19th Hole

Tried golf I never really understood the rules, except for the 19th hole but always got a high score. It's a senseless pastime I was more into fishing. He was close friend he was “scratch” whatever that is. We played truant and dived out golf balls from the river and sold them. Good money in golf especially the 19th hole. He was fanatical let us call him Clubs.

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We were both from dysfunctional homes most of our friends were. His dad was always very good to me we get along very well. They had the first of every new thing, sodastream cool-drink maker, video (tape) machines, microwave oven. the newest popular music also – Chris de Burgh, Eddy Grant and so on. Their house was spotless.

One day Clubs came out of the school library with his hand tucked under his blazer and produced a maths book and said I could have it. That book haunted me for long in the end I destroyed it. A few years later they did inventory at the library and it came out he had actually loaned that book and on his name he didn't steal it and now they wanted it. All fingers pointed at me but I simply denied any involvement or knowledge at all of this “vanished library maths book” They never figured it out. It was also then discovered I had no science file with all the homework and experiments and that. My dad wrote a letter saying he threw my file on the dumps by accident he thought it was very funny.

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With everybody's expectations after a phenomenal start as an engineering student I crashed in the third year. Had my hair long those days, after school. He disliked it intensely, doing military service at the time. My dad didn't like it at all either and had been in the army too I mean he was serious about it he despised long hair. To me was just another way of defying authority.

This friend badly resented me coming to his mother's funeral in a formal suit with white sneakers he could never understand all I had was this new pair of tennis shoes. Could never understand how a person cannot have shoes. Fortunate too I had those white tennis shoes otherwise I would have had to go barefoot like Jesus.

Later he was angry too that I wrote my exams and studied the whole year at home with only half of my spectacles and fixed with enough sticky tape. Well I was proud of it I thought it was quite an achievement I'd passed everything and good results as well.

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Clubs took the smell a bitch she thought much too much of herself. I myself wasn't interested at all, but for him and losing my best friend in this way and that after an ugly motor car accident where I was seriously injured and was in hospital in in traction for some time. I wasn't after her I actually didn't like her much either. I was never badly treated by him.

He completed his BTech degree in fire brigade services, and advanced medical ambulance courses and qualifications and got very far and almost completed a degree in law too so he knows a lot about that also. Every fireman that worked with him said to me he had respect he was a very good fireman. Of the best. These people are very good they are highly trained professionals.

So that's my story.

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Playing truant at the golf course diving out golf balls and having a good time I would say we were about four or five guys I was a strong swimmer. I had two hands full each time I came up was very good at it. Golf balls are expensive and many don't make it and land up in the water it is deep more of a river.

With a bottle or two of cheap sherry and lying in the sun in our jocks on the grass to dry was great fun while the others kids were in the classroom. My buddies and I actually got away with it for a few days, burning our school books too.

We were found out but my dad had known already and spoke to me only after he had cooled off which was already unusual. I was not murdered as was expected. He thought we were diving out and selling these golf balls because we needed money for cigarettes he said I should ask him if I needed cigarettes there was always a carton in his cupboard. The thing is he didn't want us to steal.

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This all was long ago we drifted apart we had different vices.