It was gray outside, but then, it usually is in Seattle. We like it that way. The marine layer keeps everybody laid back which is perfect because there is no other acceptable attitude to have when playing urban golf. The four of us couldn't even remember who came up with the idea or who named it but, who cares?
Bobby teed of first, as was his noble right as the oldest of the four of us. His club of choice was usually a six iron, and today was no different. The tennis ball went sailing as Bobby took his quirky, lefty swing. Not a bad shot, the ball bounced down the hill and into the parking lot, where it came to rest against the curb. "Nice", said Adrian. Then Adrian stepped up, threw some grass into the wind for show, and promptly hit his ball off the toe of his five iron. "Oh wow. Man, i am such weak sauce," said Adrian. He followed his ball as it careened off toward some tree or something. We all laughed at him as he tried to keep his ball from getting too far away from him. Danny then took his regular, unnecessarily violent swing that, as usual, got more ground than ball. A big tuft of grass sailed lazily through the air and landed with a rustle as the ball rolled over and then lay there, as if mocking him. If the ball wasn't taking care of the mocking, then Bobby and i were. "Whoa! Easy there big fella, we can't have you making us all look bad like that," i said. "Hey Danny...that was lame, man," laughed Bobby. Danny laughed at himself and then hit again. Then i hit and we moved on, in no particular order. No scorecards, no winner, no losers, no hurry. Just another cool, relaxing afternoon at Decatur Gardens.
We played through the nine holes: the fire hydrant one, the garbage can, the choir room door, the practice soccer goal, and all the other ones till we all finished up. "Nice round, Bobby. You were really on one today," said Danny. "Guess so. It'll work," Bobby responded. "Hey Adrian, you are a testament to all of us, man. If I was as bad as you, i don't think I'd have the guts to play," Danny joked. "Haha, yeah. We can't all be as good as you," said Adrian. With the round over, we all walked lackadaisically back to the car and talked about what we would do the rest of the day. "I'm up for whatever," we all took turns saying. Of course we were, we always were. After a few minutes of thinking about the other things we could or couldn't do, we ended with a general consensus that the best thing to do would be, as it so often was, nothing at all.
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2 comments:
I like the use of dialogue to carry the loose, easy-going tone of the piece. People often choose a life-changing moment in Memory compositions. Why this moment for you to record? Is there a subtext of significance, or it this just a description of something fairly inane that pleases you, or relieves stress, like catch-and-release fishing? I would refine some of the more colloquial diction in the direct quotations.
I like the dialogue that flows throughout. It adds a nice personal touch that adds to your description at the end of the second paragraph: "No scorecards, no winner, no losers, no hurry." It seems like our society is obsessed with those things. We're always in a hurry, keeping score, naming the winners and the losers. It's nice to see a departure from that mindset. But is doing nothing really the best option? Consider tying this memory into the bigger picture. Is this a typical outlook in your life? Or does it only apply in this situation? What would life be like if we were all like that all the time? Just some things to consider..
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