Chapter 12

They kept the curtains to our room closed, so that it was well past sunrise before any of us woke up. I was surprised to not even have a dream from one of the girls that was awake already, or from any of my girls from Kansas. I was also rather surprised that I slept in, too.

It was, as frequently happens, the smell of bacon that woke me up. The knock on our bedroom door right after I smelled the bacon would have woken me, anyway.

“Come on, sleepyheads. We just had room service bring up breakfast, and you need to come out and get something to eat,” Beth said through the door.

We hadn’t even switched positions during the night, so Jennifer had a hand across my chest, with Eve’s hand just below her mother’s. Jennifer blinked a couple of times, then smiled.

“Margie is right. It can’t happen for a while, but definitely the face I want to wake up next to every morning for the rest of my life.”

“Or at least somewhere in the same bed, Mom. You and Margie may be the oldest, but you two don’t get to hog the space next to, or on him because of that.”

Jennifer smiled at Eve, who smiled back at her. If I didn’t know better, I wouldn’t have been able to tell the two of them apart.

“I suppose that’s something for us to figure out in the future, my daughter-sister-wife.”

“Yes it is, my mother-sister-wife.” Eve giggled at my look. “Yes, we’re all your sister-wives, and will stay that way. This is just something Mom and I cooked up. Come on, let’s go get some breakfast.”

The three of us slipped robes on before going out into the main living room of the suite. Saryu and Jasveer were waiting at the room service cart. “Master, we have scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, waffles, and fresh fruit to eat. There is milk, orange juice, and coffee. What would you like?” Saryu asked.

“Two cups of eggs, six slices of bacon, two waffles with butter and syrup, and glasses of milk and orange juice, please,” I said.

Saryu got a plate of my food while Jasveer got my drinks and silverware, then they brought them over to me. Jasveer remained by me while Saryu returned to the cart. “Mistresses, while Master is here, one of us will always be with him, but the rest of us will be able to assist you as we can.”

“Jennifer, this isn’t Cal’s doing,” Marcia said from the couch where she and the other two were sitting and eating. “It’s simply part and parcel of his now being both the Prince of Punjab as well as their literal Master. It has nothing to do with our culture at all, and everything to do with theirs.”

I think she was speaking aloud both for my benefit, and for my slaves.

“Thank you, Saryu,” Jennifer said. “Fresh fruit and orange juice for me. I didn’t get the chance, mostly because I didn’t think of it last night, to thank you for putting moisturizer on me last night after my shower.”

“We are all still getting used to this culture, Mistress. You are welcome, of course, but that is our position. Our job. We have gained much status, much more than we ever had with Ramaeshwara Randhawa. Our Master is not just a Prince, he is also a King. Part of the royal Arabian family, too. Not just with one or two women, but with eight! He is such a virile Master, with five of you carrying his children already! Since the days of the old Gods, there has never been a Master that is his equal. We are fortunate, indeed, to be his body servants and slaves.”

Jennifer took her plate and sat down near me. She looked at my other girls, and I knew that they were doing a lot of talking back and forth. After a couple minutes, she said, “Okay, Cal. I think we all understand now how you managed to screw things up. Don’t worry, we won’t let it happen again.”

I made sure that Saryu and Jasveer got something to eat as well, which didn’t completely shock them. The eight of them had seen that we didn’t treat them the way their former master had, so they weren’t surprised. We were all just about done eating when there was a knock on the door to our suite, followed by Sayel opening it.

“Your pardon, Master, but your son and Miss Carrie wish to join you for breakfast, and wanted me to make sure that everyone in here was presentable.”

“Understandable, Sayel. We are. If you haven’t eaten, please join us as well.”

Toby and Carrie came in. Saryu jumped up to help him, but Sayel waived her back.

“Not necessary, I can assist the young Master and Miss Carrie.” He helped Toby get some eggs and a waffle, while Carrie fixed her own plate, then fixed himself a plate and joined us. Toby ran over and jumped on my lap, so he could lean against me while he ate. Carrie joined the girls on one of the couches.

Dora had a befuddled look on her face. “Okay, I’m confused. I know Cal brought you back from India with the girls. But they speak English with an Indian accent, and still have trouble with the language. You sound like a proper English butler from TV.”

