“The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.”
Life is unpredictable.
All the weather forecasters were formal: it was going to rain on Sunday.
In that case, instead of participating in the last tournament of the season (and getting soaked), I decided to forgo that event and stay home to count my bullions.
As a matter of fact, when I looked outside that morning, I noticed that the pavement was wet. Even my crazy cat seemed reluctant to go out.
So it was settled: I was not going to play.
My wife and I went to the Rustic Bakery for breakfast and later on went grocery shopping.
On our way back, we decided to stop by the pétanque court to see how many fools were willing to put up with the heralded rain.
There were not many.
When they saw me though, they tried to change my mind. Come and play with us they said, we need you, pleeeaaase…
To make a long story short, they coerced me into playing (which considering my weak will and my love for the game was not very difficult).
At 10:00 a.m. when I checked the board to see who my teammate was going to be, my heart sank. My partner’s name was Jinx (can you believe that?) or Jencks as it was spelled (probably in error).
I am a somewhat superstitious person, and I thought that this did not augur well for the day. Was I jinxed from the outset?
The plucky contestants were as follows:
- Alain Efron & Nancy Jencks
- Joss Krauer & Charlie Davantes
- Henry Wessel & Larry Cragg
- Christine Cragg & Susan Wyatt
- Francois Moser & Eva Lofaro
- Bernard Passemar & Claudie Chourré
- Bijan Guilyardi & Calvert Barron
- Noel Marcovecchio & Helga Facchini
Two games were to be played before lunch and two games after.
On our first game we started badly. At one time we were led 1 to 7 but we rallied and won the game 13/11.
Then we won the second game 13/4.
Was fate teasing me?
In spite of my initial apprehension, Nancy’s rather unorthodox style seemed to work on our bone-dry field and she pointed very well the rest of the tournament.
After lunch we won our two next games 13/10 and 13/4 respectively for a total of 4 victories.
As they say in cheap novels, the rest is history.
And it didn’t rain at all!
Late in the afternoon, among lusty cheers we were crowned the winners and pocketed our cash. I graciously signed a few autographs, pushed back some groupies and went home.
And that was the (dry) day that was!
Final results:
1st place: Alain Efron & Nancy Jencks
2nd place: Henry Wessel & Larry Cragg
3rd place: Bernard Passemar & Claudie Chourré
Alain
PS: The totality of the tournament proceeds was splurged on the winners.
To look at some photos of this event and listen to the accompanying background music, turn your computer’s sound on, and click on the link “My Photos” located on the right side of this page. For best viewing, go “Full Screen”.
This is my victory dance (compliments of Carolina Jones: