wide, relatively flat fairway. Hiram
teed up his ball and took a few
practice swings. Marty watched
from the cart, biting her tongue
not to shout out advice. Finally he
connected, his shot carrying
almost 250 yards, but fading
slightly to come to rest on the
edge of the fairway.
"Good shot, Hiram!" she called.
"Not bad, Stevens," Norm said.
"Now sit back and watch how a pro
does it."
Marty nearly choked on the golf
tee she held between her teeth.
She watched as Norm wildly
crushed his drive, sending it
twenty yards past Hiram's, but
into the high grass of the rough.
Likewise, Carl gave it everything
he had, his ball landing in the
rough on the opposite side. As of
right now, Hiram had the best ball.
Marty got out of the cart and
reached for her driver. "If you
guys want, I'll play from the back
tees too. It might be quicker if we
don't have to drive up every hole."
Norm smiled at her with a look
that told her she was about to be
patronized. "I don't think it
matters all that much. If you hit
from back here, we'll just have to
stop for you to hit again. We might
as well go on up so you can get a
better score."
"Whatever you think." Marty
decided right then that she would
make her move on the fourth hole
and not the fifth. She wanted this
asshole's money bad.
They stopped at the ladies' tee
and Marty got out. She could hear
Norm and Carl snickering from
their cart and was on the verge of
abandoning all pretenses when
Hiram called to her.
"Come on, Marty. Just do your
best. It'll be okay."
Nice touch, Hiram. For someone
like Marty, it took all the
concentration she could muster to
hit a bad shot intentionally. She
choked up on her club to cut the
distance and opened her grip just
a bit. The result was a wicked slice
that ended up in the rough on the
right.
"Darn."
"It's okay. You'll get it next time,"
Hiram yelled.
She climbed into the cart and they
shot off down the fairway. "Have
you decided which club you're
going to use?" she asked quietly,
so Norm and Carl wouldn't hear.
"It looks like I'm about a hundred
yards out. Nine-iron?"
"Not if you follow through like I
showed you last night. A wedge
ought to do it."
Marty hopped out and hit another
errant shot, one that put her close
to where Carl's shot had landed.
Norm got out of his cart and
approached Hiram. "Why don't you
ride with Carl, Marty? You're
both going to the same side."
Marty grabbed her three-iron,
knowing a wedge was what she
needed. She mumbled a last piece
of advice to Hiram. "Remember to
follow through so you're wrapping
the club all the way around your
shoulder."
"So what do you do down in
Florida?" Carl asked.
It was a genuine attempt to be
friendly, Marty decided. "Sweat a
lot," she answered with a chuckle.
An unwritten rule of hustling was
you weren't allowed to lie. She
changed the subject quickly,
though, figuring that Carl would
probably rather talk about
himself. "What about you? You
must do something important like
Hiram."
"I'm a tax attorney. Norm and I
are both partners at the largest
firm in Wheeling. I'll never forget
the feeling that day my name went
up on the door …"
Marty gave her best imitation of
an interested smile as she
contemplated how to snag the sand
trap with her next shot. Hiram
had already hit his second shot, a
beauty that landed on the green
about twelve feet from the hole.
Norm's shot went over the back
of the green, prompting a loud
curse.
Hiram eventually won the hole with
a par, beating out Carl's bogey.
Norm finished with a double
bogey, while Marty logged a four-
over-par eight. But since they
were playing best ball, neither
Norm's nor Marty's score
mattered.
The second hole was another par
four, which was a draw, since
Hiram and Norm both had bogeys.
Marty once again shot an eight,
while Carl gave up after hitting
into the water twice.
As they approached the third tee,
Norm made his fatal mistake.
"Marty, maybe you ought to do
what Carl did on that last one. Go
ahead and pick your ball up after a
couple of shots. These guys
behind us are catching up."
Norm and Carl's grace period was
officially over, she decided. This
hole was a par three, a straight
shot over a lake. The ladies' tee
was only a few feet away from the
men's and Marty walked over and
teed up her shot while they hit
theirs.
Hiram's ball caught the water just
short of the green and he
groaned. Norm hit into the sand
trap to the right, but he was
satisfied with merely clearing the
lake. Carl managed to hit the green
on the fly, but his ball rolled off
the back.
Marty turned her back to the men
and grinned. She was tempted to
pick up a few strands of grass and
toss them into the air to assess
the breeze, but she wasn't quite
ready to tip her hand. With a solid
stroke of her seven-iron, she sent
the ball in a high arc. It cleared
the water nicely and landed with a
soft thud on the green, coming to
rest about six feet from the hole.
"Wow! Did you see that?" She
danced around the tee in
exaggerated celebration. "That's
what I love about this game. Once
in awhile, you hit a shot that's just
perfect."
muttered. "Sometimes I'd rather
be lucky than good."
