Bang-Bang! I heard two shots go off in the distance and my heart skipped a beat. Even though I had been expecting the ear piercing sound, I still jumped when the bullets exploded from the pistol barrel. The police officer then walked out from behind the barn with a black garbage bag in his hand and tossed it in the dumpster. The police officer looked at my boss, almost smiling, and said, “He was a feisty one, but he won’t be bothering the members or your workers anymore.” And at that, my boss, the other worker, and I let out a collective sigh of relief.

Earlier that day, while sitting down for my lunch break at the Country Club, I spotted a small furry animal underneath a nearby tree. At first I simply took him to be a non-threat and continued to eat my buffalo chicken wrap; however, once I noticed him slowly advancing towards me I called over Nick, the other worker. Just seconds after Nick arrived, the furry animal, which we now recognized as a gopher, began to charge towards us, or so we thought. It turns out that the gopher was just running for underneath the stairs, which were behind us. Nick and I quickly got out of the way to avoid this furry, but seemingly treacherous, intruder. Just after the gopher reached the stairs he quickly changed course and made a bee-line at me, I began to run in circles to avoid him. In my state of mass confusion, I saw Nick motioning toward the open clubhouse door and yelling, “Make a break for it!”. I sprinted towards the door as fast as possible and slammed it shut just in time to keep the gopher outside. After we’d had my close call, Nick and I decided it was time to radio our boss and alert him of the situation. “Uhhh…Sean...” Nick said, “You’re gonna wanna come out here and take a look at this. We’ve got some kind of gopher running around, he seems pretty rabid.” Just seconds later our boss, a short and rather large man, came puffing into the back room with a confused look on his face. “What the hell did you two do this time?” he asked. Nick then summoned over our boss and pointed to the gopher that was just outside the door, and then proceeded to explain our current situation. My boss left without a word and returned moments later armed with a large broom, “We’re gonna get this son of a b****” he said, looking at Nick and I. My boss then counted to three and I flung open the door, on that note he ran outside, wielding the broom as his only defense, and began to chase the gopher. Once he caught up with the gopher, he swung the broom down on its head with such force that he had seemingly killed it. The sheer impact of the broom had caused it to break. My boss began to walk back towards the club after his presumed victory with a big grin on his face; however, just as we turned to walk in the door, the gopher got up and dragged himself behind the barn where the golf carts were kept. This was the breaking point for my boss, he decided to call animal control. About 5 minutes after the call went out, a white CPD cruiser pulled into the back of the country club, and a young police officer emerged and asked us to inform him on the situation. After my boss brought the cop up to speed, he went behind the barn to check out the gopher. About 5 minutes later he returned and said, “Oh yeah, you guys got a nasty bastard on your hands! He’s got rabies for sure, I’m gonna have to put him down to ensure that he doesn’t bite anyone”. The officer then went behind the barn, drew his modified pistol, and shot the gopher twice. Nick and I both jumped as we heard the shots. The police officer then emerged from behind the barn with the gopher’s body in a black garbage bag; and then perhaps the strangest event of the whole day occurred, he threw the garbage bag into the dumpster behind the country club and walked away.

That day was by far the strangest thing I have ever experienced in all my 17 years of life. It was very confusing and peculiar in the moment; however, looking back it was quite funny and makes a great story. On some days, working at the country club seems to be one of the most ordinary jobs a teenager can have; however, every once in a while a curveball is thrown and you need to learn how to handle the situation in a calm and timely manner. Although it’s not found in the job description, CC even gives you real life animal experience.