Chapter 34

We didn't stay up too late Friday night. Mama had two more drinks before we turned in. After saying goodnight to her, I went into my own room and got ready for bed. A lot had happened in a short time. I had been on an emotional roller coaster almost since the time my mother had picked me up and taken me to the club that afternoon. I was beginning to feel the strain of all of the changes that had been set in motion by the words spoken within our family.

Earlier in the evening, although it was after Uncle Bunny and Mr. Parsons had left, I had seen the worried expression on Gerta and Hans' faces. Elena had taken off for the weekend, in order to visit with her mother in Lincoln, and she wasn't expected back until late that Sunday night. I'm fairly confident that all of us there expected Mama to go into one of her depressions that night. When you think about it, to expect anything else would have been nearly impossible, given her past history.

Saturday morning, when I came down for breakfast at eight o'clock, I found Mama in the kitchen with Gerta, and the two of them were laughing, and kidding around with each other about something. I was very surprised to even see her out of her bedroom. Seeing her laughing and in good spirits simply amazed me.

"Good morning Mama. I must say you are in better spirits than I would have thought you'd be."

"Good morning, Kenny. Gerta and I were just discussing that very thing. She says if I continue to be happy all day, she might send Hans away, and we'll keep the house free of men forevermore. She didn't mean you though, Kenny. You can stay until you turn eighteen." Gerta and Mama giggled some more. I knew they weren't serious, especially Gerta.

"I didn't see Mr. Parson's briefcase over by the door. He forgot it when he left last night. Has he been by to pick it up already?"

"Did he, Kenny? Oh, yes, that's right, he did. I sent Hans to return it to him. We wouldn't want him to have to stop working for lack of all his important papers. Oh, Kenny, please don't look so disappointed. I'm sure that Bunny will let you take at least a hundred dollars off of him when we meet him for golf at ten o'clock. If not, I'll give you seven strokes a side, and we'll all play from the red tees."

At seven strokes a side, I was no more than even money to win. I'd have to shoot my best score ever if she did nothing more than shoot par, and she was capable of doing better than that. The day before, when we'd been practicing, she had been hitting her irons with amazing accuracy and consistency.

"I'd need a stroke per hole to bet you any serious money, Mama. I wish Mr. Parsons was playing. I was counting on his Nassau money so that I'd have enough money for Christmas presents this year."

"You're free to phone him and issue him an invitation to join us, Kenny. I'm not the one who asked him to leave. He did so of his own volition. After a good night's rest, I'm starting to believe that this was all for the best. You were right, Kenny. I find the whole situation to be liberating. No more secrets, everything out in the open, for anyone to comment upon or question."

"He wouldn't come now. He's mad at all of us. Are you sure Uncle Bunny is coming? After last night, I doubt it."

"I gave you permission to call Thomas. Tell him we've all called a truce, so that we can enjoy the day together. Remind him that we both need to sign on the new account for the learning center too."

I stood up and asked for his phone number at the apartment in Bolling. Mama didn't remember it, but Gerta gave me the number from memory. I went up to my bedroom, and made the call from there.

"Hello?".

"Mr. Parsons, its Kenny."

"Hello, Kenny. Did she ask you to phone me?"

"She told me I had permission to invite you to play golf with us this morning. She says we can make a truce to enjoy the day. She's in a really good mood today too."

"Thank her for getting Hans to return my bag to me. I appreciate her thoughtfulness. I'm afraid I'll have to decline the invitation for golf though."

"Uncle Bunny will be there too. She never had real sex with him, never since you've been married at least."

"Kenny, I'm not getting into this discussion with you. I already know enough to satisfy me."

"She said you probably wouldn't want to come, but she asked me to remind you that you need to sign on the new account for the learning center."

"She's right about me not wanting to be with her or Bunny today. I'm not certain I could trust myself."

