Dan
by Ronda

Dan followed Mart into the room, his dark eyes scanning the room with a deceptive calm honed through years of desperate alertness. He shrugged out of his new leather jacket – a birthday gift from his uncle – draping it casually across the back of his chair and using the motion to shift the chair slightly so his back would be to the wall. As the other Bob Whites settled into the chairs around him, he took careful note of the rest of the participants: One man, five women and a seriously bored looking kid chomping his gum in the most obnoxious manner possible. Mom was a hottie of a blonde, if a little flustered. Dan smothered a grin as the boy’s mother made him spit out his gum. Ah, memories. With a little effort, Dan pulled his attention to psychology student John Jackson as the man gave them the directions.

Simple enough. Watch the video and count how many times the white-shirted team passed the basketball. Dan leaned back in his chair as John pressed the play button and stepped aside. The video began, and his attention was riveted on the action.

Cool. Chicks. The one with glasses is a little on the skinny side, but the short one is stacked. Wait, there are two balls. One. Two. Is she wearing a bra? Hooyah! Blonde hottie in the black is free floating. Small, but bouncy. Eight. Nine. What the…? No way. Twelve. Thirteen. Wait. Where’d bouncy go? Fifteen. Sixteen. Is that it?

The screen went black, and John turned on the lights. Dan turned over his survey, picked up his pencil and began.

How many passes were made by the white shirt team?
16.

Did you find yourself counting the passes from the black shirt team together?
Just the first two.

How hard was it for to separate the passes from the two colors?
Not too bad, although the fact that they moved in a pattern was distracting.

Did you notice the color of the curtain at the start?
Red.

Did you notice the color of the curtain at the end?
Orange.

Did you notice anyone leave the group?
The pony-tailed blonde in black with no cleavage left.

Did you notice how many girls were on the video?
Six.

Did you notice how many boys were in the video?
None – unless the guy in the gorilla suit was a dude

Dan put down his pencil and looked around. Brian seemed anxious, beads of sweat on his forehead as he focused on his answers. Dan looked around the room again, but everyone else seemed to be concentrating on the survey. He read over his answers again. Was the curtain really orange at the end? Or maybe it was gold? Or yellow. Diana would know. Honey, too, probably right down to the shade. He grinned and shrugged. Maybe they had more difficult questions. With a sigh, he rose from his seat and handed in his paper.