MULLIGAN

I thought of entitling it Minutiae.  But I better explain.

Having hit the proverbial wall in blogging, after a mere 3,000 or so entries, I decided to branch out or at least alter my approach.

Charles Dickens and Mark Twain did it, so I thought why not?  They wrote in installments.  That is, they wrote part of their stories or novels for newspapers that came out, in the case of Dickens at least, every two weeks.  Since I doubt that my three newspapers, The Arizona Republic, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and The Register-News would indulge me that format, I thought On The QT would. 

So stick with me or periodically to see where my characters are going.   Believe me, at this time I don't know, so we'll journey together through MULLIGAN.

Not every story has a beginning.  Count this one as that kind. 

A basketball star?  No, not really.  A gifted athlete, he was a hiker, a skier on snow or water, and with his outstanding balance, a rather good golfer.  But Ericson Chambers found himself the off-guard on his high school basketball team his senior year.

He had agreed to play only because school was too easy for him.  University awaited.  Colgate, he liked the name.  Maybe UConn, but when he first heard it he thought Alaska or Canada.  A small school, Stetson in Florida appealed to him because of its location, but he was as undecided about his future as he was about his present.

"I have a sister."

"Yeah. So. We're not talking about her."

"We're not talking about Lauren either."

"I've heard it all before.  Because you don't want some guy talking about how far he got with your sister in a dozen years or so.  That doesn't mean you can't tell me about Lauren right now.  Hell, all guys talk."

Swish.  Just beyond, well actually way beyond the demarcation for the three-point line that would come into the game in a few years.  Robbing, in a way, Eric of additional points that he could have put up.  "Not this guy."