“One of the things that my previous Master did was send me to further my education in Great Britain. He had an estate there, of course. At the time, I was recovering from an injury I had received fulfilling a contract for him in Scotland. As it was unwise for me to leave the nation for some time, it was easier for me to become of further use to him by receiving more education than what I had received at the British schools of my youth.”

“Why do I get the odd feeling that the job you were doing in Scotland had nothing to do with security work?” Jennifer asked.

Sayel smiled. “My former Master was well known for doing things for hire that most civilized nations tend to frown upon. Of course, if they didn’t frown upon it, how civil is that nation?” He laughed a little at his own joke. “There were four of us for that job, and I was the only one that survived. That’s one reason there were so few of us at the Temple. It takes years of training to get men to that level. Many are willing; few are capable. My former Master had to ‘start from scratch’, I believe is the expression.”

“Sort of like how Mom is able to do things with a golf club now that she knew how to do, she just wasn’t able to before Dad fixed her,” Toby said.

Smiling at him, Sayel said, “To a certain extent, yes. It is a different skill set, of course. Do you understand what that means, little man?”

“Yeah. You can sneak up behind someone to kill them without anyone knowing you’re even there, while Mom now has the hand-eye cord nation to put the ball where she wants it when she swings her club.”

“The word is co-ordination, Son,” I said.

Sayel looked surprised at how easily Toby mentioned what he did.

Toby said, “I’ve played with William Dangu. He’s going to do a good job of training Holly so she knows how to use her powers. Like I said when I met you, Grandpa thinks you’re the right one to train me and Carrie with the sword and stick.”

Seeing Sayel’s eyes open wide, Toby quickly said, “Not to kill people like you did, but how to use them so we can defend ourselves.”

I said, “I was planning on asking that of both you and Yagyu. Between the two of you, I suspect you know several different hand-to-hand schools.”

Sayel shook his head. “I forgot you said that he would also be working for you. With the death of my former Master, it seems that you have secured safety for you and your family from any organized individuals who know better. Gopal Dodi is almost my equal, and Kewal Khalah is almost as good as Dodi. With the three best living members of our former profession working for you ... I cannot say that there may not be some stupid people from a low-level gang that might not cause you trouble. No one from the council, or even any world government, would dare.”

“Jennifer, I think I said this before. Someone really needs to talk to George Wackenhut about some of the people he hires.”

She laughed a little. “International security in other parts of the world isn’t quite the same as it is here. You’re the one who now has his own army and air force, and the equipment for both.”

“Granted. Two questions unrelated to previous subjects. What time do you have to be at the golf course, with your tee time, and when is everyone else arriving from Kansas?”

“Realistically, I need to be there, ready to play, by 12:30, to take care of the paperwork. That’ll take about half an hour, then give me a few minutes to get some water and use the bathroom before I tee off. We have to have our own caddies for today, and for the rest of the tour, instead of the children of celebrities. Today, just to be evil and devious, I want Eve as my caddie; and for the rest of my time on the tour,” she nodded at the Indian girls, “I’d like Jasveer, if her Master approves.”

Without looking at Jasveer, I said, “If she has no issue with it, then I do not. That’ll give the two of you three days to come up with an appropriate wardrobe for her, as I doubt very seriously that a sari, no matter how comfortable, is appropriate wear for the golf course.”

“Oh, no. They freaked out enough when they realized that the standard PGA dress code for me wouldn’t work. It’s been okay so far, since we’ve had male caddies. But I think having a female caddie is appropriate for me. Oh, and the rest of the family will show up directly to Tamarisk about noon, so we probably ought to be there by noon.”

“That’ll work for me. Jasveer, would you like to become Jennifer’s caddie for the rest of the time she’s on the PGA circuit this year?” I asked.

She blinked rapidly. “Master, you mean that I have a choice as to what I can do for you? I didn’t think that was possible.”

