| General Fiction posted August 9, 2023 | Chapters: |
...18 19 -20- 21... 
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Further efforts to spread the game
A chapter in the book Saving Mr. Calvin
Saving Mr. Calvin - Chapter 18A
by Jim Wile
| Background A story about the origin and the future of the game of golf |
Recap of the past few chapters: As they improve in the game, and each one develops his or her own special skill, they decide they would like some competition but need to spread the game to achieve it. They decide to demonstrate it at the Amsterdam Fair, and Kilian and Arie ride to her uncle’s farm near Amsterdam to see if they could create some holes on his property for the demonstration. Oom (Uncle) Gerrit welcomes them, and they show him the game, giving him and Arie’s papa a chance to try it themselves. Oom Gerrit is very agreeable to her request to create holes on his land and to provide transportation for the fairgoers.
In preparation for the fair, they make many clubs and balls to sell, and Lotte draws pictures of the swing. They lay out the three demonstration holes, and it’s time for the fair. They put on a very successful demonstration of many shots at the fairgrounds. Now it is time for a demonstration of the game itself out at Oom Gerrit’s farm. This demonstration likewise goes well, although Arie is accosted by rude remarks of a sexual nature from two young men.
The remainder of the demonstrations go well and the group is in high spirits following. While returning from a trip to the relief houses, Arie and Lotte are attacked by the two young men. Lotte escapes to warn the others who come to her rescue and save her just in time before she is violated. Fireworks cap off an eventful day at the fair.
The five (which now includes Lotte) begin actively making kolf equipment to sell in a fledgling enterprise. One warm October evening weeks later, Kilian proposes to Arie, and they tell the good news to their folks. Fredrik Papin gives Kilian good advice about his daughter.
Chapter 18A
The wedding took place in a month, and it ended up being a double ceremony, as Lars had also proposed to Lotte. The girls looked stunning in their finest dresses, and Lars and I also wore our best clothes. The ceremony was officiated by the Lord of the Manor and was attended by both our families and a few friends.
The Lord had freed our family some years ago, so we were no longer tenants and not indentured to him. He was a kind man and very generous to our family, and was more than happy to share his home with us for the wedding ceremony. It was held inside his beautiful house, decorated with many bouquets of fall flowers and colorful, dried corn.
The three mothers (mine, Arie’s and Lars’) prepared a wedding feast of a boar’s head, ducks, rabbits, and root vegetables in the Lord’s kitchen, and all of us celebrated with a sumptuous meal after the ceremony. Plenty of beer, wine, and mead were served, and a troupe of musicians serenaded us during the meal and led us in song and dance after. A merry time was had by all.
The Lord of the Manor had gifted Arie and me with a small cottage of our own, and as part of the dowry from the Papins, it was well furnished with many household goods and some furniture. This included a large bed in which the marriage was consummated in very short order following the wedding celebration. We did not leave that bed until noon of the following day, and we learned a great variety of new things from each other as we explored the pleasures of carnal desire.
After a meal of some of the leftover food from the wedding feast, we decided to go play kolf and headed to the holes we usually play. It was 10 furlongs from our little home to the cave, and we vowed we would create some more holes nearer to us some day.
As fall ended and we moved into the winter months, the sheep spent less and less time outside, especially when the snows came. Arie and I spent our workdays tending to the sheep in their indoor pens. This mainly entailed feeding, watering, and mucking out.
The weather curtailed our kolven but afforded us, when not caring for the sheep nor visiting the conjugal bed (which we did often), plenty of time to make kolfs and balls. They would be for sale, and they would be our source of income to support ourselves when we set out in the spring to promote our new game. Lars, Lotte, and Rube came over frequently and joined us in this effort. It would be an adventure for the five of us with no guarantee of success, but we loved the new game so much that we couldn’t imagine how others would not.
In addition to Lotte’s pictures, Lars decided to write instructions to go along with them now that he was so adept at writing. I helped him with the wording of the instructions.
The five of us set out on our first journey in the late spring, once the weather had turned consistently mild. We walked but were accompanied by a mule who carried our kolf equipment, some tools, foodstuffs, cooking gear, and bedrolls. We carried many other items, including our clothing and skins for water, in packs on our backs.
When we would arrive at a new town, we would post a sign inviting the townsfolk to come and watch a demonstration of a new game. We would put on this demonstration and ask one of the landowners who attended if we could set up and play a few holes on his land. These demonstrations were much like the ones we conducted at the Amsterdam Fair, and the interest they sparked was of a similar nature. We sold our wares and invited folks to the competition we would be holding at this year’s fair.
These owners would often invite us in for meals and would even allow us to sleep in rooms if they had spare ones or in their barns. We sometimes stayed at inns, both taking our meals and sleeping there. We were earning enough money through our sales to enjoy this luxury on a number of occasions.
