Part Two
Not that summer but the following, Abe was given tickets to the LPGA tournament playing at the course where he was an assistant golf pro. We walked the course and stopped for his favorite players as he told me about them.
We were crossing from one hole to another when Abe saw a fellow assistant from another club. He said he wanted to introduce me, and Abe called out to his friend, who joined us with his date.
“Jim, I want you to meet my wife Birdie. Birdie, this is Jim Sawyer from Heron Creek.”
Jim extended his hand. “Nice to meet you, Birdie. This is Tiffany.”
She stood there with her eyes as big as saucers. I gave her my Cheshire smile. “Hello, Tiffany.”
She mumbled a hello.
The guys exchanged a few pleasantries and we parted company. I spoke to Abe as we walked.
“How old would you guess Jim is?”
“I don’t know. Twenty-seven? Twenty-eight? Why?”
“Tell your friend his date is fourteen.”
Abe snorted. “Oh, please. Right.”
“Remember the story I told you of the girl who was caught shoplifting at Disney? That’s Tiffany.”
“I’ll be right back.” Abe took off at a trot.
He caught up with Jim in the distance and motioned him over to speak privately. I didn’t have to hear to know what transpired. I have no idea what happened after that. Abe and I went on to enjoy the tournament.
Tiffany was about ten years younger than I, and that was a long time ago. I wonder where she is now.
8 comments:
That's really scary. He could easily have ruined his life by doing anything with that child, without even knowing beforehand. And Tiffany wouldn't have cared what happened to him.
My youngest daughter would possibly do the same thing Tiffany did. She's only 12 now, and looks it. I only hope she doesn't look older than her age before she is "of age." Because she wouldn't care what happened to the guy, either.
i was going to comment on facebook for the "conclusion" of this, but here it is! thank you for not letting us hang on too long. :)
and whoa! what an ending! i'm curious whatever became of tiffany, too. unless something drastically changed her, she was heading down the wrong path. here's hoping she's all right now.
The joys of being a teacher.
At the end of my first year of teaching I went on a camping tour of NZ with 30 year 11 (16 yrs old) students and 5 other teachers. I was 22 and younger than the other teachers so spent more of my time with the boys. I found it rather flattering to be accepted by these boys (It was 1966, I was struggling with my sexuality and had always been one of the nerds in my own school days)
Eventually one of the boys told me that there was wholesale shoplifting going on whenever I was not around. I told the head teacher and made veiled hints that I knew to some of the group but nothing was done until the inevitable happened and they were caught. I mean a shopkeeper would have a group of boys enter his souvenir shop in a small country town and when they left, a large amount of goods had disappeared. The boys were made to parcel up the goods and send them back wherever possible.
I remained friends with many of the boys and still am in occasional contact with some of these, now, grandfathers. Several years later we were at a slide evening with girlfriends and wives and one guy (now an airline pilot and very full of himself) took great delight in relating the whole event with amusement unable to see the obvious squirms of discomfort from everyone else. I often wonder what happened to him, he is not one of the ones with whom I remain in contact. I became a leader of such camping trips and like to think I was more observant and would quickly nip it in the bud but one never knows.
Teaching teenagers was an interesting career.
Well I hope she's not in jail and that she matured well. We all did stupid things as teenagers I'd wager.
Tell me you've Googled or Facebooked this girls' name!
She went to work at a Dairy Queen; changed her name to Anna Nicole; married an old millionaire....and that's the rest of the story. (It could happen.)
You are one cool customer, my dear. Tiffany was lucky to have someone as her chaperone who would neither turn her into a pariah nor look the other way because she was an intimidating little beauty. And boy oh boy did Jim (hopefully) dodge a bullet there.
Thanks for the great story!
I think Miss Tiffany is one of my patients!
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