I went to the golf course, Bridges, that I most frequently play. It is across the Mississippi River in the little town of Columbia, IL. This is definitely Redneck territory. Bridges, like a lot of other courses does not allow outside refreshments. I was loading up my golf cart, putting on my shoes, etc. when I noticed a group of 3 guys just across the parking lot from me. What caught my attention was that they were dividing up the beers that were remaining after their round. Given that this was 1 pm they must have started their round and beer drinking somewhere around 8:30 or 9:00 am. I’m not opposed to having a beer or two after a round of golf, but only on very rare occasions do I drink during a round. And I am certainly not drinking at 9:00 in the morning.
One golfer left. The remaining two were putting their equipment in their respective pickups. I did notice that one of the remaining had on his red MAGA cap. One of the interesting things of this political season is the amount of graffiti in the golf carts for and against Trump. Normally you just do not see graffiti in carts on any golf course.
After noticing the cap and thinking to myself that I would not be playing golf with him any time soon I quit paying attention to them.
Until…
The gentleman not wearing the MAGA cap mentioned that he kept a .38 with him at all times. I think they had been talking about the Delmar Loop area. If you are not familiar with St. Louis this a historical section of town with lots of restaurants and clubs that have outside tables, music venues and funky little stores. It is a fun place to go, and I like to take out of town visitors there. The area is also close to Ferguson of Michael Brown fame, and there has been some friction between customers at the various establishments on Delmar Loop and groups of black teenagers. I do not know the details of all the encounters, but I get the impression that the teenagers were just being teenagers. Our .38 packing individual said emphatically that if someone bothered him at his table he would “’pop’ them in the knee, I would not try to kill them, but I would sure want to teach them a lesson.” The two launched into a long conversation. Their take was that the problem with the police is that the police are trained to eliminate threats by shooting to kill. They should be trained to shoot to injure. Apparently if the police shoot to injure then a lesson is taught, and all the Black Lives Matter demonstrations could be avoided.
Then one of them did something that will alter my future behavior. He told his MAGA partner “to not let the meat loaf.” This really caught my attention as this is frequently what I say to my brothers instead of good-bye. I actually stole it from Fred of Meatballs and Impounds fame way back in the late 60s or early 70s. I do believe I need to find another way of saying sayonara to my siblings. But then again I am not giving up my Hawaiian shirts because a bunch of “Proud Boys” have adopted them as a symbol.