Of all the times, why did it have to be now for all the fun to end? There she was, standing behind us, an employee who looked more like a bodyguard than a putt putt course worker. She was tall, with a strong build, and the expression on her face was definitely not happy.
"What do you children think you're doing?" she repeated herself.
I felt my legs lock in place. Just seeing the threatening look she was sending us was freaking me out. In any other time, I probably would have taken the whole thing as a laughing joke, but at the moment, it definitely wasn't great time to do just that.
I wanted to run... just take off in one direction and leave the old hag behind, but it was almost impossible to do that. I literally couldn't move. That, and also the fact that one of my brothers was dripping wet in a pool in a putt putt course and it wouldn't be good to leave behind Jennifer and Zac.
We just stood there like idiots, gawking at the huge monster in front of us.
"Umm...." I heard Ike mumble. "We were just... cooling off."
Miss Muscle Woman just stood there with her hands placed tightly on her hips.
"To cool off, you go to the pool!" she growled. "Here, you play miniature golf!"
"Uh... well..." I decided to squawk up and help out for a change.
"No excuses! You break the rules and you pay the consenquences!" the woman barked.
I quickly turned away and gazed back to where we had been playing before. The family who was waiting to play was already starting to get a few balls into the hole. I could tell that they were trying their best to ignore what was going on, but how could that be done by anyone when someone so scary was causing a scene because we were in her precious pool!
"We were only trying to have a little fun," Jennifer tried explaining.
Then there was another moment of silence which was almost immediately broken by pounding footsteps. The muscular woman marched straight up to me and bent down to look me square in the eyes. Here eyes were beady and black, the color of coal and they frightened me just like practically every other feature about her.
She was breathing in and out hard and here chest moved in and out like a balloon. I could feel her hot breath hit me like sharp nives and I slowly began to back away, one foot at a time. Her gaze stood locked on me, and then she opened her mouth to speak.
"You won't be causing trouble here anymore, young man," she told me clearly in a voice full of hatred.
"Me?" I gasped, wondering why it seemed like 'Pick On Tay' day.
Her only response was a quick nod of her head. "You'll never be setting foot in here again!"
I barely even had a chance to dash away in some other direction. Jennifer gasped obviously and loudly from beside me as the employee reached out and grabbed a tight hold of my left ear. She definitely surprised me. I let out a squeak and struggled to get loose from her tight grip, but she pulled me in closer like a fish wiggling on the end of the sharp tiny point of a hook.
Isaac clung to the side of the pool and pulled himself out in a flash. I could barely see him while he took up the few seconds it took to spray water all around him by shaking his head back and forth in an atempt to dry his hair.
"Let go of him!" he yelled.
The employee turned in disgust. "What right do you have to tell me what I should do and not do?" she asked him.
"You're hurting him!"
I'd never in all my life heard Isaac talk in that tone of voice before.
With a burst of frustration and anger at a teenager trying to overpower her, the employee roughly yanked at me and pulled me towards Isaac more in a rush. I gritted my teeth to bare the pain. As I glanced around as if searching for a way out, I made eye contact with Jen. She was giving me questionable looks as if she was wondering whether or not I was okay. I nodded as much as I could before I felt another tug on my ear.
"Let go of him now!" Ike demanded and stepped up face-to- face with the large woman.
I swear then, I heard her growl. My eyes grew wide with disbelief! She wasn't turninng into a wherewolf was she! I looked at her again more closely and tried to shake my head. I'm just loosing it really bad right now! Welcome back to reality, I said silently. Then the thought made me laugh. I never thought I had a fear of muscular women before!
"You want me to let go of him, huh?" she snarled, now facinf Isaac.
He nodded, expressionless.
"Well, then.. I'll let go of him out on the streets. Out of my golf course right this instant! You four will never ever set foot in the Putt-A-Round again!"
"Oh my God, she's lost it! We're all dead!" Zac shrieked, half as a joke and half not.
I guess it wasn't taken as a very funny joke. No one laughed, and the worker just glared at Zac as if sending him the warning that he might possibly be her next victim. Zac quickly shut his mouth and grabbed Jen's hand. The two took off down the course and to the exit where they dropped off their golf clubs in a small rack. Ike looked over at me.
"Uh... we're leaving now," I mumbled nervously. "See... no harm done..."
My voice was shaking as I tried to slip out of her way, but I didn't feel her hot fingers let go of me and I was pulled back to her side again.
"Oh, no you don't, mister. I'll walk you down. I don't want to have you wrecking anything else around here on your way out!" she whispered harshly into my ear. I sighed loudly.
A second later, I found out she didn't even trust me enough to let me put away my golf club. As I reached down to pick it up from the spot where I had left it before, she jerked me away for the umpteenth time.
"Leave that alone! I can handle it later!"
The employee took another look at Ike and made a motion with her foot for Ike to get going. He obediantly took a lead and headed slowly down to the entrance. He kept looking back at me just to make sure I wasn't dying of pain in the ear.
"Gertrude!" someone yelled from a short distance.
A man, with a look of pure authority, stepped out from the shadows of the main business house. He was intimidating, but in comparison to "Gertrude" he looked like a tiny wimp who could easily be hammered down into the ground by her powerful fist.
