Opposing Sides

Happy smelly Sunday.  The fishy odor is still here.   During today’s tournament I sat at the other side of the alley, on the left, and though the music, the odor, and the gaudy paint job were unchanged it felt like a completely different place.  The children of those in the leagues still ran around in the arcade, running back to their parents when they needed more money, and adults with their beers still played and gossiped, ignoring their children.  However, I saw something I did not expect. 

On the far left side there were about four families, huddled together in that corner, and separated, by a string of unused lanes, from the rest of the people there.  They were families, with the adults and children playing the same game together.  The family in the furthest left lane appeared to be an integrated family, with an African American man, a Hispanic women, and their children, beside them was a three generational family, with the grandfather, the parents, possibly an uncle, and their children, two teenagers, a boy and a girl, and three younger children.  All members of this family spoke Spanish. 

Along this side of the Fish bowl, the families were seated together sharing meals.  Everyone, including the adults, drank from Styrofoam cups, suggesting that no one was drinking alcohol.  The second family, for example was enjoying nachos.  Each had an empty plate, and in the middle was a paper basket of nachos from which they would serve themselves.  As they ate and played they would talk amongst themselves.  Unlike when I sit on the side of the tournament, on this side I was completely unnoticed. 

The family on the far left had several children that were learning to play.  An older sibling was there teaching two children, that looked to be between 3 and 7, how to roll the ball and knock over the pins.  He taught them by sitting down and showing them how they could push the ball forward.  The family cheered for the little ones, and waited patiently as the balls moseyed down the lane.  Each member of the family had a turn down the lane.  

The chairs swivel.  Over on the side of the tournament nearly all of the chairs, week after week, are turned, facing the lanes, but these families had theirs turned towards the tables to eat together.  Even though they were not facing their lanes, they would still turn their heads to watch as each member of the family played. 

From another family erupted shouting and screaming when the eldest male of the family (presumably the father) got up to bowl.  I assume they were trying to break his concentration, however when he scored well they cheered, catching the death stare from other patrons.  (The same death stare I myself have grown accustom to, it also came from adults on the teams.)

The lanes on this side have the railing that prevents gutter balls up.  I’ve seen days where this railing is missing, not from these lanes but from the middle ones, and I assume that they are removable. 

When the families got ready to leave, they worked together to clean up after themselves.  The first group to leave was the integrated family.  In their group the man began to wipe the table, and the older child and the mom threw the trash.  The two youngest removed their shoes, and then gave them to their mother.  Everyone handed their shoes off to the mother, who turned them in for the whole group, as they worried about returning the other equipment and cleaning up after themselves.

When another family left, the teens in that family began playing a variation of tag, trying to escape each other, and using their mom as a shield.  Their activity sums up their view of the day.  Those in the tournament act as if bowling is a serious matter, and a social engagement, the families stuck here in the corner see it as a good time to be had together as a family.