The Mini Golf Rematch

My grandfather and I have played mini golf at the same course on the boardwalk every summer since I was six. It has a windmill, a pirate ship and a giant fiberglass octopus whose tentacles block the hole on the twelfth.

He's ninety-one now. I'm twenty-nine. He has won every single year, except one in 2009 that he says doesn't count because "the octopus was broken."

This summer he wore his lucky hat and a shirt that said "Mini Golf Legend." I wore a shirt that said "This Is My Year." It was not my year. He got a hole-in-one on the octopus. He raised his putter in the air like a trophy and the family behind us applauded.

Afterward we got soft-serve cones and sat on a bench watching the ocean. He said, "Next year, kid." I said, "Next year." I hope we keep saying it forever.