One of my spheres was a gift from my fiancée in 2010. In 2008 we noticed a 2" (50mm) ivory billiard ball in an antique store near McMinnville, Oregon. I was ambivalent about ivory. After some weeks of thought and discussion, I realized buying antique ivory would no more incentivize the present and future slaughter of large mammals than would watching 1984-Traci-Lords-porn jeopardize the innocence* of today and tomorrow's sixteen-year-olds. So I decided that if I ever ran across another antique snooker ball, I'd buy it.
Two years later, my fiancée was traveling home after a week of working-on-the-road and I was sitting in our living room gazing at my collection. I thought about the routes she could travel, realized she might be driving through McMinnville, and called her.
'Hiya'
'Hi, I was just wondering if you were driving back through the McMinnville area.'
'Yup, why?'
'Do you remember that antique mall we visited a few years ago?'
'uuuuum yeaah?'
'Well I thought that if they were still open when you got there, could you do me a favor and see if they still have that ivory sphere? I know it's a long shot...'
'THAT is so weird, I've got goose bumps.'
'Huh? What is?'
'Do you know where I am right now?'
'Oh wow.'
'There goes my surprise. I'm standing at the check-out counter with it in my hand. You know it's got a couple cracks, right?'
'Yea, that's OK. What made you think to stop?'
'I was driving past and just remembered talking about it years ago.'
'Is the din-din din-din Twilight Zone music as loud on your end as it is on mine?'
'I can hear it much too loudly and waaay too clearly.'
* A once very common quality (even ubiquitous in some parts of society) which, although not yet extinct, is narwhal-rare. Or is that attitude just the cranky old duffer in me coming out?
Two years later, my fiancée was traveling home after a week of working-on-the-road and I was sitting in our living room gazing at my collection. I thought about the routes she could travel, realized she might be driving through McMinnville, and called her.
'Hiya'
'Hi, I was just wondering if you were driving back through the McMinnville area.'
'Yup, why?'
'Do you remember that antique mall we visited a few years ago?'
'uuuuum yeaah?'
'Well I thought that if they were still open when you got there, could you do me a favor and see if they still have that ivory sphere? I know it's a long shot...'
'THAT is so weird, I've got goose bumps.'
'Huh? What is?'
'Do you know where I am right now?'
'Oh wow.'
'There goes my surprise. I'm standing at the check-out counter with it in my hand. You know it's got a couple cracks, right?'
'Yea, that's OK. What made you think to stop?'
'I was driving past and just remembered talking about it years ago.'
'Is the din-din din-din Twilight Zone music as loud on your end as it is on mine?'
'I can hear it much too loudly and waaay too clearly.'
* A once very common quality (even ubiquitous in some parts of society) which, although not yet extinct, is narwhal-rare. Or is that attitude just the cranky old duffer in me coming out?
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