James Ross - A Young Adult Trilogy (Prairie Winds Golf Course)

by James Ross

  “Hey, we’re heading across the river,” Tina noticed. “Where are you taking me?”

  “I’m going to take you to a place that will show you how screwed up men are. That’s what you need right now,” Fran rationalized. “You need to prove to yourself that what Donald suggested was not the thing for you.”

  “Well, I know that,” Tina uttered. “What he recommended didn’t even register on my radar screen.”

  “And I’m going to prove that to you,” Fran said as she reinforced Tina’s mindset.

  “Where are you taking me?” Tina asked again.

  “Just hold on. I’m going to take you to a place that I took one of my cousins a couple of years ago,” Fran said. “Then if that jerk ever comes back, you can take him over here yourself.”

  Tina was shaking. “Did you see the look on the faces of those little girls?” she asked.

  “They were petrified,” Fran agreed.

  “Most of them probably made a mistake and were scared to death to tell their mothers,” Tina volunteered.

  “Thank goodness you’re not in that situation,” Fran offered.

  “I’ll make sure I tell Donald what I think of his advice,” Tina assured her friend, “but right now get me out of here before I puke in this parking lot.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The following evening . . .

  Tina stayed late for a parent/teacher conference at school. It was one of those events that happened a few times a year, and since the final week of the school term was coming to a close she felt that it was her responsibility to attend. She tossed and turned the night before and managed very little sleep. Between the trip that Fran had taken her on and Donald walking out, her emotions were as frayed as a pair of cutoff jeans.

  She had arranged for the neighbors to pick up Eric from the day care facility. When she did manage to pick him up, he had already been fed and was sleeping comfortably. All she had to do was put his head on her shoulder, walk two doors down the sidewalk, and tuck him into bed when she finally got home.

  Tina was pooped. She kicked off her shoes and immediately sat down on her bed to massage her feet. From the sitting position she leaned back until she was resting contently on her back staring at the circular motion of the ceiling fan. She raised her hands to press on her throbbing temples with the hope that the applied pressure would relieve the headache that had overwhelmed her. What a day this has been, she thought. I’ll be glad when Donald gets back home.

  After a few deep breaths and a couple of tiring yawns, Tina got up and began to undress. She tugged at her pantyhose until they found a resting spot wadded up on the floor. Then she slipped off her business suit, hung it back on the rack in her closet, and threw on her robe. Oh how good a hot bath will feel. That sounds like it is exactly what the doctor ordered, she mused on her way to the bathroom.

  Ring-a-ling-ling. Ring-a-ling-ling, chimed the phone before she could get the water started. Maybe that’s Donald, she thought as she hurried to the nightstand to answer the call. This is going on three nights now.

  “Hey girl, how are you feeling today?” Fran inquired from the other end.

  “Oh, I thought you were Donald,” Tina replied, the disappointment in her voice audible.

  “No, it’s just me,” Fran said. “He hasn’t called?”

  “I haven’t heard from him,” Tina said. “This is going into its third night now.”

  “Are you going to be okay?” Fran probed. She could tell that her best friend was upset.

  “I guess. It’s just that my feelings are hurt and I’m dead tired right now,” Tina explained.

  “Have you tried calling him?” Fran continued. She knew that Tina was head-over-heels in love with Donald and wanted to see if she was being a little pro-active in trying to find out what happened to him.

  “I called his cell phone once today on one of my breaks, but all I got was the message center,” Tina replied. “He’ll call when he gets around to it I suppose.” Fran was starting to get under her skin and all she wanted to do was take a hot bath and go to sleep.

  “You suppose!” Fran yelled. “Why don’t you call the delivery company and find out if he was at work today?”

  “I’m not in the mood to deal with all of it right now. He’ll come home when he feels like it. All I want to do is soak in the tub and then go to sleep. Maybe he’ll be next to me when the alarm goes off in the morning.”

  “It’s only going to get worse the longer you don’t hear from him. I’d be pounding the phone trying to find out where in the world he is,” Fran advised.

