The Hidden Path (WINNER OF THE BEAUTY AWARD for Spiritual)

Everyday, There Is Something New To Learn

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes.
— Marcel Proust

Next weekend, we were celebrating Beni's birthday in our usual café in Neumarkt. This may sound like a big deal. But in truth, this Saturday was not really different from all the others we had spent together for the last few months.

The guys appeared to be completely laid-back about birthdays. They basically just slapped Beni's back, barely uttering: "Happy Birthday" and that was it.

Boys!

I, on the other hand, had invested quite some time and effort, until I had finally found what I considered a suitable and original present for my boyfriend: a black wall-clock in the form of a wristwatch, complete with a plastic band.

I liked the fact that it was a rather unusual object, as I had definitely not wanted to get him anything boring or lame. Rather impatient and a bit nervous for his reaction, I had already presented it to Beni when he had come to pick me up. To my great relief, he had appeared to really like it. Or to be more precise: it had earned me a kiss. Not that I usually had to beg for one. . .

"Why don't we play billiards?" Luk suggested, before lazily taking a swig from his beer.

"Great idea!" Beni was immediately all for it.

"I have no idea how to play, I have never tried it." I proclaimed, for some reason wanting to make sure that nobody would expect any skills from me.

"Me neither," Sofi piped up, smiling widely at Marti. She was still clearly smitten with him, if the gooey eyes were anything to go by.

"That's no problem, we shall teach you." Jona assured us, winking.

"Oh, yes! That will be fun to watch!" Luk boomed, smirking.

About half an hour later, the eight of us found ourselves in a billiards café in Eugendorf. The whole place was not too brightly lit and was divided into two sections: on the left hand side, a wooden bar ran along the far side of the wall. Spindly, round metal tables and chairs were scattered throughout the whole area leading up to it.

On the right side, about six pool tables had been arranged in three rows, with two tables each. Thick, grayish-white cigarette smoke hung heavily in the air. It drifted lazily in tendrils in the shafts of light created by the long, black hooded neonlight lamps that illumined the green, velvety surfaces that were used for playing. Soft rock music filled the premises, adding to the heavy atmosphere of the place.

I did not feel too comfortable in the establishment, since the crowd that frequented this café seemed to be a bit on the rough side.
Sure, the boys I hung out with were no angels either, some of them were actually quite prone to throwing a drunken fit every now and then, but they were nowhere as bulky as those biker type guys that were crowding most of the tables.

"There is an empty one!" Beni, as usual, took the initiative, steering us energetically towards a table in the back of the room.

As we were passing the other players, I cast nervous, but curious glances at them. It appeared that basically every single person in there was consuming alcohol and smoking. They only put the cigarettes and glasses down when it was their turn to play. Which they did using a long stick, also called a cue. (The boys had introduced us girls to the basic rules of the game during the twenty-minute car ride.)

The faces of the men displayed matching, intense frowns, which only added to the dangerous air they were exuding.

Uh-oh!

Those players seemed to be taking their games rather seriously!

Interestingly, I only saw one or two women at the tables, which further added to my feeling of uneasiness.