1960: My uncle is the FBI Director

Chapter 262 It's because your laughter is too loud!

Agent Lombardi and Agent Bourne wanted to use their preferred fighting style.

Martin Joseph Cronin insists that the standard playing style developed in the laboratory is the best.

Bernie and Billy Hawke are undecided.

They supported Martin Joseph Cronin before witnessing his demonstration.

But Martin Joseph Cronin's twisted and bizarre posture just now made them suspicious.

Seeing that the Criminal Investigation Department had already determined the order of appearance and were waiting in the rest area, the group temporarily agreed to play according to their own usual style in the first round, and then try the standard style in the second round.

After both sides agreed on the order of appearance, the match began quickly.

Agent Lombardi was the first to appear.

He made a slight adjustment, took a running start, and gracefully flicked the ball out.

Rolling around~
The bowling ball rolled down the lane and hit seven pins.

Agent Lombardi was not satisfied with the result and shook his head.

He picked up another ball, but instead of throwing it immediately, he stood there holding the ball, examined it for a moment, and then began to take a running start before throwing it out.

The dark green bowling ball rolled down the lane like a snake, sweeping away the remaining three pins.

Agent Lombardi clenched his fist and turned around.

Bernie and the others sat up straight and began to applaud.

The detectives from the Criminal Investigation Department also applauded, interspersed with whistles.

Agent Lombardi smiled and walked back to the rest area to sit down, even shrugging towards the Criminal Investigation Department.

Martin Joseph Cronin buried himself in his notebook, writing furiously.

Theodore sat next to him and also made two notes in his notebook.

The Criminal Investigation Department sent out a tall detective.

The tall detective stood up, took another sip of coffee, and then took the ball to the fairway.

He examined the ball briefly, took a running start, and then threw it.

The black bowling ball rolled diagonally toward the edge of the lane, but just before it fell, it spun back.

The bowling ball traced a curved parabola along the lane, sweeping away all 10 pins.

The tall detective turned around and smiled broadly.

Bernie and the others applauded, expressing their sincere praise.

FBI agents are not professional bowlers, nor do they make a living from bowling. They bowl more for entertainment and leisure, and often don't even pay attention to the score.

Being able to hit all the shots is something to be proud of.

Martin Joseph Cronin seemed to be isolated from the world. After quickly marking an 'X' on the score sheet, he lowered his head and began to record the score with a serious expression. Every now and then, he would look up at the fairway or at the tall agent who was still standing in front of the rest area receiving praise from the crowd.

Theodore hesitated for a moment, and instead of taking out a ruler to ask if he could measure his height, stride, and arm length, he estimated it visually and recorded it.

Bernie, along with Billy Hawke and Agent Lombardi, patted Agent Bourne on the shoulder, encouraging him.

Agent Bourne stood still with the ball, paused for a moment, then took a step forward and threw the bowling ball.

He hesitated for a moment when he threw the ball, which caused the bowling ball to veer to one side, knocking down only 4 pins.

An officer from the Criminal Investigation Department loudly reminded him:
"Don't throw the game, Bourne! If you're going to throw it, save it for the official match!"

After he finished speaking, he laughed first, and then his teammates all burst out laughing.

The tall detective who was the first to appear loudly echoed:
"Exactly! It's not worth it for just a cup of coffee!"

"And what you're doing is way too obvious!"

Agent Bourne turned around and looked over there, pointing at them:
"You guys were talking too loudly, it affected my performance!"

The detectives from the Criminal Investigation Department burst into laughter.

The tall agent gestured to his mouth, then pressed down with both hands:

"Quiet down, everyone! Bourne is about to make his move!"

"If you don't manage to get a rebound in a second, it's all your fault!"

The rest area was filled with laughter again, creating a joyful atmosphere.

Theodore turned his head to look at the laughing detectives from the Criminal Investigation Department, then looked at Detective Bourne.

Agent Bourne nodded to them, shook his head, picked up another ball, assumed a ready stance, paused for a moment, took a running start, and threw the second ball.

That was a good shot, the direction was right, but unfortunately his first shot was terrible, and he ended up leaving a pin on the fairway.

Agent Bourne shook his head and walked back to the rest area.

The tall detective laughed loudly:
"This time we're all keeping our mouths shut!"

Agent Bourne pointed at the other person:

"Your laughter is too loud."

Then came some difficult-to-understand words.

His comments about things like "there's wind in the venue," "the fairway is too slippery," and "the ball isn't round enough" drew laughter from everyone.

