At first I saw something silhouetted on a card table. Then Action entered the story and I had to choose an adventure after being asked what happened.
I figured how it rolls might depend on who pushed it, and I already knew that. Kevin. Why he did it was less clear. Muscle memory placed us at a table in the canteen. Sitting across from him on any ordinary day, some rolled up piece of napkin or a wad of garbage paper might present itself as a projectile to reach him across the plates and glass between us.
Tonight we were in my kitchen, together there for the first time. I’d moved the table into the corner with both leaves open to make extra space for snacks for the party. We pushed the pretzels and empties aside and sat facing each other off the edge of the table, knees nearly interlocked.
My chin was on my hand and my heart was on the ceiling. We were laughing about something when I noticed the toy baseball on the table. The stairs creaked and the sound of background chatter crept in like a breeze that chilled my spine. He flicked the ball, and it rolled fast off the edge then fell to the floor with a flat thud.
The phone on the wall behind him rang, and I clicked to review the test questions.
I roast seasoned chickpeas for snacking like that. I’ll top pan fried chickpeas with leftover rice and carrot then let those steam up with the lid on. It helps contain popping beans too lol