Princess Dragon was bored. Sooooooooo bored.

“Galoof. What are we going to do?” Asked Princess Dragon.

“Well, you could do the laundry.” Suggested Galoof.

“No, I want to do something fun.” Said Princess Dragon.

“Oh, you could mow the lawn.” Galoof replied.

“Galoof, I said fun” Princess Dragon insisted.

“Tax season is coming up, you could file…”

“Galoof, really!” Princess Dragon was starting to get upset.

“Okay, okay, do you want to go bowling?” Asked Galoof?

“Yeah! That’s it!” Princess Dragon jumped up and down and gave Galoof a big hug.

Galoof and Princess Dragon headed out towards the bowling alley. It was a nice, sunny day and they decided to walk on the nice, sunny sidewalk. Because it was so sunny, Princess Dragon and Galoof were thirsty by the time they got to the bowling alley.

Luckily, there was a water fountain just inside the bowling alley doors. Galoof stood on his tiptoes and took a couple quick sips of water. Sip-sip-sip. Princess Dragon bent down as far as she could and took a couple of big gulps. Glup-glup-glup.

Since they already had water, Princess Dragon decided they should have some food. So they ordered popcorn from the concession stand. And pizza, and a hot dog, and some nachos. Princess Dragon and Galoof sat down in one the lanes and had their snack. Galoof ate two nacho chips. Princess Dragon ate the popcorn, omw-nom-nom, the pizza, nom-nom, the hot dog, the rest of the nachos, nom-nom-nom-nom and a napkin that was laying too close to the popcorn. Blech, napkins are not tasty.

Since Galoof was full and Princess Dragon was less hungry, they decided it was time to go bowling. They walked up to the counter and they checked out a lane for a round. They needed to rent special shoes so that Galoof’s feet and Princess Dragon’s claws did not scuff the bowling alley floor. Galoof wore a size eleven, and Princess Dragon wore a size one hundred and eleven. They also picked out bowling balls. Galoof picked a green, sixteen pound ball and Princess Dragon picked out a pink ball that was also sixteen pounds. Sixteen pounds is the heaviest bowling ball they had at the bowling alley. Princess Dragon had to grip the ball very carefully with her claw because her claw was so big.

Princess Dragon and Galoof walked to the lane for their first frame. Galoof wrote their names on the scorecard.

“Now, Princess Dragon, there are ten frames and you want to knock all ten pins down in each frame.” Galoof explained. “I’ll show you.”

Galoof picked up his green ball, walked toward the alley, and rolled it at the pins. CRASH! the ball knocked over all but three of the pins. A big machine came down and picked up the three pins that were still standing. It swept the other pins away.

“There, I scored a seven on my first roll.” Galoof said, as he wrote a seven on the scorecard. “Ten minus three is seven. Now I roll again.”

Just then, Galoof’s green ball popped out of the ball return and rolled over. Galoof picked it up and rolled it down the lane again. This time it knocked over all but one of the pins. The big machine came down and swept away all the pins.

“A nine! Not bad for my first frame.” Galoof grinned as he wrote a two next to the seven on his scorecard. “Now it is your turn.”

Princess Dragon had never bowled before. She picked up her pink ball between two of her claws and looked at Galoof.

“It’s easy, you just try to knock over the pins with that ball.” Galoof encouraged her.

“Oh!” Said Princess Dragon. And she walked down the lane and swung the ball into the pins.

“No Princess Dragon!” Galoof shouted “Not like that. You have to stay behind the line and roll the ball at the pins.

“But I knocked them all over. Isn’t that what we are supposed to do?” Princess Dragon was embarassed.

“Yes.” Explained Galoof “But you also have to follow the rules. I’ll show you again.”

Galoof picked up his green ball, and rolled it at the pins again. He knocked them all down.

“Strike!” Galoof exclaimed. He wrote an X on the scorecard for his second frame. “A strike means I knocked down all ten pins, but I get more points depending on how many pins I knock down on my next turn.”

It was Princess Dragon’s turn again.

She knew she had to stay behind the line and roll the ball. But how could such a big dragon roll such a tiny ball? She tried to do it the way Galoof did, but the ball just got stuck on her claw. She shook it off, and it fell on the ground and rolled down a little track on the side of the lane, right past the pins. It didn’t knock any of them over.

“That’s called a gutter. You rolled a gutter ball.” Galoof said. “But don’t worry, you get to try again.”

Now Princess Dragon was nervous. She did not want another gutter ball, but she still did not know how she would roll her tiny, pink ball. She tried picking it up between two of her claws and flicking it with a third. The ball launched across the alley and landed five lanes away. The people at that lane did not look very happy. Princess Dragon was embarrassed.

“That does it! I just can’t bowl!” Princes Dragon pouted. And she started to walk out the door.

“Wait!” Said Galoof. “I have an idea!”

Galoof whispered something to the bowling alley operator. That is the man who works at the bowling alley. The operator nodded and pushed a button. Two long boards popped up next to the gutters on the side of the bowling lane.

“They call those bumpers.” Said Galoof. “They stop the ball from falling into the gutter.”

“But I still don’t know how to roll the little ball.” Princess Dragon cried.

“Don’t worry.” Galoof reassured her. He walked to the side of the alley and came back with a triangular ramp. He put it down in front of the lane.  “You can use a bowling ramp! You put the ball on it and roll it down the ramp to get started.”

“But Galoof! How am I supposed to roll the ball down the ramp?” Princess Dragon wondered.

“Use your tail!”

That sounded brilliant. Princess Dragon put her little pink ball on the top of the ramp carefully and whacked it with her tail. The ball rolled the ramp, down the lane, and knocked over some pins.

“Yey!” Princess Dragon cheered.

“You did it!” Galoof shouted.

They had eight more frames to bowl. Princess Dragon used her ramp and knocked down 49 pins total. Galoof knocked down 82 pins, but because of his strike he scored 92.

Princess Dragon and Galoof had a great time at the bowling alley. Would you like to go bowling with your friends?