Читать книгу The Golden Telescope - Doug McLarty - Страница 3

On the eighteenth green of the Whispering Willows Country Club, Gary stood carefully over a ball sitting five feet from the hole.

He took a practice swing, then reached his putter back, tapped the ball gently and watched it roll by the cup an inch to the left, coming to a rest two feet past the hole.

“And with that,” said Mike, “victory is mine.”

Gary grunted.

“What’s going on with your putting these days?” asked Mike, as Gary tapped the ball into the hole with one hand to complete his round. “You’re getting worse as you get older.”

Gary forced a smile. He didn’t like when Mike joked about their age difference. Gary was 58 years old and on top of the world, the owner of a successful car dealership and the vice-chair of the local chamber of commerce. The only thing he had in common with Mike, a 42-year-old freelance IT consultant, was that they were evenly matched at golf. But now Mike had won the last five times they had played.

“I just can’t seem to make the easy ones these days,” said Gary. “It’s driving me crazy.”

The two men walked toward the clubhouse.

“Let’s come out early next time and we can spend some time on the practice green,” said Mike. “I can give you some pointers.”

“Sure,” said Gary, unenthusiastically.

“Unless it’s not something physical,” said Mike. “Are you distracted? Guilty conscience? Something else on your mind?”

Gary chuckled. “Do you have time for a quick one?” he asked.

“Sure,” said Mike. “Sandra’s working late at the hospital, so I’m making dinner for the kids. But I’ve got half an hour.”

They ordered drinks and sat down at a table in the member’s lounge. Mike yawned.

“Do you need a nap?” asked Gary.

“I was up late with Katie, helping her work on her astronomy badge for Girl Guides,” said Mike. “We must have spent two hours trying to find Polaris.”

“What the heck is Polaris?” said Gary.

“It’s the north star, Gary. It’s part of the constellation Ursa Minor, also known as the Little Bear. Didn’t you know that?”

“I know about the Golden Bear. Jack Nicklaus, right?”

Mike smiled. “I didn’t know about Polaris until yesterday. I don’t really even understand how to work a telescope.”

“I guess you’re only good with modern technology,” said Gary. “Anyway, not to change the subject…”

Here we go, Mike thought to himself. He had been teasing Gary but now, it seemed, he was about to hear the psychological issues causing his friend’s putting problems.

“I’m feeling all this pressure on me from everyone,” Gary continued.

“Like what?” said Mike. “I thought business was good.”

“Business is great,” said Gary. “But now that we’ve got this place in Florida, Jennifer wants to be there more often. She thinks I should spend less time at work.”

“There’s a problem I’d like to have.”

“But the kids aren’t ready to take over. They keep asking for more responsibility, but they just haven’t learned the business well enough yet.”

“You’re irreplaceable,” said Mike.

“And,” Gary paused.

“And what?”

“I made some bad stock picks.”

“Well, there are always ups and downs on the market, right? It’s a long game.”

“Right. But these were unusually big downs.”

“Like how big?”

“My portfolio went from $1.2 million to $700,000 in a year and a half.”

“Wow,” said Mike. “You’ve got a real knack. You should write a blog about investing.”

“I was on a roll for a while,” said Gary. “Got a few good tips and was up 12 per cent. But then I had a run of bad luck.”

“Why are you managing your own stock portfolio?” asked Mike. “You really have time for that?”

“Sure. Why not? You know Tim Donaldson?”

“The high school teacher?”

“Yeah. He told me about this investment strategy that he said couldn’t miss. He had made something like 10 per cent a year for the past four years, while the market was bouncing up and down.”

“But just because he did okay for a while doesn’t prove anything. Maybe he was just lucky.”

“I don’t want to be one of those losers who get single-digit returns,” said Gary. “Might as well put your money in a savings account.”

“Single-digit returns are pretty boring,” said Mike, “compared to blowing half of a million on day trades.”

“Listen, don’t repeat this to anyone. Don’t even tell Sandra. Jennifer doesn’t know and I’d rather she didn’t find out. I don’t want her to worry.”

“You don’t want her to worry, or you don’t want to have to explain why you lost an amount of money equivalent to the price of a small airplane?”

Gary ignored the question. “I suppose you guys don’t have any money concerns at all,” he said.

“I don’t,” said Mike. “But Sandra does. She makes a killing but she still acts like we’re still in university scraping together our cash from part-time jobs.”

“It could be worse,” said Gary. He was trying to stop thinking about his investment portfolio, but it kept popping back into his mind.

“But we don’t have to live like that anymore,” said Mike. “We’ve been talking for years about buying a cottage, but she says we can’t afford it. It’s ridiculous. How can we not afford it? Our neighbours bought a summer home last year. A summer home! The wife doesn’t even work.”

“Is she not keeping you in the manner to which you’ve become accustomed? I’ll call her and tell her to buy you some flowers and a box of chocolates, maybe take you out for a nice meal or send you for a day at the spa.”

“It’s not just about me,” said Mike. “I want the kids to be able to enjoy the cottage while they’re still young. There’s no point when they’re teenagers. You wouldn’t believe what she makes, but she doesn’t think it’s enough.”

Gary had a rough idea of what radiologists earned. One or two of them had filled out credit applications to buy high-end vehicles at his dealership and it briefly made him wish he had listened to his mother’s advice about medical school.

“You should have more than enough money to buy a cottage,” Gary said. “Just do some of the math for her, walk through it together and she’ll see.”

“It’s not that simple,” said Mike. Gary didn’t understand what it was like talking to Sandra about money. “Anyway, it’s not the end of the world. I’m sure once we get a bit further ahead, she’ll feel a bit more comfortable. I just want to make sure she and the kids get to enjoy life now and not just some day in the future.”

“That’s what Jennifer has been saying to me about spending more time in Florida,” said Gary. “We should be enjoying ourselves now.”

“I’ll tell you what,” said Mike. “Why don’t we have Jennifer talk to Sandra? It might not solve your problem, but it could help fix mine.”