Survival Of The Fittest

((Violet Druce continued from Q&A))

"Thanks for picking up my phone on the way here, Dad." Violet said with a smile as she and her father, Ray, walked through the double doors of the newly-opened All-Star bowling alley.
"No problem, Vi. Since I'm payin' fer the game though, you have to buy the food." Shaking her head and laughing, the small girl elbowed her father in the gut before running over to the counter to say hello to Mr. Swanson, the CEO of the company.
"Hey, Mr. S! How's it going?" The CEO flashed Violet a pleasant grin before reverting back to the tired face he'd been wearing before she'd ran up to see him.
"Oh, you know. It's going well, of course. Tends to get quite full around this time though, so I'm a little busier than usual." Violet chuckled to herself as he spoke; the portly man didn't look that busy to her, in fact, he rarely seemed to do anything other than greet people with that jolly smile of his.

"Hey Greg, we're here to do some bowlin', not listen to yer sob stories." Ray had caught up with Violet, and leaned on the counter with his forearm as he greeted Mr. Swanson. Behind the counter, the man gave a hearty laugh before he began to wheeze and splutter over the counter-top. "Thanks, Greg. Ya think ya can give us some shoes without hackin' up all over them?" It seemed like the mechanic was simply being a dick to the poor man, but that was far from the truth. Ray and Mr. Swanson knew each other from high school, and Violet had been the first person to bowl there when the place opened. Regaining his composure, Mr. Swanson chuckled quietly as he grabbed two pairs of bowling shoes from the rack behind him. He didn't need to ask what size they both were, they'd been coming here together every Thursday night for the past few months.

Taking their shoes and paying their money, the two walked over to Lane 14 and kicked off their shoes against the bench. Plopping herself down next to her Dad, Violet slipped her size 5 feet into the supposedly size 5 bowling shoes and winced as her heel struggled against the back of the shoe. With a few wriggles here and there, she eventually got the first shoe on; the second one following quickly as she stretched the shoe over her right heel. Tying her laces in a tight bow, she stepped over to the shelves where the bowling balls were kept, and picked out an aqua-coloured ball for her, and a larger, brown ball for her Dad. Seeing that he'd typed his name first into the scoreboard, she stuck her tongue out at him as she handed him the mud-brown bowling ball. "Easy now," Ray remarked as he dipped his fingers into the moulds. "Don't ya go tryin' to make me feel guilty about kicking yer butt last week."

An hour later, Violet and Ray had finished their game and began taking off their bowling shoes. Ray grumbled under his breath as he pulled off the tight shoes and dropped them to the floor. Meanwhile, Violet was humming to herself as she slipped into her own pair of shoes, then proceeded to the main desk to give the size 5's back to Mr. Swanson.
"So, I take it from your Dad's face that you win then?" Mr. Swanson took the shoes back and sprayed them with freshener before placing carefully back onto the shoe rack. Ray shook his head and gave a low grunt as he threw his shoes onto the desk.

"Dad, I totally kicked your butt today. I mean, you were 58 points behind me." She laughed as she spoke, nudging her father with her elbow as she leaned against the counter. Knowing that he was a sore loser, she stopped antagonising him and waved goodbye to Mr. Swanson before heading down to the fast-food eatery across the floor.
"See ya, Greg." Ray slowly followed suit, still stinging from losing against his own daughter, which didn't happen very often. Watching Violet walk through the rows of tables and chairs, occupied mainly by overweight men around his age, he suddenly remembered that she was paying for the food, and a broad grin broke out across his face.

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"I can't believe you ordered so much. You don't even like curly fries!" Violet's wallet was now lying empty on the table-top, much to her dismay, as her father gorged himself on a multitude of artery-blocking foods. Just to annoy her even further, the juvenile man opened his mouth wide to show her just how grateful he was. "Ew! Dad, that's so gross!" Picking up a handful of curly fries, she threw them straight at her father's face, laughing as one flew straight into his mouth. Choking on the coiled potato, the mouthful of food came hurtling out onto his tray as he coughed up the fried remnants of a potato.

"Vi! What the-" Still in the middle of coughing, Ray stopped talking long enough to take a large swig of his cola before shouting again. "Ya coulda killed me, girl! What the hell were ya thinkin', throwing fries at me like that?!" People were watching now. They were looking at a red-faced mechanic shouting at a scared Asian girl with what appeared to be a half-eaten burger on his tray. "Dammit Vi, ya never think, that's yer problem." Throwing the rest of his burger onto the table, Ray stood up and headed for the bathroom, leaving Violet with an embarrassed look on her face as the crowd turned away to eat their meals.

Trent would've laughed if he saw Dad choke like that. Hell, if Trent laughed, Dad would've too.