Jennifer shrugged. “It’s not like I can play the whole thing this year. April, maybe into some of May, with a week off for the Master’s. I doubt very seriously that my belly is going to allow me to swing a club properly once I’m at month five, but who knows? I’d love to play in the US Open in June, as finishing in the top five would get me an invite to the Master’s next year. The British Open is my due date, so we know that ain’t happening. I might be able to make the last two or three events of the year, but I’m not going to push it. Not with a new baby.”

Jasveer looked almost like she would cry. “Mistress would allow me to help care for her while she is carrying our Master’s child? Then yes, I would like to do so.”

That settled that.

Eve looked puzzled. “Mom, have you looked at the qualifications for the Master’s?”

“Not in depth, why? As an invitational, I thought you had to win something this year to get into next year’s tournament, and the only one I might be able to get into this year is Sawgrass.”

“If you’re ranked as one of the top fifty golfers in the world, either last year, or the week before the Master’s, you get an invite. If you win the Players Championship at Sawgrass, you get an invite.”

Jennifer shrugged. “We’ll see how it goes. Who knows? I may not even win today.”

In the shocked silence that followed that statement, Toby finally said, “Grandpa says that if you don’t get out there and show those men today what a Kennedy and a Lewis can do, you don’t deserve either of the rings you’re wearing, and you may as well give Cal back his necklace.” His voice cracked. “Mom, I’ve never heard Grandpa that angry!”

“Dad, I’m not eight-years-old anymore. But you’re right, dammit. I was letting my own self-doubts screw with my mind. I won’t demolish them today, but for damned sure the TV audience is going to see me play golf!”

We took the two hours remaining for everyone who needed one to get showered and changed, then to pack everything up since we wouldn’t be coming back to the hotel after the tournament was complete.

Our caravan to the Tamarisk Country Club was six vehicles long. Both of our big buses and three of our small buses were already waiting there.

Once we were out of the limousines, I saw Mike standing by one of our buses, waiting for me. He started laughing at the look of confusion on my face.

“Cal, it’s only a seven hour drive on a Sunday morning. Yes, you’ll be flying back up, so you’ll get there in less than two, but with you starting school tomorrow, we’re getting everything set up for security now for the rest of the school year. And that includes staging our own transportation when you take trips.”

“I’ve told you my response before, so that’s out of the way. I’m just curious, more than anything else, now. Is it going to work like it did when I was in high school, when we have away games? I ride with the team because I have to, and everyone else flies or rides separately?”

“Yep. Next week, everyone will fly, since it’s Phoenix. Then the LA Open and the Bing Crosby at Pebble Beach, before a Hawaii trip. For Pebble Beach, everyone can sleep in their own beds at night, since it’s less than two hours. The only reason there’s so much flying for this one is that you first came here, directly from Kansas. Otherwise, we’d have driven down.”

“Okay, fine. I take it everyone else is here, then?”

“Of course. Let’s go on in, it’s going to be an interesting afternoon,” he said.

He followed me in. Dave and Chuck opened the doors for me.

“Not that I’m not glad to see you, but I sort of expected that you’d be staying in Kansas and running things there,” I said, giving Dave a hug.

“Oh, things on that front are going fine. You’re leasing space at Moffett Field, for your west coast and Pacific operations. With all of the tech companies that are already located or starting up out here, there’s a greater need for Salthawk Private Transportation Company air and ground vehicles here, especially since this is where you are. It’s also a lot easier for Mary to coordinate with Seattle and Palo Alto, and Japan.”

I started to say something, then just shook my head. “Okay, sounds good. I hope the two of you continue to hit it off together.”

Beth came up to me. “Now that’s the Cal we all love. Come on, you don’t want to miss this.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me through the lobby of the country club, to the PGA registration table.

Two men with shirts reading ‘PGA Official’ were sitting at the table. They had what looked like vests of some kind in a pile on the table. It was obvious from the number of boxes on the floor that they’d given out a number of them already. There were two men that were signing in at the table, one carrying clubs, the other not.

One of the men at the table said, “Here you go, Ron. You and Larry are tied for fourth, so your caddie gets ‘4A’.” He handed him a vest.

“Thanks, Mike.” Ron took the vest, which had 4A in big letters on the back, and had ‘Streck’ over them, and again with that name on the front of the vest. The caddie put the clubs down, shrugged the vest on, picked up the clubs, and the two of them walked off.