"It takes love to bring her back, that's all that does it. It isn't sex, it's just love and affection, and giving her comfort. I did it too, but it isn't sex. She never had sex with him, not in all the time you've been married. She loves you. Bunny loves you too. I love you too, so you have to quit being mad at all of us for this. We're teeing off at ten o'clock, and you can ride in my cart if you want to."

"I will not be made a cuckold in my own home, not by any man."

"She didn't do what you did with Bea. She didn't have sex with anyone but you. I don't think you should be jealous of Uncle Bunny. When you love somebody, you do what you need to do to help them. You could do what Uncle Bunny does for her, or what I do, but you'd have to love her first. She needs to know that you love her for it to work."

"She told you I wouldn't come play today?"

"No, she didn't say it, but I could tell that she didn't expect you to come play with us. She's in a really good mood today too. She said getting things out last night was a good thing. Today would be a good day to tell her you love her. If you come play golf with us and tell her, I think she might believe you."

"Kenny, are you actually attempting to choreograph all of us to follow some fairy tale script that you have in your mind? Sometimes I get the feeling that you are manipulating all of us to fit into some preconceived mold for you. Is all of this deliberate on your part? Are you trying to make us over into some ideal standard that you've conceived in your head?"

"No. I'm trying to help you get along better. I get along good with you, I get along great with Mama and Uncle Bunny. I'm not the one who keeps getting mad at people all the time. I like it better when we all get along, because no one is sad then, and we can do fun things. Mama needs you to change, and Mama needs to change herself. You could help both those things. I already told you what you have to do."

"Do you know why she's in such a good mood?"

"No, I was surprised to see her out of her bedroom this morning. Maybe it was because she saw how jealous you were last night."

"I was shocked, not jealous."

"I don't think it matters to her. What mattered was that she saw that you care about her. You reacted when you thought she had sex with Uncle Bunny."

"If I show up today do you think it will ruin her day?"

"No, it will surprise her though. It might throw her off her golf game too. She's offered me nine strokes a side with both of us playing from the red tees. If you come, I'll play her for a hundred dollar Nassau. Are you going to give me eight a side again?"

"Not shooting from the red tees, I'm not. Six a side, and we all shoot from the ladies tees."

"You're going to be so sorry. I would have taken four a side from the red tees."

"Kenny, I'm not sure about you, but I'm going to be watching you more closely from now on. After I left last night, I did some thinking too. I was surprised at how angry and disappointed I felt. At one point, driving here, I almost became physically ill. A strong reaction, but definitely an emotional one. What I'm telling you is that what happened last night lent some credence to what you've been telling me. Perhaps there's more than fondness. I'm not at the point where I'm willing to admit that you were right, but I withdraw my assertion that you were totally wrong. Tell Bertie that I'll be there before ten."

When I went back downstairs, I felt good, but also worried. I knew that there could be a very public and angry confrontation. On the other hand, they were all already at odds with each other. It wasn't like it would destroy their perfect harmony. Mostly, I was worried about Uncle Bunny getting beaten up. I walked into the kitchen, and Mama was eating a huge strawberry waffle, with gobs of whipped cream and strawberries on top. It looked like something I would eat, not something for her. When I saw Gerta bringing one over for me, piled even higher with strawberries, juice and whipped cream, I gave her a smile of gratitude.

"Mama, I will take your offer of nine a side for a hundred dollar Nassau, shooting from the red tees."

"All right, Kenny, but you better be prepared to lose. I think I'm going to shoot well today. I'm feeling strong."

"That's good. I talked to dad, and he'll be joining us too." I looked at her as I spoke, wanting to see whether she'd be happy or not at my news. I couldn't tell, but she pushed her waffle away, and went upstairs in a hurry. 'Now I've done it'. That's what I thought at the time. I figured she'd be wrapped up in a blanket and crying in her closet in about as long as it took her to get to her room and pull the covers off of her bed. When I turned back to look at Gerta, her face was as worried as mine must have been. There wasn't anything to do about it now. I started in on my waffle. When I finished it, I decided to eat the rest of hers too. I figured that it would just be going to waste if I didn't eat it. I had just finished eating the last of Mama's waffle when she came back down.

