Made in the Shade

newepicauthor

I grew up in South Plainfield, New Jersey and I played a lot of golf when I was young.  I worked as a caddy at Plainfield Country Club and unless the course was under some major construction, every Monday was Caddies Day, where they let the caddies play for free.  We all played together and we would get in 18 holes and then head to the bar for lunch and back to the course again for another 18 holes.  The best golfer that I ever played with was a caddy named Jeff Thomas, who was a bit younger than I was, but he was always a lot of fun to be around.  There is an article about Jeff Thomas here in case you want to read it.

Besides playing golf, we all drank, mostly beer and we smoked a lot of weed.  Being a caddy gives you a lot of freedom as you can sleep late some days, or even not show up for work at all, although the caddy master would frown on that.  Jeff liked his weed as much as anyone that I knew and he always smoked when he was on the golf course.  He told me that when he played in tournaments that if he wanted to smoke a joint, that he would purposely hit his ball into the woods, so he could light one up in the shade where the other golfers wouldn’t see what he was doing.  RIP Jeff.

Written for Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday where the prompt is shade.

19 thoughts on “Made in the Shade”

  1. Great take on ‘shade’. I read the story of Jeff’s life and exploits, so sad. It reminded me of Amy Winehouse and her tragic death. Some people are too talented and can’t seem to cope with their gift, which is a waste. On the other hand, from what I read, he lived his life as he chose, on his terms, to the very end, and not many people can say that. It would make an interesting film or novel.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Jeff was a wild and crazy guy and I am proud to have known him. That article was very sad, but it was also a tribute to the life he lived, having his freedom to do what he wanted. Thanks for taking the time to read my post and also read about Jeff. I wrote 3 books, none of which ever got published and I had some real crazy friends and I bet I have some stories that could make a good novel.

      Like

      1. Maybe a Memoir, more than a novel in that case? I recently read a disturbing and heartbreaking Memoir by novelist, Robert Goolrick, who said no one would publish his novels at first, until an editor picked up his memoir.

        Liked by 1 person

  2. Beautiful song.
    I’ll check out Jeff’s story shortly.
    I just finished the memoir “Dangerous When Wet” by Jamie Brickhouse. My new favorite genre. Can’t get more real in most cases.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Yep. He got the title from that show. Wet is his case was a reference to alcoholism. I was going to google the musical but now I don’t have to. Thanks for the link. I appreciate it!

        Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.