Hiram walked over to the cart to
retrieve a new ball, which he was
required to hit from the edge of
the lake farthest from the hole.
"Are we done playing with them?"
"Oh, yeah," Marty answered with a grin. "Let's have some fun."
Marty sank her putt for birdie,
easily winning the hole by two
strokes. Number Four was a par-
five dogleg right. She had honors,
but since she was hitting from the
closer tees
, she would have to hit
last.
All three men hit their tee shots
down the middle of the fairway,
giving each a straight shot toward
the green. Marty played her tee
shot to fade right, so that it
cleared the dogleg and turned the
corner. That should leave her
within range of reaching the green
on her next shot.
"Woo-hoo! That's two in a row. I
tell you, I'm starting to feel it."
Carl shook his head in wonder.
"Don't worry, Norm. Luck like that
can't last."
The men hit their second shots,
with Hiram and Carl coming well
short of the green, but in the
middle of the fairway. Norm's ball
was in the woods, probably lost.
Marty pulled out a fairway wood
and lined up her shot. This time,
when she was sure that Norm and
Carl were watching, she tossed a
few sprigs of grass into the air,
noting the slight right-to-left
breeze. With a mighty stroke, she
sent the ball straight ahead,
where it rolled onto the green.
The color drained from Norm's
face and he turned to Hiram. "You
say Marty is a friend of your
sister's?"
"Yeah." Hiram could no longer hide his grin. "And get this—she's a
golf pro."
"I wish I had a picture of those
guys' faces when Marty hit that
ball on the green at Four," Hiram
said, still laughing.
"I can't believe you two!" Louise was secretly thrilled that Hiram
and Marty had enjoyed such a
romp. Her brother was rarely one
to cut loose and have fun.
"The picture I wanted was when
they handed you all that money and
you folded it up and stuffed it in
the ‘Fight Lou Gehrig's Disease'
jar. That was priceless," Marty
said.
"Yeah … I betcha both of them
went home and wrote it down so
they could take it off their taxes."
"You're probably right."
"How much did you two make?"
Judy asked.
"Three hundred and forty bucks,"
Hiram answered. "We won every
hole but one."
"That's right. As soon as they
figured out they'd been
snookered, they fell apart."
"You know, I feel kind of bad
about it, though," Hiram said.
Then he broke into a grin. "But it
sure felt good to kick their asses."
"Hiram!" Judy frowned in disgust
at her husband's language as he
and Marty slapped a high five.
taken your money?"
"Probably not."
"And they practically begged us to
play. Besides, I kept everybody's
score." Marty reached into her hip
pocket. "It so happens you beat
both of them on twelve holes, lost
two, and tied on four. Oh, and just
so you know, Norm cheated all
day, moving his ball around to get
a better lie. And on Sixteen, he
conveniently forgot to count his
first try at getting out of the sand
trap."
"You're kidding!"
"You better watch him if you play
with him again. But what I wanted
to tell you is that even if I hadn't
been there, you would have ended
up with a hundred and sixty
dollars."
"Two hundred," Louise corrected
gently. She was, after all, the
former math teacher.
"Whatever. All I'm saying is that
your brother played with a lot of
confidence and had a great game."
"I owe that to you, Marty."
"Maybe you and Judy ought to
come down to North Carolina for a
week or two. We'll play at my club
and I'll show you more stuff."
"Be careful what you ask for,"
Hiram warned. "Once I retire,
we'll be turning up on your
doorstep like a bad penny."
Marty and Louise waved from the
front seat as they pulled away
from the curb.
"That was fun," Marty said. "I really had a good time."
"I'm so glad, sweetheart. They
both like you a lot, I can tell."
"I like them too."
"I didn't realize how much I
missed seeing them. We used to
get together at least once a
month, and now I only see them a
couple of times a year."
"But now they'll be coming to visit
us too."
"That was sweet of you to invite
them." Louise reached over and
patted Marty's thigh.
"I had an ulterior motive," Marty confessed. "Judy fixes sweet
potatoes, and pasta, and rice with
mushroom soup. I figure if they
visit, you'll fix stuff like that so
they'll feel at home."
"Do you hear that, Petie? She'd
do anything for pasta, even put up
with my relatives."
The Boston terrier flattened his
ears and twitched his tail, as he
always did when he heard his
name.
Louise sighed. "I'll probably have
to come back before too long, you
know. William won't be with us
much longer."
"I know." Marty held out her hand, which Louise squeezed hard. "I'll
come back with you if you want …
even if it's just to share the
driving."
"What would I ever do without
you, Marty?"
"Maybe if we take good care of
each other, it will be a long time
before we have to find out."