12 AM

The clock was stuck on that time for days now and had be stubbornly set in its ways, being right twice every day was getting to its ego and it really shone through with its refusal to start running again. The only thing that ever let him know what time it truly was would be the knock on his door that happened every day at the same time, 3:30 PM exactly on the dot.

"You've received a letter, but its from a place called New York."

Neither of the men had ever heard of this place before, but the details within the letter at hand spoke of many opportunities in this mysterious country of New York. Money seemed to be ripe for the picking there and he would no longer need to rely on knocks at the door to tell the time, could this be the break that he needed?

Collecting many of the random tid-bits around his home, he said goodbye to his aging parents and family turtle and with only a single wistful look back continued trudging forward. There were no airports that would take him to this new land, and the only passage he was able to find was a man with a boat who was listed on the note that was sent to him.

"You e'er take this journey before? It's perilous. Dangerous. All sorts of words like that."

Knowing all of this, he shook his head and got on. It was only a twenty minute ride and they were there, which was kind of confusing to the man but whatever, some people are a little bit hyperbolic. Once they arrived, he stepped on to the shore and noticed that it looked a lot like where he was from but just a little bit dirtier. Strange.

3:30 PM

All of the clocks in the city were working and they all read the same time! It was the perfect time of the day, and it was also the first day of his new life. While he walked down a couple of streets he heard some clashing in one of the buildings nearest to him, one would almost call it frightening but he tended to walk into scary situations and not away from them.

Stepping inside the first thing that he noticed was that there were many alleys and all seemed to have the same exact game going on. It was a strange one, but something about it seemed comforting to him... almost as if this is where he was meant to be. Walking further towards the action at hand he came across a group of young men all seemingly circled around one another holding strange objects in their hands.

"Hey... what do you want?"

"..."

"Why isn't he talking? Stop staring at us."

"Hey, leave the kid alone. He looks scared. You wanna try, kid?"

Never experiencing anything like this before, he took the ball that was being extended to him and gave it a throw. It was rough goings at first, but after a few more attempts he knocked down his first official pin. It was a thrilling experience that he couldn't quite explain in the moment but it was the first of many.

3:30 PM

Weeks, months, potentially even years had passed and he spent most of his time at this very same alley throwing the very same ball day after day and hour after hour. Arriving at 3:30 every day, the rest of the afternoon would dissipate in what felt like seconds while strikes and spares dropped in a bountiful manner.

Learning how to speak English mostly from the men at the alleys he soon found himself doing small runs of marijuana to make enough money to continue affording his bowling addiction. His legend spread and so too did his aptitude for finding new ways to make cash in a dire attempt to keep knocking down more pins. Stealing from old ladies, and even robbing the occasional 7-11 became normal for him.

Things were going great for the bowler, until the day it all changed... at 3:30 PM.