Almost everyday the two best friends played their cow pasture golf course located on the prairie in eastern Colorado. Slim was the night-time bartender at the local supper club. Slim, a CU graduate, always wore his Colorado Golden Buffalo’s visor cocked on the back of his head. His lifelong buddy, Shorty, owned the local Phillips 66 service station on the edge of town not far from the golf course. Shorty always wore his blue 66 work shirt with “SHORTY” stitched above the breast pocket. He even wore the “66 Shorty” shirt when he played golf. Shorty kept the golf cart that his dad had left him in the old shed behind the station. Together the two have been able to keep the old cart running well and looking good for the past twenty years.
Their normal tee time was just after noon.
Slim, who slept in after working late at the supper club, would have a late breakfast at the local cafe then go to the course and putt until Shorty came driving up in the slick old cart.
Shorty would open the station at 6:00 AM and work until noon when his sister would cover for him during his mid-day break. When his sister showed-up, Shorty would go to the shed and check the cart for gas and throw a six-pack of Coors and a bag of ice in the cooler. Then he would proceed to the Burger King drive-through window where his Whopper with large fries were ready. With the prevailing south breeze in his face, Shorty would finished lunch with one hand while he steered the cart across the cattle guard, near the ninth tee, and follow the fairway to the shack they used for a clubhouse. .
Before Shorty hit a few warm-up putts, he completed his daily pre golf retinue with his “Big Boy Candy.” He pulled his pouch of Red Man, fine leaf chewing tobacco, from his right hip pocket and placed a large wad on the left side of his mouth. As Shorty savored the first, after lunch, chaw of Red Man, Slim would tell the few good jokes he had heard last night; plus all the local gossip.
Occasionally other players would join them, but mostly they played alone. The game was always the same, Bingo, Bango, Bongo, for a quarter per point.
As they cracked a can of “pure rocky mountain spring water” on the first tee each day, they always discussed how the wind and sometimes an approaching storm (huge thunderheads could be seen for 50 miles across the prairie with the mountains far in the distance) would affect their game today. Over the years the two regular golfers had unconsciously developed an intimate relationship with Mother Nature. They had witnessed every possible type of weather and wildlife the high planes had to offer. Everything from birth to death; everything from rattlesnakes to antelope; everything from tornadoes to hail stones. But today Mother Nature would provide something different.
On the fourth tee, as Slim was going through his pre-shot routine, he noticed some movement out of the corner of his eye. Looking up he said to Shorty, “hey look there is a pretty good size bull snake. That sucker must be three feet long!”
“Yea,” Shorty smiled through his tobacco stained teeth. “Look Slim that big snake is headed toward that cottontail rabbit.” As the snake and the rabbit’s paths crossed the snake made a strike at the rabbit. Quick reflexes prevailed; the strike missed. Then missed again. Then again. The rabbit circled the snake until it got behind him where the snake could not strike. In a quick-as-a-cat motion the surprisingly aggressive rabbit bit the snake on the tail. The bull snake slithered a few feet and the rabbit hit him again. To both their surprise the snake quickly had had enough. As the snake continued his retreat toward the shelter of a nearby tree, the rabbit continued to bite the tail of the retreating snake. Shorty said with a wheeze, as he wiped the brown juice off his chin, “if that don’t beat all, I never seen a rabbit chase a snake away.”
Slim removed his Golden Buff’s visor with his gloved left hand and pushed his long stringy salt and pepper hair back with his right hand. As he shook his head back and forth he giggled, “I’am glad I got that video on my cell phone, otherwise the guys at the supper club would never believe this.”
Shorty replied, “we’ve been playing golf for over twenty years, but this does beat all.”
Be sure to watch this video!!
