Excellent A plan to spread the game Saving Mr. Calvin : Saving Mr. Calvin - Chapter 13 by Jim Wile

Background A story about the origin and the future of the game of golf See Author Notes for the list of characters and unfamiliar terms. Recap of the story so far: The year is 2032, and young Kevin Parsons, living in Santa Barbara, CA, has invited his two good friends, Paul Putnam and Ernie (Dumbo) Dumbrowski, for breakfast and a round of golf afterwards. Over breakfast, the three engineers lament the sorry state of golf courses in not only California but in the rest of the country, as presumably non-golfing environmentalists are destroying the game, without specifically banning it, by destroying its field of play. They go to the golf course, which is in terrible shape due to the lack of water and other restrictions, and meet Art Calvin, a retired golf course architect who actually designed the course they are playing. He joins the boys, and they begin their round. When they reach the 7th hole, Kevin hooks his tee shot out-of-bounds. He can see it resting on the other side of an old railroad trestle. The chapter ends as he walks beneath the trestle to go retrieve his ball. The railroad trestle is a time portal, and all of a sudden, we are in 13th-century Holland. Kilian Pauls, a 14-year-old boy, is running out of the woods and through the fields, being chased by two big boys shouting curses at him. He hears a voice calling to him and makes for it. It is a redheaded young girl who beckons him into the entrance to a cave to hide. It appears as though they have vanished, and the followers cannot find Kilian and give up the hunt. Kilian has just met a cute young girl named Arie Papin, and the two are instantly attracted to each other. She leaves for home soon after, and Kilian starts back to his hill, where he tends sheep. Kilian has invented a new game in which he hits a ball with a “kolf” which is Dutch for “club.” He plays this game, which he calls “kolf,” with his friends, Lard and Rube—fellow shepherds like him. He teaches Arie the game and together the four of them devise new ways to play it including putting the balls into holes on greens that the sheep have grazed smooth. They create different clubs (kolfs) for different shots, and make wooden balls. Kilian and Arie take a real fancy to each other, and Arie introduces him to her parents who also like him instantly. They continue to develop the game by creating more interesting holes to play and new clubs like the equivalent of today’s pitching wedge. Their romance also grows with the game. Names are created for the different aspects of the game including each of the four kolfs (clubs). Kilian introduces Lard and Rube to the short game. They begin making more kolfs and balls, and learn an interesting fact about smooth balls (they don’t fly very far.) Arie joins the group, and they all become fast friends. As they improve in the game, and each ones has their 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.     Chapter 13     Dhr Papin drove the cart into the farmyard, and Arie and I hopped out. Her uncle must have heard us drive up because he came out of the house. When Arie saw him, she ran up and jumped into his arms with her legs wrapped around his sides in an embrace. “Oom Gerrit, it is so good to see you again.” “It is so good to see you too, schatje. You are getting more lovely every time I see you. To what do I owe this honor?” he said as he put her down. “We have a favor to ask of you, Oom.” “And who is this ‘we’?” “This is my vriend, Kilian Pauls.” I saw Oom Gerrit look up and wink at his brother. Then he said to me, “Welcome to my home, Kilian Pauls. I can see my nicht has good taste.” “Thank you, sir.” “Come in, come in. It is too warm out here to palaver. We must sit inside, and I will bring you some refreshment.” The brothers embraced then. They were about the same height, but Oom Gerrit was larger through the middle than Dhr Papin—not exactly fat, but tending that way. He led us inside his house to a room with east-facing windows, so that it was shaded and cooler than the outdoors. It was a well-appointed room in a spacious house, and it was obvious he was a man of some means. Arie had told me that his wife had died three years ago, and his sons were on their own now, so Oom Gerrit lived alone in this large house. He brought us a pitcher of mead and some sort of sweet treats on a platter, and we helped ourselves to these tasty morsels while Dhr Papin and Arie caught him up on the recent happenings in their family. When this was accomplished, he said, “Alright, Arie, what is this favor you want to ask of me?” “Oom, Kilian here has invented a new game called kolf which he taught me to play, and I’ve been helping him refine the game into a very wonderful one. We think other people would enjoy this game as much as we do, and we want to demonstrate it at the Amsterdam Fair that is coming up.” “It is all they talk about these days,” said Arie’s papa. Oom Gerrit turned to face me then and said, “Tell me about this new game, Kilian.” “Well, sir, you take a ball, and then you strike it with a kolf, and then you go after it and strike it again. Then—” “Wait a moment,” interrupted Gerrit. “You say you had the ball? And then you struck it away, only to chase after it. And then you struck it away yet again. Hmm. Now, you had the ball. So, why would you keep striking it away?” “Well, so you could knock it into a hole in the ground.” He frowned, then looked at his brother with a very perplexed expression. “And this is all they talk about? This does not sound like much of a game, Fredrik.” “Oom Gerrit!” said Arie in exasperation. “The object is not to get the ball and hang onto it, but to put it in the hole with the least number of strikes. There is great skill involved in this! We must demonstrate this to you so that you can appreciate the difficulty and the fun of it.” “Arie, he was having Kilian on,” said her papa. “Don’t