The Lucky Bowling-Shoes

A dastardly diamond-thief happens to buy a pair of magical bowling shoes and meets a gorgeous woman on the beach who might see them as destiny.

One final short, a fable about magical shoes and a precocious but desolate diamond-thief named Amlan and a fair lovely named Laura Palmer. Enjoy, 

----

====

Amlan liked to bowl every Sunday at the local alley in Venice (Beach). He was an exceptional bowler who bowled above 100 all the time, even when he'd been somewhat off-focus or had been drinking while bowling, since he took the bus home from the alley and didn't drive. Amlan liked bowling so much he ordered a special custom-made pair of off-color magic bowling-shoes from an online merchant from India. Amlan had become a bowling aficionado.

AMLAN: The bowling-center/alley I visit in Venice (Beach) is lit neon every Sunday night, and I enjoy spending money there.

However, Amlan wasn't just a bowler. No sir. He augmented his bowling gambling money from tournament and bet-winnings with bank robbery. In fact, he'd become a master diamond thief in California, having stolen million dollar gems from fancy safe-boxes in banks all over the sunny state. He was known as the masked diamond-thief Sparrow.

AMLAN: I robbed one bank on the West (coast) claiming I was ex-Interpol infiltrator extracting diamonds for Mandela!

Amlan had so much money from his diamond heists but he spent most of it buying and selling art and then gambling on the stock market (NYSE-Euronext). He did after all already have a decent apartment in Venice (Beach) and used the rest of his profits to buy online art and invest in stocks liberally.

One night, Amlan was strolling down Venice Beach wearing his magic bowling-shoes which he'd purchased from that unusual merchant in India. He was walking along the beach at night in his magic shoes and noticed an immaculately gorgeous woman sitting by the water staring at the night-sky. He had to approach her on this wondrous night on the beach!

Amlan walked up to her and asked he if he could kiss her soft hand! She looked up at him and smiled and told him her name was Laura Palmer. He told her if she found him at all attractive on this night in Venice (Beach), and she giggled and noted that she might concede such a humility if he'd guess why! He wondered and wondered about it to get the right response to Laura Palmer. Was it because she guessed he was a dastardly musketeer or thief? Or was it something else?

AMLAN: Alright, Laura Palmer, I'll take a stab and guess the answer is my magic bowling-shoes!

Amlan did indeed give the right response to Laura Palmer's challenging and riddling question that dark night in Venice (Beach). The young Americans got married and Amlan never told her his previous double-life as an extraordinary diamond-thief, but he did take her along his future bowling tourneys and wore his magic shoes which had won her admiration. It was in fact his magic item that brought this fair creature into his otherwise lonely consciousness!

====

"Money is everything" (Ecclesiastes)