New Dream Adventures of Raven Knight

2017, 04-24

Tennis For One

I am in what looks like the sports area of a large park. I am inside a huge area that has all been paved in concrete and sectioned off by chain link fences to be used for various sports including tennis, volleyball, basketball, and more. There are many different sections separated off by chain link fences, so I go through several gates until I find one that is unoccupied. I look around and I see a tennis racket leaning by the gate and a few tennis balls. The racket has the logo of the sports complex I’m in, so I figure its’ there for anyone to use. I compare the size of a tennis ball to the chain link and figure it would have to hit really hard to get stuck, so I’ll practice hitting the ball against the fence. I get a good distance away and hit the ball at the fence… but it doesn’t go very far, nowhere near the fence. I move closer and try again, but now I can’t seem to hit the ball at all. I get a little closer and try again, hitting the ball as hard as I can, but the ball goes almost nowhere, as if I’d barely tapped it!

I continue trying at this for several more hits, getting a bit closer to the fence with each try. I don’t understand why it’s not working! I hit the ball one final time and this time it goes flying into a hockey goal that is set up near the bottom of the fence. I don’t remember seeing that there when I started trying to play tennis, but it is there now. Instead of questioning where the goal came from, I look at my tennis ball tucked into the corner of the goal and loudly announce, for anyone close enough to hear, that I just scored a goal with a tennis ball as if this was some kind of accomplishment. A woman a couple courts away from me calls back that at least what I’ve done is unique, she’s never seen anyone do that. I tell her yeah, that ought to count for something! I pick up the ball and look at it, squeezing the ball a little. It’s flat, that must be why I’ve been doing so lousy. I toss the ball away and go back to where I found the racket to get a different ball. The tennis balls are all gone now, and in their place is a ripe red tomato. Am I supposed to play tennis with a tomato? That could get messy… I pick up the tomato and I am thinking of trying it when everything fades and I wake up.