times before, and, I am not that good at it. Today, however, I am more determined than ever before to change that losing streak into a victory. However, I wasn’t sure how I was going to do that. I let the thoughts swirl in the back of my mind as we paid for an hour and changed our shoes from the conventional to the, strangely fitting, slippery, clown-looking shoes to keep you balanced when playing. To be honest, I believe that I would be a lot more balanced and therefore able to concentrate more on what I am doing in my shoes than some shoes that many other people have worn before me, but that’s just me blaming my tools.

It would be nice if I had more balance when playing so that I could aim the ball in the exact direction that I want it to go. And if I am able to do better at balancing, I would be able to get that strike I’ve always wanted, maybe even win a game for once against Tom. Maybe my watch would be able to help me?

But there’s the problem. That would be manipulating the situation to my advantage, which would be breaking one of my rules. Well, maybe I could let the rules go just for this one time. I mean, Tom doesn’t know anything about my watch, so he wouldn’t know why I was suddenly able to claim my much wanted strike. He might just think that my streak had to come to an end eventually. But I would always know that I broke one of my own rules that I set myself. I can’t do that. Can I?

It is really tempting just to increase my balance and my strength so that I would be able to throw the ball that much easier down the alley and score more points than I’ve ever done before and finally beating Tom. Screw it, it couldn’t hurt just this once. Besides, I never set any disciplinary actions for if and when I did break any of my rules, so I can get away with this one scot-free. Like I said, he won’t know why I suddenly got good except thinking that my losing streak is finally over. Once today is over, though, I need to think of any forfeits that I must do if I ever break any of my rules again.

I said that I needed to go to the toilet so Tom said that he’ll head over to the alley that we were given for our game and set our belongings down.

‘I won’t be too long,’ I said.

‘I doubt that,’ he said. He’s probably right.

When I entered the toilets, I checked that the coast was clear and when I found that I was the only person in here, I set about activating the necessary commands on my watch. I scrolled through the many menus, trying to find what I wanted, but only ever finding everything else but.

‘Is this watch even capable of doing that?’ I asked no one in particular. ‘Interface, I need your help.' The man in the watch appeared in front of me, standing in that same comfortable-looking pose he always stands in and asked what was the matter. I explained to him what I would like to do and wondered if the watch is capable of doing that. He nodded and said that he can take me straight to the two options I wanted.

‘Awesome,’ I said after Interface has brought up the two options to increase my balance and strength. I set about increasing them to the levels that I think were to help me meet my goal, but not be looked at suspiciously or plainly give everything away from the off. The feeling of my body getting a boost is really something I’m never going to get used to. My muscles look the same, but they felt much more powerful. And my balance was perfect. Again, I didn’t look as if I would be able to lean all the way to the left on my right foot without falling over, but I could do it, and that is awesome. I made sure to keep a level head though –  I can’t imagine what people would do if I suddenly threw a bowling ball down the alley as if it were a tennis ball, smashing through the back wall. Knowing my luck, I still wouldn’t be able to knock down all the pins. Covering them all in dust does not count as a strike. Anyway, once I was satisfied that everything was in order just the way I wanted it, I thanked Interface and readied myself to exit the toilets and re-join Tom who I knew was now waiting impatiently.

‘What on Earth were you doing in there?’ Tom said predictably impatiently.

‘I can give you a description if you want,’ I said.

‘I think I’ll pass on that one, but thank you for the offer,’ Tom said sarcastically.

‘Come on,’ I said heading towards our designated bowling alley, ‘let’s get our game on.’

‘Or, should I say that I should get my game on and you stand back and watch me win,’ he said.

‘We’ll see about that,’ I said.

‘You're rather confident,’ he said picking up a ball, testing its weight, shaking his head, then picking up another one and repeated the process until he eventually found a ball – a shiny blue coloured one - that he was happy with and placed it to one side, allowing me to choose my ball. The moment I picked up a shiny red coloured ball, it felt so light compared to how it usually feels that I had to hide my shock. Tom activated the bowling alley, waited for the pins to drop down and the screen above to show that the game had officially begun.

‘Ready,’ he said, taking a couple of steps forward and aligning himself with the pins.

‘Whenever you are,’ I said.

He threw the ball and it sailed down the alley, crashing against the pins, knocking down all of them at once. I could see the smugness through the back of his head.

TO BE CONTINUED…