The rest area was once again filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

The match did not resume immediately.

Agent Bourne sat back down in his chair, still craning his neck to argue with his colleagues from the same department on the other side.

Agent Lombardi and several others chimed in.

Martin Joseph Cronin seemed to be completely absorbed in taking notes in his notebook.

He wrote incredibly fast, his pen swaying so much it was almost a blur.

The two sides had a friendly exchange for quite a while before it ended.

A middle-aged man, slightly shorter than the taller detective, stood up and prepared to throw the ball.

Agent Bourne glanced at the notebook in Theodore's hand, somewhat surprised.

The notebook contained tables drawn by Theodore himself, listing various kinds of data. The data was not accurate and mostly estimated ranges.

He covered his mouth and asked Theodore in a low voice:

"Does this really work?"

Theodore looked up at him, then answered in the same low voice:

"This is just a preliminary statistical analysis of physical data."

"These data may not be directly related to the grades, but there is a high possibility that they are potentially related."

Agent Bourne remained hesitant and glanced again at Martin Joseph Cronin:
"Aren't you remembering the same thing?"

Theodore shook his head:
"Different."

"He built a data model that was directly related to grades, while I recorded data that was not directly related."

Agent Bourne also shook his head, indicating that he couldn't understand it at all.

While the two were talking, the middle-aged man made two pitches.

After the second throw, the wooden bottle in the left front corner wobbled back and forth like a roly-poly toy before quickly standing still.

A collective sigh escaped everyone's lips.

The middle-aged man turned around, looked at Agent Bourne, and pointed to the group in the rest area:
"You're talking too loudly! It's disturbing me!"

Everyone laughed.

The middle-aged man frowned:
"Your laughter is too loud!"

Everyone laughed even louder.

Agent Bourne, disregarding Theodore and Martin Joseph Cronin's notes, retorted with a wry smile:

"I didn't say a word!"

The middle-aged man looked puzzled, turned around and looked at the fairway, then suddenly realized:

"That means there's wind!"

"Or maybe the fairway is too smooth!"

Agent Bourne stood up. "Or maybe there's something wrong with the ball I picked!"

Everyone burst into laughter.

Billy Hawke enters amidst laughter.

He imitated the previous players, holding the ball and standing still for a moment, then took a run-up, threw the ball, and then stumbled.

The bowling ball rolled toward the edge of the lane, quickly rolled off the edge, and into the groove.

Billy Hawke paused, then turned to look at the group in the rest area, his face blank.

He's been cramming on bowling knowledge after get off work lately, and he's watched a ton of bowling matches.

This thing looks pretty simple, but why is it not quite the same as I imagined when I actually use it?
No one laughed at him.

Everyone knew that this was his first time playing.

The tall agent suggested that this ball should not be counted, but rather as a practice ball for Billy Hawke to get used to the feel of the ball.

Agent Lombardi picked up the ball and handed it to Billy Hawke, whispering instructions:
"Don't try to learn Cronin's technique."

"Even he couldn't do it himself."

He patted Billy Hawke on the shoulder.

Billy Hawke held the ball, his mind replaying the games he had watched, his movements clumsy.

He stood there for a while, then took five quick steps, supporting himself on one leg while slightly lifting the other leg's lower leg, swinging his left arm back, and swinging his right arm forward.

The bowling ball flew out of my hand, rolled crookedly in the middle of the lane, and finally crashed into the pins, knocking down seven pins before rolling to the back.

Billy Hawke was only then able to break free from his stillness.

He savored the moment he had just made, shook his head, and returned to the rest area.

Bernie and the others patted his shoulders and arms to comfort him, and Agent Bourne even leaned over to whisper his experience to him.

After recording the data, Theodore stared at Agent Bourne for a while before turning his gaze to the fairway.

The Criminal Investigation Department sent a young man, who knocked down all the remaining pins with his second shot, scoring a rebound.

Next up is Bernie.

Bernie wasn't intimidated and knocked down eight pins with two balls.

He turned around and pointed towards the Criminal Investigation Department:

"Your voices and laughter are too loud!"

The crowd burst into laughter for what seemed like the umpteenth time.

After laughing, the criminal investigation team members got up, took the ball, and with a running start, knocked down seven wooden pins.

As he was throwing the second ball, laughter came from the next rest area, reminding him of the phrase "the laughter was too loud," and he burst out laughing.

