Dart Related Novel Excerpt

I am up to 47,500 words, only 2,500 from my goal! I will probably finish tomorrow morning. Darts is not the primary focus of the novel I am writing, but two of the characters in my novel happen to play darts on a league team. I am including an excerpt from a part where one character is convincing the other to come out and play on his dart team for the first time. It kind of reminds me of when I joined my first league team, which was at Oscar's Bar in Metairie, LA, which is a New Orleans suburb, over 10 years ago. A lot of my team mates scattered after Katrina and I have not heard from them since. Jimmy B and the guys, if you are out there, this one's for you. Here is the excerpt:

The next morning I wandered into Ash's office and he was talking on his cell phone.

"What do you mean Scotty's dropping out?" he said into the phone. "That will make us a man short." Ash ran his fingers through his hair and paced. "Well I guess family comes first and all."

Ash turned and noticed me and held his hand up, and then motioned to a chair. I sat.

"Alright Tom. See you Tuesday" Ash said and flipped his small black cell phone closed.

"Hi Joe. How are things going?" he asked.

"Not bad. I am starting to get a handle on things." I said.

Ash eyed me up and down, almost like he was inspecting a used car. He walked up to his dart board and pulled out three darts. "What do you do on Tuesday nights?" he asked.

"Nothing really, I just spend time with Peg at home and have dinner." I answered.

"Ever play darts before?" he asked, as he walked a few feet back to a well-worn part of the carpet.

"When I did a little bartending I picked them up once in a blue moon." I said.
Ash aimed one of the darts at the bristle board. His arm slowly drew it back towards his eye, and then swept forward in a fluid motion. The dart arced towards the board and thunked audibly as it landed right next to the bullseye.

"Not bad" I said.

In a steady rhythm, he threw the next two darts. The second one hit the green outer portion of the bullseye. The third one hit the flight at the end of the second dart, and glided right into the center bullseye.

"You're pretty good I see" I said. Ash walked up to the board and pulled the darts out, handing one to me.

I chuckled. "You don't want a hole in your wall, do you?" I asked.

Ash pointed out to his bookcase, where a jar of spackle sat on the top shelf. "Don't worry, give it a shot." he said.

I shrugged, walked up to the line and threw the first dart. It was a hands' length away from the bullseye. The next one was a little bit closer, but the third was a little farther away.

"A decent start" he said, nodding his head. "We're one man short on our dart team. If you are interested, we would love to have you come out." he offered.

"I don't know if I would do you much good." I said.

"Nonsense! If we don't put a warm body in there, we will have to forfeit the games. Anything you hit will help. Even if you lose every time we are no worse off." he explained.

"Peg just mentioned that I needed to get out." I said. "That sounds good. Let me just make sure that I didn't have anything planned with my wife, and I will let you know tomorrow." I said.

"Great! It's a lot of fun. Wait until you meet the guys. They are some real characters." said Ash.