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It took a ping-pong ball brushing against her cheek and Isabelle almost knocking her over for Nasrin to accept Virginia’s advice about watching from the doorway rather than the couch in the middle of the room.
It happened that all four balls went towards one side of the room, leading to all four players converging at the countertop to hit them at once. The tiny plastic projectiles now sailed towards Nasrin. Without thinking, she made a pointing motion with her right hand, changing their trajectory to the flatscreen tv mounted above the window on the third wall of the room. They hit dead center.
The players froze, letting the balls fall where they may. They didn’t move until the sound of bouncing plastic stopped.
Jason dared approach the TV first. “The glass is still smooth. Nothin’ looks wrong.”
Alex looked around for the room for the remote. “Someone turn it on and check the color.”
Isabelle went to the cabinet under the window and did so. She also turned on the DVD player.
The random movie trailers on the disc played without any glitches in the picture.
They all allowed themselves to breathe and struck various poses of relief.
Virginia said, “I think we better play normal for a while.”
A chorus of “Yeah” filled the room.
Alex picked up a single ball while the two teams took their places on either side of the table.
Nasrin watched them paddle a ball back and forth without a miss for about five serves until she found her voice. “You mean you can all actually play?”
They all replied, “Well yeah,” without stopping the game.
Isabelle said, “We’ve played this game every Sunday since we were ten. We’ve had plenty of practice.”
“But after that long you’d get bored playin’ normal too,” Jason added.
Nasrin shrugged. “I suppose I would. Well, in that case…” Her eyes glowed gold and twenty ping-pong balls appeared above the table. She stepped away quietly as they fell, smirking at the gasps and the sounds of plastic spheres flying at random.
Semi-Random Reflections 
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