First came the flood, then the black mold. The owner of a Maryland duckpin bowling center is fighting for the future of his business.

There aren’t many things creepier than an empty bowling alley. Lights on, floors gleaming, the background hum of the pin-setting machinery — but no humans. Well, one human. His name is George Sloan and he owns White Oak Duckpin Lanes. The Silver Spring bowling center would normally echo with the sounds of action. But the lanes have been closed since November — the victim, Sloan says, of some bad luck and an unfeeling landlord, the B.F. Saul Co.