The ball came whizzing into my line of sight, and I whacked out at it, executing a pretty professional backhand.

It bounced in Lin’s side of the net, and she threw it right back at me with a little more than ‘normal force.’

As I hit the ball back, I noticed the look of anger on her face.

She was irritated about something, that much was sure.

The birdie flopped unceremoniously onto my side of the net, and it was a point for Lin.

Too many thoughts at once.

“One, love!” Tony announced, and my mood soured. She wasn’t going to win so easy.

I aligned the ball with my elbow, and threw it in a precise, clean cut line above me head.

I felt the assuring reverberation of the birdie against the face of my raquette as it flew over the net.

Lin’s face turned into a more intense grimace, and she swung at the ball, getting it right in the center of the face.

Strange thing was…the ball never came back.

I gaped.

She had hit a hole through her raquette!