The Club

Chapter 19 - Deirdre

I was exhausted. A full day of work on Friday had just about finished me. I had plans to catch up with Deirdre on Friday night for dinner but didn’t want to shirk my responsibilities at work as I hadn’t been available to help for a while. I planned to meet Deirdre at 8pm. No one at the Club asked about my week in Melbourne. I simply fell back into routine as I had before. Tom and Dick from the junior program had a game with Al Greene and came off the 18th in good humour. It looked like the boys were ready to step up in class and leave their junior days behind. Harry wasn’t quite ready for that yet as his game was still a little wild at heart.

I didn’t see Cloudy on Friday, and Jason was very busy trying to clear the end-of- season inventory in the clubhouse. The “Club” seemed surreal. It was as if nothing had changed and yet I felt changed in a profound way, as I realized that coaching young players was not simply a task to be performed in Canberra but actually a calling. I was exhausted because I had spent every waking moment of the past six days focussed on the job at hand. I couldn’t say I had ever done that in the past. I recognized the trait in others. I remember hours slipping past my father when he was in a sailboat, and when I see Jason putting in 13 hours day without looking at the clock I know he has found his true passion.

My focus was on dinner. Deirdre had been in Canberra since Monday and would be here working on the new Opal Hotel for its grand opening next month. My trip to Melbourne was awkwardly timed as it had corresponded with her visit so I wanted to make sure the evening was special. For an Australian man that means that I might wear a collared shirt without the name of my favourite footy team written across the chest. I thought I would be able to pull it off.

I said good night to Mr and Mrs Greene on the way out the door. They were changed and dressed for Friday night dinner in the clubhouse and I winked at Harry as he came in to work the course for the evening. “Schwaggah” was his reply.

The ride home was quick as greased lightning. It’s the little things like a 10-minute drive home that make you love Canberra. By the time I got home I noticed an email from Savannah. It read:

1.     Rhonda Tong  - Sydney

2.     Julie Hudson – Queensland

3.     Lucy Jones – Western Australia

4.     Lynn Evans  - Queensland

5.     Lorna Mackenzie – ACT

6.     Jennifer Wasik – Victoria

      Coaches: Savannah Mills and Edward Harding

I responded OK and TY. I was so excited for Lorna. I thought that she had done enough to make the team but I also knew I was biased by past performances. I wouldn’t say anything to Lorna until she received a letter, and I thought I should wait a while before asking for more time off at the Club despite the fact that I had plenty of annual leave accrued.

I picked up Deirdre from her hotel lobby. Deirdre had a room at the hotel for the week as a few of the floors had already been completed and the hotel was not yet occupied. Deirdre was an expert on the company’s IT system and was on site supervising the implementation and training of staff. She was waiting for me outside the hotel lobby and looked lovely. We hugged and began to chat as soon as we saw each other. I was full of questions about the hotel and what she had gotten up to in Canberra for the past week, and I filled her in on the excitement in Melbourne. I handed her a set of earrings that I picked up for her in St. Kilda which made her smile. She was probably most impressed with my stories about the trip to Phillip Island and said that we should do that together some day. I didn’t mention to her that I would be going to Chicago in six weeks. I’m not sure why; perhaps it was because it hadn’t yet sunk in for me yet.