We would stay for two days at most in each town we visited, then travel to the next town on our itinerary. We traveled north in a large circle around the countryside and eventually ended up back in Amsterdam by early August, where we arranged with the Fair Committee to conduct our kolven competition.
As we planned to compete in it, the committee insisted on conducting it but asked us to develop the rules of the competition and post them for all to see when signing up to play. We never before played by written rules; we just understood what seemed fair, but now we had to formalize them in a list. We were told to keep them brief and not attempt to cover every possible situation. There would be a rules official to decide on any dispute, and his word would be final.
This was more difficult than we thought, but we finally settled on the following eight rules for the competition, with the last four being for the game in general:
1) Teams will consist of two to four players.
2) Each team will play only one ball per team, and any team member may hit any shot with this ball during the play of a hole. There are 12 holes.
3) Two teams will compete against each other in a match. Bracketed matches will yield the overall winning team.
4) Holes are won by the team that holes the ball in the fewest strokes or is given a concession. The winner of the match will be the team that wins the most holes. If the match is tied at the end, teams will keep playing holes until a winner of the match is decided.
5) Once a ball has been struck, it is not permitted by a player of either team to purposely touch the ball, with a penalty of one stroke to the team that touched it.
6) If a ball is lost during play or deemed unplayable, it must be hit from the same spot as the original, with one penalty stroke added.
7) The team that wins a hole shall play the first ball on the next hole. Once both balls have been struck, the ball farthest from the hole will be hit first. The penalty for hitting out of turn is one stroke.
8) If a ball is struck by an opponent’s ball, the struck ball will be replaced in its original position without penalty.
2) Each team will play only one ball per team, and any team member may hit any shot with this ball during the play of a hole. There are 12 holes.
3) Two teams will compete against each other in a match. Bracketed matches will yield the overall winning team.
4) Holes are won by the team that holes the ball in the fewest strokes or is given a concession. The winner of the match will be the team that wins the most holes. If the match is tied at the end, teams will keep playing holes until a winner of the match is decided.
5) Once a ball has been struck, it is not permitted by a player of either team to purposely touch the ball, with a penalty of one stroke to the team that touched it.
6) If a ball is lost during play or deemed unplayable, it must be hit from the same spot as the original, with one penalty stroke added.
7) The team that wins a hole shall play the first ball on the next hole. Once both balls have been struck, the ball farthest from the hole will be hit first. The penalty for hitting out of turn is one stroke.
8) If a ball is struck by an opponent’s ball, the struck ball will be replaced in its original position without penalty.
This format may seem like it was designed with our team in mind, for we each specialized in an aspect of the game that would be needed on most every hole. But that was our right, since we had come up with the idea for the competition in the first place. If someone else decides to hold a competition in the future, they would be free to set their own rules, but this one is ours.
The reason for such detail in specifying the rules of the competition is because they will be important in the course of coming chapters.
CHARACTERS - 2032 California
Kevin Parsons: The narrator of the story. He is a 28-year-old mechanical engineer living in Santa Barbara, CA.
Paul Putnam: A good friend of Kevin who is an electrical engineer.
Ernie (Dumbo) Dumbrowski: Another good friend of Kevin who is a computer genius.
Art Calvin: An old, retired golf course architect whom the boys meet one day while golfing.
CHARACTERS - 1247 Holland
Kilian Pauls: A 14-year-old shepherd boy in 1247 Holland.
Arie Papin: A 13-year-old farmgirl in 1247 Holland.
Lars (Lard) Jansen: A fellow shepherd boy and friend of Kilian.
Ruben (Rube) Meijer: Another shepherd boy and friend of Kilian.
Fredrik Papin (Dhr Papin): Arie's father
Mevr Papin: Arie's mother
Lotte Papin: Arie's younger sister
Frans and Hennie Papin: Arie's little brothers
Oom Gerrit: Arie's uncle (Fredrik's brother)
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. CHARACTERS - 2032 California
Kevin Parsons: The narrator of the story. He is a 28-year-old mechanical engineer living in Santa Barbara, CA.
Paul Putnam: A good friend of Kevin who is an electrical engineer.
Ernie (Dumbo) Dumbrowski: Another good friend of Kevin who is a computer genius.
Art Calvin: An old, retired golf course architect whom the boys meet one day while golfing.
CHARACTERS - 1247 Holland
Kilian Pauls: A 14-year-old shepherd boy in 1247 Holland.
Arie Papin: A 13-year-old farmgirl in 1247 Holland.
Lars (Lard) Jansen: A fellow shepherd boy and friend of Kilian.
Ruben (Rube) Meijer: Another shepherd boy and friend of Kilian.
Fredrik Papin (Dhr Papin): Arie's father
Mevr Papin: Arie's mother
Lotte Papin: Arie's younger sister
Frans and Hennie Papin: Arie's little brothers
Oom Gerrit: Arie's uncle (Fredrik's brother)
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