| General Fiction posted January 17, 2023 | Chapters: |
...44 45 -46- 47... 
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Near tragedy proves to E.J. he can't go it alone.
A chapter in the book Some Call It Luck
Some Call It Luck - Chapter 46
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 |
(See the Author Notes for a description of the main characters.)
Recap: At Abby’s prompting, E.J. has decided to return to school, financed by his winnings on the golf course, but he starts losing as he has developed a problem with his putting. He has just lost a match then drank heavily to settle down before he has to play bridge with Abby. The bridge doesn’t go so well, and E.J. insults one of his opponents. Abby calls him out on it, and he goes home and drinks to forget about the terrible day.
The next day he meets Eddie Phillips who helps rid him of the yips, and with his new-found confidence, E.J. challenges Jimmy Fairbanks to a match for $5,000. The night before the match, he has a sudden pang of doubt which sends him to a bar to drink with his friends. That settles him down, and he falls asleep at home.
The match begins well, but the yips come back and E.J. loses not only the match but a side bet of $20,000 when he bets Fairbanks he will make a hole-in-one. He hits a perfect shot with the Lucky 1, but it drifts into the trees on the wind. He has lost most of his college money, then goes home and gets drunk and is violently ill before crashing into bed.
He awakens the next morning to discover that all the events since the bridge game where he insulted his opponent and came home and got drunk had been a dream. He finally realizes the devastating effect that his addiction to alcohol is having on his life and vows to give it up cold turkey. This does not go well as he is overwhelmed by the physical symptoms of withdrawal, but has told no one what he is doing. He insults Abby at a bridge game and staggers five miles home, where he collapses in bed.
A continuation of the chapter: E.J. Budrowski - September, 1987
I awoke Friday around noon. It was now a full week since I had had my last drink. I was still so weak that I could scarcely get out of bed to go to the bathroom but finally managed to make it. My head was pounding, and my heart seemed to be skipping beats. I had no appetite but forced myself to eat some Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup and some more crackers; nothing else appealed to me. I knew I just had to wait this out. It couldn’t go on like this forever! I spent the day doing virtually nothing but listening to music and trying to read one of my library books.
By Saturday morning I had at least recovered a little from that exhausting walk home early Friday morning, so I forced myself to have a bowl of cereal and then go into work. I couldn’t stay out forever. Tony saw me come in around 11:00 AM and came over to where I had sat down on the bench in the caddie yard.
“Jesus Christ, E.J. You look like crap. You shoulda stayed home today. You been drinkin’?”
“No, not a drop, but I’ve been sick. Flu or something. I’m alright, Tone. Actually, I’m feeling a lot better than the past few days.”
“I don’t know, E.J. You don’t look like you could carry two bags for 18 holes.”
“Well, give me a single then or give me doubles for 9 holes. I’m sure I can handle that.”
“You may have to wait a while for that. No singles or 9-hole rounds scheduled ‘til later this afternoon, maybe 2:00. I think Mr. Payne and Mr. Young are planning to play 9 this afternoon. You think you could handle that?”
“Sure, Tone.”
“Make sure you drink something; it’s starting to get hot.”
“Okay, Tone.”
Around 2:15, Tony called me over and told me to take Payne and Young’s bags for a 9-hole round. I picked them up and walked slowly to the first tee where I met Kenny and Todd Young.
Kenny looked at me closely and said, “Afternoon, E.J. Hey, are you feeling okay? You look a little… flushed.”
Guys don’t usually notice stuff the way girls do, so I must not have looked too good for him to have said anything. “I’m okay. You’re only going 9, so I should be good.”
“I don’t know, are you sure? We could always take a cart.”
“Nah, I’m good. Say, Kenny, I thought you spent Saturdays with Abby.”
“Yeah, I usually do, but she had a lot of studying to do this weekend for a couple of exams next week, so I left after breakfast this morning.”
“Did she happen to tell you about bridge on Thursday night?”