She had made a complete change of outfits and her hair was done differently, and her make up was all in place like for an evening. I smiled, thinking that my dad was going to get bumped into a lot today. I thought it would be a lot of fun to try to keep them apart as much as I could manage out there on the course.

"You look really nice, Mama. Are we ready to go?"

"Thank you, Kenny. I'm almost ready. I hope this skirt isn't too tight for me to play in. Does my hair look all right, Gerta? I hope the wind doesn't come up, or it will get blown all over the place. Kenny, did you tell Thomas that we have a ten o'clock tee time?"

"Yes, I told him. Your hair looks really nice. Soft looking. You're very pretty when you wear it like that. It makes you look younger."

"Thank you. I used to wear it like this when I was younger. The other style is more practical, but I'm in a good mood today, so the heck with practical."

"Be careful you don't hit any balls into the woods today, Mama. As good as you look, someone might follow you in and try to steal some kisses." I saw her blush after I said that to her. I wondered if she was thinking the same thing that I had been thinking. I'd have to talk to Uncle Bunny to get him to help me to keep them apart all day. Bea had told me about anticipation being a strong aphrodisiac. I hoped she was right, because it was going to take a lot of anticipation before they could overcome the obstacles that stood in their way. We left soon after in Mama's car. She was almost bursting with energy. I couldn't remember ever seeing her so filled with, at first I couldn't think of a good name for it, and then I did. She was filled with anticipation. It looked and felt like she could hardly wait to get to the country club. "You must love him a lot, Mama."

"Don't start in with me, Kenny. I'm in a good mood. I just want to relax and have a nice day. I don't want to talk about anything today. It's going to be a good day to play golf. It's nice and cool, and the wind hasn't started blowing yet. Do you think I should have called Bunny to tell him that Thomas is coming?"

"I don't think so. I don't think dad is going to cause any trouble today. He's mostly coming to see you. I think he woke up in a good mood today too. I'm going to drive his cart today, so you need to ride with Uncle Bunny."

"Thomas and I always ride together."

"Not today, it's all arranged. He expects to ride with me today."

"Very well. It might be less awkward that way. It makes no difference to me, not really."

We got to the club before Uncle Bunny and my new father. We had our clubs and some practice balls brought around, but mama was too busy looking at her watch and staring at the driveway to the parking lot to hit that many balls. I hit about sixty balls, getting myself nice and loose, and I was pleased to see that I was striking the ball particularly well. It was almost jumping off my club heads. I was consistently hitting my five irons one hundred and sixty yards in the air, and straight and true as well. I was planning on making a real killing on all my bets during the coming round.

After not paying any attention to golf, or hitting any practice balls, as soon as dad showed up, Mama started hitting balls one after another. He came over, bringing his clubs up from the pro shop himself.

Good morning Kenny, Bertie, thank you for inviting me. Thank you for sending Hans up with my briefcase too. That was thoughtful of you, Bertie."

Good morning Thomas. I didn't notice you drive up. It's such a nice day for golf. Bunny should be here shortly, so you better get warmed up. We're about ready, right Kenny?"

"Well, I am at least. Doesn't Mama look nice today, dad? I told her she better stay out of the woods today, looking like that, or somebody might try to kiss her."

"Yes, Bertie, I was about to say that your hair looks good that way. Going back to the style you used to wear, I see. It's always been one of my favorite styles, very becoming."

"Thank you, I just didn't have time to really fix it up, and I figured we were just out for a relaxing game of golf in any case. The wind will rearrange it anyway."

I had been watching for Uncle Bunny, and when he showed up, I let Mama and dad know it, so that we could start walking down to put our bags on the carts. Uncle Bunny never warmed up. He said he wanted to save all those good shots for the real playing. Uncle Bunny saw us all together, and he sure did look surprised. He actually stopped walking towards us, once he saw that dad was there.

