The Sand Trap by Dave Marshall Read Free Book Online Page A

Rebecca asked with
raised eyebrows.
    “I can try if you want me to?”
    “Please do,” Rebecca requested with not a
little sarcasm in her voice.
    Out of the twenty-five balls that Melanie
hit in rapid succession, as fast as she could tee them up, she hit
the sign fourteen times and barely missed it on the other
eleven.
    “Can you do that without a tee?” This time
Coach was right behind her.
    So she hit twenty-five more balls from the
manicured ground of the Clapshorn Golf and Country Club, ground
that to Melanie was just like a tee box back home. Sunbaked prairie
turf rarely let you take a divot. This time she hit the sign
fifteen times.
    “Wherever did you learn that swing, Melanie?
“ Coach asked.
    “Hale, Andy, and Moe,” She replied in a
quiet deadpan.
    The two coaches looked with disbelief and
awe. One by one, each girl on the driving range went to their bag
and pulled out a favourite club. There were 3-irons and some had
the new metal woods. A few had some old Persimmon 5 woods and some
even tried to match Melanie’s 5-iron. And the 200-yard sign became
the target for thirty or so teenage girls all trying to make the
Clapshorn Women’s golf squad. The odd shot hit the sign and when
this happened big cheers went up from the crowd of parents and
other interested onlookers. But most missed and many did not even
come close.
    Coach realized that he was losing control of
his carefully scripted golf try out session. People were crowding
around Melanie looking at her clubs and asking her where she was
from and who inspired her original clothing. Melanie was clearly
bewildered by this attention and flustered only a few replies that
no one understood. Rebecca realized that this young girl really did
not know what was going on.
    “Grab your clubs and come with me,” she
insisted as she grabbed Melanie gently by the arm and led her off
the range and toward the parking lot.
    “Where are we going?”
    “We're going to have a drink and a chat."
Rebecca insisted. "Now."
    On their way to the parking lot they passed
a group of boys coming into the clubhouse with their clubs.
    “Hey, Rebecca! Who is this? Another new
member of the hole in one club?”
    “Fuck off Chad. This one isn’t for you to
play with,” Rebecca spat back.
    The other boys oohed and awed and guffawed
at Chad, their obvious leader.
    “Looks to me that the only playing she would
be good for is on Halloween night. Where did she get those
clothes?” That elicited more laughter as Rebecca hustled Melanie to
her car and they drove away.
    Melanie was clearly bewildered by what
happened at the range and on the way to the car. “What just
happened and why didn’t we stay at the range?”
    “Well, that …as you refer to it…was Chad
Willigen, the captain of the men’s golf team and the NCGA state
champion. He is our strongest hope for Clapshorn to win a place at
the NCGA nationals in California next year. “
    “He’s very good looking.”
    “He’s an asshole. Thinks he is king shit on
the golf course. Acts like it.”
    “Is he good?”
    “Yeah, he is good. He has been state junior
champion a number of times. He even played in the US Amateur last
year based upon his performance in the NCGA tournaments.”
    “If he is so good why is he at Clapshorn?”
Even Melanie had picked up that Clapshorn was not the top ranked
school in the News Magazine national ranking of U.S. colleges and
universities.
    “You’re not as dumb as you look little girl.
Two reasons.” Rebecca announced holding up a finger, “One. He is
dumber than one of those Saskatchewan fence posts that you have.
His SAT scores would not get him into any place that had any
academic conscience at all. Two,” she added a second finger, “his
mother is a Clapshorn.”
    “He is cute though isn’t he?” Melanie
mused.
    Life changed dramatically for Melanie over
the next few months. She received both a full scholarship and
Rebecca as a constant companion. Rebecca was suspended