Chalk by Lily J. Adams

Chapter Five: Boiling Point

 

Chalk

 

“How’s the pool comp going? You seem like you got the crowd going.” Bear congratulated me.

We were catching up near the pool table at Wheelz, and I felt like I hadn’t seen him in a long time. “It’s good, it’s bringing us extra revenue that’s going to help with the casino. I’m loving it personally. I get to focus on something else other than my life.” As soon as the words slipped out of my mouth I knew I sounded bitter, but the lack of information from Lucy was starting to bother me.

Bear stood with his arms crossed as a crowd started to filter in the door. “Sounds like you need a beer, buddy. You want one?”

I looked up, flashing Bear an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, I’m frustrated about a few things and it’s bugging me.”

“You don’t have to apologize to me. I know you got it rough, but that beer’s going to help. Looks like you got some new players tonight.” Bear tapped my shoulder and walked to the bar.

My eyes scanned the new sign-ups on the clipboard.

The presence of a larger man with a cut-off flannelette shirt, a lengthy beard, a swaggering walk and piercing blue eyes caught my attention. I followed his movements and gripped my clipboard a little harder. Something about the darkness in his eyes and the scar on his cheek made me feel like he wasn’t here for the pool competition. I thought he might be headed for the bar, but turns out he was coming at me with the sign-up sheet.

He looked up with a weird, sinister smile on his face.

Bear came back with a bottled beer, some of the froth running down the sides.

I licked it off my fingers as Angie approached, which was probably not the best look. She caught me at the wrong moment.

She smirked. “The cup runneth over I see.”

She’d met Bear already and he grinned at her joke. “Can’t let good beer go to waste,” Bear supported in his deep voice.

“Right. I’m here to sign up for the pool comp, what’s my competition look like tonight besides you?” Angie asked.

I gave her a challenging look. “So you’re playing tonight?” Given the bad vibes I had about our new player, I wanted to give Angie permission and a heads-up to flush him out.

“Of course, she has to get another chance to beat you,” Bear interjected. “We need to see somebody else win other than Chalk.”

His booming laugh at my expense made me wanna laugh as well. “Bear. You know better than anyone I’m not going to be beaten. Coyote has tried, Hawk has tried, you’ve tried…all of you have failed. Now I’ve opened it up for the public to beat me, and they still can’t do it.” My overconfidence was on full display.

Bear clapped me on the back. “Yeah, right, my man. Every man must fall. It will be your turn soon.” He chuckled. “There’s Hawk. I wanna talk to him, so I’ll see you guys later.” He wandered off to talk to Hawk as he came in the door.

Angie raised her eyebrow with a little chuckle. “Interesting…I am playing tonight. I feel like I’ve been having withdrawals from a couple of things this week. How about you?”

“Well, I’m sure glad that you’re here to get your fix.” I chuckled. “Um, I need to ask you a favor, can you help me with it?”

“Depends on what the favor is,” she shot back.

“There’s a new guy here tonight. I need you to talk to him a little bit. Get to know what he’s doing. See how he’s looking around all over the place? He’s making me feel nervous,” I stated with my brow furrowed.

Angie grabbed her pool stick and leaned in with interest. “You think he’s a spy or something? What’s the problem?”

“I think that he’s here for some reason other than pool. I wanna get the read on him.”

“Okay, this is my jam, lemme see what I can find out from him.” Angie beamed with an I-got-this smile.

“Great, thanks.” I grinned at her as she chalked up her pool cue.

Harper breezed in the door looking fresh and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Hey Chalk, sorry I’m a little late. I had to deal with a few things at home,” she explained in a tired voice.

“Ahhh, I understand. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, fine, fine, just kids. You know how it is.”

“Yep. I sure do. We got a few players ready to go,” I told her as I looked around the semi-packed room.

“Looks like it. Let me get this show on the road, then.” Harper headed to the mic to start the night off as all the players on the board scattered to their assigned pool tables.

The bigger guy didn’t approach me directly; he just waited at his table with his pool cue in hand.

I prepared my pool stick with my pink chalk and worked my way through the first rounds of the game.

My first opponent was one of the regulars named Jimmy. He wasn’t bad, but I knew I would beat him easily. He got wobbly towards the end of the games.

My next opponent could play, but was no match for me either.

Left pocket. Right pocket. Trick shot. I watched the balls tumble into their pockets like clockwork. It was as if my pool cue was producing fire from the end of the stick. Once I got going, I felt like a rock star, especially when the crowd gathered around me. As the games progressed, my clarity deepened and the world faded away.

