Tee’d Off

Henry Earl was 36 years old and he spent most of his time on the golf course. He told people that he was a professional golfer, but it takes money to be a professional golfer. More specifically it takes money coming in from golfing to be a professional golfer and Henry had not earned a penny from golfing in over five years, six if you discount a Callaway golf gift card to the pro shop. Henry had come in third in a raffle for charity and won a $1,000 gift card.

He was a terrible instructor, teacher or coach and didn’t make any money teaching people how to golf like other lackluster golf pros often do. However Henry Earl did have a talent, he could get inside people’s minds when he was playing golf against them.

About three years ago this talent had manifested in a way that enabled Henry to earn a living. He become a private investigator. He was just about to lose his job as a golfing Pro instructor at Hazelwood Country Club, when a brutal murder was discovered.

A twentysomething golf caddy had been murdered on the back nine. His name was Jebediah Swanson and he was working his way through college even though he had a golf scholarship himself. The scholarship paid for his tuition but he still needed to earn money for room and board.

Henry wouldn’t admit it but he liked the kid. He was mean as hell to the kid trying to dissuade him from a life of golf. When the murder was discovered, he found himself feeling a little bit of guilt about the way he treated Jeb.

Jeb had not liked Henry at all and he could hardly be blamed for this. He not only suffered many jibes from Henry, but he had lost his high school sweetheart to Henry as well.

Henry’s public attitude to Jeb and the competing love interest had led the local police to consider Henry as one of the primary suspects. Just when things were looking about as bleak as they could for Henry and his life, he discovered his talent, and he was able to keep himself out of jail while avenging Jeb’s death.

Now he worked as a private investigator, but he still often felt some guilt about Jeb. Since he had learned to get into people’s minds, he had begun to subscribe to the theory that people should be left to pursue their own visions regardless of the flaws in those visions.