As the electric golf cart rumbled along the path away from the eighteenth hole, it's driver was excited and impatient.
"Well, come on, girl! Don't keep me in suspense. How did I do?!"
The teenager sitting directly behind her frowned, trying to tot up the figures scratched onto the score card despite the swaying of the cart and the way she kept getting jostled by a bag of golf clubs.
"Just give me a minute, would you?" answered Daisy Newton grumpily.
Well aware of why her friend was having so much trouble but unable to resist a little good-natured teasing, the young woman sitting next to her inquired sweetly, "Are you running out of fingers? Maybe you should take your shoes off and count toes, as well."
Daisy didn't even bother to look over at her. "Quiet, Cindy."
"It's okay, really. I mean, sure it'll stink, but I'm sure we could hold our breaths until your done," Cindy Haltom continued with a giggle.
"I said, be quiet," she told her, giving her a sideways look and a little smirk. "You don't want me to come over there."
Both of the two younger women in the back seat of this lumbering, oversized golf cart were college girls who had taken jobs here at the Brookhaven Country Club to earn themselves a little spending money. Not only did the club pay more than any fast food place would have, the working conditions were much better and the club members tended to be not only well off, but big tippers. That the two club members who were now sitting in front of them also offered certain very enjoyable extracurricular opportunities was an unexpected and unusual but not unwelcome bonus.
Though Cindy and Daisy had only met each other relatively recently, they had nonetheless become fast friends. That process had been helped considerably by certain events that had occurred the last couple of times they had caddied for these two women, events that made it permissible for them to relate to these two in a much more relaxed way that they ever could with any of the club's other members.
"Hush, the both of you," Cassie Johnston told them, carefully steering the cart and ignoring the chuckles from the woman beside her. She didn't want to stray off the path and have that lunatic groundskeeper feel the need to bark at her again for tearing up the fairways. "What's the matter back there, girl? Weren't you just bragging that you were getting straight A's in that trigonometry class? I wouldn't have thought you would have so much trouble with a little adding."
Daisy heaved a frustrated sigh, looking up at last from the card. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Johnston, but it's just a little hard to do when I'm bouncing around like this. To tell the truth, I think I'm getting a little car sick."
"Well why didn't you say so, girl?! We can fix that right now."
There was a small stand of trees up in front of them, the path curving around it before continuing on up to the course's club house, so Cassie pulled over to the side and stopped where they would have some shade from the summer sun. "Okay then, let's see how fast you can get those numbers added up now."
Sitting beside her in the golf cart's front seat, Brenda Andrews just shook her head as she watched her best friend eagerly twist sideways in her seat just as soon as they were stopped so that she could watch the younger woman do her figuring.
Members in good standing at the club and lifelong friends, Cassie and Brenda were now in the twilight of long, happy lives. Retirement was treating them both well and, finding themselves financially comfortable and with copious amounts of leisure time, they were thoroughly enjoying spending that time with their husbands, their children, and their grandchildren. However, they also held a secret that would have scandalized their families, not to mention all of their society friends. It was this secret that had led to their becoming so very friendly with these two young caddies and specifically asking for them whenever they wanted to go golfing.
"You'd better hurry, Daisy," Brenda was telling the teenager "She's getting herself so wound up that I'm starting to worry she's going to have a seizure or something."
"Just one more minute. I'm almost done." In fact it was just under a minute before Daisy finished her work. "Done!"
Cassie practically snatched the score card away from the girl, pointedly ignoring her friend's disapproving frown as she quickly scanned the numbers. Suddenly she was laughing and bouncing in her seat, going so far as to punch a fist into the air and even letting out a whoop.
"So, did you do well, Mrs. Johnston?" Cindy had waited until she'd paused to catch his breath, asking her question in a voice whose innocence was belied by the smile quirking her lips.
"I did it!" Cassie crowed. "I finally did it!"
Brenda was leaning closer to get a look at that score card, trying to figure out what had her so excited. "You did?"
"I did!" Cassie met her halfway by thrusting the card out under her nose for just a moment, then flashing it at each of the girl's behind them in turn. "After a lifetime of playing this stupid game, I've finally managed to come in under par!"