It was me, my pool cue and the green felt table.

“Hi, I’m Rocky. Nice to meet you. Shame I’m going to have to take your prize money on the first meeting.” The sketchy guy I had noticed earlier was my newest opponent. He chuckled as his deadly eyes landed on me.

Confident, that’s how they all were until I beat them. He had no idea what was to come. One more re-chalk and we got down to business. For a big guy he was nimble and flexible on the table, and he gave me a surprisingly good game.

I shook his hand at the end of the game with a little shock. “Not bad at all. Where did you learn to play?” I asked him as he folded his arms across his chest. The more I looked at him, the darker his energy seemed to be.

“Over the border in Mexico. I used to play a lot with my cousins down there,” he replied.

The cagey look in his eye kept me on guard, and the fact he told me he worked over the border started to set my internal wheels in motion. “Interesting, you gonna come down and play again, next week?” I probed. Let me see what you’re about. You’re up to something and I’m gonna find out what the fuck it is.

He grinned, exposing a missing tooth on his bottom row. From all appearances, he had a pleasant smile, but to anyone looking closely, it seemed he was sneering behind it. “Yeah, I will as long as you’re playing with that pink chalk you got there. Has that got special magic in it or what?” He took a swipe at me.

I laughed easily with him. “Nah, nothing like that, it’s a signature thing I got going on.”

“I like it. I might have to get me a signature thing going on. If it’s going to work for you, it might work for me,” he said roughly.

“You look like a man who has a bike, you ride?” I asked innocently. If he rides then I know a little more.

“I sure do. My bike goes where I go. I’m looking for a place to land, and I like the look of Holbeck. It’s growing on me.”

“As long as you like sweltering heat and don’t mind big fat mosquitos in the summertime,” I retorted with a smirk.

“My Mexican roots can handle it.” He seemed confident.

I nodded, shifting my eyes on him. Hard to tell if he had Mexican blood or whether he was tanned or not. One thing I knew for sure and that’s that I didn’t trust him not even a little fucking bit.

 

 

“Dad, where’s Mom? How come she doesn’t stay here with us?” Sarah was playing her karaoke game on the TV and wiggling around with the plastic microphone.

“Mom is in another state. She had to be there, so she could get better.” I might be wearing out my forehead while rubbing it back and forth because these questions with Sarah were teeth-grinders.

“She can come here and get better. Don’t you love her anymore?” For the last week she’d been hounding me about her mother, and one of her teachers mentioned how unsettled she was.

“She’s been acting out a little, she kicked one of the boys in the playground and we had to bring her inside to calm down. Is anything going on at home?” The teacher asked.

My pride as a father came out at that point, especially when she gave me the look of pity. “Which boy was it? Did he touch her first?”

“She initiated the physical act. She’s a beautiful child, I just noticed the last couple of weeks that she’s been a little off target is all. It’s difficult enough, I can imagine being a single parent.” Her teacher leaned in, annoyingly close.

“We’re managing fine, I have my sister helping me out as well. Her mother is getting better too, so it’s all going to work out. She’s had a few late nights, so maybe it’s because of that.”

The teacher gave me an even more pitying look. She knew the whole situation with Lucy.

Sarah’s little voice elevated to a high, screechy pierce and I covered my ears, breaking from the recent memory. “Sarah, calm down with the noise, the neighbors will be over here soon.”

“Daddy, I want to know. Why?” Sarah’s cheeks started to puff out as her eyebrows inverted together.

“It’s a long story, but she’s getting better. And I promise your mother and I are working on it. She can come here and spend time with you. She’s doing better now.”

“Why is she there? Answer!”

Brattiness is not something I would tolerate in my kid, but I could understand it was hard for her. I couldn’t help but slump my shoulders and think I might have set up the wrong agreement with her mother. “Come here, come here. Stop with the microphone,” I gestured.

Tears were forming in her vibrant little eyes and her bottom lip jutting out.

My heart wanted to rip open a little more because I could see that my little girl was hurting. She slapped my hand away and tried to storm off. I managed to scoop her up before her little legs could carry her from me.

I pulled her up with one arm and blew strawberry kisses on her face. “You tried to run, but I got you now. I love you, and Mommy loves you too. She’s going to be here soon. Okay, sweetheart?”

Her curls were hanging upside down and the little grumpy mood she was in lifted as she started giggling and poking her tongue out.

I knew how to distract her and get her back.

“Okay Daddy, if you say so. I love you too.” She giggled and ran back to her game.

Lucy, where are you?