by Ed Nelson
Mum shook her fist at me, “You are going to get it boyo.”
She is English, where is she coming up with Irish terms? I asked her.
“Your great grandfather was Irish, I can remembering him calling my Dad that when I was young.”
“Your Dad was a grown man by then.”
“You’re always children to your parents.”
I had plenty to mull over that night, but I still did my nightly reading. It would be neat to have a lens giving you almost superpowers. The grey suit sounded sort of plain. I think Superman had the right idea. I would chase the Boskone’s all over the galaxies.
Tuesday morning the rain had stopped, but there was standing water in our yard. I was able to run. I hoped the Ohio State University golf course would dry out. Breakfast was quiet. I tried coffee again and it didn’t seem as bad as yesterday. I was drinking it without cream or sugar. I was going all the way.
Tom met me for the walk to school. Eleanor Price came out in front of us. She was wearing a short ski jacket; I noticed something about her dress.
“Hey, it’s snowing down south.”
She turned around and asked, “Is my slip really showing?”
Both Tom and I assured her it really was, not just a little but a lot. She went back home for an adjustment. Before we got to school she caught up with us.
“Thanks guys, I would’ve been teased all day.”
I don’t know why but there was something a little exciting about a girls slip showing, it sort of made you think of everything else under there.
It seemed every teacher in the world decided to have a pop quiz on Tuesday. I had one in every class but Latin. She waited till Wednesday. They weren’t a problem, actually they helped my schedule. I flew through the exams, turned my papers in and then got to work on my future assignments.
Since I would work every problem in the back of my English and Math books I was doing more work than most of the other students. By using my class, study hall time and bus rides for golf, I hadn’t taken any work home in the last six weeks. I did take the time in study hall to write a letter to Judy.
I met Coach at the pickup spot for the ride to the country club. We rode out and I worked the driving range. He watched my swing for any glitches. Since I was banging my driver out over 250 yards and even to close to 300, I didn’t think I had anything to be concerned about.
This yardage was with no roll, the ground was still wet. I bet they would have to dig about half of the balls out of the ground, if they could see them.
Coach and I talked about why my drives went so far.
“Rick with your height you are like a giant human lever. Your timing is a natural wonder. You also have another advantage that most golfers don’t seem to have. Your exercising has given you enormous core strength; this provides power to your swing.”
“Your swing looks easy, but it really whips through the ball. When you watch your next pro tournament notice the physical condition of the golfers. They aren’t in bad shape. They just aren’t in great shape.”
I hadn’t given it any thought, but I could see what he meant. I wondered what other muscle groups I should develop to increase my strength. More importantly how could I find out what to do and what equipment I needed after I knew which ones needed work.
Coach continued, “The way you play there is no reason that you can’t turn pro right out of high school.”
Now there was something out of the blue. I knew I was good, but I had never thought about earning a living playing golf. I liked the game, but I wasn’t certain I liked it that much.
Coach also told me, “There will be a pep rally for you Thursday before we leave for Columbus, just so you know.”
“Oh good, I love being the center of attention.”
This got Coach laughing, he was well aware that I hated it.
When I got home there had been a phone call from Bush Electric that my electrical components had arrived. It was too late for me to pick them up.
Dinner was fun that night; we had pancakes, with Dad cooking. For some reason it was always like a little party. Normal sit at the table rules were suspended. While Dad was trying to get ahead of us, we were allowed to take our plates to him.
Between the four of us he didn’t get caught up till we were all full. I noticed Denny didn’t try to out eat me tonight.
I made several different sketches of how I wanted the insides of the hairdryer to fit together. I needed something to attach the basic parts together as a framework. The framework would have screw holes to attach the motor, fan and controls.
Once they were attached to the frame work I would attach the housing to the framework. The heating element would stick out of the framework and the barrel snap fit around it.
The end result would look like a gun with a grip, and a barrel. The body would have to be much fatter than any pistol but it would still be only about four inches wide.
That night I started another book, this one about some Russian brothers. I gave up, I didn’t like any of the characters in the book and thought that if they died they would all rot and stink up the place. So take that!
Chapter 52
Wednesday came clear and cool. It was definitely fall. The ground was drying out, so I had hopes for Saturday and Sunday. At breakfast Dad was excited about several properties he had looked at. He wanted Mum and me to go back with him for a second look at them after school today.
Not that I could tell him anything useful about their condition, but I could see that he just wanted to show them off to us. Of course we said yes.
School was a typical day with only one exception. At lunch a senior girl Rita Harrison, sat with Tom and I. She fawned all over me. For a senior girl to even notice a freshman was alive was amazing, to flirt as openly as she was ran up all sorts of red flags.
I met Coach at our usual spot and he suggested we skip practice tonight. If I wasn’t ready now, I would never be. He did have a present for me. It was a white cardigan type sweater with a sports letter.
I was now a letterman for golf! I had never given it a thought but I was now officially a jock. Rodney Humphreys would be sure to let me know that it wouldn’t equal a real sports letter like football or basketball. What a poor kid, having to put everyone else down, to build himself up.