(Madeleine Smith continued from Q&A)

Bowling had been an acquired taste for Madeleine. At first, she had thought that the balls were too heavy, but with a little bit of effort, she had made the ball somewhat tolerable in her tiny hands. Besides, this was a good way for her to relieve frustrations while simultaneously not hurting anybody at all. It wasn't as if she was ever angry at anyone else, anyway. Just herself.

Stupid! Just...stupid! The guy was paying you a compliment, and you acted like he was holding you at gunpoint! Idiot!

On cue, she sent the ball down the lane, where it rolled slowly over the pins and created a split. This set would have no spares in it, it seemed. While waiting for her ball to return so she could choose which pin to knock over, she looked over and saw that a lot of people were looking at something over in the concessions area of the bowling alley. Curious, she walked over herself, barely registering that her ball had come through the return, and was now waiting for her second toss.

What she saw was thankfully not as dire as she had expected. In fact, she recognized the lady in this exchange, as she went to the same school as Madeleine. She didn't know the name, but she had seen her face around the halls on several occasions. As the older man, presumably her dad, stormed off to the restroom, she felt at first like leaving, but had a sudden thought.

If I want to conquer this stupid fear of people, I need to start somewhere.

And so, still a little shakily, and still with her sunglasses blocking her face, Madeleine stepped up and said, "H-hey. You're from Bayview right? Uh...." Thinking quickly, Madeleine pulled out a five dollar bill. "D-do you have change for a five?" She didn't need change for a five, of course, but it was the first thing she could think of.

Not knowing how long her father would be, Violet waited silently in her seat, shifting her body awkwardly as she made sure no-one was looking her way. Letting out a frustrated sigh, she decided to take a walk around the bowling alley to cool herself off.
"H-hey. You're from Bayview right? Uh...."
The sight of the small girl standing behind her made her jump a little, before she realised who she was. Another sigh escaped her mouth, though this time she smiled as she composed herself enough to answer her.

Then suddenly, the girl pulled out a five dollar bill and handed it to Violet, who stood bemused until she spoke again.
"D-do you have change for a five?"
Taking in her request, Violet nodded and turned back to the table, where her wallet lay empty due to her father's mega-meal. Clutching the wallet from the table-top, she showed the girl just how little change she had and stuffed it back into her pocket.
"Sorry Maddy, my Dad cleaned me fresh outta gold."

Turning on her heel, she looked over at the counter where she'd purchased their meal from, and pointed in it's direction. "You could probably get change from over there, if you asked." Turning to face Madeleine, she suddenly realised something that was bothering her ever since the girl came over. "You... you don't speak much at school, do you?" Taking a small pause to consider what she had just said, she decided to to wait and see how Madeleine would react before saying anything in case she'd offended her.

Noticing the wallet when shown, Madeleine realized how rude she must have sounded. Her first thought had been to run off while apologizing profusely. That was how she typically handled crises such as this. But just as she felt herself about to turn, Violet asked her own question, "You....You don't speak much at school, do you?"

"What?" The word just sort of escaped Madeleine before she could catch it. Of course she didn't speak much. If a person didn't talk to much of anybody, a person couldn't talk much. It seemed only logical. Still, something about it seemed to hit Madeleine hard.

Does she think I'm rude, because I don't talk to people? Is that the air I give off? Oh my, this is worse than I thought.

"I uh....well...it's...." Madeleine couldn't find the words to describe it. It was like her head had become completely blank of vocabulary. Turning away, she noticed that her ball had returned. "Oh, my ball. I-I'll be right back. I need to..." Lost for words, she simply made a bowling motion and pointed over towards her lane. "Uh...thank you! For showing me where the machine is, I mean. Heh...." Half walking, half running, she went over to the machine with a very pained grin on her face, and inserted the fiver. On cue, a deluge of quarters rolled out, exactly twenty. Hastily, she pocketed them, and shuffled over to where her ball was waiting.

That was awkward. That was very VERY awkward. Stupid stupid STUPID!

Nice going, Vi, she only wanted change and you managed to make her look like an idiot.

Crap.

She watched as Madeleine fluttered around the bowling alley, grabbing her money from the machine with a face the colour of the ketchup on her fries. Wondering if she should try talking to her again, she realised that the girl probably just wanted to get back to her bowling in light of what just happened. Although, in Violet's mind, she couldn't see what had just happened, so instead opted in favour of having another go to see if she could make up for embarrassing the poor girl. Taking a few uncertain steps over to the lane Madeleine was currrently playing in, she took a deep breath before letting her words wander into the air.

