It was a regular Saturday morning for the junior bowling league,
where my 10 year old son’s and other teams rolled,
which took up many of the 50 lanes at the alley, but not all;
there was open bowling, where looking around I saw a white man
in his 30s or older with a young Asian girl, maybe 8 or 10 years old,
where I’m assuming she was his adoptee, who was trying to teach
the girl to bowl, which would be an ordinary thing to observe except
the girl was blind, which put it into another category altogether, which
made my attention riveted including my ears because you see he was
berating her with various phrases again and again when she couldn’t
roll the ball to knock pins down, where I could feel the pressure building
at the cruelty of this act as my mind struggled to rationalize how he
could perceive this as being ok but coming up empty and this pressure
gave locomotion to my legs and oil to my larynx as I walked over and
asked why are you doing this to her, it’s wrong; the look he gave me was
a blank offensive stare but he said not a word; walking away I felt defeated
but was glad the little girl heard my words and later wondered who she
expected to hear at the end of her life when she passed through those
gates sitting on the throne.
Gospel Isosceles (aka Amaya) is today’s host for dVerse. Amaya says:
The first rule: The poem must tell a story in one sentence.
Rule #2: The poem must explore the theme of ‘the end of civilization as we know it.’
The third rule [is] that the story must tell of an odd or embarrassing incident, either heard about, witnessed, or autobiographical.
There is one more hidden rule that must be followed if your poem is to be a “death sentence” in its pure form: it must be improvised.
You may write up to three story-sentence-poems that answer the prompt. Once you have published it on your blog, link it up below and then read and comment on the other linked entries.
“Evil in Waiting,” from The Elder Scrolls
Tao Talk 
Oh, this is such a devastating story… I wonder why she would be bowling at all… to me it seems cruelty only.
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That’s what I thought! At least she heard me verbalize it was wrong and my son saw me intervene. I still wonder where she is and how she is doing.
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Nice descriptive phrase: “oil to my larynx”
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Thank you, Frank.
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Unbelievable Lisa. There is so much cruelty in the world today. I was right there with you, good for you for speaking your mind.
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A terrific run-on stream of consciousness response to the difficult prompt. I worked with the blind for 38 years, and we often took them bowling, we had a special cradle to put the ball in, rolling down and out of it. Sometimes we’d put in bumper pads to insure some success. We worked on their body in space awareness and balance and laterality. They loved hearing those pins go down, and some of them became good at it.
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Good to hear in the right circumstances bowling for the blind is alright. I’m guessing loud berating wasn’t part of your exercises with the bowlers? Maybe this guy read about it, thought to try it solo with his daughter, and missed the encouraging bits? I’d like to give him the benefit of the doubt, but what I saw wasn’t therapeutic, more traumatizing.
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I thought it was a story at first… Thats just mean. It would be hard to give him the benefit of the doubt…the poor girl was frightened to death I’m sure.
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Yes she was and his verbal abuse was unacceptable.
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Yea you just don’t do that to a little one like that … blind or not…the fact she was blind makes it worse.
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You were brave to confront the situation and let her hear someone standing up for her, even if the man did not hear you. She blind, and he, deaf. Oh my, and there you come with senses enough for both of them.
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Mary, thank you.
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Well done for sticking up for that poor girl, Jade, and for writing so fluently and with the essence of affronted anger. That man’s action was also a terrible example to other children bowling there. That’s a great phrase to describe your feelings: ‘gave locomotion to my legs and oil to my larynx’.
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Thank you, Kim. Past harms have often left me paralyzed in such situations. This time no.
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kaykuala
Wonder if she had any idea of the game.. She could only hear sounds, intimidating to say the least Obviously he would not want to be part of it!
Hank
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After what Glenn said, maybe it teaches refinement in hearing if done properly, like a bat with sonar, but then he had to ruin it with the putdowns 😦
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As a parent with sometimes very little patience, especially when trying to teach a new mechanical skill, I would have liked to give him the benefit of the doubt too. But his response to you, perceived as aggressive and indignant, speaks of his heart. I hope the child sensed your advocacy and that the presumed father learned to soften his ways a little.
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Amaya, yes, I hope so also.
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A vivid story that rocked the prompt. That must have been tough to watch but you were a child’s “champion” by vocalizing it. It baffles me the way some parents think that this is how we build resiliency in children.
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Thanks for reading and commenting, Mish.
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