Free Blood at Yellow Water by Ian W Taylor

to have a call it off. Of course that means
we win the match and the money,” he continued half-jokingly.
    Jake couldn’t help himself and whispered in
Koshi’s ear, “That’s a crock of shit Koshi.”
    Koshi got the joke and started laughing. His
laugh was infectious and soon they all started laughing. The
laughter rumbled on and each time they stopped someone would tell
another crocodile joke and they would start up again.
    Eventually, Koshi took a penalty drop and
continued playing, still chuckling to himself. His game seemed to
have improved after the near-miss with the crocodile and they won
the next two holes.
    Coming up to the 18th hole, Koshi and Jake
were still one hole down with one to play. The 18 th was
a 220 metre par three with the huge green ringed by bunkers. All
four players hit their tee shots. Anna hit from the ladies’ tee and
her ball fell short of the green by about 30 metres, Murray’s shot
landed on the green about 15 metres from the flag. Koshi hit his
shot into the back bunker while Jake’s ball hit the edge of the
green but rolled back into the front bunker.
    Murray looked triumphantly at Koshi.
“There’s going to be some pressure on you now Koshi-san.”
    Koshi just smiled and said stoically, “After
facing a crocodile, I can handle any pressure.”
    They walked up the fairway. Sentoro played
her second shot but over-hit it, the ball landing on the back of
the green, leaving her a 20 metre putt. Jake took out a sand wedge,
walked into the bunker, swung at the ball, connected it too cleanly
and it went sailing across the green and landed in the bunker on
the opposite side of the green.
    With Murray watching with a smile on his
lips, Koshi walked into the bunker, also took out his sand wedge,
calmly lined up the ball and swung easily. The ball flew out of the
bunker too high but to everyone’s amazement struck the flag near
the top and fell straight down into the hole. Koshi threw his arms
up in triumph and received a huge high-five from Jake as he walked
over the green to pick his ball up out of the hole.
    Murray watched grim-faced as Sentoro lined
up her putt but missed to the right of the pin. Then he lined up
his 15 metre putt carefully, aware that he needed to sink the putt
to even the hole and win the match. He struck the ball firmly and
held up his hand triumphantly as it appeared to be going in the
hole, only to see it lip around the edge at the last milli-second
and finish two centimetres past the cup.
    The match was a tie. Koshi beamed with
delight as he congratulated Sentoro and Murray, then turned around
and gave Jake a huge bear hug. Such a show of emotion was most
uncharacteristic of Koshi.
    After freshening up, they walked into the
club dining room where a light lunch had been set-up on the
terrace. Jake was invited to join them. They had a panoramic view
of the golf course which was ablaze with multi-coloured tropical
plants surrounding the lush green fairways.
    They ordered drinks and chatted
enthusiastically for a time about the golf match.
    Murray downed a beer and leaned over towards
Koshi.
    “Koshi san, I hope we can come to some form
of agreement in the next couple of days but my advisers say they
are not making any progress on some of the key issues, especially
market access for some of our key agricultural exports.”
    “I am getting the same advice from my own
officials, especially on the investment issues,” replied Koshi.
    They talked about some of the unresolved
issues while eating their entrée.
    Eventually, Murray looked towards Jake.
    “You’ve been heavily involved in the
officials’ talks Jake, but I’m advised they are at a stalemate on
trade and investment. Anna tells me you have some ideas for
breaking the impasse. Please speak frankly.”
    “Yes that’s right Prime Minister, we seem to
be going over the same issues but not getting anywhere. However, I
have suggested some solutions to Minister Sentoro,” replied
Jake.
    Koshi sipped his beer