Golf When It Rains
(The ski hire counter at Loon Mountain, eight in the morning.)
Tadeusz: Boots first. They’ll feel too tight — that’s how they should feel.
Rosamund: God. Okay. Tight.
Tadeusz: And find a belt. Those pants will be around your knees after one lift.
Rosamund: Are you the instructor, or the boot man?
Tadeusz: Both, on a Tuesday. So, what sports do you play?
Rosamund: All of them, honestly. Hockey in winter, baseball in summer, golf when it rains. My coach says I learn fast.
Tadeusz: Mm-hm. And skiing?
Rosamund: Never once. But it’s physical, right? You point downhill and you go.
Tadeusz: That’s the whole sport, yeah.
(He comes back with a pair of very short skis.)
Rosamund: Those are tiny. The man ahead of me got enormous ones, and he barely said a word to you.
Tadeusz: He barely said a word because he’s scared. Scared people go slow and come home fine.
Rosamund: And I’m not scared.
Tadeusz: You’re going to point downhill. Definitely. At speed, in front of a crowd, in all that new clothing.
Rosamund: So give me the long ones. Let me control it.
Tadeusz: Short skis, short crash. Lesson’s downstairs at ten. Ask for me.