you know your oom well enough by now?” She looked at Oom Gerrit, who was trying to keep a straight face, when both of them burst out laughing, and we all joined in. “Dear Oom, you had us going there. Well done!” He patted Kilian on the shoulder. When his mirth had subsided, he said to Arie, “So what is this favor you ask of me then?” “We were wondering if we could make a few greens and lay out some holes on your land. Do you have any sheep?” “They will be playing too?” “Oooom! Of course not.” She made a fist and punched him in the arm. “We need them to make the greens—the areas where the holes will be dug. They need to graze the grass very close so that the surface is smooth. I was also wondering if you would be willing to provide a hay wagon and horses to carry folk from the fair to your farm, where we could demonstrate how to play the game.” “I think we could manage all of that, schatje. But first, you must show me how this game is played so that I can judge for myself if this is a worthwhile enterprise.” “Kilian and I will be happy to demonstrate. We will even teach you to play, and Papa, too, who says he wants to learn.” “If everyone is finished with their refreshments, let us go out and do it then.” He led us out to a large meadow, where we could see a flock of sheep grazing some distance away. This land would be perfect for laying out two or three holes to demonstrate the game. “Can I show them how to strike it, Kilian?” “Of course. I expected no less. I’ll go out there and hit them back after you strike them.” I ran about 100 paces away and stopped. I knew Arie would be able to strike the balls over my head at this distance, but that would surely impress her papa and oom. I watched her explain a few things to them, then she placed a ball down and struck a beautiful shot, which flew well over my head and landed a good twenty paces beyond me. I could hear their exclamations of wonder from this distance. She struck another with the same result. I then struck these two balls back to them, making sure to land them short and roll up to them. I wouldn’t want to hurt anyone by striking them with a ball in case they lost sight of it. After these two shots, Arie waved at me and shouted for me to come back. “Papa and Oom want to try it now,” Arie said as I came running up. Dhr Papin said, “Kilian, perhaps you should work with me, and Arie can work with Gerrit. She is too impatient with me and will soon get frustrated and start fussing, I fear.” She frowned and stuck her tongue out at him, and he winked at me. “Why don’t you and I go over there a few paces, and you can show me how to do this,” he said as he put his hand on my shoulder and started leading me away. I stopped and picked out 10 balls that we had brought, leaving Arie and Gerrit with 10 others. We had made quite a few of them in the past few months and had brought 20 with us today. Arie and I spent half an hour with the brothers, and by the end, each had struck at least one good shot that flew in excess of 100 paces. After picking up all the balls, we returned. Oom Gerrit boasted that his best shot went farther than Fredrik’s. “Perhaps you didn’t listen to all of Kilian’s good advice very well, Papa, and insisted on doing it your own way. That would not surprise me,” she said to him. “Do you see what I have to put up with all the time from her, Gerrit?” he said with a grin. Then, we began demonstrating the short lifter shots. Arie and I had developed a neat trick where I would stand about four paces directly in front of and facing her, and she would take a big swing with a lifter and pop the ball right over my head. I used to flinch at first when we tried this, but she never missed, and I had complete faith in her that she wouldn’t today. She didn’t, and the brothers were duly impressed. When this was done, we gathered up all the balls and walked back to the farmyard. Arie walked between the brothers and linked both their arms with hers, while I carried the equipment back. It was obvious they both adored her very much, and she them. We completed the demonstration of the game with holing. For this, we dug a hole back in the farmyard that was well-shaded by trees and was bare dirt and quite smooth. After a few tries at this, Oom Gerrit said, “Arie and Kilian, this new game is everything you promised it would be. I would be glad to honor your requests to host a demonstration of it for the fairgoers, and I would be happy to provide transportation to and from the fair as well.” Arie jumped into his arms again and gave him a big kiss on the forehead. “Thank you so much, Oom. That is very kind of you. Do you think it would be possible for Kilian and me to come a day before the fair so that we could lay out the greens, dig the holes and make flag sticks to mark them, and get the sheep to graze the grass short?” “Absolutely, if that is okay with Fredrik. You can bring the entire family and stay here for the night. I’ve plenty of rooms now that my boys have all left for homes of their own.” Arie looked at her papa inquiringly. “That’s a very generous offer, Gerrit. We will take you up on it. Thank you.” Still in his arms, Arie squealed with delight and kissed him again. “Thank you, Oom.” “You’re welcome, schatje. He put her down then, and it was time to bid him farewell. I thanked him for his hospitality and for being willing to host the event, and we departed soon after. All-in-all, it was a very successful afternoon, and I couldn’t wait to tell Lard and Rube all about it.     Author Notes Dutch words kolf: a club in ancient Dutch. It is also used as the name of the game that uses it. kolven: the verb form of the word, i.e., clubbing or golfing Dhr: Mr. (Abbreviation for Meneer) Mevr: Mrs. (Abbreviation for Mevrouw) Oom: Uncle schatje: sweetie vriend: boyfriend nicht: niece 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 Oom Gerrit: Arie's uncle (Fredrik's brother)

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