Jennifer and Eve walked up next, with Eve carrying Jennifer’s clubs. The two of them were wearing matching outfits, with the only difference being that Eve’s didn’t have the advertising on it. Jennifer smiled. “Hello, Mike. Since we’re providing our own caddies today, my daughter is going to caddie for me.”

Both Mike and the other man were awestruck. “I know we had to go through the whole driver’s license thing when you showed up here on Wednesday, and I’ve noticed a red haired girl following you around the course, but ... seriously?”

Jennifer and Eve both pulled their necklaces out, so they would show. “See, this is the easy way to tell us apart. Mine is the J, and hers is the E. Of course, I’ve also got the ring on my right hand, too,” Jennifer said.

“Good Lord! I’ve seen twin sisters that looked less alike than the two of you do. And you’re going to caddie for your Mother?” He looked at the other official. “Ben, it’s not against the local club rules that the caddie has to be a male, and with Jennifer exempt from the men’s dress code, I don’t see why her caddie would have to follow it if her caddie isn’t a man.”

Ben pulled out a small booklet, and quickly thumbed through it. “Mike, go ahead and get Jennifer signed in while I double check something.”

“Okay. Same deal today as it has been every other day. Driver’s license or other ID?”

Jennifer pulled out her driver’s license.

“With you providing your own caddie, one rule we do have is that they have to be at least sixteen. Miss, do you have your license?”

Eve was expecting the question, and had her license ready.

“Evelyn L. Patrick, date of birth ... an early Happy Birthday, young lady. Valid ID, thank you.” He handed it back. “Anything, Ben?”

“No. PGA rules do say that it’s up to the individual club, and they have different codes based upon males or females, they’re both fine. Besides, you know what they like to do in Las Vegas.” That caused him to grin. “Somehow, I’ll bet that scantily dressed showgirls won’t affect Jennifer very much. Here’s your vest ... Eve, right? Good luck today, Jennifer.”

“Thanks, Mike, Ben. See you back here in a few hours for the presentation.” Both Jennifer and Eve grinned identically at the men.

“Jesus, don’t do that!” Mike said. “Get out of here.” He finished with a laugh.

Jennifer came over and gave all of us a kiss for luck, ending with me.

“You know what?” she said, “I think there’s hope for you yet.”

She smiled, giving me a wink, then headed for the locker room so that she and Eve could pee before hitting the course.

Elroy walked over to me. “If I haven’t told you lately, it’s mostly because I’m a bit of a curmudgeon. You’re devious, but you’re really not that much of a bastard.”

“Remember that you said that tomorrow, when you’re talking to John Ely,” I said.

“Oh, I don’t think there’s going to be any issues there. I’m having too much damned fun in life to be rotten any more.”

I turned to him. “Who are you, and what have you done with Elroy Bannister?”

He laughed. “I spent the evening talking with Carrie and Toby. Well, the three of us did. I’ve sort of gotten used to not thinking about Holly having someone else living inside her. I’d just never really taken the time to talk to Toby, and I didn’t know Tobias, but he knew me. Gloria and Carrie spent some time comparing what happened to the Aleuts versus the Australians. There may also be a tribe or two of other people around the world that are also survivors.”

I nodded. “There are. The problem is going to be figuring out which side the Peruvians and the Nepalese are on. I’m sure Carrie mentioned Machapuchare to you, and what we felt. There’s no way there’s not something at Machu Picchu as well, even if I haven’t flown down there to check yet.”

Elroy frowned. “I could see Nepal, since they’ve been around since the time of Shiva. But I thought Peru was from the Inca civilization, and I thought they built that in the mid 1500’s.”

“Doesn’t mean someone wasn’t there before they were, Elroy. There was a civilization that flourished there starting right about the end of Shiva’s reign. And don’t forget the Nazca lines. It makes me wonder if their experiments with brain surgery were what the anthropologists think they were, relieving pressure on the brain due to battle injuries, or simply ways of trying to open themselves up to Shiva.”

“You come up with some of the loveliest theories about the past, Cal. I’m not sure I like them, and until we find someone else who was alive then, I’m almost glad we won’t know the truth for a while.”

