Kaylee knocked a kid down and stepped over his splayed out body. Maria rushed out and helped him up.
“Lady, you’re glowing blue, like a freakin’ nightlight!” the kid said.
Maria let out an awkward chuckle and turned around to head into the snack bar.
“What the heck happened?” Edgar asked.
She wasn’t glowing anymore, but she was definitely watching her skin with a close eye. Edgar held a paper bowl full of buckeye ice cream, a local Ohioan delicacy.
“Why are there balls everywhere? Gosh, this is gonna take a year to clean up!”
Maria chuckled. “Uh, that’s what she said?”
Edgar didn’t laugh, despite it obviously being hilarious. Maria never missed out on a ‘TWSS opportunity,’ as she called it.
The Butterfingers sat on the counter next to the cash register with an assortment of other candies. Maria set two five-dollar bills on the counter, grabbed a Butterfinger, and took the ice cream from Edgar, who stood surveying the destruction.
“Thanks, Ed!”
She quickly rushed out of the snack bar and back to the last hole; Sherlock followed at her heels, eyeing her food.
When she got back to the clown (which was chuckling sinisterly), Claire and Tabby looked at her with mild exhaustion.
“Took you long enough. Hey, are you feeling okay? You look a little different,” Claire said.
“Yeah, she looks more confident,” Tabby replied. “Did you put on the bra? Those babies seem to be popping more.”
Maria shook her head. She handed Claire the Butterfinger. Claire quickly unwrapped it and chomped away. “We’re up,” she said through a mouthful of chocolate.
“I ran into Kaylee.” She didn’t even have to say her last name. The other girls instantly recognized her; her name was almost synonymous with Hitler or Darth Vader.
“Yuck!” Tabby said. “That wench is here? Let’s hurry up and get the hell out before we see her and her goons again!”
“Take your turn,” Claire said. “Birthday girl gets first swing, never mind the score.”
“Hold on, let me take a bite of my ice…” Maria looked down and saw her buckeye ice cream had turned to buckeye soup. “What the hell?” Inside the cup, the buckeyes floated lazily—half-melted into chocolate peanut butter lumps.
“That was my last ten bucks! How could it melt just from there to here?”
“Take your turn!” Claire said. “We can worry about ice cream later. Besides, swimsuit season might be on its way out, but we still gotta look hot.”
Claire was obviously joking. She knew stereotyping women was a quick way to get on Maria's nerves, but she rolled her eyes and stepped up to take her turn.
“There’s the freak!” Kaylee yelled from beyond the fence. Maria tried not to pay attention to her, but it was almost impossible. “Swing, freak! Swing! Swing!”
“Just ignore them,” Tabby said. “They’re stuck in high school.”
Maria nodded, gripped her golf club, and lined up her shot. She went for it. The ball rolled up the clown’s tongue; the clown’s teeth gnashed, its big cartoon eyes darted back and forth, back and forth. A bolt of excitement struck Maria’s heart.
Hole in one, she was thinking. Hole in one!
It seemed like all eyes were on her. Everyone waited with bated breath to see where the ball might end up.
Would it go down the clown’s gullet, or would it be—
Blocked.
“Damn it!” Maria shouted. The ball clinked against the clown’s teeth, and the clown laughed.
“So close! So close!” it said tauntingly.
Kaylee and her group of friends threw their heads back in laughter. “The freak strikes again!”
“Oh, no,” Maria said, looking down at her hands wrapped around the club. They glowed a soft blue, hardly noticeable.
“Can’t even beat a dumb clown!” Kaylee shouted.
“Yeah, well I’d like to see you try!” Tabby shouted back with her fist raised toward the sky.
Now everyone was watching them. Maria tried to hide her exposed flesh, hoping her face wasn’t glowing, too.
Tingles and chills went up Maria’s arms. She felt a thrumming deep in her bones. “Not good. This is not good,” she decided quietly.
“C’mon,” Claire coaxed. “Let’s just get out of here.” Maria glanced up at her friend and saw how defeated she looked.
“No!” Maria said, louder than she’d intended. “No, I’m not letting those assholes get the best of me.”
“Are you talking about Kaylee or the clown?” Tabby asked.
“Both,” Maria answered through clenched teeth.
“Wait a second,” Claire said, “Are you…are you glowing?”
Maria ignored it. She wished she was wearing a long sleeve shirt, despite the weather.
With her club, she lined the ball up on the starting spot.
“The freak steps up to the plate…” Kaylee mock announced. “She swings, and—”
Maria took her shot. As she cocked her arm back, an outrageous power stole through her. It was like riding a wave of electricity, like reaching the top of a mountain, like—
The club connected with the ball with an enormous thwack.
Sherlock barked his head off, but inside Maria’s mind, with the pulsing power going through her, she heard, ‘Go, Maria! Go!’
The ball rippled up the green, leaving a scorch mark in its wake. The plastic clown’s tongue melted like Maria’s ice cream. The ball seemed to be getting smaller and smaller, like a meteor breaking through Earth’s atmosphere.
The teeth came down. Somewhere, someone screamed. The teeth didn’t stop the ball. No, the ball plowed right through the big plastic squares, then shot down the clown’s throat, making it seem as if the clown had swallowed a fireball. Then the ball came out the other side, where it scorched the green and rattled in the hole.
Everyone went silent.
Maria’s arms rippled with near invisible fire. She looked around, too afraid to blink and too afraid to move her body, letting her eyes do the moving for her.
Then Tabby broke the silence. “All right! Hole in-motherfucking-one!” She jumped. Someone clapped.
“Eat it!” Claire yelled at Kaylee.
But it wasn’t over.
A small fire was burning in the clown’s head, and with a sudden explosion, it took off like a bottle rocket, heading straight toward Kaylee and her friends on the upper level. They moved out of the way.
"Holy shit!" Kaylee yelled, jumping.
Vince Lorenzo
