Compadre

Now it’s Lee Sr.’s turn to shoot. His five- foot, eleven-inch, medium-built frame rises from the stool. Lee Sr. is in good shape and well groomed, with a fresh new haircut. He is a proud man of forty-five with a ready smile that sets everyone at ease. He tells the others to watch an old pro go to work. He lines his sights on the cue ball to see where he would have the easiest shot at the high numbered balls. He elects to shoot the thirteen ball in the side pocket while skillfully positioning the cue ball for the ten ball in the right corner pocket.

Lee Jr. sits on his stool, intensely watching his father. He looks as if his father had gone to the hospital and spit him out. Lee Jr. is sixteen years of age and is a versatile athlete and a good student in school. He is not as tall as his father yet, but is fast approaching five feet, ten inches tall. Like his father at his age, Lee Jr. is thinly built with a moustache trying to burst through on his upper lip and facial features similar to a Native American's, with semi-straight hair, a mixture of his Black, Caucasian, and Native American bloodline. He is happy to see his father shooting so well, because earlier this afternoon he was not shooting his normal good game.

Lee Sr. makes the ten ball and leaves the cue ball in position to shoot the fourteen in the left side pocket. John Weeks stands by his stool at a modest five feet, nine inches tall and slightly over weight, but a well conditioned kept man himself, following the example of his squad leader, Lieutenant Osborne. John was beginning to feel uneasy about the way his squad leader is running the table. If he kept shooting so well, then he would soon be getting to the eight ball to win the final game of the afternoon. It was the final game because of Lee Sr.’s prior commitment to his wife and younger son, Ronald, to go to the Mousey Cheese Hut for dinner and a movie, to see the latest science fiction adventure. Lee Sr. makes the fourteen ball and sets up the cue ball for a shot on the nine ball. While he is lining up the shot with his favorite pool stick, no one notices young Ronald has come downstairs to the basement. Just as his father begins to shoot, Ronald touches the pool stick ever so slightly to get his father’s attention, to remind him of the upcoming events of the evening. Lee Sr. misses his shot on the nine ball, much to the delight of Detective Weeks. His round face and shallow eyes lit up for joy.