"Bunny, hurry up, we're next up on the tee." I figured this was dad's way of letting Bunny know that he wasn't upset with him over the night before. I guess it took all of us a little by surprise when he did that. This was the only part that I'd been really worried about. If there wasn't going to be any trouble between Uncle Bunny and dad, there probably wasn't going to be any trouble. I had to take dad's bag from him and tie it on next to mine. I could tell he was trying to think up some excuse to put it next to Mama's bag. "Bunny, I'll give you six a side from the red tees for a hundred dollar Nassau, that's all I'll do."

"Fine, Tommy. Six a side should be more than I need today. For some reason I woke up ready to play my "A" game. I'd be surprised if I don't break ninety today. I'm really feeling loose and ready to play. How about you, Kenny, a ten dollar Nassau, I'll only take two a side from you though?"

"I was thinking more like a hundred a side, and I'll give you five a side Uncle Bunny. I'll pay you double if you do break ninety."

"Very well, Kenny. I doubt that you'll like the result though. When I'm feeling good, I often play extremely well. I'll use my newfound wealth to get some lessons from Dave. I'd like to hit my drives a little further. Straighter too."

"How about us, Bertie, are we going to do anything?" Dad was looking at her. I think he was doing one of those double entendre things. Asking her an innocent question, but with a whole different, not so innocent, meaning behind it. I saw Mama smiling at him before she answered,

"I'll give you four a side, Thomas, you can name the amount. We'll all play from the red today."

"Let's play for something more important than money, Bertie. We both have enough money already. Let's make it more interesting. No strokes, we'll play straight up. You can name the stakes we'll play for."

"I'm not sure I know what to play for. What did you have in mind?"

"I'm leaving it up to you, Bertie. You know what you have, and what you want. I'm open to almost any wager."

"Very well, I accept your challenge. When I win, I'll tell you what I want. If you win, I'll give you whatever you want of me. Can you afford to play so high, Thomas?"

"Whatever I want? You're suggesting we play for very high stakes indeed. I accept. You have the honors. Play well."

On the first hole, I made a bogey five, Uncle Bunny had a seven and my mother and father both made par. By the end of nine holes, my parents were dead even, and Uncle Bunny had shot a sixty three. I shot a forty two, and had beat all of them on the front, my parents by a lot, after my handicap was added in. I was already up three hundred dollars, not that any of the rest of them cared. Twice on the front nine, I had watched Mama pulling her putts deliberately. On the ninth hole, dad was on the green about ten feet from the pin in regulation, and he three putted from there, losing a hole that he would have halved with a two putt. Both of them had scored forty three on the front. I expected more of the same on the back. For the whole front nine I'd managed to keep them pretty well separated except on the tees and on the greens. I'd already seen them bumping into each other at least fifteen times on the front nine. Uncle Bunny was having a good time too, just relieved that he wasn't a party to anything that was taking place between those two.

I shot a thirty nine on the back nine, including an eagle on the par five twelfth hole. From the ladies tees, it was only four hundred and fifty three yards from tee to green. I hit a monster tee shot that seemed to stay up forever, and then got a whole lot of forward roll when it landed on the down slope in the center of the fairway. I had one eighty to the green. I hit a three iron right in the center of the club face, and it hit just in the front part of the green and rolled up to within ten feet. The putt was a little uphill, but almost dead straight in. I got pretty excited when I made it, because it was the first eagle I'd ever made. My final score of eighty one was my best round of golf too. Uncle Bunny fired a sixty on the back nine to tally a one twenty three for his round.

Mom and dad were neck and neck after seventeen holes. Each one would think up new, and not very convincing, ways to lose to the other, so that the lead shifted back and forth. It was even only because dad had missed a five inch putt that would have won him the seventeenth. Mama tried to concede his putt, but he reminded her that she had missed one even shorter, three holes before.

