“Thank you,” the boy’s mother said.
“That was my first interaction with a child,” Joe whispered to Kaden. “He was cute.”
“He was.”
Kaden led Joe to their lane, number nine, and entered their names into the screen. Joe put the camera where no one could grab it. Next to them a ball thundered down the lane and there was an explosion of pins.
“Ah, that’s the noise,” Joe said. “So we just throw a ball?”
“Don’t throw. Bowl. Watch.” Kaden lifted a brown ball from the rack, judged the weight was okay, and sent it rolling down the polished wood. It knocked all the pins down and Kaden held up his fist in triumph. He didn’t usually manage a strike on the first bowl.
“Is that what you have to do?” Joe asked. “Not knock a specific one down?”
“Not at the start. Pick a ball that feels the right weight and comfortable to hold.”
“I can’t pick my favourite colour?”
Kaden laughed. “Whatisyour favourite colour?”
“Blue, of course.” He smiled at Kaden, then grabbed a blue ball and wrapped his arms around it. “It feels okay.”
“Sixteen pounds? Too heavy and you’ll struggle to control it. But too light, and it won’t have the power to knock down the pins. Try purple.”
Joe swapped to a purple ball.
“Thumb in the large hole, middle and fourth fingers in the other two. Make sure your fingers slide in comfortably up to the second knuckle.”
“Okay.” Joe stepped forwards, pulled his arm back, but as he swung the ball, it slipped out of his grasp, fell into the gutter and slowly rolled on towards oblivion. “Oh.”
Kaden bit his lip. “Try again.”
Joe picked up another purple one, took a deep breath, stepped forward, swung his arm and released the ball directly behind him. There was a thud as it hit the seat, followed by laughter and not just from Kaden.
Joe winced as he went to get it. “Did I just invent reverse bowling?”
“Not the first one to do that. Try this ball.”
Joe took the orange ball from him. This time, the ball didn’t leave his hand and Joe went after it down the lane until it broke free and continued its journey. Joe slithered back to Kaden. They were both laughing.
“How can I be so useless?”
“Look!”
Joe turned round and they watched the ball slowly make its way to the pins and impossibly, knock all but one down.
“Did you see that?” Joe asked, high-fiving a bit too aggressively so they both nearly fell over.
“Well done! Only try to let go earlier.”
Joe got better and better and Kaden was pretty sure that if they had another game, Joe would win. But Joe said he’d had enough. He picked up the camera and they handed in their shoes.
“Can we go somewhere else?” Joe asked as they left the bowling place.
“I thought you wanted to have fun back at the flat?”
“I do but I want to fill the rest of this day with lots of things. And food.”
Kaden chuckled. “I have an idea. And we can eat there.”