This was obviously a big deal to her and so the other three each took a moment to put aside the playful teasing and offer their sincere congratulations, all of them genuinely happy for her.
"Thank you, thank you. I can't wait to show this to my husband, Jack. He'll probably swallow his dentures when he hears that I pulled this off before he did." She turned back to face forward again, settling into her chair and positively beaming at that wondrous and historic score card. "You know what? I just might even frame this thing!"
"If you're going to do that, dear," Brenda told him with a grin, "I would get it blown up first. That way you won't have to go find your bifocals every time you want to have a look at it."
"Oh, har, har." Cassie ignored both the jibe and the giggling from the backseat, far too delighted with her accomplishment to really be annoyed with all of this teasing. "Your just jealous that you can't do it. What was your score again?" Her hand darted out and grabbed her friend's card before she could get rid of it. "Oh, yes, you ended up with better than twice the par score, didn't you?"
The old woman next to her responded only with a sour look, sticking her tongue out at her.
"Don't get me wrong, it's always great fun to spend a day out here with you two ladies, but if this club didn't pay so well, you wouldn't see me anywhere near a golf course. It just seems like kind of a dumb game to me," Cindy confessed.
Cassie looked back at her, raising an eyebrow. "And how would you know, young lady? Exactly how many golf balls have you ever hit?"
"None at all," the girl readily admitted. "But then I don't really have the time what with beating all the boys off with a stick." She playfully posed herself just a little to emphasize her point as she added, "In case you haven't noticed, I happen to be one fabulous babe."
"You certainly are." Daisy's response was not quite under her breath as she dragged her eyes slowly over her friend in open admiration.
The older woman ahead of her grunted in agreement, her own eyes on the firm young breasts that were now jutting towards her so conspicuously, but tried to cover it with some obviously fake coughing.
It occurred to Cassie that a little celebration of her marvelous achievement was in order and the thought of having it right here on the golf course, the very scene of this triumph, was just too perfect an idea to let slip by. However lovely she was though, it was not Cindy who would be going to this party with her.
As subtly as she could, she took a look around the parked cart to see where the club house was from here and how far away the other golfers were today. Next, she turned her gaze onto the little clump of trees, judging how large the stand was and if the trees were growing thick enough to keep her celebration out of sight.
The other three in the cart just watched all this and waited, well aware of what was coming and finding Cassie's attempt to be discrete a trifle amusing.
"You know," Cassie announced at length, trying hard to make it sound like a mere afterthought and not at all succeeding, "I seem to recall that the last time I was up here playing with Jack, one of my balls went off into these very trees."
Daisy and Cindy were smiling openly at the blatant lie - choosing not to mention just how far off course this imaginary ball would have to have been to end up clear down here in the trees. It was Brenda who decided to see where her best friend was going with this.
"So?"
"So, as long as we're right here, I thought I'd go and see if I could find it." Before any of the others could react to that statement, she was already pushing herself up and out of the cart, pausing a moment to enjoy a nice stretch.
Cindy couldn't just let it pass without comment though and challenged her with a knowing smirk. "But you've got plenty of golf balls, Mrs. Johnston. Why go hunting through the undergrowth for one you must have lost close to a month ago?"
She scowled at the teen. "Young lady, aren't you the one who's always telling me about conservation and recycling? Seems to me that you'd be glad to know I wasn't littering the landscape with golf balls. Besides, those things don't grow on trees. There's no point in just leaving it out here to go to waste."
She turned away and took a step or two towards the trees, rubbing her chin speculatively. "Daisy, maybe you should come and give me a hand with this. All I know is that the damn ball is in here somewhere, but I don't have the foggiest idea where and young eyes are always the keenest."
Daisy gave the other two a wink and climbed out of the cart. "Sure, Mrs. Johnston." She took a moment to reach into one of the golf bags to retrieve a putter and a small package before moving to Cassie's side. The older woman claimed the golf club from her immediately to use as a walking stick on the uneven ground in there.
Trouble-maker that she was, Cindy couldn't resist. "Do you want me to come help, too?"
It was plain that she didn't. "Um, no, you'd better stay there and keep an eye on Brenda."
The golfer and her caddy slipped between the trees and were soon out of sight. Only then did Cindy and Brenda give in and laugh out loud.