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        “Sooooo,” Melanie began expectantly.  “Tell us everything. How was the date?”

         Heidi pursed her lips and rolled her eyes before reaching for the chips. “Oh, yes, my glorious double date, you mean?  With Roger?”

         “Wait, who’s Roger again?”  interrupted Sabrina.  “Is he the supervisor in human resources?”

         Heidi scoffed.  “Ha!  I wish!  That’s Mac.  No, Roger is the one who works two cubicles down from me with the unusual eyes.”

         “Unusual how?  Unusual interesting or unusual look out he’s crazy?” Sabrina asked, sipping on her glass of wine.

         “Oh, definitely interesting.  Kind of a light gray with flecks of gold.  Different, that’s for sure.  I’m pretty sure that’s what reeled me in,” Heidi replied. 

         “And now I take it you’re ready to run away, unusual eyes not withstanding?” Melanie observed, peering at Heidi over the top of her menu.

         “Well.  It was definitely the worst date ever.”

         The ladies at the table leaned in.  “Okay, do tell.  What happened?” Sabrina asked.

         “Oh my god.  I don’t know if I can talk about it...” Heidi teased, nibbling on a chip.

         “Come on, you know you want to!” Melanie coaxed her. “Keeping all the gory details to yourself might kill you.”

         “Well, okay!”  Heidi put her closed her menu and put it on the table  “How about it was a double date with his brother Michael and his girlfriend Cynthia to go play ping-pong.”

         “A double date on the first date?” Sabrina pondered.

         “To go play ping-pong?” Melanie returned.

         “What are you, twelve?” Sabrina queried.

         “Are you still in junior high?” Melanie questioned.

         Heidi used three simple words to answer all four questions:  “I know, right?”  She shook her head in disbelief.

         “Well, where did you all go?”

         “There’s a bar down on 7th where they have pool tables and ping-pong tables, if you can believe it.”

         “I still can’t get over the fact that he took you to play ping-pong.  Why not play pool?  Seems sexier, a little more ‘date’ appropriate, if you ask me.”  Melanie opined.

         Heidi shrugged.  “Or even a romantic dinner probably would have been better.  But doubles ping-pong?  Jeez, did we work up a sweat!  Can you imagine?  Sweat in my good silk blouse!”

         Sabrina held up her hand.  “Wait, did you say doubles ping-pong? That’s a thing?”

         Heidi straightened herself in her seat.  “Oh, did I forget that part?  Yes, doubles ping-pong!  You and your partner have to take turns hitting the ball, so you’re jumping/running back and forth to and from the table so each of you can take your turn to return the serve.  I swear, I felt like I was at the gym!”

         Both Sabrina and Melanie started laughing.  “Well, that’s what you look for on a good date, isn’t it? Exercise?”

         Heidi groaned.  “Actually, it got worse.  So as I’m trying to jump in to take my turn—and mind you, it’s not like I even know what I’m doing—and rush in and bang my thigh on the corner of the table.”

         Sabrina gasped.  “Oh no! You hurt yourself?”

         “Yes! I got a super-huge bruise on my upper thigh. It’s like the size of baseball, and it’s a lovely shade of purple, I might add.”

         Melanie shook her head sympathetically.  “Oh dear. What did Roger do?”

         “Oh, well, certainly he was nice enough about.  Immediately had me sit down, asked the bartender for ice, but you know, I was wearing jeans. I couldn’t very well pull my pants down in the bar, and I wasn’t about to sit in the restroom all night with a cold pack on my thigh, so I figured I would bear it.”

         Sabrina signaled to the waiter for more wine, then turned back to the conversation.  “Good grief.  So you stayed there the rest of the evening?”

         Heidi shrugged sheepishly.  “Well, I didn’t want to bail at the first sign of catastrophe.  I mean, how would that look? So I figured I would tough it out…”

         “Wait, I don’t understand.  Tough what out?”

         “The subsequent match,” Heidi mumbled into her menu.

         “Hold on a sec,” Melanie stated. “You played again after you hurt your leg?”

         “Well, there was nothing to do at the bar…”

         “You all couldn’t have just sat down and had a couple of drinks?” Sabrina admonished.

         “I know, but the ping-pong was actually kind of getting fun.  At least it was until…”

         “Until what?” Sabrina asked.

         “Until the table collapsed.”

         “What?!” the two friends exclaimed in unison.

         “We had resumed our play, and everything was going okay, but then Cynthia, his brother’s girlfriend wanted to stop so she could go to the restroom. So she left, and while we were waiting for her, we kind of leaned on the table.  Actually I sat on the table, and the fellas we’re leaning around it…and it fell under our weight.  I would up banging my elbow.”

         “Are you serious?” Melanie opened her eyes wide while Sabrina dropped her jaw.

         Heidi rolled up the sleeve to her shirt to reveal a bandage on her elbow.  “How’s this for proof?”

         “I had no idea playing ping-pong could be so dangerous!” Melanie said.  “What did they say at the bar?”

         “Not too much.  Roger and his brother were able to put the table back together.  Seems there was some kind of rail support missing from the table that would have kept it from collapsing had it been there, so the manager figured out pretty fast let the guys fix it, make no charge, and avoid a lawsuit.”

         “Get out!!” The ladies cried in unison again.

         “I know,” Heidi concurred.  “Anyway, he walked me home, apologizing profusely, of course, and then, that was that.”

         “Wow, unbelieveable,” Melanie said.  “I guess you won’t be seeing him again?” she asked, returning her attention to her menu.

         Heidi took her glass of wine and sipped thoughtfully.  “Oh, I dunno.”

         Sabrina frowned.  “What, are you kidding?  After all that?”

         Heidi smiled.  “I said the date was bad.  I didn’t say anything about the guy. We’re meeting again on Friday, only under less dangerous circumstances.”

         “Oh yea, like what?”

         Heidi’s smile turned wicked and she winked. “We’re going sky diving.”