Thunder: A Nap Lapkin Story (part 3 of 6)

What the two of them didn’t know, couldn’t possibly know, I’m not sure I even know, were the details of the mission they were embarking upon. While they drove towards the site where the enormous bowling pin had dropped from the sky, nobody was aware of what was about to take place that very afternoon. Had Nap and Sam known, perhaps they would have postponed their introductory tryst and been there for the big reveal.

For his part Nap took the ferocious sexual encounter as if it had been his way of showing the new girl around the office. “Here is the break room. Here is the water fountain. Here is the…” well, you get the picture. Downright nonplussed.

For her part, Agent Brook looked a little plussed, but was glad to have that ‘training’ under her belt. She went from disheveled to sheveled in only a few minutes and was thankful that she had attended that optional class at the FBI Academy.

(It was only years later that she realized that he wasn’t living out some fantasy or fetish, it was simply to create plausible deniability if ever questioned about the incident. She was certain that he could pass any lie detector test confirming he had no idea she was an agent of the federal government prior to their coitus) (And if you think that because I referenced the fact that it was “years later” that now you know that she is going to survive whatever faces them in the upcoming tale… we’ll just see about that)

“The first thing we need to do is go bowling” Nap stated as they neared Los Alamos.

As sheveled as Agent Brook might have been, she was not ready for this pronouncement. Less than an hour away from their destination she was having difficulty in following the logic of going bowling.

Sensing the ‘Why?’ that hovered in the car, Nap offered up an explanation. “I’ve never been bowling,” as if that would clear everything up.

“I see” was all Sam could get out. Dutifully she Googled a bowling alley and a few minutes later they were pulling up to the Bowl-O-Rama, a slightly rundown facility that appeared to be totally without patrons. Nap exited the car and went around back to the trunk where he produced a pair of stylish bowling shoes.

“I thought you’ve never bowled before?” she said.

“I haven’t, but if you think a pair of rental red and blue clown shoes are going to touch these feet you’ve got another thing coming. It’s all about contingency Agent Brooks.”

“Brook. My name is Brook” she said.

“Brook Brooks?”

“No. Sam Brook. Singular. One Brook” she said again (clearly on a roll with saiding).

Nap paused a second before offering “Doesn’t roll off the tongue. You might look into adding the S.”

He strolled into the bowling alley and looked around like an explorer who just discovered an ancient tomb. He approached the desk and slapped down the company card. “I got shoes, I just need a ball.” After acquiring said ball (an awful lot of saiding going on, even for a Nap Lapkin story) and paying for a couple games the couple made their way over to their lane and set up shop.

“I thought the balls would be farther away” Nap said to no one in particular and then made his first approach. The ball left his hand without incident, made its way down the lane and knocked over eight of the ten pins.

“I missed?!”

“No” Sam protested, “Eight pins is good.”

“But there are still two left standing” he counter-protested.

“You get another ball.”

“Another turn? Just to knock over two pins?” asked Nap

Sam just laughed.

“Hardly seems fair” he muttered before sending down another ball to knock over the stragglers.

“You got a spare!” Sam said enthusiastically.

“Nope. Just the one ball” Nap replied, clearly not familiar with the terminology.

Sam laughed again before asking “Why are we here again?”

Nap sat down on the bench behind the ball-return machine and contemplated whether he wanted nachos or not before answering the question. He decided against them. “Why a bowling pin? It doesn’t look vaguely similar to one, it looks exactly like a giant one.”

“And you think we’ll find that answer here… in a bowling alley?” Agent Brook asked sincerely, fascinated by his thought process.

“I changed my mind” he said.

“We shouldn’t have come?”

“No” he said, “I want nachos after all.” And with that he set off towards the food counter. As he walked away she heard his phone ring and watched as he answered it and began a conversation.

When he returned, sans nachos, the cheese dispenser wasn’t working, he brought Sam up to speed on the latest news regarding the giant bowling pin.

“Turns out it’s some sort of spacecraft.”

“A spacecraft?!” exclaimed Sam, clearly excited about the possibilities that word inferred.

“Yep” answered Nap, clearly not as exited. “They think it might be alien. The technology seems way ahead of anything we have.”

Sam almost swooned at the word alien. She smiled ear to ear, turned and jogged towards the exit, eager to get on their way.

Nap headed back to the food counter to ask again about the chances of fixing the cheese dispenser.