Trap
Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2024 6:33 pm
Douglas Mercer
November 24 2024
I once rented a room in a house on the beach. My landlord and roommate was named Randall who worked at a White Shoe law firm in Fashion Island. He generally condescended to me and told me the key to being a good debater was to master one’s opponent’s argument by the book, and then when he was flailing around you stepped in and said his piece eloquently and then proceed to demolish it. He was an excellent golfer and had a flawless swing, a smooth tempo that always seemed to be poetry in motion. One day he was in front of our house late in the evening and had one of those Astroturf mats they use at some driving ranges and was lofting ball after ball delicately towards a circular green felt piece of material that was about fifty feet away and was maybe five feet in diameter. As I watched him from the balcony I noticed that every ball he hit arced up gently and invariably landed unnervingly close to the target, and all the balls taken together formed a circle that was at the most ten feet across. As he kept hitting I decided that what was good for the goose was equally good for the gander and I called out his name. In total control he stopped in midswing and looked up at me. He put his hand over his eyes and peered through the glare, recognized me and said: yes? I told him to watch out for the trap. At first he had no idea what I meant but as he kept looking at me quizzically soon the import of my words registered. He nodded his head gravely and in his patented laconic manner said watch out for the trap. That’s a good one, I will remember it. Watch out for the trap.
November 24 2024
I once rented a room in a house on the beach. My landlord and roommate was named Randall who worked at a White Shoe law firm in Fashion Island. He generally condescended to me and told me the key to being a good debater was to master one’s opponent’s argument by the book, and then when he was flailing around you stepped in and said his piece eloquently and then proceed to demolish it. He was an excellent golfer and had a flawless swing, a smooth tempo that always seemed to be poetry in motion. One day he was in front of our house late in the evening and had one of those Astroturf mats they use at some driving ranges and was lofting ball after ball delicately towards a circular green felt piece of material that was about fifty feet away and was maybe five feet in diameter. As I watched him from the balcony I noticed that every ball he hit arced up gently and invariably landed unnervingly close to the target, and all the balls taken together formed a circle that was at the most ten feet across. As he kept hitting I decided that what was good for the goose was equally good for the gander and I called out his name. In total control he stopped in midswing and looked up at me. He put his hand over his eyes and peered through the glare, recognized me and said: yes? I told him to watch out for the trap. At first he had no idea what I meant but as he kept looking at me quizzically soon the import of my words registered. He nodded his head gravely and in his patented laconic manner said watch out for the trap. That’s a good one, I will remember it. Watch out for the trap.