Stripes

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Frank, Scott.

Subject: Stripes

“14, corner pocket. Anyone want to do something tomorrow night? I'm off.”

“Not me. The Braves are in town and I'm headed to the game right after work.”

“11 in the side. Ahh, well have fun. Anyone else?” The 11 ball misses slightly, bouncing away.

“4, in this corner. I'm busy too. I entered an online poker tournament tomorrow night.”

“Nice shot. I'm on the late shift tomorrow night so unless you want to hang around Starbucks, I'm out.”

“5, corner by you. Tabitha's home in Connecticut with her parents all week.”

“Maybe..” Frank pauses as he watches his ball slow, willing it to have enough energy to reach the pocket.

“Didn't quite have the strength on that one did you?”

“I blocked the pocket at least.” Frank says, putting chalk on his cue stick.

“What were you saying? 15 in the corner.”

“No way you're making that shot. Maybe Billy will do something tomorrow night.”

“Guess you were wrong.” Sara says, as Ann's shot caroms off the seven ball and into the pocket. “Excellent shot!”

“Lucky shot! Now what are you going to do?”

“I smell a wager! The intensity! The trash talking!”

“A wager? What is it this time?”

“The usual.” Ann replies, watching her next shot go bad, causing the cue ball to drop into a pocket.

“Aha! Ball in hand! Don't expect to see this again!” Frank teases, as he retrieves the white ball from the pocket.

“What's the usual?”

“Waiter service when we drink this weekend. Loser has to make or fetch all of my drinks.”

“I think you mean Waitress service.” Frank says, as he sinks the first of his remaining three balls.

“You still have more balls than I do.”

“Well you don't have any balls Ann.”

“Crude Scott. Very crude. I wasn't aware we were drinking this weekend, we have plans?”

“1 ball in the side. Don't we always drink? Billy had mentioned some place in midtown, I guess we could try that.”

“Midtown? As long as it's not too far, I always fall asleep on the ride home when we venture too far from home. Wow, lucky break!” Scott says, watching Frank's ball bounce off his other ball and land in the wrong pocket.

“You caught up, but it's my shot now; all lined up.” Ann says gesturing to her last remaining stripe sitting in front of one corner, and the eight ball sitting right in front of the corner next to it.

“Shit! Best two out of three?”

“That was the third game Frank. Come on, lets go. I have to get to work tomorrow.”

Tourist Watching

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Sara, Frank

Subject: Tourist Watching

Sara and I had just gotten coffee at Starbucks and since it was a beautiful day we were just hanging around on the street corner and enjoying our coffee.

“I can't believe you got a hot drink. It's a nice day, but it's still warm out.”

“I just don't like my coffee cold, what can I say? There's a little breeze, so it's not that bad.”

“Did you know they opened a new Starbucks in the LIRR terminal of Penn Station?”

“Another one? Wow. Who would've thought we needed yet another Starbucks.”

“I guess they wanted to open one closer to the 1,2,3 lines. Those poor 7^th avenue travelers had to walk all the way across Penn Station to get their coffee!”

“Woe is them. If they're drinking Starbucks regularly, they may need to burn those extra 12 calories anyway.”

“True. Only fat people take the 3 train.”

Sara snickers. “Ha! You know, standing on the corner talking like this really sets us up to be on Overheard in New York.”

“I'd love to see myself quoted there! My 15 minutes of fame!”

“Ann actually entered us into the headline contest a couple of weeks ago. She got us featured in the 'runner up' section, with a link to our blog.”

“Neat. Well I hope if they quote me, they at least spell my name right.”

“Is there any other way to spell Frank?”

“You never know.”

“I suppose they could give you a stupid last name. Call you Frank Futter or something.”

Frank groans. “And you say Billy makes bad jokes?”

Sara points across the street. “It's a little warm out, why is that woman over there by the newspaper machine wearing what looks like a parka?”

“She must be crazy. She's also eating Tasti D-lite. Who eats ice cream in a heavy jacket during the summer?

“And Tasti D-lite? Eat some real ice cream!”

“You know what I haven't had in a while? Ben and Jerry's. I love me some Phish Food.”

“I'm a fan of the chocolate fudge brownie myself, but I don't recommend we buy any. We're supposed to be being thrifty this week.”

“I know. That's why we only got talls instead of ventis right?”

“True. Although had Billy been working we probably could've super-sized.”

“Did you know Mcdonalds doesn't call it supersizing any more?”

“Yeah. That's old news.”

“Oh. I guess I don't get to Mcdonalds enough.”

“Or you're not paying attention. I'd probably go with that.”

“Thanks. I don't care what they call my food size anyway. Tall, small, supersized, medium, love it.. food is food.”

Sara points to a 20 something guy wandering past with a map. “That guy's come past here twice already. I remember his silly Atlanta Braves hat.”

“Ahh, tourists. He's probably holding the map upside down or something.”

“Think he's looking for Times Square, or the World Trade Center?”

“Maybe he's looking for Penn Station, to head back to Atlanta.”

“Oh well. Maybe if he wanders around New York enough he'll lose the silly Braves hat.”

“The Braves are a joke, I don't know why you still even think about them.”

“I'd be less worried if the Mets could string together a good week here, gain some distance.”

“If everyone that stepped into the outfield stopped exploding, they'd be okay. I'm done with my coffee, I want more though.”

“You addict. I'm only halfway done with mine.”

“Well if you weren't drinking it hot, you'd probably be done. Let's roll; I can make more coffee back home if I want.”