"Gertrude! This is the last time you get away with your goddess acts!" he started waving his finger in her direction.
Finally, I felt her let go of me. I sighed in relief and wasted no time in getting a safe distance away from the monster. The man took another step foward towards Gertrude and sternly placed his hands on his hips.
She looked down at him and I watched silently as the cold expression melted away into a look of failure. The man, who seemed to be the manager of the Putt-A-Round slowly turned to me.
"I am truly very sorry, young man," he said apologetically. "You see, Gertrude here has been having a few... well...." he paused to think for a second," ...problems lately. Don't worry. I'm sure you didn't do anything wrong. But don't worry, you won't have to deal with her anymore."
The look on the old hag's face was worth milllions. She dropped her arms down by her waiste in surprise and began to cry out in protest. "But... but... they.. he..."
"Gertrude!" The manager let out a firey growl that was very satisfying to my ears.
I was beginning to think that putt-putt places weren't as innocent I thought they were. A simple game could turn out to be a little less than a picnic!
"Gertrude!" he yelled again. "Clean out your locker!"
The giant marched off, leaving Isaac and I safe at last. I didn't even wait for another apology from the owner of the gold course. I just took off.
I met up with the others outside of the barbed fencing.
"Now, ok.... was that place weird.... or was it just weird?" Jen asked.
"Just weird," Zac grinned, with valuable memories stored away.
"That Gertrude person was.... was.... well, she was very, very, um.... interesting," I breathed out while rubbing my ear.
Jennifer crossed her arms. "She shouldn't be allowed to treat people like that!"
"She won't be anymore. She just got fired!" Ike said, making his way through the exit.
He didn't seem the slightest bit affected by the event that had just taken place a few seconds before.
"But that's sure the last time I ever go for a game of mini-golf!" said Zac.
"I thought you never really liked playing it anyways," I told him and then added quickly, "Come on, let's get out of here before something else crazy happens.
Everyone nodded.
Then Zac, being the wisecrack he was, decided to put on a stupid face and spat out a sudden joke. "Uh.. heh.... Gertrude, you're fired! Eh heh... Go work in a pumpkin farm! Yeah, you'd fit right in perfectly! Infact, I don't think the customers would be able to tell the difference between you, and the pumpkins!"
We all turned and tried desperately not to laugh at Zac's halarious attempt to immitate a walking rock.
"Alright, let's go."
Ike made a joking dash for Zac's head with his fist and he quickly ducked. He took off running down the sidewalk.
"On to the grocery store! Let's find dad!" he yelled at us.
"Sure, and then we can pick up a few pumpkins while we're there!"
Jennifer made a snorting noise and quickly covered her mouth, muffling her laughter. I crossed over the walkway next to her and slipped my arm around her waist. She cuddled closer to me. I smiled while feeling very proud with myself.
* * *
"Let's go to the Pointe! Let's go to the Pointe! Let's go to the Pointe! Oooohhhhieeee... OooooOOoooo... Let's go to the Pointe! Let's go to the Pointe! Let's go to the-"
"Jennifer will you shut the hell up!" I whispered loudly through gritted teeth. "And just get rid of the head phones if you can't help singing outloud!"
The folded map in front of me was becomming very interesting. There was nothing else to do on a crowded airplane anyway. Jen had been blindly singing he first song that played on her walkman, every five minutes. No offense to her and everything, and I'm not saying she doesn't have a good voice, it's just that when your all crammed up like sardines with nowhere else to go, just the sound of steady breathing can drive you insane.
My eyes darted back and forth between the two circled dots on my map. Tulsa. Blacksburg. Tulsa. Blacksburg. Tulsa. Blacksburg. Tulsa Blacksburg. I could feel the end coming near. Where are we heading next anyway? Of course, as usual, I was clueless. Just along for the ride, as I told myself.
The eerie sound of silence was beginning to give me a head ache. Funny, how I couldn't make up my mind. Jen was shooting me a look that could kill.
"What?"
"Nothing," she said slowly. She took off her headphones and stuffed them back into her green backpack. "Look, they're asleep."
She was pointing to the seats next to us which were occupied by Ike and Zac. Ike was knocked out with his head leaning against the window. Zac was as scrunched down in the seat as he could get, his blonde hair messed up and covering his face. He definitely looked peaceful. At least they were getting through the flight okay.
"Looks like it's just us."
"Yup."
I decided to use the time that was laid out on a platter for me and ask Jen the question which I was currently clueless about.
"Jennifer, do you know where our next stop is?"
She looked at me like I had just lost my mind. "Detroit."
"Oh, yeah! That's right! Detroit!" I realized and checked off the location on my map.
I pulled out my idea notebook and began to jot some more lyrics down on the song I'd started writing earlier. I added about another verse to the song, before I got tired of writing and the notebook found itself back where it came from.
While I was relaxing, a stewardess came up to me. She politely asked me if she could get me anything. I told her no thanks and went back to watching Jennifer begin to doze off. It seemed like the entire airplane was falling asleep. The plane was filled with silence which was making matters even more uncomfortable.
There couldn't be too much longer to wait for the plane to land, right? I stretched out to get as comfortable as I could in the small seat I was sitting in. My discman started playing my Everclear CD while I tried to follow everyone's example and try resting for the remainer of time I had left.