Coach told me to be sure to wear it to school tomorrow. I told him I would. It would’ve taken an act of Congress to stop me from wearing it.
I got home early and Dad was ready to go. I did talk him into stopping at Bush Electric to pick up my parts. After that we toured the duplexes with John Tapp of Tapp Realty. They all just looked like houses to me.
Dad was pleased with the general condition and thought he could fix them up for less than he had budgeted.
He told Mr. Tapp, “I like what I see, let’s put in offers for all of them. I will talk to Tom Harrison down at the bank and start the ball rolling.
The Harrison name caught my attention.
“Dad does Mr. Harrison have a daughter named Rita?”
“Yes he does, Rita, I met her when I picked up her dad to go to an AA meeting.”
“Rita started flirting with me at lunch today, she is a senior and they never do that.”
“Hmm, right after a large deposit, I would tread lightly there son.”
“I guess that is the danger of living in a small town.”
“It is, but he had no right to go spreading our business around, even with his family.”
“Jack just don’t get too excited, after all you are about to ask him for a lot of money,” put in Mum.
“I won’t but it just bothers me.”
In the car on the way home, Mum brought up, “You don’t have to say anything. John Tapp heard it all. It will be all over the business community in hours.”
“You’re right Peg; it couldn’t have gone better if I planned it that way.”
There was a letter from Judy waiting for me; the biggest news was that she had talked her parents into invit
ing me and Coach Stone to dinner at the OSU Clubhouse on Friday evening. I would see Judy!
Before dinner I had my soldering iron heated up and was making the control circuit as Mr. Robinson had sketched out. One thing he had added that I never thought of was a bimetallic switch which would turn the unit off if it reached one hundred and forty degrees. It would prevent people from getting burned.
There was also a fuse in the circuit that would trip if there was an electrical overload. I would also have a guard on the front of the barrel so that kids couldn’t stick their fingers in and burn them on the heating element.
At dinner that night I asked my parents if they knew any Engineers that could help me with the layout and do drawings of the internal assembly of the unit. They didn’t know anyone off the top of their heads, but Dad knew Jim Willis the plant manager at Rockwell who had plenty of Engineers working for him. He would give him a call after dinner.
I had shown my letterman sweater to my family. I wore it to dinner and it was noticed immediately. Everyone admired it, but my brothers kept looking at each other and giggling, while Mary practically danced in her seat. Something was up, but I couldn’t even begin to guess.
Dad called Mr. Willis as promised, but he had no engineers whom he would recommend. This said something about his engineering staff.
I was too wound up; I couldn’t read later so I just listened to records. When it was lights out I still lay there for a long time thinking of everything I had going on.
Thursday the weather was beautiful again. The weather forecast was for it to remain this way for the rest of the week. We were having an Indian summer.
I wore my letterman sweater to school; even Eleanor Price made a positive comment, “Looking Good, Go Bellefontaine.”
I must have heard, “Go Bellefontaine” five thousand times that day. There were about six hundred students in our high school.
Even Mr. Gordon got in on it with his morning announcements over the intercom system. That was right after he announced the pep rally immediately after the lunch period.
Rita Harrison sat at our table and tried to make over me at lunch, but so many kids came up and wished me luck that she really didn’t have a chance.
I ignored her as much as I could, she would figure out I’m not interested. Well actually since she is a girl, I’m interested, but not under these circumstances.
I always thought the gym was noisy up in the bleachers. Down on the floor it was pandemonium. (I love learning big words when I read.) They presented the team trophy for second place in the District. This was the furthest any team from Bellefontaine had got in a state tournament.
It was like the sweet sixteen in basketball. After that I was singled out for my trophy for lowest score for the tournament.
The cheerleaders had been leading cheers and jumping around, waving there Pom Poms before the presentations started. Now Coach Stone announced we will now have a cheer led by the golf teams own cheerleader.
Out ran Mary in a BHS cheerleader’s uniform and Pom Poms! I looked around and saw my family standing front and center yelling with everyone else.
Mary did us proud. Well if she got one of the cheers wrong there was so much noise, no one would know. Then something horrible happened. They handed me the microphone.
“Thank you very much for this show of support. I will do my best to bring home the State Championship for the Bellefontaine Chieftain’s. I would like to thank Coach Stone for his training and support this year, my teachers for their support, my team mates for pushing me on, the Logan County Country Club for use of its facility, my parents support and most of all, the littlest cheerleader, my sister Mary. Go Bellefontaine!”
That worked, I think I got everyone. Maybe I should go into politics, Nah.
I carried Mary off the floor with me, so she wouldn’t get crushed. Now I knew what was up at dinner last night. They were all in on it.
Coach drove his car since it was only the two of us. He had packed our clubs yesterday. We made a quick stop at our house to get my airline garment bag. It was perfect for a short trip like this. Mum and Dad, and the kids beat us home, so I was able to get hugs and well wishes. Mum took pictures.
Mary of course had on her black sweater with BHS on the front and an Indian Chiefs Head on the back. I wondered how they got one in her size on short notice but didn’t have a chance to ask.