We stopped talking when the announcer said that the next group to tee off was Wadkins and Streck.

“Craig Stadler and Jennifer will be next,” Margie said, coming up behind us. “Shall we go await them?”

“Yes, let’s,” I said. “And hello to you again, my lovely ... damn, I almost called you my wife, because I want to be able to say that to all of you.”

“It’s okay, Cal. We’re good. The color is fine for me, by the way. Thank you.”

We made an interesting group, heading for the gallery. Between us and our security, it was a block of nearly fifty people. Everyone that saw us coming their way left us alone, too, as some of the security were blatantly armed with rifles.

Jennifer and Eve walked out to a round of applause, not just from us, but from everyone. Some of it may have been for Stadler and his caddie, but I didn’t care. I was proud of my ... wife.

Hannah put a hand on one of my shoulders, Beth put a hand on the other.

“About damned time,” Beth said. “We made the mental switch a long time ago.”

“He’s male. They’re always slower than we are,” Hannah said with a smile.

“Yeah. Just because you can’t do something legally doesn’t mean you can’t fully make the mental jump yourself,” Beth agreed.

We were then all quiet as Jennifer lined up her tee shot, then put it nearly three hundred yards out, right down the middle. That left her about one eighty to the green. Stadler matched her shot. Her second shot caught the spot right between the bunkers that protected the front of the green, while his ended up in the left bunker. She made an easy chip shot that ended up about three inches from the cup. Stadler blasted out, ended up a good four feet past the cup, due to the angle of the green. They both ended up with birdie for the first hole.

The second hole, at a hundred seventy yards, had water on the left and a bunker to the right. Jennifer played it right, and aced it. Stadler got a bird.

On the par four third hole, Jennifer deliberately put her second shot into the bunker on the right of the green, then had a bad chip shot, so she ended up with a bogey. Stadler got par. The tricky par five fifth, they both ended up with par, so were tied at two under.

Five was when we finally saw Craig Stadler lose his cool. He had the honors since he’d beaten Jennifer on number three. He made a good tee shot, putting it right between the bunkers, so that it rolled a little way up the sloped green, but stopped well short of the pin. Jennifer calmly walked up, positioned her ball, then popped the ball out so that it landed about ten feet behind the pin, bounced a couple of times, then started rolling down the slope of the green. It went into the cup like it had eyes, giving her two aces.

Stadler had felt pretty good about his shot, but seeing her second ace of the day brought out some language that earned him a reprimand from one of the course officials. Having his putt die on the lip of the cup so he ended up with par didn’t make him any happier.

Jennifer played things safe on the rest of the front nine, settling for par, while Stadler got two more birdies. The two of them were tied for this round at four under.

She got par on ten while he got another birdie, so he shot first on the par three eleventh hole. He easily cleared the pond and got it on the green, but his shot died on the lower level. Jennifer and Eve spent a couple of seconds talking things over before Jennifer said something that made Eve laugh and then step back. One swing later and she now had a third ace for this round.

Stadler got par.

He came back with a birdie on the five hundred fifty five yard par five twelfth hole, while Jennifer seemed content with a par. She got a par on thirteen as well, while Stadler fought back with another birdie.

Fourteen was another par three. It was a long 235 yards, with the green nearly surrounded by bunkers. Any kind of bounce and your ball was in sand. Stadler got his shot on the green fine and in a good position for a birdie. Jennifer glanced up at me, and gave me a wink. Her tee shot went right into the left front bunker and died there. She had about a thirty yard second shot from the sand. The eyes that were in the ball led it straight into the hole, so she got a birdie. Stadler got one as well, but was just shaking his head the entire walk to the fifteenth tee.

The next three holes, Jennifer got par, while Stadler managed another birdie. Even though it wasn’t match play, they were both eight under going into the eighteenth hole. The last hole was a really long par five, with a lake on the front and right side, a dog paw shaped bunker on the left, and a very narrow spot to layup in front. Anything too long was out of bounds and in the restaurant.

