Skins Game, Part 1
The drive
Author’s note: This story was originally published in ILLUMINATION. I’m re-posting it here as my initial piece in the Dr Mehmet Yildiz’s new writers’ adventure, ILLUMINATION Book Chapters. This is the title story from my book of collected short stories. Written some ten or twelve years ago, I believe it’s my personal favorite. I offer it here for your enjoyment AND judgment.
It’s based on the old golfers joke:
Wife: How was your game?
Golfer: Terrible, Cletis died on the 2nd hole.
Wife: Oh, that must’ve been awful.
Golfer: Oh, for sure. It was hit the ball, drag Cletis, hit the ball, drag Cletis.
It’s presented here in 3 parts.
Part One
Charlie Bluehorse, M.D. got most of it to start off the back nine. If it hadn’t had that little tail of a slice that took it behind a clump of arborvitae two hundred yards out, you could have said he got all of it. It shot into the chalky afternoon air like a white Sputnik. That tail helped it find the rough though, just as it had on most of the front nine.
“Whew, you got most uh that ‘un, Blue,” Cletis Worley said. He dabbed sweat from his forehead with a towel as he sat in his golf cart. Cletis had hit first, of course.
