Billiards

When I was a kid we had a pool table at home and we spent a lot of time as a family playing billiards. Being the youngest of five brothers it also meant that I often lost as my older siblings were always much better at billiards than I was. Johnny my oldest brother was a bit of a billiards hustler. He was 17 when I was 10 and I would hear him boasting to my other brothers about the money he made playing billiards at the local billiards hall.

I idolized Johnny and followed him around, he was a pretty good older brother and when I started following him to the billiards hall he didn’t mind he just made me his assistant. I would carry his cue, chalk and a hand towel so that he could wipe his hands when they were sweaty – and they were always sweaty, it was hot in that billiards hall.

When it was school holidays I would hang out at the billiards hall all day with Johnny and when it was quiet he would teach me how to play billiards and show me some of the tricks that he used when he was playing billiards for money. I eventually became pretty good at playing billiards and there were times when Johnny and I played together.

Everything changed when Johnny went off to college and I didn’t hand around the billiards hall anymore. I still played billiards at home but my other brothers were not as interested by then they were more interested in girls and their studies at school.

I kept my interest in billiards and would practice the tricks that Johnny taught me for hours and when I was old enough I would play for money at the billiards hall like Johnny and it supplemented the pocket money that my parents could afford – which wasn’t that much at that stage.

Of course my life changed as well when I went away to college but I did not lose my interest in billiards in fact the school that I went to had a billiards team and I had the opportunity to play on a regular basis and we won the State championships every year that I was there.

So it was natural for me to buy a billiards table when I first bought my own home, funnily enough if it hadn’t been for my girlfriend (now my wife) a billiards table would have been the first piece of furniture that I bought. She insisted that we buy a few others things first as a priority like a bed, kitchen table, lounge – these kinds of things, I could see her point.

But when we did get the billiards table I was in heaven and we would invite friends over to catch up and it would usually end up with us playing a game or five of billiards while sharing a few beers and having a laugh. It reminded me of when I was young and had played billiards with my brothers and especially Johnny they had been good times and we all rarely saw each other by then.

My thoughts had turned to Johnny one night when we were playing billiards, I had my own two sons by then and I was teaching them how to play and I wondered how Johnny was it had been years since we had seen each other or even spoken our lives had got busy and neither of us had made the time.

I knew that he had gone through a nasty divorce the year before and had sent him a supportive email but hadn’t heard from him so I had let it go and not followed it up to see if he was okay. I decided to ring him that night the memory of him taking me under his wing and teaching me billiards was so strong that I felt it was time to bridge the gap of years that had crept into our lives without us even really noticing.

I nearly cried when I heard his voice on the phone it had been too long and we had been close just drifted apart. Johnny had gone through a rough patch with the break up of his marriage but he was on the other side of that when I talked to him. He had started seeing someone else and had just started a new job that was back in town where we lived.

We reminisced about playing billiards when we were young and Johnny admitted that he rarely played billiards anymore though he had loved playing so much when he was younger. We both agreed that it had been way too long since we had seen each other and I invited him around for dinner and told challenged him to a game of billiards if he wasn’t too old and rusty.

He laughed and accepted and a few nights later I watched him as he sat at dinner with me and my family wondering where all the years had gone. We laughed and talked and after a wonderful meal cooked by my wife the challenge was on. We played the first game and I won – Johnny was a bit out of practice but then I saw the fire in his eyes and the old Johnny was back.

That first billiards games was the only one that I won that night but I didn’t mind it was great to see my brother again and I know that he will now be a regular feature around my home playing and that is worth more than any win.