A Twist of Fate
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How the direction of our existence moves through time as we live out our life is always unknown. Every day we make choices that takes our destiny in a new way. But what about changes in direction we have no control, as they redirect our life’s path. For me, that change in direction was a unforeseen twist of fate.
College lanes, in College Point Queens New York was a long rectangular windowless red brick building with large yellow letters on the building’s side (glowing at night) proclaiming the establishment. It was the towns local bowling alley. My mom worked at the lanes as a bowling instructor and league secretary. The16 lanes, divided by two settees of eight chairs with each set separated by a space for access, was in a horseshoe shaped configuration facing the pins. The table that held the score sheet with a chair for the score keeper was placed in the center of the horseshoe. Directly in front of the score keeper seat was a green covered Brunswick ball return with a big red light-up push button. Pressing on the button provided a stream of air for the bowler’s hands to dry off perspiration while waiting for their ball. The actual ball return was underground, so you never saw your ball until it came out of the top of the return that pushed out the ball, (or as it dropped from the ball return machine track by the pins starting on its underground journey). Then your ball would roll down the rack in the direction of the pins bumping and clinking into other balls.
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At this time I was 7-years old, going to St John’s Lutheran school. I was in second grade and was a strong student. I had good math and reading skills. I had a straight A grade score for both first and second grade. After school ended at 3 o’clock, I would walk down 22nd Ave. to 122nd street or College Point Boulevard and cross by Arty Cotchs’ butcher shop. Then I would walk up the sidewalk to the entrance of College Lanes that was all the way at the end of the building. The entrance to College Lains had a tall vertical doubled sided signpost attached to the building, directly above two glass and aluminum doors that you would pull. Then a small incline with welcome mat and a second set of doors that you would again pull, opening into the building.
Entering the lanes, the smell of machine oil and bowling alley polish was defining. There was a long carpet for wiping your feet or pounding off the snow during the winter season. Directly to the left was the manager’s desk. The manager’s desk was small, made out of wood and veneer with a cash register used to ring up the price of a game. There was a microphone on a stand right of the register to announce bowling scores and needed services. Behind the managers desk was a bulletin board with bowling scores and statistics according to teams, players, pins, and leagues. Under the desk there were cubbyholes where bowling shoes sat side-by-side, waiting to be rented. Directly next to the desk was a locker area where you could store your ball and bag, and perpendicular to the lockers were two racks of house bowling balls that you could select from when you wanted to play a game.
Just like any bowling alley when it was crowded and you needed to wait for an open lane there were other gaming activities such as pinball and rifle range machines to occupy your time. At College Lanes, there was a unique game called pop-up. This game had a single button that would trigger and shoot out a metal ball from a center-rotating back and forth delivery mechanism. If you were skilled, you could make the ball hit targets with various point values. Hitting a target would trigger 5 rubber balls that would bounce and fall into place, creating a shape, giving additional points to the player. Each month, the highest point value would win a stuffed animal that sat on top of the game’s point display. The pop-up machine was near the manager’s desk. On the other side of the building, close to the end of the lunch counter, there was a rifle range machine. Mounted on a stand, a rifle with a light sensor could knockdown targets in the game. There were small stand-up animals, such as rabbits and birds that could be knocked over, and in the center was a vertical, slowly spinning wheel with ducks you could also shoot down. As I was small for my age, the smallest student in my class, I could not reach the rifle stock to play the game. A wooden milk crate was placed in front of the game, and I could stand on the crate and use the rifle. At first, I did not understand the concept of lining up the rifle’s sites with the small round metal target on the animals. Some man from the bowling alley showed me what to do and I instantly had the eye/hand coordination concept to become quickly skilled, shooting down all the targets in the game’s time frame. That was early in the Spring of 1963.
At the end of second grade that same year, during a world history exam, I suddenly suffered some type of ocular event. The classroom dissolved into various colors and spinning shapes. The event took about 30-seconds to pass, but when the event ended, I no longer could see the blackboard clearly. I could not see the details of my teachers face, or any of the alphabet lettering that was on cards above the blackboard. I said to the teacher Mis Williams, I’m not feeling well. My mom picked me up at school and took me back to the lanes. As I had no fever she still could finish her shift. I did not return to school but instead began a long medical journey, seeing first the local eye doctor, then an eye specialist, and ending with a two-and-a-half month stay in Queens General Hospital that Fall. At one point during that hospital stay, I even went totally blind until a severe vitamin A deficiency was determined and treated. My life from then on, completely changed direction.
Today, I still suffer from the same eye condition, being legally blind. Even though the trajectory of my life changed so dramatically in terms of schooling, medical care, and mental well-being, I have achieved a tremendous amount. I am a dedicated artist, an electronic music composer, a story writer, published poet, and elected professor emeritus of music technology and the recording arts at the University of the Pacific. I have a wonderful wife and two incredible children. My spiritual center is universal with the understanding that all things should be treated equally with love and respect. However, I can’t help wondering If that ocular event did not occur, whom would I be and what would I be doing? Only fate can know that answer.