“Yeah, she said a few things about that.”
“Well, I felt awfully bad about it afterward, and I plan to call her tonight and apologize for my behavior.”
“I’m sure she’d like that. She was pretty upset about it.”
Todd then said, “Hey look, E.J., if you’re really not doing too well, and this round gets to be too much for you, just say the word. Don’t kill yourself. We can always come back in and get a cart to finish the round or even carry our own bags if we get beyond, say, the 3rd hole.”
“That’s nice of you boys, but I’ll be okay.”
“Alright then. Kenny, let’s tee it up.”
I gave Kenny his 1-iron and Todd his 4-wood, and we were off.
I don’t know whether it was the heat or the failure to have more than just the one Coke to drink, but I started getting very light-headed as we made our way down the first hole. I swayed a little with the two bags on my shoulders and couldn’t move very fast. I trailed behind my players by a good twenty yards. Kenny had a concerned look on his face when he looked back at me trying to catch up.
“E.J., you going to make it?”
“I’m fine. What do you want from here, pitching wedge?”
They both hit their second shots, with Kenny hitting the green and Todd ending up in the front bunker. Todd got to the bunker first and was ready for me to hand him his sand wedge while I made my way over to him. I was so light-headed now I could barely walk straight and sort of stumbled on the way. As I started to hand him his club with the bags still on my shoulders, my legs collapsed, and everything turned black.
That was the last thing I knew until hours later, when I opened my eyes to see the beautiful face of Abby hovering over me. “Abby?”
“Hi, E.J.”
I could see that I was lying in a bed, and there was a tube in my arm. “Where am I?”
“You’re in room 26 of Kane Community Hospital. You’ve been out for about six hours now.”
“What happened? How did I get here?”
At that moment Kenny came into view too. “Hi, E.J.”
“Hi, Kenny. Last thing I remember—I was caddying for you, wasn’t I?”
“Yeah, you were, and it was a mistake for me to let you. I knew you didn’t look quite up to it, but you insisted you were okay.”
“What happened? How did I end up here?”
“You passed out and collapsed and fell right into the bunker by the first green, bags and all. I ran back to the Pro Shop and told Tony. He called 911, and an ambulance arrived within ten minutes. They tried to resuscitate you but couldn’t and rushed you right here. They said your pulse was extremely weak, and they were worried you would die before they got you here. It was very close, and I’m just sick about allowing you to caddie for us.”
“Not your fault. I shouldn’t have even been there today. I felt like crap and should have stayed home.”
Abby then asked, “So E.J., what’s going on? The doctors did all kinds of blood tests on you, and some things were way out of whack. Have you been sick and didn’t tell anyone about it?”
“No, I wasn’t sick. Truth is, I had quit drinking, and I guess I was feeling the effects of quitting.”
“E.J., when did you have your last drink?” asked Kenny.
“It was the evening after I lost that match to Fairbanks. I got so drunk after that. When I woke up the next day, I decided to quit.”
“Wait, what? You say you lost a match against Fairbanks? Jimmy Fairbanks?”
“Yeah, I lost $25,000 to him. Didn’t Eddie tell you about it?”
He and Abby looked at each other.
“Uh, no he didn’t. When did you say this was?”
“It was… it was… I forget now. I’m so confused. Maybe about a week ago? Ask Eddie about it. He was there; he’ll tell you.”
Kenny and Abby looked at each other again with very perplexed looks on their faces.
“Wait a minute,” said Kenny. “Let me see if I’ve got this straight. You’re saying you played a match against Jimmy Fairbanks, lost 25 grand to him, got drunk, and quit the next day. And this was a week ago?”
“No, wait. That was a dream. I’m so confused now!”
Right then a nurse came in and came over to check on the I.V. in my arm. She looked at me and said, “Welcome back to the world, Mr. Budrowski. Now that you’re awake, I’ll let the doctor know. She’ll be in to see you then. I’m going to get you something to drink and a pill to take now that you’re awake. We’ve got to get your electrolytes back up. You were very dehydrated. I’ll be right back.”
