Supper: the Shaw loss, eyes shut against Ingersoll

texture · 11 Nov YDAU

• When: 11 Nov YDAU — 1810h supper at the best table; the Court-23 warm-up that same P.M.
• What: At the best table Axford — who lost to Tall Paul Shaw in straight sets and drops to #5-A if he loses to him again tomorrow — stares stonily into space, his motions less like eating than miming eating. The observant players give Hal and Axford sideways looks, wondering whether the still-publicly-undiscussed but much-rumored showdown with Tavis and the urology guy has shaken Inc and Axhandle along some psychic competitive fault-line. When Ingersoll returns on crutches in a new cast, Axford, Ingersoll's B.B. of record, sits with his eyes shut tight, unable to make any conciliatory gesture, while Hal and Troeltsch go over. The same section files him at the far pole of the table's sexual census: Axford has trouble even publicly showering, much less submitting nude to a female's inspection. That afternoon he and Shaw had warmed up way out on #23 for the rematch, ignored by everyone, while the whole Academy watched Hal play Stice.