Oscar

Oscar

I remember when I played pool with Oscar, he humiliated me; white wash, he put all his balls in before my move. I will forever remember that day, he kept on putting in his balls and looking at me with a smug face. I was helpless, there was nothing I could do. But to be fair, I can only blame myself for that day. Oscar is a good guy, it wasn’t his intention to humiliate me, he just wanted to put me in line. Before him I didn’t even know how to play pool. After school, we would go to this cool pool place and just play. Oscar taught me everything, from the rules and holding the stick for maximum efficiency. I witnessed myself getting better every time we played. He was cool about everything, his intention was not on beating me but rather on having fun. Then one day we were playing, at this time I could hold the stick and I knew my angles and I beat him. But my win was suspect, I had 2 balls left and a black ball. He still had like 4 balls left. I put in one ball and was left with 1 ball and a black ball. I put in the black ball first and then put in my last ball. He kept on saying I lost because the black ball goes in last and my response was, “what’s the use I put them all in, while wena you still have 4 balls on the table”. I told him with 2 balls left, it’s my choice which ball I put in first. That response seemed to anger him because I didn’t listen, but he didn’t lash out. To his credit, he relented and gave me my false win. Still he didn’t like my arrogance. For two weeks, all he heard was how I “dominated” him at pool. When he requested we play again, I didn’t oblige him. Even though the win was suspect, it was all I had on him. It was the case of the student beating the master and I milked that for all I could. Through clever maneuvering, patience and playing to my ego he got his rematch 3 months later. It felt like an ambush. He let me break play and what followed was a bloodbath. I had never seen him so focused. His balls just kept on going in, towards his last balls, he was dancing, laughing and having a good time. I lost my cool and left him at the pool place. He didn’t even let me put in 1 ball. At least balance was restored again, he was superior again and I never played pool with him ever again.