Scott remained silent for a few moments as he and Jean walked through the fair, not paying attention to any of the attractions. For the last forty five minutes he'd been telling her what he and Henry had done to the Hausenbauchs. "Then, after Henry rewired some of the outlets I flicked the switch. We stayed there until we knew the fire had caught. Then we just left."
Jean placed an arm around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder.
Scott looked at her strangely, "you're not horrified of what I did?"
She looked back at him, "no, I already knew about it, you're an open book to me remember?"
"Why did you let me continue then? You should have said something."
She gave him a sweet smile, "honey, the therapy doesn't come from me knowing about it, but from you talking about it."
"And you're ok with it?"
"It happened more than fifteen years ago. You were a kid in a bad situation and you made a stupid mistake. You've spent most of the following years chastising yourself about it and trying to make up for it. You're a good person Scott; you don't have to doubt that."
Scott smiled back at her, "are you sure you aren't rationalizing my actions?"
"Maybe a little," she said grabbing his hand, "I have a vested interest in keeping your moral high. Come on, we're here to have fun." She pulled him towards the games. She stopped in front of a booth with a square water basin with plastic lily pads in it, moving along with the current. Around the 'pond' were six small catapults.
The late teen manning the booth walked to them, giving Jean an appreciative gaze, but he focused on Scott when he spoke. "Hi," he said in a jovial voice, "how about you win something for the pretty lady? It's the easiest game around. All you have to do is land a frog on a lily pad and you're a winner. On a green gets you a small prize," he pointed to the outer row of small toys hanging from the ceiling, "on a red a medium, and if you manage to land on the golden lily pad," he picked it out of the water, "you get one of the large one."
Scott looked at the setup, not overly impressed by it as the man placed the gold lily pad back in the water.
"Come on," Jean said, listening to his doubt, "we're suppose to have fun, give this a try."
Scott gave her a doubtful look, but none the less paid for a frog. He placed it on the catapult and took aim for the golden lily pad. The frog flew wide, landing in the water.
"That was a good try," the teen announced, "how about you give it another one?"
Scott frowned, trying to work out why he'd missed. He handed him more money and took aim again. This time the frog landed on the edge, but he tipped over and fell in the water.
"Oh! That was so close," the teen exclaimed, "you almost had it, a little more to the left and it would have stayed there."
Scott handed him a bill before the man even had to suggest it and tried again, and again, and again, getting more and more frustrated that he couldn't get that damn frog to stay on.
Jean tried hard not to laugh out loud at her boyfriend when he paid for all the frogs in the pond in one shot, and then proceeded to launch them one after the other, never realizing that the more frustrated he got, the less time he was spending aiming them. When he was done with them she pulled him away before he wasted more money on it.
"At least you had fun," he told her in an exasperated tone.
She took his arm in hers, "oh yes, that was extremely amusing." She laughed when he tried to look angry, but couldn't prevent a smile.
They walked around arm in arm for a while, talking, enjoying the food, looking at the games, but not playing them. They walked by a large tent without walls with pool tables. The sign hanging from the edge of the roof said 'trick shot'. Scott's curiosity got the best of him and entered it.
An older man, dressed like a villain from an old fifties silent movie, complete with penguin tuxedo, slick handle bar mustache and black top hat.
"Well, hello there young man," he said wringing his hand theatrically, "I see that you are eyeing our wonderful game, could I convince you to attempt to win one of our amazing prize for this beautiful damsel?" The man took Jean's hand in his and brought it up to his lips. She couldn't help blushing even knowing this was all an act.
Scott chuckled, "how does it work?"
"Oh, this is simplicity itself." He made an exaggerated wave over the closest table, "I place four billiard balls in a specific pattern, you get to use this wondrous white ball to try to pocket as many of them in one shot." He handed Scott a pool cue, and took a small wooden carving of a sitting house cat out of his pocket. "If you get one ball in, you win your choice of small darling figurines like this one. If you succeed at pocketing two of them you can get one if these cute dolls." He took out a harlequin about twice the size of the cat. "Now, should you be able to pocket three of them, well you get to choose among one of those snuggable plush animals," he pointed to them, hanging all around the tent's ceiling. They were dogs and panther about a foot and a half long. "And should you manage the amazing feat of getting all four of them in, you get one of our impressive, no, humongous plush predators," and he waved at them hanging from the tent's center pole.
Scott walked around the table, nodding in appreciation, he took the chalk and applied some on the tip of the Cue and looked at the old man, who rubbed his fingers together before opening his hand. Scott smiled and handed the man his money.
The man beamed at Scott and placed the four balls on the table, three directly against the side, the fourth one against the middle ball. He then reverently handed the cue ball to Scott. "You can place this ball anywhere on the side of this line," he said as he indicated said line.
Scott nodded, "can I shoot the ball across the table first?"
The man placed a hand to his chest "would you be insinuating that my table isn't level?"
"No," Scott replied with a smile, "but I'd still like to do it."
The man sighed with defeat, "very well, you may proceed."
Scott rolled the ball across the table, on the opposite side from the other balls. It traveled in a perfect line, bounced on the cushion and returned to him.
"I hope you are satisfied now," the man said with mock disdain.
Scott nodded and studied the table, moving the cue ball to what he thought would be the best position. While he was doing that he felt a presence in his mind and looked at Jean.
^sorry,^ she sent, ^I didn't mean to distract you, I was just impressed at how you evaluate how the balls will move.^
He raised an eyebrow, ^what do you mean?^ and then returned his attention to the table.
^You don't notice what you're doing? How you work out where to hit them; how you know where they will go even with all the bounces?^
^Not really, it's just mathematics, angles and forces,^ he placed the cue ball on the table, moved it a little and was satisfied, ^there isn't much else to it really.^
^You might not realize it, but there much more you're doing, I'll show you afterward.^
Scott frowned for a moment, trying to get an idea of what she might mean, but then focused on the balls. He lined himself behind the cue ball and position the stick on his knuckles. He moved the stick back and forth slowly. When he was ready he lifted his head, winked at the old man and hit the cue ball hard, giving it back spin.
The white ball flew across the table and hit the ball closest to him exactly as it hit the cushion. The one opposite went flying against the cushion for the pocket at the other end of the table, the middle ball following it at a slower roll. The one that had been touching the middle ball rolled across the table for the middle hole while the one the cue ball hit went diagonally to the corner hole. All four found their holes, and the cue ball rolled back and fell in the pocket on Scott's left.
The old man was silent for a moment, his jaw hanging open. "Wow," he said out of character. It took him a few more second to regain his composure. "You sir," he exclaimed, "are a charlatan. You have played this game before."
Scott chuckled, "no, but I was pretty good at pool when I was younger."
The man snorted dramatically, "well, at least 'I' am an honest man," he turned to Jean, "which prize would you like to claimed my lady?"
She pointed to a large tiger on the pole. He took it down and brought it to her. "Seriously," he asked Scott as he handed it, "you know the trick to this shot, right?"
"No, I really don't I'm just good at pool in general."
Jean kissed the old man on the cheek and they left.
"So, when you were looking at the balls, you really didn't see the table in your head and the track of all the balls?"
Scott shook his head, "no, I just 'know' there they'll go."
"I think we're going to have to explore that more in depth."
Scott gave her a quizzical look, but before he could ask what she meant they heard the distinctive sound of metal snapping apart.