*****
5
Jack’s dad returned his focus to his first putt on the final hole. But instead of putting he thought for a second. “Since I know that you were a little distracted before, how about I give you a chance to win it all.”
“Ok,” Jack said, excited to still be able to go home with a win.
“This last hole is winner take all. I’ll putt first. If I sink a hole in one then I am still the champ. If I don’t then you have the chance to win. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
Jack’s dad leaned over his golf ball gripping his club tightly. This last hole was a long one and a hole in one was nearly impossible. Even so, Jack’s dad gently lined up the putter and gave the ball a whack.
The ball let out a ‘ping’ as it left the club. It bounced off the rubber wall, circled the corner and headed straight for the hole.
Jack watched his possible win disappear before his eyes. As the ball got closer to the hole, Jack’s hopes got smaller. And finally when the ball rimmed around the top of the hole, Jack’s heart sunk.
But an amazing thing happened. The ball was traveling with so much speed that even though the ball circled the rim of the hole, it didn’t drop in. It dipped down into the edge of the hole, but kept on circling until the ball curled back over the rim and popped out.
It was a near perfect shot. Jack had never seen a hole in one on this last hole. This was the closest he’d seen.
Once the ball left the rim of the cup, it rolled less than a foot away. It would be an easy two putt for his dad. Jack, who had been excited when the ball rimmed out, felt his heart sink again.
“Did you see that putt,” Jack’s dad said excitedly. “There is only one type of putt that could beat that, and you know what type that is.”
“A hole in one,” Jack said sadly.
“That’s right, a hole in one. And I just want to add that there is no shame in coming in second. We had fun and that’s the most important part.”
“We could still tie,” Jack added, trying to feel better about his chances.
“Oh no. I said that I would give you a chance to win, not a chance to tie. If we tie, I win. And like I said, there is no shame in coming second, especially to a licensed kick-buttockogist like me. And don’t worry, there is always next time.”
Jack loved his dad a lot, but one thing that Jack knew about his dad was that he was a sore winner. He knew that his dad would talk about this great putt for the next week. Jack didn’t want that.
So Jack took a good look at all of the grooves in the grass. He lined his ball up to the main one just as his father had. With care he leaned himself over the ball and took a little breath.
With the club just right, he pulled his putter back and heard the ‘ping.’ The ball took the same path as his dad’s. It bounced off of the rubber wall and then curved around the corner. It didn’t have as much speed as his dad’s and the closer it got to the hole, the less likely it looked like it would make it.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion now. Jack watched as the ball eased its way up to the hole. There was definitely not enough speed. In fact, the ball rolled all the way up to the rim of the hole, the very edge of the hole, and then stopped. Jack’s heart dropped to the ground.
Jack felt the breath come out of him. He looked down at his feet and then up at his father, who had a huge grin on his face. The game was over… or so they both thought.
What they didn’t know was what was holding the ball back. If anyone had gotten up close to the ball, not just close, but really close, they would have seen that the only thing holding the ball back was a single blade of artificial grass.
That small fact wouldn’t have made any difference if the mini-golf course was newer, but it wasn’t. This was an old, worn out golf course, and the grass was just as worn.
On a newer course that artificial blade of grass would have held its ground. But on this worn course where the laughing clown often needed fixing and where there were grooves in the grass, the worn blade of grass could not.
After a second, or maybe it was two, that worn blade of grass let go and Jack’s ball, which he had struck just perfectly, fell in the cup. Jack was the new champion.
When Jack saw this, a huge smile crawled across his face. He hesitated for a moment before he looked up at his father because he knew that his dad would be devastated. But when he did look, that wasn’t what he found.
What Jack found was an even bigger smile on his father’s face. Jack didn’t think that his dad could smile any bigger than when he would take home the victory, but somehow his dad had found a way.
Still with his oversized smile, Jack’s dad dropped his putter and walked over to his son. In one move he threw his arms around his son and held him tighter than he had in years. Jack could do nothing but to stand there and hug him back.
As he stood there, what went though Jack’s mind was just how right his father was. It did feel good to get a hug from someone you liked. But standing there on the mini-golf course that day, Jack had learned more than that.
What Jack had learned was that no matter how good it felt to get a hug from someone you liked, it felt even better to get a hug from someone you loved. And from that day forward, with all of the surprising things that he would experience in his life, Jack would find nothing unexpected about that.
The End.
*****
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