(eng) Paul Melko - Walls of the Universe 01 by The Walls of the Universe

Author:The Walls of the Universe [Universe, The Walls of the]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 25

Henry wrote out a note and taped it on the lab bay door: “Pinball Machine Moved to Woodman’s.” Then they managed to drag-carry the thing to the loading dock, where they maneuvered it into Henry’s truck.

“Note this down,” John said. “ ‘Add wheels.’ ”

“And let’s make the next one out of plastic,” Grace said.

It barely fit.

“It’s going to fall out the back,” Grace said, and she proceeded to wrap a hundred yards of red rope around the machine and the truck.

“Relax, Grace,” Henry said as he started the truck.

“I’m riding in back with it,” she squeaked, climbing in.

“Fine.”

John followed in the Trans Am.

They unloaded the machine onto the street, and Grace stayed with it while Henry and John parked. Then they wrestled it into the back room, complicated by the three steps that connected the room to the bar area. Luckily, the bartender was there, a hefty fellow named Lou, and he helped get it up the steps.

“Can I try it out?” Lou asked.

“Sure. We just have to get it set up,” John said, getting his level out. “We need to prop that side up.”

Henry slid a shim under the leg nearest him. “How’s that?” He wrote something in his notebook. “We should build screw levels right into the legs. There’s no telling what kind of floor these things are going to be on.”

“That’s level.” John took the gaming sticker out of his pocket and stuck it to the glass. “I think it’s ready. Plug it in. Grace, do the honors.”

Grace found an outlet in the floor and the game started up with a bit of Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik.

“I like that,” John said.

Henry smiled. “Grace wouldn’t let me do ‘Caveman Rock.’ ”

“And right she was.”

Lou played a quick game against John. John easily passed the ball from flipper to flipper and slammed it down the center of Lou’s play field.

“Fuck!” he yelled as the tenth straight ball went down his outlet. “Damn. That was fun. Let’s go again.”

Lou played John again and managed three scores. He stood up, and said, “You guys should start making a few more of these right now.” Then in a whisper, he said, “Ray splits thirty-seventy with the jukebox people. He’s ripping you guys off.”

John nodded, then shrugged to his three companions as Lou walked back to the bar. “Oh, well.”

“Back here at what? Seven?”

“Yeah. It’s a Wednesday night. Who goes to bars on a Wednesday night?”

“People with quarters, I hope,” John said.

The game was sitting unplayed when they got there that evening. Henry checked with the bartender.

“No one played it,” he said.

The bar was relatively empty. A couple locals were playing pool and a few people were watching a baseball game on the TV above the bar.

“That’s ’cause they don’t know how,” Grace said. “Come on, John. Let’s make some noise.”

They played three games, and by the end of the third everyone in the bar was standing around them.

“I’ve got winner,” someone said.

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