FILP Short Fiction: Tough choices
Plus Extra Mustard on Recent reads
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, events, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
by Vince Wetzel
Copyright Vince Wetzel and OT Press
Leslie walked off the 18th hole at the Claremont Country Club and toward the massive Tudor-style clubhouse. The Claremont was one of the oldest and established golf courses in the Bay Area, and she played it for free, for practice. Not bad for a kid from Reno.
She smiled. These were the benefits of playing golf for the University of California at Berkeley. The Claremont was just 10 minutes from her apartment and its narrow fairways and quick greens were the perfect test for her game. It was October and sanctioned practices didn’t start for a few more months, but she still could walk on practically any time. She just had to call in the morning.
She pulled her phone from the pocket of the golf bag and powered it on. She disciplined herself to never check it while she was on the course. It was one of the toughest things she’d ever had to do, but any distraction on the course meant wasted training and she deserved to give Cal her best. After all, she got to play competitive golf, get an education and make a couple of dollars through the new NCAA rules.
There were two phone messages and six texts, four of them from her boyfriend Robbie. Leslie rolled her eyes and scrolled through his texts.
Hey, call me when you get in
What are you up to
Where are you?
Hello?
Leslie checked the voicemails and sure enough, it was Robbie. What was it about this guy? She laid it all out front that her priority was golf and her Criminology major. He agreed to work himself around that schedule and she agreed to go out with him a few times. A few weeks ago, they just started to get a little more serious. She slept with him and it was fun, but since then, he became so clingy. Wasn’t this what guys complained about? If so, she understood why.
She texted back.
Just got off the course. I will call you when I get back to my apartment
The three dots appeared soon after she hit send. Was he waiting for her text? Leslie pulled her golf bag off the cart and placed both in the trunk of the used Honda Civic her parents gave her for graduation. It was almost a given she’d be a college athlete. Her mom played volleyball at UCLA and her dad was a highly touted linebacker from USC before a series of knee injuries ended his career. They invested in her athletic talents and she was determined to make that investment pay off a degree, no student debt and a possible career as a professional golfer. Well, that last one was just for her.
Her phone buzzed.
I’m already here. Your roommate let me in. See you when you get here.
What the…? Leslie sighed.
She typed a not-so-polite reply, but then thought better of it and pressed the delete button so that the box was empty. Better to say it in person was what her dad always told her.
See you in a few.
On her short drive home, Leslie played out the scenarios. He was a nice guy. He respected her. They had great conversations on philosophy, business, current events, even TV Shows. He was attentive and interested in whatever she had to say. He liked sports. He was a big Oakland A’s fan and she thought it was cute he went with his grandfather to games a few times a year.
Looking back, the signs were there. She felt important when he waited outside her apartment with a bouquet of flowers. When he knew her schedule, she thought he paid attention to details. He had a flair for the dramatic and she liked it. Or at least she thought she did. In the moments, she was flattered and felt like a princess, which was completely different from the drive her father instilled in her.
But she knew in her heart, this wasn’t working. Part of it was unfair. She was too committed to her studies and golf to give anyone a chance unless they fully captured her heart. He was nice, but in the end he was just a convenient date when she needed a break. He deserved better. And she didn’t want to be smothered.
Leslie was lucky, finding a parking spot only a block away from her apartment. She strapped the bag to her shoulders and walked toward her apartment. And there was Robbie, visible from her second floor window. She had to end this. She just hoped that he didn’t take it too hard.
“You were out on the course a while,” Robbie said when she entered the apartment. She hadn’t even put down her golf bag.
“I am on the course every day,” she retorted. “You know that.”
“Not on Wednesdays,” he said.
“Yeah, class was cancelled so I thought I’d get in a round.”
“Why didn’t you call me? I could have driven the cart.”
“No, I needed to focus on my game,” she said. “You would just distract me.”
“Don’t you want to be with me?” he asked.
This conversation was running off the rails. She read something about this in Intro to Psych class. What was it? Co-dependency, narcissism and overly empathetic. Part of her wanted to tell him it was ok. It was sweet he wanted to be with her so much. But then she heard her dad in her ear.
Don’t lose yourself for someone else. Be with someone who complements you, not competes with you for your attention.
Robbie was a sweet guy, just a little possessive. It was time to let him down easy. She went to the refrigerator and grabbed the beer she bought because he liked it and handed it to him.
“Robbie, I think we need to talk.”
Author Note: Leslie’s father, as mentioned, is one of the main characters in Friends in Low Places. Robbie will appear in Lose Yourself, out next Spring.
Extra Mustard
Books I’ve read recently
Surrender by Bono: Yes, it’s a celebrity Memoir, but for a U2 fan like me, it was fascinating to chart the band’s success from the streets of Dublin to global superstardom. The decisions they lucked into. And the decisions (breaking up after Boy) they weren’t allowed to make (manager said they were under contract), just provided me with additional insights into Bono as an artist, activist and human. I listened to the audio, which he narrates, and it’s worth it. His impressions of Bill Clinton, Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra, even Prince are spot on. It even influenced my next project (More on that to come). Highly recommend.
A Very Typical Family by Sierra Godfrey: An easy read about a woman in Boston who comes back to Santa Cruz to inherit her house and resolve her issues with her brother and sister, whom she sent to prison 15 years ago. It’s predictable in every way, but I did enjoy.
The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4 years Old by Hendrk Groen: Yes, this is fiction. If you enjoyed Man Called Ove, you’ll like this. It’s not as dark as Ove, but has the heartwarming pangs of getting older. The book is told in diary form with daily entries from January 1 to December 31. There’s the hilariously mundane of getting a new scooter, to the tragic.
The Crimes of Jordan Wise by Bill Prozini: What if you got away with not one perfect crime, but three? But you ended up bored, alone and not much to live for. Would you tell your story to an author? Before you give me a call, I enjoyed the story and I could see how the joy of life can diminish after you’ve destroyed the life you had. Enjoyed!