“So, wait now,” said Kenny after the nurse had gone. “You lost a match to Fairbanks, then got drunk and quit drinking the next morning. And this was all a dream? Have I got that right?”
“Almost. The first part never happened. But I really did quit drinking. You may not know it, but I’ve been a heavy drinker for many years, and now I haven’t had a drop in over a week. I remember now. It was the morning after we played duplicate bridge that night against Ruth, and I was hard on her for faking me out. You remember that, don’t you Abby? After I got home, I felt so bad about it that I got pretty drunk. That night I had the dream, and it was the next day that I quit drinking for good.”
Kenny had a very serious look on his face. “So, you just went cold turkey over a week ago, and you told no one you were going to do it? E.J., you can’t do it like that! I had a friend in college who tried that, and it nearly killed him. I discussed this at the time with my brother, who is a doctor, and he told me you have to taper down slowly when getting off alcohol. If you try to go cold turkey, you can get into real trouble real fast.”
“Well, I never tried to quit before. I guess I didn’t know that.”
“Oh, E.J.,” said Abby, taking my hand. “I’m so sorry it happened this way. It’s wonderful that you quit drinking, but I wish you had just told me you were doing it. I’m your friend; you can tell me stuff like that.”
“I know you are. I just didn’t want to disappoint you if I couldn’t keep it up. And Abby, I am so sorry about the way I treated you the other night at bridge. I don’t know what got into me. There was no excuse for it, and I’d do anything to take it all back. I wish we’d never played that night.”
“E.J., please don’t worry about that. You are totally forgiven. I know that wasn’t the real you that night. It was the effects of the alcohol withdrawal. The real you is an amazing, gentle, polite, intelligent person who’s been a great friend to me.”
I started choking up when she said that to me. I clasped my other hand around hers as I welled up in tears. I guess the I.V. was working. I couldn’t say anything for a minute. When I could, I said simply, “Thank you, Abby,” and closed my eyes.
Abby said to Kenny, “We’d better get going now. The doctor will be in soon, and they’ll probably kick us out then anyway.” She turned to me then. “I’ll come visit you tomorrow, E.J. You take care now and listen to the doctor and tell me what she says tomorrow, okay?” She bent down then and kissed me gently on the forehead. “See you tomorrow,” she said.
“Goodbye, you two. Thanks for coming.”
Book of the Month contest entry
Abby St. Claire: Age 21. She has just graduated from Penn State University where she was a math major and has decided to go for a masters degree there next year. She is intelligent and beautiful, yet shy and awkward with most people her age, having been picked on quite a lot while growing up. She works at the snack bar and as a waitress at Brentwood Country Club during the summers. She is dating Kenny who she met earlier this year and is a member at Brentwood.
E.J. Budrowski: Age 38. An alcoholic with a traumatic past (an abusive father and a mother driven to suicide) who is a caddie at Brentwood CC. One day he finds a dirty old golf ball on the edge of a pond that seems to have unusual powers, for he makes two holes-in-one with it. He and Abby become friends when she encourages him to take up both golf and bridge again after long layoffs.
Kenny Payne: Age 22. Abby met him briefly at a frat party in her senior year and was intrigued by him, then she sees him again when he walks up to the snack bar several months later. Tall, good looking, and an all-around nice guy.
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. E.J. Budrowski: Age 38. An alcoholic with a traumatic past (an abusive father and a mother driven to suicide) who is a caddie at Brentwood CC. One day he finds a dirty old golf ball on the edge of a pond that seems to have unusual powers, for he makes two holes-in-one with it. He and Abby become friends when she encourages him to take up both golf and bridge again after long layoffs.
Kenny Payne: Age 22. Abby met him briefly at a frat party in her senior year and was intrigued by him, then she sees him again when he walks up to the snack bar several months later. Tall, good looking, and an all-around nice guy.
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