She arrived at Eddie's Gardens on her mountain bike. Her mother was furious at her for crying at school again. She was sent out to find her father so they would all have a "talk". Kris knew her mother just wanted more than one person to yell at. Kris was more than happy to get out of the house and take a ride. She loved taking her bike all over the place and forget about her worries. Eddie's was the second bar on her checklist and the moment she pulled up she could see her father's large black Dodge Ram with ladders strapped to the side and aluminum siding sticking out of the back window. She let out a sigh as she swung one leg off the bike keeping the other still on the pedal and let it glide her up to the bar where she jumped off letting the bike crash to the ground. She pulled open the door to the restaurant and lounge to find Eddie, the owner, standing behind the main counter. "Hey there Kris." The man said looking up from his newspaper, "What can I do you for?" "I'm looking for Dad." She explained putting her hands in her jean pockets and looking through the glass door that closed off the lounge from the restaurant. Eddie understood instantly and nodded at the door, "Go on in and check." He smiled. Reluctantly Kris approached the doors. She prayed that he would be up front, but knew far to well that her father would not be that easy to find. She pushed through the door and started to search through the crowd. Her lungs filled with cigarette smoke causing her to cough. She hated the smell even though her father had been smoking around her since she was very little. Something about the smell gave her headaches and made her sick. She decided to get out of there quickly. Before she could get four steps inside she found herself surrounded by a group of men, "What you doing here kid?" One of the men asked. "That's Bill's kid there." Eddie said as he entered from a door behind the bar, "Your pop is at the back." He nodded to the back of the bar. She quickly ran passed the men, through the bar to find her father leaning over a pool table about to take a shot. Kris watched her father silently, she loved the sound the pool balls made as they cracked against each other. She was mesmerized as her father took a shot and the balls rattled around the table into a couple of pockets. "Hey, Billy your son is here." One of the other patrons said. Kris cringed a little as her father raised his head and set his deep eyes on her. Light reflected off his glasses making it hard to see what he was thinking. She wondered if maybe it would have been better to dress less like a boy when coming to the bar. At least to make things easier on her father. He looked at her, smiled and stood up straight. "That is my girl actually." He corrected proudly as he walked over to her and patted her head, "She could probably play rings around you guys." He said with a deep laugh that could be heard throughout the bar. She liked her dad a lot, it was only when he drank that she became afraid of him. Then he was no longer her "daddy" he switched to her "father" a scary man who would visit her in her room late at night. The smell of beer on her father made the little girl tremble a bit, however she noticed that the man was still sober so relaxed a little. "Ummm... dad..." Kris always felt nervous when her father bragged about her playing pool. Sure he had taught her since she was 8 years old, but she didn't feel she was very good at it, "Mom wants you to come home." She told him trying to change the subject. She really didn't want to go home, however hated it more when her father put her on the spot like this. "Then you finish my game." He ordered taking a puff of his Rothmans before setting his pool cue back on the rack, "I just need to finish my beer." He sat down at a nearby table and picked up a full mug of beer. "Bill, are you joking?" Her fathers opponent protested, "We have a fifty running on this game and you are going to let some 12 year old little girl play for you?" "She is 11 actually and why not." He picked up his beer, "You are stripes honey." He took a swig of his beer. Kris looked around the room embarrassed. Several of the people had started to gather, "Get him Kristen!" A woman yelled from somewhere in the bar. Nervously, Kris walked over to the rack of pool cues while studying the pool table. It was clear that the game had just begun. Her father was ahead by 2 balls, even so it looked like he had a few sticky positions to get out of. She looked at the cues in search of the right one. Picking up a 16 ounce cue she swung it back and forth, then approached the table. After a few moments she had a plan in her mind. Her father smiled as he watched her flip the cue around her back and lean against the edge of the table on her tip-toes. She loved adding her gymnastics training into the game whenever she could. She took a shot and knocked one of the balls into the side pocket. She was so small that is was hard to keep both feet on the ground so she learned to shoot with one leg on the table while her toe touched the ground. Trying to pull off the more interesting shots over the easy ones. Anything to make the game more fun. What was the point in winning if you can't have fun and she enjoyed watching the colours fly across the green felt table. It was a tough game, she enjoyed it nonetheless and dragged the game out as long as she could. Finally she was down to only the 8 ball left. Her opponent only had 2 more balls left so she knew that if she didn't finish this soon, she would lose and she didn't want to disappoint her father. The last shot was tricky. The 8 ball was near the centre pocket with a solid between it and the cue ball, all of them were also snug against the bunker. Kris stared at the table and circled around it trying to think of what to do. Then she got a sneaky idea. She aimed straight at the solid as if she was going to shoot straight through the ball. "You can't do that kid." The man said with a snicker, "You hit my ball and you loss." He chuckled. "Just let her be." Her father commented confidently, "She knows what she is doing." Kris smiled with the confidence of her father and raised the rear end of the cue high over her head, she struck at the cue ball low, causing it to jump up onto the bumper and roll along it. Over the solid and coming down just in time to knock the 8 ball into the corner. Kris jumped up and down happily. "Hey that is cheating!" The man uttered in shook, "The ball left the table... didn't it?" He pointed at the table looking for someone who agreed. "Come on give the girl a break." The bartender defending Kris, "You have to admit it was an interesting shot and she did stay in the green." He rubbed his head, "I'm still amazed that she could keep her foot on the ground all the time." People came out of nowhere to congratulate Kris on a good game. She felt overwhelmed and wanted nothing more then to get out of the bar. She knew that mom would be even more angry now that they were later. Her father got up and took the fifty off the corner of the pool table, then started out of the bar with Kris trying to keep closely to him. ******* To be Continued....
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