During the ride over to Columbus I told Coach about the dinner invitation. Judy wrote that information would be waiting for us at the information desk. I always got a kick out of going through New California on the way. They had a statue of a Union Soldier in the middle of the intersection on the main and only crossroads.
In Europe it would’ve been used as a roundabout, but they had only widened the road a little, so it was more of a shift lane deal. The poor soldier was in a circle with a low iron fence about ten feet in diameter. Why some drunk hadn’t taken it out, I didn’t know.
From there it was through Dublin a known speed trap, then down River Road to Fishinger Road to Upper Arlington. There we got a glimpse of the OSU golf course on our left. From there we went to the Visitors Center at the University.
No camping this week. They had a check in desk and there was a message from Mr. King; he would see us in the morning at the tournament sign in.
I roomed with a kid from Akron; the only thing I remembered about him later was that he could fart louder than anyone I had ever met. His first name is John, which I thought was appropriate. Luckily they didn’t smell that strong. Of course I stayed as far from the guy as I could when in the room but the room wasn’t that big.
Chapter 53
In the morning I got out of the room of Rolling Thunder as I thought of it, as soon as I could. It was a beautiful day, so I had a long run around campus. It is a really nice campus and I would consider going to school here. I wondered how their School of Engineering was rated. More research to do. The only engineering schools I had heard of by reputation were MIT and Georgia Tech.
I met up with Coach in the visitor’s center restaurant as arranged. The whole place was set up like a hotel. After a nice breakfast we went over to the golf course, our first stop was the valet to unload my clubs, then parking. We retrieved clubs and went to the, you guessed it, white pavilion to register. I bet someone was making a living off of renting tents. It would have never occurred to me.
Mr. King was there helping but when he saw us, he waved us over.
“I’m glad you made it, a certain young lady would make my life not worth living if I didn’t get Rick to dinner this evening.”
Coach just shook his head, and murmured, “Young love.”
Mr. King laughed and said, “Ain’t it grand.”
I wish they didn’t make fun of me, I knew it wasn’t love, we hardly knew each other. I would use words like infatuation or maybe even lust, but not love. I decided not to say anything about what I thought it really was, especially lust. I may be slow and oblivious at times, but not completely stupid.
Coach and I walked the course. I saw what he meant about the sand traps, they had been deep potholes at onetime that would be a nightmare. They had been allowed to fill in over the years and the lips guarding the green had crumbled so you could do a pitch and run to the green. Someday they may restore the course, but I wasn’t complaining today. This course right now was made for my game.
I could see how The Golden Bear could tear this course up. My long game was longer than his, but not by much. He would kill me on the greens. It would still be fun to play with him one of these days. I put that on my mental list of things to do.
I no sooner thought this as we walked off eighteen to return to the practice area, when Jack Nicklaus walked by. Of course he didn’t know me from Adam, so he kept going. Heck even if he knew me he probably would’ve kept going.
Though I had heard he was a really nice guy, so maybe he would’ve said, “Hi,” as he kept moving.
The practice round on the 7455 yard long Pa
r 71 Scarlet course went well as usual I didn’t keep score. I was trying to understand how the course played. None of the sand traps guarding the normal landing zones for drives would cause a problem. I would just hit past them. I could roll through the traps surrounding the greens.
If my putting was on, I should do well. This course didn’t give me the same fear that Inverness did, now that was a course you had to respect. This one was like a down on its luck brother.
Thinking “down on its luck brother,” made me think of my Uncle Wally. That gave a pause for thought; even someone like Wally could cause problems. I better not get too big for my britches as Mum would say.
We went back to our rooms and cleaned up for dinner. I had brought my cowboy suit with me this time. Mum had taken it to the tailor to have the pants let down. The coat was a little tight, so I wouldn’t be wearing it much longer, but it would do.
My shirt had cool looking pearl buttons and I wore a bolo tie with a turquoise slide. Of course I wore my alligator skin boots, belt with the large rodeo championship buckle the size of a small dinner plate and black hat.
I had several calls of, “Hey Tex,” in the lobby. I had even put my Texas Ranger badge and I.D. in my pocket, more to show off if I could. I was dressed to impress. Coach just shook his head when he saw me.
We made a small stir when entering the restaurant. I removed my hat and followed the hostess to our table. There were comments from other diners as we passed through. None bad, just like, who is that guy. The Kings were already seated and Judy had saved me a seat next to her. She was dressed in a white blouse with a black pencil skirt and a nice set of pearls. I said, “It is my pleasure to sit next to you Ma’am,” in my best western drawl which was atrocious to say the best.
Then the most wonderful thing happened. Two small kids came up and asked for my autograph. They were a brother and sister eight and ten years old. The younger sister told me that I had better be nice to Annette, and not to try to kiss her again!
This opened the conversation up at the table. I worked very hard not to have it all about me as dinner proceeded. Judy didn’t contribute much except for an occasional question. Most of the questions came from her parents. I started to get the impression they didn’t approve of me being allowed to roam last summer.
