Nikki

The cracking billiard balls, along with the music belching from the back room, was beginning to give me a head ache. She wore an unbuttoned orange blouse with a white tank top underneath it. Her long, black satin hair fell to the side as she stared at the eight ball. She called out the shot "Eight ball off the right bank and into the corner pocket". She never missed that shot, it seemed to be one of her favorites. She began pulling the balls out of there chosen pocket to set up another rack.

"Nikki" was her name. She had been known to play pool at Dirty Dicks Tavern on a regular basis, two or three times a week, mostly on Sundays. October 20th was the Sunday she didn't show for her tournament. The police came into Dirty Dicks asking questions, but nobody knew anything about Nikki. Nikki was a loner, she never really had a boy friend. She liked her billiards and few suds while playing. She never caused trouble, but often it found her just because of the way she dressed. The short mini skirts and fish-net nylons were hard to ignore especially on her smooth, young body. She often told people she was a "free spirit" and there wasn't any need for a man in her life at the moment. Besides, she'd always been one not to accept extra weight when she had things to do.

There began to be talk around town about Nikki's disapearance. Alice new who Nikki was, but she didn't know it was Nikki her schoolmates were talking about this mornimg before school. Alice knew that the cops would be back. She'd have to tell them what Tammy, Sandra, and Gena had said they'd done to Nikki. Alice kept thinking about what the girls had done to her, it kept echoing in her head now that she knew of Nikki's accident. Alice couldn't believe how jealous people could be over such simple things as a pretty face or a pair of shoes or maybe even a car somebody might own. Alice was thinking about talking to David Walker, the head sheriffs investigator here in town. She sat down and dialed the telephone number. After listening to the ringing on the other end of the phone she finally left a message and hung up. Mr Walker said he'd caal back when he could.

Finally David Walker called Alice to find out what she knew about the Nikki Thompson case. Her mother and father agreed they would take her to the police station the next day. The alarm rang loudly on the nightstand next to her bed, waking Alice early enough to get ready to go down town to the police station. Mr Walker, Alice, and her mother and father met in his office. Alice related to Mr. Walker what Tammy, Gena, and Sandra had told her they had done to Nikki. Mr Walker asked Alice who did most of the talking among the three girls. He knew there wasn't any crime committed by the girls against Nikki. There wasn't any knife nor was there any blood as the girls had told Alice there was. Mr. Walker figured the three girls were trying to scare Alice to death, and they certainly did that.

Three weeks later Alice rode her bike to the front doors of Dirty Dicks Tavern, poked her head in and saw Nikki sprawled accross the billiard table ready to take her shot. Alice breathed a deep sigh as she heard Nikki say eight ball, corner pocket.

The Image was created by Larry Moon © Moons Designs 1994 - 2009
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