Stadler took the first shot and put it about three-twenty out, just a little to the left of center. I could tell that Jennifer purposely put hers to the right and only three hundred, so as the away golfer, she’d shoot next. The way she lined up, I could tell the crowd was wondering what was going on, because she was aimed for the pond. The edges of the pond itself were lined with rocks.

I don’t think that I would have tried that shot, even with my powers. I didn’t ask Eve if she used her vision to figure out exactly which rock Jennifer had to hit. She took a couple of practice swings to make sure, then popped it up. It was two-thirty to the green, about two-forty to the cup. Her shot went about one-eighty, and hit a rock on the closest edge of the pond. That made it bounce just like it’d hit a cart path, so it then cleared the pond, landed on the edge of the rather flat green, made a couple more small bounces, and rolled to a stop less than an inch from the cup.

Getting a replacement club, because he’d broken the one he’d been holding over his knee at seeing her shot, Stadler took his second shot. It curved right and made a beautiful splash as it landed right in the pond. He got his drop onto the green and two-putted, so he finished at six under. Jennifer then made her simple tap, finished out at ten under with an eagle on eighteen, and won the tournament. Lanny Wadkins and Ron Streck both tied for second, eleven strokes back at twenty-seven under.

I was pleased to see that Arnie managed to beat even the camera crew onto the green, to give Jennifer a congratulatory hug. I heard him call her a beautiful showoff, and one hell of a boost to the game. Then the camera crew got there, being led by Lee Trevino again.

Arnie was standing in the middle of Jennifer and Eve, an arm around each of them, grinning like he’d just won the tournament. We’d moved in a bit, but the tournament officials were keeping everyone else back.

Trevino said, “Jennifer, that was possibly the most impressive round of golf it’s ever been my pleasure to witness. You finished up with a remarkable three aces on this round. Many golfers go their whole lives without a single one. How’d you manage it?”

She grinned. “Understanding of knowing how hard to hit the ball and in what direction, to get it to do what you want. You have to pay attention to the wind speed and which way it’s blowing, too. That’s pretty simple, really.”

“Jennifer, there was some concern that you’d come out so strong the first three rounds, and then yesterday you just seemed off. Today, you came back almost with a vengeance. What changed?”

“Your mental attitude can make or break you, Lee. I knew this was going to be the first chance that the entire family has had to see me play, and I wanted to make it special for all of them. She starts at Stanford tomorrow, so my daughter, Eve, got to caddie for me. Both my sons and everyone are all over there,” she said, pointing towards us.

“Okay, well, as the first woman since the famous Babe Zaharias to not only make the cut in a men’s professional golf tournament, but the very first to ever win one, we have two people here. PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman, and the namesake of the Bob Hope Classic, Mister Bob Hope!”

Beman said, “Thank you, Lee. Ladies and Gentlemen, it was only a few weeks ago that I was on a conference call with Arnold Palmer, Mark Kizziar, who is the President of the PGA, and John Laupheimer, who is the President of the LPGA. It seems that a young woman had just played eighteen holes at the PGA Championship course in Florida and managed to beat the course record. A record that was held by Arnold Palmer, by the way. I specify that because she played from the men’s tournament tees, just like she did these past five days. As that was not an actual PGA championship tour event, simply a private event, Arnold and Mark sweetened the prize of lifetime PGA and LPGA membership by giving her a Category 12 Sponsor Exemption, should she wish to try to qualify for either an LPGA or PGA Tour Championship event. Since there are no rules against women competing in PGA events, it’s just something that doesn’t happen often, we felt that having the chance to play courses against seasoned professionals, even if she didn’t make the cut, would be an adequate prize for her accomplishment.”

“We were wrong.”

“As the Chairman of the PGA Tour, it is my privilege and honor to announce that you will no longer have a Category 12 Sponsor Exemption, but that by not only making the cut, but by winning this event, you are now considered a full member of the PGA Tour, and eligible to enter any and all regular PGA Tour events based upon your own merit. In addition, because you have won a Tour event, you are eligible to play at the Tournament Players Championship at the end of March, at TPC Sawgrass. If you are ranked in the top fifty golfers in the world by the first of April, you will also be eligible to play in this year’s Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia.”

That got a huge round of applause from the gallery that lasted for some time.