EIGHT

The young mother was sitting on a log, feeding her baby by a cave entrance. Under a bright-blue tarp canopy, she was safe from the sun, except for the sliver of light cutting the back of her hair. Suddenly, a shrill scream pierced the air. A snarling beast kicked up leaves and dust as it approached her. She yelled at the beast, but it kept coming. A younger girl came running out of the cave and got in front of the beast, waving her arms and yelling. Then the beast leaped upon her, ripping and tearing.

Gil sat up in bed, drenched in sweat, trying to catch his breath. The clock said 4:55 a.m. He turned on the light and wrote down what had happened in his sleep log. After rinsing his face in the bathroom, he turned on a small table lamp in the living room, sat in his reclining chair, and read the novel he’d recently started on his Kindle. Gil always had a book in progress, usually fiction. After about twenty minutes, he shut off the light and went back to bed. More sleep was not forthcoming, so his day started in earnest just before six.

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Gil drove to the pickleball courts at Gavin Park just after eight o’clock, hoping to arrange a lesson before the crowd arrived. He’d bought a paddle online. A woman dressed in tennis attire was setting out bins of pink wiffle balls.

“Excuse me, I’m looking for a pickleball lesson. My name is Gil.”

She sized him up for a second. “I’ll be done setting up in a couple of minutes, then I’ll give you a lesson. My name is Marion.” When she was done she came over and asked, “Do you know anything about pickleball?”

“Well, I read about it online and watched a few YouTube videos.”

“Good, that’s more than a lot of people do. Here, let’s go close to the net and just start hitting the ball.” Gil found it pretty easy to hit the ball after a bounce or in the air. As they continued, Marion explained the rules of the game, which Gil found a little confusing.

“Okay, over here is the kitchen,” Gil confirmed, “and I can’t go in there except for when?”

“If somebody hits a dink shot, which is a very short shot, and it lands in the kitchen, you can step into the kitchen to hit the ball. But then you have to get right out of there for your next hit.”

“I think I got it, but the scoring still confuses me.”

Marion smiled. “By the end of the day, you’ll get it. It’s simple: score and know whether you’re the first or second server in that round. Like five–two–two means it’s five to two, your team is leading, and you’re the second server, which means that once you lose a point, the serve goes to the other team. Let’s have you practice a few serves.” Marion explained how to serve and return serves, which seemed pretty straightforward. Other players started to arrive and warm up. After a couple of more minutes, Marion said, “Wait right here a minute.” She went to the next court and spoke to the players and brought a couple back with her. “This is Jim and Joanie. They agreed to help teach you how to play, so let’s get started.”

They got right into it, and Gil was able to play. He made a lot of mistakes and felt clumsy, but he gained confidence as they played, especially after making a few great shots. Marion and Gil lost the game eleven to six, but Gil was happy with that. Marion brought him over to the bench and told him to stack his paddle onto the paddle pile. As people’s turns came up, they pulled their paddles from the bottom of the pile to go play. Gil drank from his water bottle, watched others play, chatted with other waiting players, and played another two games. Gil thanked Marion and told her that he planned to play regularly.