"Maddy, I'm... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you or anything, really. I just, well, I don't think sometimes, y'know what I mean?" Looking down at her feet as she spoke, she occasionally looked up awkwardly to see if Madeleine was listening or if she was too busy ignoring her. Which seemed perfectly feasable given the unbearably uncomfortable situation. "Well, I guess you don't, since you never really say anything, but still, I'm sorry, and-" Violet's eyes widened as she caught what she was saying in her head, her hands clasping over her mouth in a desperate bid to stop herself from saying anything else.

"Dammit, I'm sorry Maddy, I should just go, I'm gonna keep making an ass of myself if I stick around."

For God's sake, I guess Dad was right after all. Crap. Crap on a stick.

As she was writing up her score on the sheet, Madeleine noticed that Violet was coming towards her. Curious about what she wanted, the shy lady tipped down her sunglasses and expected something like accusations of rudeness or commentary on her bowling score or something like that. People recently had been spontaneously showing up and praising Madeleine's drawing skills, so it didn't seem too much out there to think that people might want to do the same for whatever she was doing at the time.

That's when Violet spoke, and Madeleine was amazed. Rather than something overly cheerful or something snide, she simply spoke an apology, something which wouldn't have sounded foreign coming out of Madeleine's mouth. Her score card in one hand, the young lady sat and wondered what to say in response.

I don't feel bad about what she said. I don't mind what she said at all, but how do I let her know that?

"I-I-I'm fine," Madeleine finally said. She stood where she was, but said to Violet, "You...you didn't offend me at all. You don't have to....don't have to say you're sorry." She could feel herself breaking out into a sweat. She wanted to be gone, to get out of there, but it just wouldn't be right. With a colossal effort, she managed to mumble out, "H-hey, do you w-want to....play a game? I've got time t-to spare."

"A game?" Taking a moment to think about her offer, Violet glanced over to the bathroom where her father had gone into a few minutes ago. It didn't look like he was going to be finished any time soon, and since he was being such a child, she wasn't thrilled at the prospect of being driven home. Clicking her tongue, she turned back to Madeleine with a smile on her face before nodding her head in answer to the question. "Sure, I've got plenty of time." Her shoes squeaking on the laminated floor, she ran over to the counter to fetch the pair of bowling shoes she'd been wearing before.

She knows I can't afford to pay for this game, right?

At least, I hope she knows that, anyway.

Thanking Mr. Swanson without stopping, she ran back hurriedly to Madeleine's lane and kicked off her sneakers. "So, Maddy," The backs of the shoes clipped her feet once again, causing her to wince as she forced herself into the pair of clown shoes. "Do you come here a lot? I mean," Stopping mid-sentence once again, Violet finished the bow on her laces and jumped to her feet. "We come here a lot, me, Dad and Trent, but this is the first time I've seen you bowl." Grabbing her aqua-coloured ball from the nearby lane, she placed it into the section where the balls rolled back up and waited for the other girl to write her name into the scoreboard.

"Come on Maddy, I'm dying to see how good you are."

This was easier than Madeleine had expected. Still, even with the apparent ease by which Violet had agreed to this game, Maddy wasn't quite willing to open up to her. However, she did keep her sunglasses down at the edge of her nose, rather than right in front of her eyes, as usual. Writing Violet's name down, along with drawing a small sketch of her face next to it, Madeleine went over and purchased a new game. "L-let's play," she said with a slow thumb's up as she came back. "I get first ball."

With a slow walk, she bent down, swung her arm back, and sent the ball rolling forwards. The ball rolled to the right with a bit of spin on it, causing it to curve at the last second and take down all but two of the pins on the right. "Uh...hmm...I didn't mean for that to happen. Heh." Half-running over to the ball return, Madeleine felt her face get hot. The mere fact that she was playing against someone meant that every time she did anything right, she'd feel guilty for it. This would be a very interesting experience for the young artist.

As the ball came back, Madeleine rolled it down the lane, where it knocked over the two pins remaining. A good spare. Writing it down on her sheet, she gestured over to the lane with a half smile. "Your turn," she mumbled. She hoped that Violet would do something better, otherwise she would be feeling very embarrassed.

Not dwelling on the fact that Madeleine had dodged her question, Violet quietly watched as the girl bowled herself a spare while waiting for her turn. Unfortunately, as her turn came around, her Dad decided that now would be a good time to emerge from the bathroom at long last. Just as Violet was placing her fingers into her ball, Ray grabbed the girl by the arm and dragged her away from her game. "What the hell d'ya think ya doing, girl? We gotta get goin' right now." Struggling away from his grasp, Violet scowled at her father in a way she hadn't done in a while.

"Y'know what Dad? I'm not going anywhere with you being like this."

Grunting heavily as his fingers slipped from her hooded top, his hands curled into tight fists against his sides. Looking over at the girl by the ball return, his gaze returned to his daughter's as his initial rage subsided.

