Chapter 37

Golf practice was a surprise, putting! We did spend some time on the driving range, but most of it was putting. Coach also started talking about the Sectional Tournament at Bowling Green, Ohio. It would be played at the Stone Ridge Golf Course.

Stone Ridge is 7054 yards from the Gold tees. So while not a long course it is still in the range the professional golfers play. There would be one team from each school.

The team which wins the tournament will advance to the District. The four top individuals who aren’t on the winning team will also advance. At the District level, it is the same advancement to the State.

That way if the team doesn’t make it to the State Championship the top individuals still have a chance of competing and winning. Coach was looking straight at me when he said that. No pressure here.

Dinner was spaghetti which we all loved. Then to top it off Mum had made a trifle. Her version was a biscuit base covered by a can of fruit cocktail topped with vanilla pudding. The canned fruit juices would be allowed to soak into the biscuit before she poured the hot vanilla pudding, then it was allowed to set up. This was my favorite dessert of all time.

That night I read about a guy who didn’t age but had a picture in his attic that did. It was really creepy, but kind of neat.

Thursday was cool, but clear so I was able to run once more. The radio this morning was talking about Bobby Fischer winning the United States Chess Championship at age 14. I hadn’t paid any attention to that, but that explained why the Chess Club at school had gotten so popular. I played, but not close to that well.

The six-week tests were a yawn. My biggest problem was in American History. There were one hundred and fifty questions. They were all fill in the blank questions. I finished one hundred and forty-nine of them in thirty minutes and sat there for the next fifteen minutes trying to remember who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Of course right after I turned my test in I thought of Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Golf practice was playing the front nine. It was fun as there were few people on the course. The fairways and greens were pretty beat up from the summer, but the rough’s condition wasn’t too bad, it was rough as usual.

It certainly added a dimension when my putt would take an unexpected bounce or even a change of direction, because of a previous ding in the green. I would have to pay special attention to this on Saturday.

The big news at dinner was that Denny announced he was going to try out for the middle school basketball team. We thought he would do well, his accuracy was incredible. Eddie was champing at the bit for his time to play. He was just as accurate as Denny and would be taller.

Mary was very quiet. Mum asked her why she wasn’t talking.

Mary asked, “Mum do they have teams for Princesses in school.”

Mum thought for a moment and told her, “Yes they do, they are called Cheerleaders.”

“Then I will be a Cheerleader.”

We all agreed she would be the best Cheerleader ever. What sort of monster were we creating?