  “Heck with it all. He was pretty pissed off when he stormed out of here a couple of nights ago. I’m going to give him plenty of time to rethink his position before I start begging to take his butt back.”

  “Don’t play so hard to get,” Fran recommended.

  “Hey, you were the one that told me to remind him how much of a jerk he was,” Tina argued.

  “Yeah, but this is getting kind of serious,” Fran interjected. “I wouldn’t think that he would bolt out of your house and never come back. I mean . . .”

  “Look, you know and I know that I want him to get his tail back over here as soon as he can,” Tina interrupted. “It will happen in due time. Let him come to his senses and figure out that being a dad might be the best thing to ever happen to him.”

  “Okay. Have it your way,” Fran continued. “I’ll just respectfully agree to disagree with how you’re going about all this.”

  “Hold on for a second,” Tina butted in. “Somebody is at my door.” Tina put the receiver down and scurried down the hall. She got to the foyer and turned the porch light on. Please let it be Donald, she thought. “Who’s there?”

  “ . . . The police. We’re looking for Christina Ventimiglia,” a voice from outside the door exclaimed.

  What did I do now? It can’t be about that parking ticket I didn’t pay, Tina wondered. She fastened the belt on her robe around her waist and inched the door open to see two uniformed policemen standing on her front porch. “Hi, I’m Tina Ventimiglia,” she said as she extended her hand. Tina instantly recognized one of the police officers as Ron Carbaugh. She had taught one of his sons two years earlier. “Hi, Ron! How’s Brent been doing?”

  “He’s been doing great. Thank you. Sure has been keeping me busy this time of year with little league and everything,” Ron replied.

  Tina smiled. She sincerely cared about her ex-students and forever wanted to stay in touch with their families to see how they progressed. “He was such a good little boy. He never gave me an ounce of trouble,” Tina gushed. “How can I help?”

  “We’ve got a bit of tragic news,” Officer Carbaugh began. “It’s about Donald Dorne.” After a pause he continued. “He’s been killed.”

  Tina was stunned. It was as if a lightning bolt appeared out of blue sky. An empty, hollow feeling overtook her as her jaw dropped open. “No! No, no, no, don’t tell me!” Tina screamed. “Tell me it isn’t so! Tell me, tell me, tell me it isn’t so!”

  “I’m afraid not,” Officer Carbaugh continued. “I’m so sorry.”

  Tina lapsed into mild shock. Officer Carbaugh put his arms around her to console her and she placed her head on his shoulder and wept. “No, no, no, no, it can’t be!”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “What am I going to do? What happened?” Tina bawled.

  “His delivery truck hit a bridge abutment on I-70, north of downtown,” Officer Carbaugh went on to clarify. “It was a one-vehicle accident. There were no skid marks. It appeared that he had fallen asleep at the wheel.”

  “It’s all my fault,” Tina wailed.

  “It’s no one’s fault,” Officer Carbaugh said in his most reassuring tone. If there was ever a thing he hated about his job, it was informing next of kin, or in this case cohabitants, that a deadly tragedy had occurred. “I’m so sorry.”

  Tina wiped the tears from her eyes. The initial shock of the news had faded. She tried to p
ull herself together but blurted, “Let me make some phone calls.”

  “Will you be okay?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve got a lot to do right now,” Tina replied. Her most immediate thought was the unborn child that she was carrying would never know his father. She turned away and nodded her appreciation to the officers. She closed the door and immediately headed down the hallway toward her bedroom. Amid sobs, she picked the phone back up and said, “Fran, are you still there?”

  “Yes! Where have you been? I thought that something happened.”

  “Something did happen,” Tina shrieked. “It’s Donald!”

  “What?”

  “He’s dead! He was killed in a car wreck!”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Early June 2007 . . .