"Who's yer friend?" He asked with a tone of suspicion to his voice.

Turning her head to see Maddy's face, she realised this was probably more embarrassing for her since she wasn't used to Ray's unusual fits and wished her Dad hadn't brought her out tonight.

"That's Maddy. She's from school." She said in a matter-of-fact kind of way.

"School, huh?"

His eyes darting from the schoolgirl to his daughter, he snorted with a smug grin before turning his back on them both.

"We'll talk when you've grown up a bit, girl."

Grabbing the rest of his burger from their table (the cleaners otherwise preoccupied), Ray left the bowling alley without saying another word.

As Violet stared after her father's figure with a regretful look on her face, she suddenly remembered the bowling ball in her hand and walked hurriedly back to their game. Giving the other girl a smile that would hopefully ease any feelings of worry she might have had, her feet moved her quickly up to the lane and steadied her as she took up her bowling position.

Launching the aqua-coloured sphere down the lane, it began to curve to the left sharply as it came close to the pins. Striking down a meagre three of the ten in place, Violet stumbled back to the ball return with a pretend smile planted on her face and waited impatiently for her ball to roll back up the chute. Awkwardly glancing up at Madeleine as she waited, she tried to convince herself that everything was fine.

"Sorry about him. He's... not usually like that, honest."

Madeleine had wanted to apologize. To say she was sorry, to take full responsibility, to say that nothing about it was Violet's fault. It seemed like the only way to go, as she didn't want to antagonize her new (somewhat) friend's father. However, she had frozen up, just watching with clenched fists as he gave her an accusing stare. It was that look, more than anything, which gave Madeleine chills. The father wanted to berate her, she could see that, and the prospect that someone like him would potentially find her and give her a piece of his mind did not sit well with her at all. Violet's smile did not reassure her much.

"Sorry about him," Violet said, possibly attempting to ease Madeleine's mind. "He's... not usually like that, honest." Madeleine nodded, but still kept her eyes on the door that the father had gone through, just to make sure that he wouldn't burst back through them again. While her short experience with the man had been scary, she had to admit that this sort of attention was better than what her parents gave her. At least that man had acknowledged her existence. And it was obvious that the only reason why he acted that way was because he was concerned for his daughter's well-being. Madeleine was a stranger to him, and if there was one thing everyone agreed on, it was that strangers couldn't be trusted until they stopped becoming strangers.

"He....he's kinda scary," Maddy said, taking a short sip of a water bottle, "but I understand why." Leaving it at that, she looked over at the pins and saw that Violet had only knocked down three of them. Still, if she took the lead pin from the left side, she would still be able to make a spare. Or she could hit it straight on and curve it over to the right so as to make the ball do all the work. Or perhaps she could try just tipping the right side of the center pin, rolling over number 3, and hitting right in the middle of 5 and 6. Bowling had so many possibilities to it that one would need a diagram to consider all the options available. "Hmm...."

Inspired, Madeleine turned over the score card and began drawing a sketch on the back, consisting of the arrangement of pins and a number of stylized arrows. She kind of hoped that Violet's ball would take its time, so she could finish this, but alas, it was not to be, as the ball came through the return just then. Her turn would be coming up soon, and so this picture would have to wait. What a pity.

Looking over Madeleine's shoulder, she watched as the arrows stretched out across the paper, showing Violet the many theoretical ways in which she could strike a spare. Hearing her ball appear in front of them, she pried her eyes away from the diagram in order to take her turn. Her eyes stared ahead of her as she picked up her aqua-coloured cannonball, focusing on the pins in an effort to distract herself from thoughts of the conversation she'd be having later on. Unable to shake it from her mind, she tripped as she threw her worry down the lane, knocking down four of the central pins with a loud crash. Her cheeks blazed a bright red as she picked herself up from the ground, no doubt concerned over how much of a fool she was making of herself in front of her new acquaintance.

Great. That's just great, God. Thanks again for the heads-up by the way. I mean, it's good to know that I'll never make any other friends again, really.

Bending down to fix her trousers, she pulled them loose of her trainers to make sure she wouldn't fall over them again. Mr. Samson looked on as the other bowlers turned their attention away from the quiet dignity the girl seemed to be conveying, and he hoped that she hadn't hurt herself. Walking back to the scoresheet, she realised she wasn't in the best frame of mind to bowl any more, but that meant she could play more casually than she did with her father. "Damn, aren't I just the best bowler you've ever seen?" Nudging the other girl as she sat down next to her, she pointed to the pins as they re-assembled themselves up ahead. "Your move, Maddy." She said with a humble smile.

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((Violet Druce and Madeleine Smith continued elsewhere.))