The eighteenth hole at the country club is the signature hole. It is a long par four with the tee shot coming out of a long narrow chute of trees on both sides of the fairway. It opens up after about one hundred twenty yards, to a wide fairway. It stays wide until about seventy yards in front of the green where it narrows again and is protected on either side by tall trees. If you make it through the first chute, you have to fire an accurate second shot in order to find yourself sitting on the green. It was an easy hole to mess up. The pin was set up on the right side and in the back, and there was a trap right behind the flag fifteen feet beyond the pin. This was the kind of hole where any par was a very good score. All of the money matches were settled. Uncle Bunny had won the back nine from dad, and had just clinched the eighteen, after losing the front nine. He had taken a hundred dollars from dad. I won nine hundred dollars, three hundred from each of them.

"Well, Bertie, it comes down to this one hole, doesn't it? I propose we reverse the bet here. The loser gets to ask for whatever they want from the winner. What do you say?"

"I say no. In golf, the winner gets to choose, not the loser."

"Isn't it obvious yet that neither of us wants to win? The idea of throwing the match holds no appeal to me. This way, the winner gets what he wants, which is to have the loser make the choice."

"Very well. As long as you put it that way, I guess I can go along."

They both hit nice tee shots, but neither one hit it long enough that they could take a lofted club and hit it over the trees. Both would need to punch it to get on the green. Mama hit first, because she was farther back. She hit in front of the green, but her ball plugged a little and didn't roll like it should have. She ended up right behind the fringe, but in a place where she could make a fairly routine up and down. She was disappointed that her ball had gotten bogged down like it did. Dad's ball was about thirty yards closer, but he was more to the left. He could gamble with a strong six iron and hope he could hit it high enough that it would clear the trees and still hold the green when it hit. From where he was, if it didn't hold, he'd wind up in the trap. If it had been me, I'd have punched up into the center of the green and hoped that Mama missed her up and down. From where he was, he could feed right back towards the pin, because of the nice angle his drive had made possible.

"I'd usually play this the safe way Bertie, but not today. This is too important for me to be playing safe." I watched him take a seven iron out of his bag. Oh boy! he was going to take the trap out of play with the seven. Now he was sure to get high enough, but would he have enough club to carry the distance to get on the green? If not, he'd have a hard time salvaging his par. I looked over at my mother, and I could tell that she had been counting on him playing safe. I watched the way he set his stance, standing a little bit closed and then putting his back foot back even more. He was planning on taking it up high, but over the trees on the right side with a slight hook. With him doing it that way, he wouldn't need to carry quite so far to make it onto the green, but was less likely to get close to the pin on the back right that way too. Even worse, if his ball didn't take the hook, he'd wind up in the rough, over on the right side of the green, with little green for him to work with.

He wasn't just gambling, he was trying an all or nothing shot. If he hit it perfectly, it could roll close enough for a good uphill birdie opportunity. I sure wouldn't want to try that shot, not if I was playing for anything important to me. You had to be desperate to even think about trying it that way. I looked over at Mama just when she was wiping the sweat off of her hands, onto her pretty skirt. Dad took his practice swing, and then moved in a little closer to the ball. He put everything into that swing, making sure that he had it plenty high enough that distance wasn't going to be his problem. The ball lifted up right away, and, at first, I thought he hadn't gotten enough on it, but it kept climbing.

From where I was, sitting in the driver's seat of the golf cart, I couldn't tell if the hook was taking or not. If it didn't hook, he was dead for that hole. I lost sight of the ball because of the high arc he had it on, so I jumped out of the cart, and was able to pick it up again. It was hooking, but it needed to hook more if he was going to catch any part of the green. He had the distance too, that was for sure. Now, all he needed was the hook, to make his direction good too. It hit about pin high, over on the right fringe, but the spin made it bounce almost straight left, towards the stick. It went past the flag and came to rest perhaps six or seven feet from the hole. A great shot, especially for one that was hit under so much pressure.

"That was really an excellent result, Thomas, well struck indeed."