  The sun inched peacefully into view at daybreak. The orange ball sitting by itself seconds above the horizon reminded Tina of what she had recently taught her students before the end of the school year. Only weeks before, she had explained to them how Japan came to be called the “Land of the Rising Sun.” Now, she got to witness firsthand how absolutely gorgeous a sunrise was as it appeared right before her eyes while she exited Missouri, crossed the Mississippi River, and entered the corrupt state of Illinois. It was such a shame that the politics of Illinois permanently tarnished the image of the wonderful people that lived there, she thought.

  As she pulled her SUV into the golf course parking lot she announced, “Okay we’re here.” Justin, in the front seat, and Keith, in the rear, had been dozing through the ride from Tina’s house. Even though Keith had bolted away from Justin and had run into the woods before being caught, the two of them agreed that the golf course might be a great place to earn money to pay for the damage to Mr. McCormick’s home. Little did they know on their last day of school that they’d be starting jobs on a golf course only days into their summer vacation.

  “Aw, Mom, do we have to be here at the crack of dawn every day?” Justin grumbled. “As much as I want to do this, it’s awfully early.” He didn’t have to wake up at this hour of the morning to go to school.

  “That’s the last time we’re going to talk about this,” Tina replied forcefully. “We’ve been through this conversation all weekend.”

  “Yeah, Tina, can’t we come over here later in the morning?” Keith mumbled.

  “You two made your bed, now you can lie in it. Your folks okayed it and so did Dave and I,” Tina explained. “Both of you can either look at it as punishment or a way to learn some responsibility. Regardless, this is going to be your home for the summer. Get used to it. Every day.”

  Justin glanced at his mom out of the corner of his eye and snickered. He stretched his arms toward the roof and let out a mighty yawn. “There’s no sense arguing, is there, Mom?”

  “Nope. Come on. Curt’s waiting for you,” Tina said as she reached for the door handle. “Grab your duffel bags.” Curt had given instructions to bring a change of clothes, several pairs of shoes, and their lunch.

  The three exited the SUV and headed for the front door of the old clubhouse. It appeared hardly more than a two-story house that had been built back in the Great Depression. How it had survived all of these years was anyone’s guess. The roof was sagging. Mortar was falling apart between the various layers of brick. One of the upstairs windows was broken. Even the railing around the porch was loose and wobbling.

  “You mean to tell me that this is a golf course,” Keith muttered as they walked to the front door. “I thought that only the rich people played golf and all the clubhouses were first class.”

  Tina smiled. “Don’t be so naïve, Keith. There are a lot of people that play golf in all sorts of places.” She reached for the door and opened it for the two boys.

  “Good morning!” Curt said as he greeted them with an energetic, perky voice. “You made it on time.”

  “They’re all yours,” Tina offered. She grinned at Curt who had become a trusted friend over the years.

  Curt extended his hand to Keith and Justin. Keith was still half asleep and meekly grabbed Curt’s hand. “Hey, wait a second. We’re going to start right there,” Curt began. “I’m going to introduce you to a lot of my friends in the next few days. We can’t have you shaking hands like that.” He took Keith’s hand and showed him how to cordially greet another man. “Make sure that your grip is firm and that your hand isn’t like a wet fish. Go ahead and show him Justin.”

  Justin reached for Keith’s hand and instructed him how to shake hands properly. “That’s one of the first things that Curt taught me a few years ago. Don’t be wimpy.”

  Tina winked at Curt. “I’ve got a lot of things to do today. You guys have fun.” She puckered her lips and gave Justin a smooch from across the room. “See you later.” Tina left the clubhouse and strolled to her car feeling very content. She knew that the boys were in good hands with Curt.

  “Now let’s give it a try, Keith,” Curt stated as he extended his hand a second time. Keith grabbed his hand and put a little force behind the handshake. “That’s the way to do it. It doesn’t have to be too long, but look whoever you are greeting in the eye, say some pleasantries, and make it a firm handshake.”

  “Is that better?” Keith inquired before he released Curt’s hand.

  “Yeah, that’s more like it. That’s not too bad. It looks like you passed the first lesson of the day,” Curt said, “but we’ve got lots of things to do.”

