Fido the Pool Shark

The pool table was free.  I could have never afforded a table like this one.  It was constructed out of solid maple wood with a black stain finish.  The pockets were genuine leather.  The legs were intricately scrolled in a curving foot design.  The add said, “Free to a good home.”    I jumped at the chance.  Borrowing my brother and his truck, we it picked up.  What a beauty!  The man even threw in four cues, a bridge stick, the pool balls, a vinyl pool table cover and an 8 ball rack.

 My brother thought he had died and gone to heaven.  But he lived in a small apartment, so we put the table in my basement.  I always wanted to finish my basement, now with this pool table, I have the incentive. 

But before inviting people over to play in my new rec room, I had the time to practice.  My partner was my rescue cat, Fido.  He was hiding when the pool table was moved in through the bulk head.  Fido is quite the prude when she hears coarse language.  She probably figured that with all the noise and cursing and trash talk, she had better make herself scarce.  Fido is a smart kitty.

But Fido quickly surveyed my new acquisition.  It had a long, flat, table top to stretch out on.  There were balls to swat back and forth.  There was the possibility of a gathering of people to pet and scratch her when using this table, so there was that.  On the whole, Fido approved.

And when Fido heard the clack of the balls after the break shot, she came running and jumped up on the table to play.  She pounced on the apex ball.

“Hmmm, this isn’t going to work.”  Faith thought.

“Do I have to keep you out of the room?”

Faith tried to work around Fido, and tried a bank shot.  But Fido was quick and chased the ball down the pocket.

“MeOWWW! “  Ouch.  That meow is an ouch and Fido’s paw was stuck. What was wrong?

Faith felt  around and in the pocket and gingerly worked Fido’s paw out.  Attached to her top claw was a ring.  Yes, a round gold ring, like  wedding ring.  It wasn’t a toy; it was a nice piece of jewelry.  I brought it closer to a lamp and looked at the inside.  There were engraved initials and a date.  This was a wedding ring.

I immediately phoned the man who gave me the pool table.  He laughed and laughed.  Then he told me this story.

He loved to play pool.  It was a matter of contention between him and his wife.  So much so that wifey said he might as well be married to a cue stick and she took off her wedding ring and placed it on the cue stick.

To retaliate, he picked up that very stick and played a game of pool with the ring on the cue stick.  He cleaned the table with it.  When he finished, they saw that her ring was gone.

She was so angry that she was gone, too.   He looked for the ring in all the pockets and all around the pool table.  But he couldn’t imagine where it went.

Eventually, they reconciled.  But part of the agreement was that he got rid of the pool table.  He asked how he could reward Fido for finding his wife’s wedding ring?

I said, "Oh, no reward.  I was happy that he and his wife reconciled and that the wedding ring will be soon reconciled to its owner.

Fido loves happy endings.