| General Fiction posted January 20, 2023 | Chapters: |
...46 47 -48- 49... 
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Abby and E.J. play in a national bridge tournament
A chapter in the book Some Call It Luck
Some Call It Luck - Chapter 48
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: E.J. has gone cold turkey off the booze, and the withdrawal effects are tremendous. After a week of being sober, he returns to caddying but is in no condition for it. He ends up passing out and collapsing into a bunker. Six hours later he wakes up in the hospital where he was taken after a 911 call. Abby and Kenny are there, and E.J. reveals that he had gone cold turkey a week before. Kenny informs him he needed to taper off, which E.J. didn’t know, having never quit before. Abby promises to come back tomorrow, and she and Kenny leave.
Abby returns the following day and E.J. tells her all about a vivid dream he'd had and shares with her everything about his unfortunate past and his fears about the future. He asks her if she will come the next day to hear the doctor’s instructions with him, which she does. He is discharged and begins his recovery by entering AA.
Abby St. Claire
Fall, 1987
I’m a grad student now in applied mathematics—a specialty in which mathematicians work on real-world problems by formulating and applying mathematical models, as opposed to pure mathematics, which is much more theoretical in nature. It’s the application of mathematics to fields such as physics, engineering, and even finance and business. It’s perfect for me, since I still have a keen interest in physics and engineering.
The field is dominated by men, and there is only one other woman in the master’s program besides me. I had met her last year, and we had become friends and now roommates.
My advisor, who is also one of my professors, is Dr. Robert Gregorian. He is actually the chairman of the Math Department at Penn State. When I met with him a few days ago, I found out he is also an avid bridge player and plays duplicate bridge too. He told me there would be a national tournament held right here at Penn State next month.
Maybe I’ll see if E.J. wants to play in it. He’s been doing very well lately after deciding to give up alcohol. He’s committed now to going back to school and plans to apply right here at Penn State. I’m very happy for him. If he can manage to stay sober, I know he will succeed wherever he ends up.
Kenny and I have a nice routine going with his weekend visits. We haven’t missed a single one, though I did have to send him home one Saturday so I could study for two tests the following week.
E.J. is the one who helped me get over my fears and to be myself around Kenny, and our love has blossomed in just a few short months. I think I’ve found my partner for life, and I’m just waiting for the day when he proposes to me.
E.J. Budrowski
Fall, 1987
In early October Abby and I entered a national bridge tournament held right at Penn State University in State College. She came dressed in a very sleek outfit that included heels and a short skirt. She had applied makeup, and she was an absolute knockout, which proved to be an effective weapon in distracting some of the male competition. Who could blame her for using every weapon in her arsenal to help us do well in the tournament? That’s what the many bridge conventions we now used were for, wasn’t it?
She told me that she planned to introduce me to one of her professors, who was also a good bridge player and would be playing in the tournament.
National tournaments are multi-day affairs with many different sessions to them. I met Dr. Robert Gregorian during the second session we played in. Abby and I were playing north-south in this session, and on the third round, Dr. Gregorian and his partner came to our table as our east-west opponents. In the minute or so before the play began, Abby introduced us. He was a professor of mathematics, and she was a student of his in his Numerical Methods course.
We didn’t have long to chat before the three hands that we would play arrived, and we started to play them. On the third hand, I was declarer in a difficult 6-club contract, made even more so when the trumps split badly, with Dr. Gregorian holding the greater number on my right. I was able to use a rare play called a double grand coup to make the hand, and we ended up getting a top score for the hand.
Everyone at the table complimented me on my fine play. Regrettably for Dr. Gregorian’s team, that meant a bottom score for them, but he was a magnanimous fellow and just laughed it off.
Later after the session, in which Abby and I came in second-place, we met up with Dr. Gregorian outside the session room. He congratulated us on our second-place result and said how impressive that was for our first national tournament against some expert players, many of whom were grandmasters. His team had come in at ninth place.
He asked me what I did for a living, and somewhat sheepishly, I said I was a golf caddie. He was a golfer himself and said caddying was a noble profession and could be a surprisingly difficult job to do well, especially at the higher levels of golf like the PGA Tour. I said I was a long way from that and that caddying was not my ultimate career goal.
I told him that I was considering a change and wanted to go back to college after a long hiatus. In fact, I was hoping to get into Penn State, though I wasn’t sure what I wanted to be when I grew up. He laughed at this but was intrigued. We talked for a bit more, then he pulled a business card out of his wallet and handed it to me and told me to set up an appointment to come talk to him. I thanked him very much and promised I would do that soon.
Abby and I were done for the day. When we got outside, she could hardly contain her excitement about this eventuality.
“E.J., Dr. Gregorian has a lot of influence around here. I didn’t tell you, but he’s actually the chairman of the math department and knows everyone! He must have been very impressed by you to have invited you to come speak with him. You can’t imagine where this might lead.”
The words came pouring out of her, and she said all this in almost one breath.
“Well, what do you think might come of it?” I asked.
“I think he could pull some strings and get you accepted, that’s what. While talking to you, he might also give you some career guidance—you know, suggest to you which fields you might consider pursuing. Please take advantage of this opportunity to meet with him!” She almost pleaded with me.
“I will. I definitely will. Take it easy!”
“Oh, I’m so excited about this!” she said, dancing around a little. She was just beaming as we walked back to our cars.
To be continued...
Abby St. Claire: Age 21. She has just started grad school at Penn State University where she is a math major. 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 worked at the snack bar and as a waitress at Brentwood Country Club during the summers where she met both E.J. and Kenny, who is a member at Brentwood and became her boyfriend.
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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