  “What kind of work are we going to do?” Justin asked.

  “I hope it’s not too much,” Keith complained. “It’s too early in the day to be working.”

  “We’ve got all sorts of stuff to do around here,” Curt offered. “We’ll keep you busy doing something all day. None of the guys are here yet so we can get a lot of things accomplished. Come on. Follow me out to the cart barn.”

  The trio exited the clubhouse and took the short walk across the driveway and parking area to the cart barn. “Here’s a job that I think you guys can handle easily enough,” Curt stated as he slid open the barn’s door. “We need to pull some carts out and park them in front of the clubhouse.”

  “Don’t we need a driver’s license to do that?” Justin inquired.

  “Not if you’re on our payroll around here,” Curt replied. “If you were coming out to golf, then we might ask you to produce one since you’re so young. Have either one of you ever driven a golf cart before?”

  “No way,” Keith exclaimed. “This is my very first time on a golf course.” Justin shook his head as well.

  “It’s pretty easy, really. You’ve got a forward and reverse switch to get you going in the direction that you want to go in,” Curt jumped onto the seat behind the steering wheel. “Just press down on the pedal, grab the steering wheel, and take it over to that spot by the clubhouse. Press on the brake to stop.” Curt pointed and took off. “Hop on that one and follow me.”

  Justin’s eyes lit up like a full moon. He was no different than any other teenager who wanted to drive before his sixteenth birthday. “How neat is this, Keith?”

  “If this is work, then I can handle this alright,” Keith agreed. “Cool.”

  “Just be careful not to wreck any of the carts, guys,” Curt instructed.

  Justin and Keith busied themselves for the next fifteen minutes by driving the carts from the cart barn to the parking spot by the clubhouse. Curt disappeared into the cart barn to start up the John Deere utility vehicle that the course had purchased earlier that spring. It was a green mini-truck with two bright yellow seats and a compact bed that would perfectly accommodate the various chores around the course.

  “When you’re finished, hop in,” Curt said as he pulled the utility vehicle out of the barn. “You two both have your tennis shoes on, right?”

  Justin nodded his head and raced over to Curt. “What do you have planned for us now?” He jumped into the seat next to Curt.

  “As soon as Keith gets that last cart parked, we’ll head out to the irrigation lake,”
Curt proposed as he inched the John Deere over to the golf carts. Keith jumped into the bed. “Now hang on so you don’t bounce out.”

  “This is so neat back here,” Keith commented. “I’ve got the best spot.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Justin disagreed. The wind was blowing into his face and the passenger seat offered a far more comfortable ride.

  “Say, both you boys ran track this spring, right?” Curt asked as he headed down a fairway. Each nodded his head. “I’m going to show you how I start my day.” It was barely six-thirty in the morning when Curt pulled the utility vehicle up to the side of the irrigation lake and parked it alongside the water. “There’s nobody out on this part of the course at this time in the morning,” Curt told them. “When I was feeling better, this is where I came to get my daily workout in before the rest of the day got started.”

  “I didn’t come all the way over here to run,” Keith objected.

  “Strong bodies mold strong minds,” Curt hypothesized. “It will prepare you for all the other things that we’re going to do around here.”

  “Come on, Keith,” Justin urged. “We don’t have to break any speed records.”

  “Yeah,” Curt agreed, “when we get done we can take a shower back at the clubhouse and have some breakfast.” The three guys hopped out of the truck and started to jog around the lake. Curt estimated that the circumference was a little less than a half of a mile. “Just go until you get tired. You can walk any time you feel like it.”

  “Are you going to be able to keep up with us?” Justin asked.

  “I would if I was in a little better shape,” Curt volunteered. “It used to be no problem for me to run around this lake eight or ten times every morning.”

  “When would you stop?” Justin pressed for answers.

  “See that pampas grass on the other side?” Curt said as he motioned across the lake. “That was where I always stopped. No matter what lap I was on, that clump of grass was my finish line.”