As a quick refresher from part one, I was to meet up with my good friend and his wife along with a few of their friends at a bowling alley to enjoy some wholesome recreational activity! Wholesome does not begin to describe what took place. Far from it.
As I should have done in the first part, I will name my good friend Tad. I showed up at the bowling alley a little early, before anyone else got there. I was just sitting at the grungy bar area having a drink waiting for Tad to show up when I heard a loud holler from about 50 feet away, "Waaassssup!!!" I looked around and saw Tad and his wife walking up to me. Yes, that was Tad who yelled that out. From the smell of things, it appeared that Tad had gotten the jump on me in alcohol consumption too. His wife(I'll call her Amy) just gave me a smirk of a smile with no verbal hello. At the time, I just figured that she was upset with Tad for drinking beforehand. Anyways, we got in line to get our shoes. Of course there were no size 11's anywhere to be found so it was either a very loose or very tight shoe that I was going to have to put up with. I tried on both a size 10.5 and 11.5 and settled with the 11.5's excess slack. Like I am a pro bowler or something, yeah right.
We waited for about 15 minutes or so until two lanes opened up. Tad and I were just shooting the proverbial $hite all the while Amy kept to herself. I finally had to ask her why she was being so quiet. She said that she was not feeling very well, that was all. OK, not a problem. In retrospect, I now know why she was quiet and feeling 'ill.' Tad seemed normal to me, as if our little conversation never happened at the microbrewery. That suited me just fine.
Well, what do you know. Here comes the rest of the gang strolling up. "Jack" and "John" along with their wives and another younger brother(19-20?) come and sit down in the lane area lounge chairs. We all make our introductions and everyone seems very nice and personable. Typical JW first impressions. Jack and his wife, John's wife and the other bro go back to the shoe counter. John stays behind chatting with us. It seems he is not into bowling but just came along because his wife likes to bowl. Uh huh, right. John is a short guy around 5'-2" but has the body of Zeus, I swear to god. For a little guy, he was ripped. I found out later that he works in the drywall trade, that explains it all. Jack didn't work nor did his wife. The only thing he said was that his parents were well off. That explained the "trust fund" tat across his skull, and his wife's gorgeous wedding ring. Just kidding on the tattoo.
Into about the 5 frame, John moves over a couple chairs next to me and starts up the typical where you from, what are you doing here, who do you work for, etc etc. I tell him that I am currently living in Michigan, tell him who I work for and what I am doing out in CA. I am limiting my answers to only yes or no or otherwise making very brief statements with just the facts. I can tell he knows that I am doing this, hence his questions get even more detailed. (I can't help it, I am like that anyways when I am around people I do not know) Then he starts on the pertinent "congregational" questions. I knew he would eventually get to them, every witness when meeting others from out of state do the same thing. They want to know if they may know someone you know from your area and vice versa. I told him that I didn't know a whole lot of people as we are still new to the area. I wasn't prepared to blurt out that I am inactive and do not really care to meet every witness that happens to cross my path. But let's just say that he was already informed of my current situation. He knew exactly where I was from already and what hall my wife and I(sometimes) attend. He played the unknowing inquirer pretty well. He had me fooled up until he really started getting to the 'meat' of the conversation.
"Tad tells me you don't get to attend the meetings or go out in service as much as you would like to these days." That little statement severely broke my bowling concentration for the rest of the night. It is amazing how fast the human brain can assemble information and resolve that information to a strong conclusion. {Ok, I spoke with Tad about my situation, he knows i'm 'weak' in the truth, I do not agree with many of the jw doctrines......computing.....11000101 00110101 10011010 01101101 Oh $hit, this isn't good} Me: "Yeah, well you know John, my job really keeps me busy most of the time and I need to be able to provide for my family."
John: That's well and good, but we really need to keep our eye simple and work at staying strong in the truth.
Me: My eye is simple. I'm not no greedy person or anything. I just happen to love what I do.
John: Have you thought about changing careers?
Me: Nope. And I don't think I ever will.
John: I see. What about your wife? How does she feel about you missing the meetings and not going out in service?
{more rapid brain activity........How in the hell would he know that I do not go out in service? I specifically told Tad that I was not as active as I would like to be, I never told him that I didn't go out anymore. Ahhh, but that's the catch! He already knew this beforehand, and it wasn't from Tad.}
Me: Well, ummm, she is used to it. She knows that I work odd hours all over the state and out of state at times.
John: Thats too bad. Brother "Ball" in your hall wishes you could attend more regularly and make it out in the field ministry to help get rid of your inactive status.
{---Panic of the worst kind sets in here---}
Me: Really? Brother Ball said that? You know him?
John: Umm, not really, but I have spoken with him recently.
Me: O..K. And how exactly did my name come up between the two of you?
John: Well, Tad called me yesterday and said he had a friend in town and that he was concerned about your spiritual welfare. He gave me the name of your congregation and and I got ahold of brother Ball and spoke with him about you.
{I was in total disbelief at this point. Here is how this had to work out ----> Tad calls his parents, asks them to call mine to find out what congregation/suburb/city that we go to. My parents give them the info. Tad gets that info and passes it on to John. John somehow either looks up, calls Bethel, or calls information in MI to get the kingdom hall number and finally reaches bro Ball. Bro Ball spills the beans about me and my status}
Me: It seems that you have done your homework!(saying this with a big grin)
I excused myself after saying that using the 'have to use the restroom' excuse. Here is where the butterflies were kicking in, BIG TIME. I really thought that I was going to be busted when I got home. If Tad told them about my 'inactivity,' what would have stopped him from telling John about my lingering doubts? Here is what I did to get out of this situation: I called into my pager number and set up a page to come in at 4 minutes, tagging it with a 911 at the end. That way, once I was back out in the alley, the page would come in and I could show John that I had to take a call and eventually leave. I also set the sound to go off instead of the vibe. Worked out perfectly. I went back out and I was up again to bowl. I took my time drying my hands and setting myself up on the lane, even waving to the person next to me to go ahead. After my two horrible throws and walking back to my seat, I heard that music playing loudly from my waist. So did everyone else. I excused myself once more to "make a phone call" and said I would be right back. Damned if you know it, I had to go to work! I think John had my little ruse figured out simply because it was almost TOO coincidental to our discussion. He had a look on his face which told me he knew exactly what was going on. The rest of the folks didn't have a clue. In fact, they were sorry to see me go. Everyone chatted it up one last time before I left(I think I ended up staying another 10 minutes or so and throwing one last frame). John spoke up and told the group that they shouldn't keep me any longer as they didn't want to get me into trouble with my company. How nice of him.
When I finally left the bowling alley, euphoria set in and I was high as a kite. "Man Jourles, you really pulled one deeeeep out of yo ass to get out of there!" Technology is just grand. I am so glad to be in this industry. I probably wouldn't have been able to pull that off if I was a janitor or window washer! Two days later, I went to Washington and I didn't get a chance to say goodbye in person to Tad before I left. Oh well, it was probably for the best.
Next... Part 3----> Jourles gets home and finds out who knows what, and what did they did/said