Pool Story: Whitewash

Story by: Nico Naidoo.

You know that feeling you get on a Friday afternoon, when you glance at the clock and realize you only have 5 minutes of work left. Yeah, that’s how I was feeling. Like most other Friday afternoons, I came home and called one of my friends, Jamie. After a few minutes of discussion we decided that tonight we would do something new, hit the local pub.

As we pulled into a parking space, we noticed a sign hanging from the window. On the sign was a black eight ball next to the word “ White Wash, Free Drinks”. Now as I am sure you know, a white wash occurs when a person wins a game of pool, without letting his opponent sink a ball. This is usually extremely difficult.  I was not a avid pool player, but Jamie. Well, Jamie’s dad had grown Jamie up on playing pool. The guy was the best. No one could beat him. We were going to give it a shot.

We walked into the pub. There were a multitude of pool tables everywhere. I looked towards the bar area, and a sign hung stating “Mermaid Beach Pool Frenzy, Winners take all.” Below the sign was a huge jar, filled with money. I walked up to the bartender and asked “Is the competition full?”

“No, but there is a $100 entry fee a piece. That’s quite a bit kid, you got a partner? And do you have what it takes ?”

I looked at the jar again. There must easily have been over $800 dollars in there.  Easy money. I looked over at Jamie, and we eyed the competition. 40 year old bikers, fairly drunk and slurring words. I looked at Jamie and winked. I got this.

“Yeah I do,” I replied, “Here’s the money, I’ll cover us both” I said as I handed him the cold hard cash.

Ring Ring Ring. The bartender waved his bell as signaled the first match.  We would have 2 matches before we got into the final. The first match was easy.  We didn’t white wash them, but we won nonetheless. The second match was a white wash. Free drinks for us. Now it came to the final.

The balls were set. The cues were ready. I broke the set. I sunk a striped blue 10. As I went for my second shot, I missed. The opposition took their turn. And boy, it was a hell of a turn. During this turn they sunk 6 balls. They had only 1 left before they could go for the black. Jamie took is turn and sunk 5 of our stripes, leaving us down to one more before black as well. The other team took their shot, sinking their last ball. As they went for black, by some godly intervention, they had accidently sunk our last stripe, giving us two extra turns. But there was a problem. I had to get the 8 ball in. It was all on me. I wasn’t even that good at pool. I lined the cue stick up, felt the wood slip on my fingers. Bang. The cue stick hit the cue ball. It seemed like it just floated and hit the 8 ball perfectly, sinking it into the last pocket. Thank god.

We walked away with free drinks and $1200 that day. Twas a good day.

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