The Back Nine by Billy Mott

Author:Billy Mott
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780307267368
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2007-03-27T00:00:00+00:00

The rain pattered on the leaves of a maple tree; his ball deep in the wet rough beneath it. But he had a clear shot to the green. “You all right over there?” his father called out from the middle of the fairway.

A wall of fog pressed the window of the lobby, the muted white headlights of cars rolled by the hotel.

“And you hurt your arm?” Sarah asked.

“Yeah.”

“And then you couldn’t play.”

“Right,” Charlie said.

“But now you can?”

“I think probably better,” Charlie said. “I’m stronger, a lot stronger.”

“So you have another chance.”

“Yes.”

“But it’s hard,” Sarah said. “I can see on your face that it’s hard.”

He opened his hands.

“Callouses? From practicing?”

Charlie nodded.

“They look like they hurt.”

“They did,” Charlie said, catching her eye. “Not now.”

“It’s serious stuff, isn’t it?”

“It’s the only way I know how to do it.”

“I’ve noticed the change,” Sarah said. “You’ve seemed a little distant this last week.”

“The guys I work for, they want me to play. I have to.”

“Have to? Why?”

“If I want to stay. If I want to work.”

“I don’t understand.”

“They call the shots. Especially this guy I work for.”

“Can’t you do something else?” Sarah asked.

“Before I got here I could’ve done anything, gone anywhere. I was ready to.”

“And now?”

“I want to play.”

“But it’s hard.”

“Yeah.”

Sarah leaned on the counter and kissed him lightly on the cheek. “You look tired.”

“I am.”

“What time do you have to be at work?”

“Never.”

Sarah smiled. “Right. Lucky you.”

“Lucky me.”

She kissed him again. “Do you want me to come up? When I’m done?”

“I do, I really do. There’s so much I don’t know. It’s hard for me to ask.”

“You don’t have to,” she said. “I already did.”

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