Chapter 29

At six the next morning my alarm went off as usual. After the exercises and morning run, I had what to Mum was real breakfast. This was bacon and two eggs over easy, hash brown potatoes along with wheat toast and orange juice. I was ready for my golf match with Sidney!

I was at our meeting spot at the school front door at nine as Coach had requested. The bus was on time, so we arrived at the country club in short order. My first stop was to see Mr. Hasting’s. I asked how much I owed. It wasn’t too bad, nine fifty. I thanked him, and he said anytime.

If I wanted to come back again I would be allowed to sign now that they had an account set up. It had to be in the season though. I told him I doubted that would happen.

“I don’t know Rick; some of those girls were giving you the eye.”

I would love to quiz him on who they were, but I had to get ready to play.

Our team loosened up on the practice tees; then worked on putting to see how the greens would feel today. I was starting to appreciate how much the weather and time of day could influence a putt. This time Bellefontaine won the honors. I waited for John to tee up, everyone just stood there.

“Hey Rick, you were low man last week, you’re up first.”

Wow, from last in the line up to first in one week!

I sent it a country mile in the air, then it rolled and rolled. The ball had to have gone two hundred and seventy-five yards up the middle.

One of the guys from Sidney said, “It’s going to be a long day.”

Tim cracked, “Or a short one, depends on how you look at it.”

I set a course record of sixty-three. Tim lost his match but we won overall. Tim ended up having a long day as those sand trap demons got even with his smart remark.

When the scores were tallied the word went around the club like wildfire. Men I had never met were shaking my hand. Pictures were taken, golf balls signed. It was amazing.

I had never given it a thought about what would happen if I was good at this game. After everything else I had been through it was easy to bask in the attention without getting carried away.

I had just packed my clubs away when the inevitable happened. There stood George Weaver and a photographer.

George shook his head and said, “I told your parents they should keep you home.”

So now my picture would be in the Examiner again. At least I hadn’t killed anyone.

After George had asked questions like, “How does it feel to set a course record?”

Of course, my answer was Mr. Weaver, “It feels great but I couldn’t have done it without the training Coach Stone has provided and the support of my teammates.”

You could have knocked Mr. Weaver and Coach Stone over with a feather when I said that.

“Where did you learn to give answers like that,” Mr. Weaver inquired?

“How soon we forget. I have won three rodeos including a National title, plus have hung around with John Wayne and Elvis while they were interviewed,” I replied with a straight face.