The Club

Chapter 23 - Vegas

Two things that don’t go together are fire and ice. Two more things are Savannah Mills and Vegas – not exactly a devil may-care-personality. Savannah had an itinerary for the trip and by god we were going to stick by it. We would walk the strip on Monday night, relax by the pool on Tuesday morning and head to McCarron airport for our journey back to Australia on Tuesday evening.

As soon as we landed in Vegas, Savannah seemed intent on losing me. She told me she would take the girls to see the fountains at Bellagio and then they were going to a Magic show at the MGM Grand. She declared that she would meet me in the hotel lobby at 9:00 am for breakfast. I think it was her way of showing appreciation and I appreciated the free time.

I was determined to see all of the hotels on the Las Vegas strip in one night. I had a corned beef sandwich in New York, New York, played roulette in Paris, downed a scotch and water at the Mirage and sat in on a poker game while avoiding the art galleries at the Wynn.

I arrived back at my room just after midnight and wrote a long email to Deirdre about my adventures. I missed her so much and to be honest the plane ride home couldn’t come soon enough.

In the morning I met the team for breakfast. It was nice to see the girls let their hair down after two weeks of stress. I spotted Lorna by herself at the omelette stand. I needed to ask her a question.

“Lorna”, I said softly. “I know that you and the girls are going to the pool this afternoon but I was wondering if you would help me to do some shopping this morning.  It won’t take long but I need to pick out something special for Deirdre and I don’t entirely trust my own instincts.”

“No problem”, Lorna said. “Happy to help!”

As soon as breakfast was over Lorna and I left the group and made our way to the Shoppe’s. Lorna and I had become good friends over the past year. We struck up a great conversation on the way to our destination. I asked Lorna what was her favourite part of the trip? I was expecting that she would say it was the win over the American team but instead she said it was the team’s first dinner together in Chicago at Navy Pier. When she asked me the same question I had a difficult time deciding on an answer. For a coach, the victories come in practice. The games are merely the intersection of preparation and opportunity. I told her that my favourite moment was when we reached our goal and advanced to the match play round of the tournament but to be truthful the greatest moment was finding out from the Doctor that Lorna would be OK.

As we reached the shopping centre I paused for a second and asked Lorna if she would consider finding a new coach when she got back to Australia.

“What do you mean?” Lorna asked.

“I was just thinking that at some point you may want to look for a different instructor, someone that has more knowledge of the professional game”, I said.

“I’ll find a new coach when my current one runs out of poems” Lorna replied. “And who says I’m turning professional”, she said.

“Good point”, I said. “I hear Ena Greene has been practicing and wants to challenge you for the women’s club championship anyway”.