Chapter 2: Doctor, Doctor

I arrived at one of my favorite local courses on "doctor, doctor" day, planning on getting in some practice and then hooking up with an anonymous group later. It was always kind of fun to just hook up with strangers on a course, since the obnoxious asshole percentage of golfers is usually pretty low at the hacker level, and I was looking forward to the experience, especially since my new found ability to score low was earning me major undeserved respect (and money) from my playing partners.

I was standing on the practice putting area, a nicely pitched, undulating horror story of a green, playing one of my new favorite games "Sink the Impossible Putts", when I heard someone walk up behind me. I proceeded to sink five straight damned near impossible putts, at least as far as my watcher was concerned. At the end a male voice behind me said

"There is no way you can do that again."

I turned around and looked at him. Tall, younger than me, good looking, well dressed, expensive golf clothes and clubs. Yes, this was going to be fun.

"One hundred bucks". I replied.

"Done". He grinned.

Easy money and he was right about fifty percent of the time, but not once officially. After I was through he handed me the hundred and was about to say something else when my old buddy Dr. Frost walked up.

"Doctor." Frost said to my disgruntled watcher.

"Doctor." Came the reply. Then they looked at each other with their shared near godhood and two very similar smiles, clothes and gear. Undoubtedly related.

"This gentleman just took me for a hundred bucks" the younger man said.

"How did he manage that?" Frost asked.

"He just made five straight impossible putts." The younger version replied.

What a sore loser, I'm thinking. He actually won a bunch of times, just not for long or permanently.

"Don't I know you?" asked Dr. Frost. "You look familiar."

"I don't believe you ever saw me in an upright position." I replied.

"Oh, right! You're—" he paused and looked at his son, grinning "Tom Watson, aren't you?"

"That would be me." It's amazing how much less crap I was taking for my name once I started shooting scratch golf and putting like a wizard, but hey, I like to be the butt of other people's jokes as well as the next guy.

"I still think you can't do it again." The son said as he looked at me.

"One thousand bucks." I replied.

"Do you have a thousand bucks?" he sneered.

I pulled a clip from my pocket and pealed off ten hundreds. Never go to a golf course without cash, especially if you plan on gambling and never losing.

"Where's yours? Dr. Frost can hold it." I replied.

"Which one? Him or me?" he replied, nicely answering the related question.

"The other one will do fine." I put the money into the elder Frost's hand and repeated the process. Once again he got to celebrate victory a bunch of times but not officially. At the conclusion I took the money from Dr. Frost.

"Lucky bastard." The young Frost whined.

"Thank you gentlemen, it has been my pleasure. Maybe some other time." I turned and walked into the clubhouse. I wanted to get some lunch before I tried to hook up with a group and I had had enough of the Frosts to last me for a while.

As I looked around the dining area I spotted a very attractive woman eating alone. She looked about thirty, raven black hair, green eyes, great looking skin and, from the waist up, very presentable, nicely dressed in golf apparel. I thought, what the hell, I'm having a good day, let's test drive my augmented pick up skills.

As I walked up to her table she eyed me with tolerant amusement. Clearly this lady was used to receiving and rejecting unwanted male attention. Well, I liked to torture bugs when I was a kid too, so at least we already had that in common.

"May I join you for lunch?" I asked.

"Oh, by all means sit down." She replied "I haven't witnessed a triumph of optimism over experience in some time, so this should be fun."

"Ah, both smart AND hot." I replied. "May I ask what you do for a living?"

"I'm a Doctor." She answered.

"A doctor here on doctor, doctor day, how unusual." I said. "A medical doctor?"

"Of course a medical doctor." She stated in that voice that always makes it very clear that the only REAL doctors are medical doctors.

As I was looking at her I couldn't help notice what might have been a family resemblance, so-

"Given how my day is going, you wouldn't be related to the Doctors Frost would you?" I asked.

"I AM one of the Doctors Frost." She replied. "Did you meet my brother and father already?"

Well, that answered that question. In for a penny, in for a stiff seven inches I always say.

"Please allow me to buy your lunch then, since I just finished taking eleven hundred bucks from you brother on the putting green. I have to say that I am also really curious about you feel about you daddy."

She looked at me with a mischievous gleam in those nice green eyes and said "I would think a man of your advanced years would be more interested in how I feel about my granddaddy. However, my daddy is just fine, thank you, except on the golf course."

While I appreciate a low blow as well as the next man, I ignored it because I thought I detected a glimmer of opportunity.

"And are the Doctors Frost very competitive on the course?" I asked.

"Intensely."

"And is the Dr. Frost here present looking for a competitive edge?"

"I have never beaten my brother and father in a golf match, no matter who I brought as a partner, and my father has always refused to partner with me against my brother." She responded with no little bitterness. "The partner that I had for today has already flaked, so I get to look forward to another joyous trip around the course being told I hit like a girl and getting unnecessary 'golf tips'."

"Young lady, I believe that I have a proposal for you." I looked at her grinning.