Chapter 38

Saturday morning I was up bright and early as usual. I doubt if I could sleep in anymore even if I wanted to. Dad was drinking his morning coffee as I came back from my run.

My cheerful, “Good Morning,” received a grunt in return.

I interpreted that to mean, “Shut up and leave me alone, you horrible cheerful person.”

Taking this hint I took my shower. I still couldn’t figure out how to make the showerhead adjustable without leaking.

We met at the school as usual for the bus to the country club. The whole team was up for the match with Marysville. We loosened up on the practice green and driving range.

The Marysville team started at the same time as we did. In all the other golf matches we played everyone had been polite to each other. The Marysville group was different.

They started making comments about how they were going to kick our butts. Then they got personal about our appearances, and how we hit the golf ball. If a ball went slightly wrong they laughed and pointed out what losers we were. Our respective Coaches were drinking a cup of coffee inside the club, so they heard none of this.

I hadn’t hit anything other than my irons. I decided to keep it that way. I was feeling limber enough that I wouldn’t use my driver until I teed off. My actions would be my statement. One by one I pulled my teammates aside and explained my plan. We wouldn’t respond to their taunts other than to beat the crap out of them.

Our team went from looking frustrated to almost smug. This got to the Marysville team and they redoubled their efforts. The more they did the less we said and the more we smiled. When we lined up for the tee toss to see who had the honors, we won with the tee pointing towards our team.

Since I currently had the best handicap I was first up. The first hole was a three hundred and fifty-four dog leg to the right. The shot I made I had tried on Thursday so I knew I could make it. I drove the ball and it landed curving into the dogleg.

The ground was hard enough it rolled almost to the apron of the green. After my follow-through, I turned to the Marysville player who was up next and said, “Talk is cheap.”

Even that comment was enough to get me taken aside by Coach and told to watch my sportsmanship.

My plan worked, the Marysville player shanked his shot to the left badly. It cleared the lady’s tees enough that his own teammates didn’t have to tell him to wear a dress but it was close.

John Scott from our team was up after that and he hit a career distance line drive approaching two hundred and forty yards. That was the end of the day for Marysville.

Marysville never got their act together. Their Coach started berating them to the point, that we were embarrassed for the other team. At least we were learning where their speech habits were formed.

The icing on the cake was when we walked up to the first green. My ball had rolled directly in front of the green. The hole was nicely centered in the front of the green that day, so I had an easy hit and run up a slight slope for a two-under eagle.

My opponent had a double bogey. I would like to say I set another course record that day, I didn’t; I only tied it.

All four members of our team won our matches. What I found interesting was when we were shaking hands after the match the Marysville Team Captain, who was looking down at his shoes, quietly said, “I’m sorry about the early talk, we were told it would mess your minds up and get you off balance for the match.”

I took that to mean their Coach had told them to use that garbage. Was garbage talk going to be the way games were played in the future? What lesson would that teach young athletes?

How they talked didn’t matter, we won!

Needless to say, the ride back to town was loud and cheerful. John Scott filled Coach in on the way Marysville had talked on the practice green.

Coach told us that he was proud of our reaction. He even forgave me for my comment on the first tee.

“Rick, at least you only made a general comment, it wasn’t personal to anyone there.”

Then he burst into a big smile and told me, “Good team leadership.”

I hadn’t said anything to the team about my birthday so I escaped without any big scenes. That all changed when I got home.

It started out quiet with soup and hotdogs for lunch. After that, the house started smelling good as Mum baked my Birthday cake. As usual, it was my favorite white cake with lots of icing. Of course, there would be ice cream with it.

While Mum was baking Denny and Eddie were putting up streamers. Mary was already practicing at pin the tail on the donkey. When it was time all she would need was a blindfold and a tail to pin. In the meantime, she was nailing it with her finger. She never missed it once.

Dad was having another one of his thousand or so cups of coffee a day. It may not be that many, but it seems like it. I was a disappointment to both Mum and Dad. I didn’t like coffee or tea. Just don’t get between me and a Nehi grape soda.

After lunch, it was time for the annual height measurement. I would be the first to be measured in this house. At our old house, we would go to a closet and stand in the doorway, and Mum would mark off our height on the edge. She would then measure our height with a tape measure.

Our names; date and height would then be written on the mark. My birthday was the first at our new home, so my mark was the first up in the hall closet.

I had to paint over the measurements on Detroit Street and remembered feeling funny about painting over our lives. Now a new tradition was starting. I started it outright. I had grown another inch.

I was now six foot three inches tall. That immediately got Dad dragged into the fray. We were placed back to back with Mum holding a yardstick level. I was now taller than my Dad. He reminded me he could still kick my butt. I didn’t doubt that for a second.

Not to be left out Mary showed us how she had grown. Since her birthday was in June she wasn’t eligible for official measurement. What she did show the whole family was that she could now sit at the table and eat using only the Sears & Roebuck catalog.

She had removed the thinner J. C. Penny catalog from the stack and was able to reach her plate just fine. Why very soon she would be able to remove the four folded brown paper shopping bags from under the Sears catalog!

When the thundering herd went outside to play for the afternoon Mum gave me two letters. This was unusual because we always opened and shared birthday cards at the party after dinner.

“I thought you should see these without the other kids present. What they don’t know they won’t talk about.”