| General Fiction posted December 23, 2022 | Chapters: |
...23 24 -25- 26... 
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As their friendship continues, Abby must return to school.
A chapter in the book Some Call It Luck
Some Call It Luck - Chapter 25
by Jim Wile
| Background A brilliant and beautiful but insecure, nerdy young woman befriends a going nowhere older alcoholic caddie. Together, they bring out the best in each other and collaborate on a startling new invention |
(A continuation of the chapter E.J. Budrowski - August, 1986)
There were only a few weeks left in the summer, and Abby would be going back to school for her senior year at Penn State soon. I hoped to get in a few sessions of duplicate bridge with her before she had to go back.
Aside from bridge, I discovered we had a great deal more in common. One day I went down to visit her after she got off work at the snack bar. We got to talking and discovered we both were readers and liked a lot of the same books and authors. J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, which we had both read several times, was a favorite book of ours, but we also liked some classical works like the novels of Victor Hugo and even Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre.
Abby said, “You know, I can identify with Jane, in that she’d had a rough start during her childhood. I just hope I have her forbearance to find success and happiness. She seemed so confident by the end.”
“But you already seem so relaxed and confident at such a young age.”
“Well, I’m not as confident as you think. I’m pretty much of an introvert and often clam up around people. I’m not very good at small talk. I feel very comfortable talking with you, though.”
I saw her again on Thursday afternoon, and she asked me if I would like to play some duplicate bridge with her that very night. I jumped at the offer! She said she would come to pick me up around 6:30 PM and drive us to Temple Beth Israel where a duplicate game was held every Thursday night.
Abby picked me up at 6:30 as promised. I got in her car, and on the way there, she started talking about what to expect that night.
“You’re going to meet all kinds of players tonight, E.J. They’ll run the gamut from not so good to very good. All of them take it seriously, though, and it’s very quiet during the play. If you’re not sure what to do, just do what the other players are doing, and you’ll be fine. You’ll get the hang of it in no time.”
We arrived at the temple and went inside to the multi-purpose room. The director, who was in charge of the game, recorded our names, took the modest $3 fee from each of us, and assigned us to sit east-west for the night, starting at table 8. There were 12 tables in use tonight. When 7:00 PM came around, the director told us to begin.
Abby was right. By the end of the first set of hands, I knew just what to do. It was hard to tell how well we were doing. I felt like we played well, but you never really know until the end.
By the end of the night, we had played at 8 of the 12 tables for a total of 24 hands. It took about 2 ½ hours to complete them.
I could only think of one obvious mistake I’d made (there were probably others I wasn’t aware of), and Abby seemed to have played perfectly. I was hopeful we had a good score. Imagine my dismay when I found out we had only averaged 71.5% for the night, but to my utter amazement, the director announced that we had come in first place for the east-west teams!
I said to Abby, “How can that be? These folks here must not be all that good. In school, a 71% was just barely a C, but here that was good enough for first place?”
Abby cracked up at that. “E.J., in duplicate bridge, 71.5% is considered an extremely good score. Heck, a 65% is a darned good score and will often yield first place. See, 50% is an average score for the night. 71.5% is phenomenal, especially for your first time playing!”
Some of the other teams came up and congratulated us on such a fine score. Boy, that felt good! Abby seemed very proud of me and complimented me on my bidding and play. She even bragged to the others that I only learned bridge about a month ago. They were duly impressed. What a great first experience playing duplicate bridge this had been!
As I lay in bed that night thinking about these last few weeks, I couldn’t get over all the praise I’d been getting lately. I wasn’t used to it. From Bud complimenting my golf game, to all the recent compliments from the folks at the duplicate game, I just couldn’t accept it. I’d never done much of anything in my life worth complimenting. It was a little disquieting. Then I happened to glance over at the Lucky 1 sitting on top of my footlocker where I always kept it at night, and I wondered: Was that really the thing that was responsible for my newfound skills? Would I be a nothing again without it? What would happen if I lost it? I didn’t care to find out.
Abby and I played duplicate bridge together two more times before she had to return to college. We did very well, grabbing first and second place.
On her last day in early September, I went down to the snack bar after my loop to say goodbye and to return the last of the bridge books she had lent me. I’d read all of them.
It was the end of the day for her too. She finished cleaning up, locked up the snack bar, and together we headed up to The Overlook to sit down and say a proper goodbye.
“I’m going to miss our bridge games together,” I said to Abby. “You really helped open up another world for me.”
“You should try to keep playing. Don’t stop just because I won’t be here. I’m pretty sure Mrs. Olsen and Marj will keep wanting to play, and I’m sure they know some other players. Also, you can probably find another duplicate partner at the bridge club. I’m sure lots of people would want to play with you rather than against you, you’ve become so good.”
“Well, maybe. We’ll see.” I was silent for a moment. Then I looked at her and said, “Abby, I’m just really going to miss you, is all. You’re like the little sister I never had, although it kind of feels like you’re my big sister—going off to college and leaving me behind. You’ve helped me in so many ways, I don’t know how it’s going to be when you’re not here.”
She picked up my hand in both of hers, looked right at me with those beautiful green eyes, and said, “You’ve become a great friend to me, E.J., and I’ve cherished the times we’ve spent together lately. Do you remember we talked once about the right shovel? I think you’ve found two. Please keep up your golf and bridge; they could be a stepping stone to your future. You have so much potential you haven’t realized yet. Maybe you’ll even think about going back to school one day. Who knows? It’s not too late.”
“How did you get so wise, kiddo? You’re only 20, right? I was such a screw-up at 20 and still haven’t grown much since then.” I broke eye contact and stared off at the mountains for a few seconds. Then I turned back to look at her. She was still holding my hand between hers, and I added my other hand to the pile and said, “I’ll think about what you said concerning school; I really will. And I’ll try to keep up both golf and bridge. I’ll be heading to Florida soon for the winter months to caddie and will return in March. Do you think you’ll be back here next summer?”
“Maybe. I’m thinking about it. I haven’t quite decided yet what I’m going to do when I graduate next spring. I might try to find a job right away, but I might also decide to go for an advanced degree, which will mean at least a couple more years of school. In that case, I’ll be back to earn money for that. The club told me they’d hold the job for me next summer if I decide to come back.”
“Selfishly, I sure hope you do, but you’ve got to decide what’s best for you. Anyway, can I call you once in a while when you’re at school, just to talk?”
“I’d love that. Let me give you my phone number at school.” She released her hands and opened her purse, pulled out a little pad and pen, and wrote it down for me. I thanked her, and we stood up to say goodbye. We gave each other a good, long hug, then went our separate ways.
How will E.J. do without Abby's continued presence? Will he really consider going back to school, or is this just a pipe dream? And will Abby even be back next year to continue their friendship?
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