He stumbled forward, almost falling to the ground, and the bowling ball slipped from his hand, bounced twice on the lane, and rolled away into the side track.

Agent Bourne clapped his hands:
"7 points! The worst goal of the day has been scored!"

The criminal investigation team waved their hands, indicating that the ball didn't count and wanting to try again for their team.

Agent Bourne and his team shook their heads repeatedly, disagreeing.

After arguing for a while, seeing that Bernie and the others were adamant about not giving in, the Criminal Investigation Department had no choice but to give up.

Next up was Theodore.

Martin Joseph Cronin stopped writing.

He looked up, his gaze fixed on Theodore as if welded to him.

Theodore glanced back at him, then stood in front of the fairway with the ball in his arms.

He inserted his fingers into the hole in the ball, held the ball in his other hand, held it to his chest, stared at the white wooden bottle placed in front of him, and recalled Martin Joseph Cronin's demonstration in his mind.

After watching for a while, he took a half step back, estimated the distance, moved back a little more, and then started walking with his feet touching the ground.

He took five steps, just like Martin Joseph Cronin.

His eyeballing was very accurate; he arrived at the starting point of the fairway just after the fifth step.

He leaned forward, extended his supporting leg backward, swung his arm upward, and released his fingers, sending the dark blue bowling ball flying out of his hand.

Theodore remained still, raising his arm slightly after the bowling ball left his hand.

Martin Joseph Cronin couldn't help but stand up:
"That's it!"

Everyone looked at him, and then they heard an even louder rolling sound coming from the direction of the fairway.

The dark blue bowling ball rolled all the way to the end of the groove on the right...

Martin Joseph Cronin gaped, looking utterly astonished.

Billy Hawke and Bernie exchanged glances, increasingly skeptical of his methods.

Detective Bourne and Detective Lombardi exchanged a glance, then looked towards the Criminal Investigation Department on the other side.

Theodore withdrew from his position, stood still, and stared into thought at the 10 perfectly good pins at the end of the fairway.

He turned around, picked up the second ball, and threw it again using the method of Martin Joseph Cronin.

The ball grazed the edge and knocked down 6 wooden pins.

Back in his seat, Martin Joseph Cronin immediately grabbed his notebook and came over to Theodore, analyzing where his movements weren't up to standard, where he hadn't done them properly, and where he could have done them better.

Agent Bourne also joined in, and surprisingly, he didn't question Martin Joseph Cronin's methods, but instead quietly shared his experience with Theodore.

After the three of them finished their conversation, it was soon Theodore's turn.

Theodore stood with the ball, recalling the stick figures in Martin Joseph Cronin's notebook and the methods taught by Agent Bourne, and then strode forward.

It's the same five steps, the same awkward posture.

The bowling ball flew out of my hand again, rolled in the middle of the lane, crashed into the pins, and knocked down 6 pins.

Encouraging applause rang out from behind.

But Theodore was not satisfied with this.

Martin Joseph Cronin was also dissatisfied.

He stood up and reminded Theodore:

"You need to hook your fingers upwards! Make the ball spin after it leaves your hand!"

Theodore tried to clench his fingers, but the movement felt even stranger, and he almost fell.

The bowling ball flew out of my hand and knocked down the three pins to my right.

competition is over.

When the total scores are calculated, the Criminal Investigation Department wins without a doubt.

To speed up the pace of the game and increase its fun, they use individuals as a round rather than teams.

Once Agent Lombardi and the tall agent have both thrown their balls, the first round is over.

After the middle-aged man and Agent Bourne finished throwing the ball, the second round was over.

Theodore paid for the coffee.

The group sat together and chatted for a while, summarizing their experiences before starting the second round.

In the second round, Theodore and his teammates improved their scores, but still lost to the Criminal Investigation Department.

Then the third game...

Before the fourth round began, the tall detective raised an objection:
"Let's change the prize to cigarettes."

He pointed to the coffee on the table that he had taken a sip from, and two other coffee cups:

"If we keep drinking like this, none of us will get any sleep tonight."

So after the fourth round, Billy Hawke and Agent Lombardi went out and bought barbecue, pizza and cigarettes.

The group ate and played games at the same time. After the fifth round, it was almost midnight.

Since they had to go to work tomorrow, everyone decided to call it a day.

Theodore and his team failed to win a single game from start to finish.

Before parting, the detectives from the Criminal Investigation Department praised the delicious barbecue and pizza, and extended an invitation to continue training together the next day.

(End of this chapter)