FanStory.com - Saving Mr. Calvin - Chapter 15by Jim Wile

A couple of young men asked Arie for another demonstration of how she hit a ball. When she first explained how to hold the kolf in her hands, one of them made a rude remark to her about holding his kolf anytime. She didn’t quite get it I could tell, but I did, and I didn’t like it at all. I decided to keep my eyes on these fellows. I watched them watch her begin to hit shots, and they weren’t watching the shots at all but kept their eyes glued to her the whole time. I hated those leering faces and the way they whispered and snickered to themselves.

When 10 o’clock came around, it was time to head to the farm for the first game demonstration. There was a sizable enough crowd who wanted to see it and participate that we needed both the cart and the hay wagon we had brought for transporting people to the farm.

We split up, and Arie and I rode on the smaller cart that her pa had provided, while Lard, Lotte, and Rube rode on the wagon. This way, we could talk to all the folks about the game and what we would be demonstrating as we rode to the farm. It was about a 15-minute ride. The two potential troublemakers rode on our cart as well, but seemed to behave themselves with other people nearby.

I said to those on the cart, “We’re going to play three complete holes that we have laid out previously to show you how it’s done. When we have finished playing the holes, we will give you a chance to hit some balls.

Arie then asked the folks, “Will anyone want to try it?” to which there was a rousing chorus of “Yes!”

We smiled at each other, acknowledging how well this was going. We arrived shortly, and we all made our way over to the hitting area for our opening shots. We pointed out the direction of the first green in the distance, and the four of us hit our shots to begin play.

When we got to the green, we demonstrated holing to the crowd. Arie dazzled them by holing her ball from 12 paces. She beamed because her score for the hole beat both Lard and Rube’s and was tied with mine. The crowd went wild with praise to see this wee young girl playing equal to and even better than the older and much larger boys.

At the next hole, as we were preparing to strike our shots, I overheard one of those two scoundrels say quietly to the other, “I’d like to put it in her hole.”

She had no reaction, so I didn’t think she heard that, but Dhr Papin heard it and went over to stand by the young men.

The next hole was a short one that we were all capable of reaching with our middler kolfs, which we proceeded to do. As we were walking to the green, Arie said to me softly, “Kilian, do you see those two young men over there to our right? I don’t like the way they are looking at me nor some of the remarks I’ve heard them make.”

“Yes, I noticed them back at the fair when they were watching you hit your smasher. Your father is keeping an eye on them. Don’t worry about those two, and just concentrate on kolven right now. We’ll deal with them later if they persist.”

“Alright.”

Lard had missed the green with his shot and was at the bottom of a steep hill, which gave him a perfect chance to use his lifter. He struck a beautiful high shot, which landed softly on the green and rolled up to one pace from the hole—an impressive shot. The crowd cheered, and Lotte, who was following Lard, raised her fingers to her lips and let out a loud whistle. We all ended up tying this hole with three strokes and then smashed our next ones for the last of the three holes.

Rube had reared back and smashed his ball with all of his might, which really awed the crowd. They applauded wildly and shouted words of praise at him as they watched his ball soar and land well ahead of the rest of ours. He grinned from ear to ear, as he had never had anyone praise him the way these folks did in all of his life.

“Beautifully done, Ruben,” said Arie. “Everyone is going to want to smash them like you just did.”

“Thank you, Miss Arie. I whaled on that one, I did.”

“Yes, you did.” She grabbed his big hand in her little one, and they walked together hand-in-hand all the way to Arie’s ball.

I couldn’t help but smile at the contrast between them and at how wonderful their relationship was. I grinned at Lard as he grinned back, watching those two together.

When we finished playing this hole, I shouted to the crowd, “We hope everyone enjoyed this demonstration of the game of kolf. If you would like to try it yourself, please follow us over to the practicing place. We have plenty of kolfs and balls for you to use.”

Arie shouted out, “We will gladly help you if you would like us to.”

Oom Gerrit and Dhr Papin walked a ways out in the field to knock the balls back after the would-be kolfers struck them. Everyone who wanted to got a chance to hit a few balls as the four of us players helped instruct them.

Without Dhr Papin watching over them, one of the two troublemakers shouted, “How about you come over here and show us how you stroke our balls, little Red?”

I started walking over to them, but Arie stopped me. “I can handle this, Kilian. You just keep your eye on us, though.”

I walked over to Rube then. “Hey, Rube, help me keep an eye on those two over there with Arie, would’ja? I don’t like the look of them.”

“They wouldn’t hurt Miss Arie, would they?”

“She says she can handle them, but I don’t trust ‘em.”

Rube started to walk over in their direction, but I grabbed his shirt. “Hold on, Rube. Let’s just watch for now.”

We watched them talking, and then Arie demonstrated a swing. Then we saw one of them shove a kolf between his legs with the grip end forward as he moved his hips straight forward and back rather than side-to-side while he said something to her. The other one began laughing, and I saw Arie blush, turn around, and head back in our direction. The two young men continued laughing and slapping each other on the back. Rube started forward again, but I held him back.

When Arie met us, I asked her, “What did he say to you?”

“I don’t care to repeat it, but it was very rude.”

“Well, let’s stay away from those two eikels.”

“Gladly.”

With that bit of excitement over, we all went back to helping those who were genuinely interested. When everyone who wanted to try it had a chance, I said to the group, “We have a few balls and kolfs for sale, as well as some instruction sheets with pictures of the swing to help you get started. At the fair next summer, we plan to conduct a competition, so bring a team of four players to compete.”

“And teach as many others as you can,” said Arie. “Spread the word.”

The group thanked us, and many of them looked over the wares we had for sale. A few purchased them. We set aside our demonstration equipment for use during the second and third demonstrations and would sell it to that final group. Then it was time to return to the fair.

The four of us split up again, and Arie and I waited until the two troublemakers boarded the cart before we took seats on the other one. On the way back, we discussed how to make balls and kolfs with the folks and how we went about creating holes with greens. People were very enthusiastic about all of it, and there were many questions.

Back at the fair, the four of us bid goodbye to the folks who attended and got together to discuss how it went. Lotte joined us and stood next to Lard. “I wish now we had made more balls and kolfs,” I said. “Quite a few were purchased, and they loved your pictures, Lotte. We are almost sold out of those.”

“Thank you, Kilian,” she said. “Perhaps I could draw a few more while you are putting on the second demonstration.”

“Well, only if you want to. I thought you might want to stay here with your ma and brothers and enjoy the goings-on at the fair.”

“No, I’d rather come with you.” Arie gave her a hug then, and Lard appeared delighted by this.

“We’d love to have you, and if you feel like drawing a few more pictures, they would be most welcome.”

“I will do it then.”

Rube said, “Kilian, do ya think we could get somethin’ to eat before long? I’m powerful hungry.”

“Good idea, Rube. Why don’t we meet back here at half past the noon hour to do our fair demonstration before we head back out to the farm at 1:00 o’clock?”

I passed out the money we had earned from the sales we had made, and we all headed out to purchase our noon meals from the many items being sold at the various booths.