Leisure activity

We were in a darkened room with tightly battened shutters. Three roof windows were cracked open ever so slightly for air and also allowed just the tiniest ribbon of light in, to paper the walls in haphazard, bright stripes. The room was hot but our alien/fan was doing its thing on a low table. My human stripped off her t-shirt.

Suddenly, a large, dazzling light accompanied by an explosion of sound burst forth from the corner of the room. My human was not alarmed by this and by now clad in a swimsuit top, proceeded to plonk herself onto a low chair, elevate her legs and sip a cup of tea. So despite my anxiety level I thought it best to plop on the floor nearby.

A pyramid of colours shot out in my direction. I recognised lots of reds and yellows but other more obscure shades were there in the background. Overall it was so dazzling I decided to close my eyes & snooze.

The sounds were very intrusive though. Lots of cheering, clapping & chanting, followed by tense silences and weird, whacking squawks. Excitement levels varied in the voices of the people who seemed to be describing the proceedings. I heard the word ‘England’ being mentioned. I opened one eye and saw mostly white on the box. Still not sure what it was all about, Missy & I decided to play mini-chase around the lush, cream floor rug. Well, that was nipped in the bud fairly quickly by one emphatic human command.

As I plodded towards the water bowl I noticed that the (now beige) rug had strands of glossy, black hair all over but my human was so engrossed in what now seemed to be balls in the air … I don’t think she noticed.

The box proceeded to explode once more in a hooping, hollering sound which died down more slowly than the previous time. There was a sense of excitement and anticipation in the voice tones of the speakers and shortly thereafter their delivery paused again. I definitely saw a ball from the corner of my eye. Then two feet. And a white line on the grass.

The phone rang and my human had a fleeting conversation. The words ‘World Cup’ and ‘penalties’ were mentioned before she returned her attention to the spectacle on view in the corner. That must be what this is about I decided.

Ages later, what sounded like extended applause, soon followed by music and a change in the body language of my human, indicated to me that whatever it was, it had come to an end.

‘Well’ says she…. that’s the end of the tennis for another day!’

Tennis? Something tells me there will be more of this tomorrow. I might have to get used to this tennis lark.

The song that somehow comes to mind today is ‘Patricia The Stripper’ by Chris de Burgh (…’Denis is a menace with his anyone for tennis and beseeching me’ … etc. etc) 🎶🐾