His friends would be thrilled with this addition to their weekend sport.
The tennis ball machine had a big hopper. It was a bargain. Second hand from a local school that had upgraded to a newer model. He’d take it to his friend’s place on the weekend. His friend has a tennis court out the back. Just about every Sunday their small group would turn up for a game or two. Now they could also get some serious practice in. Even one player could practice on their own, because it had a delayed feed to allow the player to reach the play position. It had arrived the day before and he hadn’t tried it yet.
Anybody who knew him would say he was reserved in nature. In fact, he had spent his entire life avoiding any kind of controversy. Despite this, he was excited at the prospect of seeing the thing work. He took it out of the shed and set it up on the back lawn. He loaded it with a single ball, carefully lining it up to hit the back wall of the house, away from windows.
Well, that was the plan. It went with a satisfying thump, but the aim was too high, and it hit the roof and bounced over the top of the house. He was adjusting the angle when he heard the crash, followed by several more.
The ball had struck a cyclist on the side of the head, causing him to lose balance, and tumble off into the middle of the road. An approaching truck had swerved violently to avoid running the man over and so doing had mounted the curb, bringing down a street lamp and eventually jack-knifing, coming to a standstill across the entire width of the road. This was immediately followed by three more vehicles ploughing into each other, with one bursting into flames.
It is not at all certain how long he stood there frozen to the spot, but watching a cloud of black smoke rising beyond the roof of his house reanimated him. He quickly wheeled the machine back into the shed and snapped the padlock.
He heard the sound of the ambulance as he made his way unsteadily through the house. Stepping out through his front door he was confronted by a terrible scene. Again, he just stood, unable to move. Eventually he moved forward into his front garden, where he stood with many other surrounding onlookers, watching the ensuing chaos.
Moving to one side to get a better look he kicked something. Glancing down, he saw the offending tennis ball. He immediately took out a handkerchief and pretended to blow his nose. He also pretended to drop it. Stooping, he wrapped it around the ball and stuff it all into his pocket.
He had always avoided any kind of controversy.