Construction Permit Needed

By S. R. Morris

“When you boys finish your lunch, I want you to play outside,” Mother told twelve-year-old Steve and ten-year-old Dave. “I’m going to be cleaning all the carpets and washing the kitchen floor, so I don’t want you guys tracking dirt back inside. And don’t forget to put your bikes back in the garage, not in the driveway, before your father gets home from work.”

“Okay, Mom,” Steve said as he finished eating his sandwich.

“Yeah, we will, Mom,” Dave added, spooning up the last of his soup.

Mother grinned and left the kitchen. When the boys finished their lunch and heard the vacuum cleaner start up, they put their dishes in the sink and ran toward the door.

“Come on!” Steve hollered at his younger brother. “Let’s go make a miniature golf course.”

The two boys raced for the back yard, bursting through the screen door into the sunshine. They stopped by the garage just long enough to pick up the tools they needed: hammer, saw nails and a length of pipe. Then, they dashed off to begin work.

“How are we going to make a golf course?” asked Dave, knowing that if it could be done, his brother would know how.

“We’ll just take those old golf clubs and golf balls in the basement and hit them around the course we build,” Steve answered matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, but how do we build it?” Dave persisted.

Steve had understood the original question, but wasn’t quite sure himself how to begin such a project. He had hoped to gain a few extra minutes so he could formulate a plan in his mind before Dave would ask for details.

“That’s easy,” he replied. “First, we make some holes for the balls to go in.” That much, Steve had already figured out, and he knew the rest would come to him as they worked.

“Here, this is a good place for the first hole,” Steve said as he handed the piece of pipe to Dave. “You hold the pipe while I hit it with the hammer.”

Dave gripped the pipe with both hands and closed his eyes, hoping his brother wouldn’t miss the pipe. Steve hammered the pipe into the ground and Dave pulled it out again, each time leaving a hole large enough to hold a baseball. Within a few minutes, they had made a dozen holes in various places on the back lawn.

“There! That’s it!” Steve declared. “Now, all we have to do is make some ramps and some traps and some obstacles for the ball to go around. Then, we’ll be done and we can play the course.”

“Are you sure Dad won’t get mad for making these holes in the yard?” Dave questioned.

“No. We’ll have such a neat miniature golf course that he’ll be proud of the work we’ve done,” Steve answered. “Besides, we can fill them in after we get through playing. Now, come on, let’s finish building this course so we can play it.”

Steve’s answer seemed to satisfy the younger boy for a time. Together they labored until they had constructed a circuit that would rival any homemade miniature golf course. Their layout consisted of mounds of earth, wooden ramps, rocks and other natural obstacles. One hole even had a tunnel of sorts, made from a rain gutter. Each hole was unique and offered a new challenge to the player.

“Boy, this is great!” Steve exclaimed happily. “Let’s go get the golf clubs so we can play it now.”

“I still don’t know if we should use that,” Dave warned pointing to the rain gutter on the seventh hole. “Dad might not like it because we took it off the house.”

“No, it’s okay,” Steve said. “We can put it back up easy. Besides, it was just hanging there ready to fall off anyway, and look, it’s not even going to rain.”

Steve had fired off three logical arguments to quiet his brother’s objections and his own conscience. Noticing that the arguments did not erase the question from his brother’s face, he decided to change the subject.

“You don’t have to play if you don’t want to, but I’m going to go get the clubs.” Steve turned and ran toward the house, calling back over his shoulder, “I’m first.”

Dave hesitated a moment longer before following, shouting, “I’m second!”

The afternoon passed quickly for the pair as they chased golf balls around the backyard maze. Even neighborhood friends stopped by to play the course, congratulating them on the success of their project. Suddenly, the game was halted by a voice at the back door.

“Daddy’s home. Come on in and wash up for�"” Mother stood at the back door with her hands on her hips, scanning the back lawn, taking in the whole scene. “Daddy, you need to come here and see what these boys have done.”

The brothers froze in their tracks. Neighbor friends dropped their golf clubs and ran. A tall figure appeared in the doorway. Steve and Dave felt uneasy as their father walked toward them.

“Looks like you boys have been busy while I was at work,” Father remarked.

“We were going to put everything back when we finished,” Steve tried to explain.

Father frowned at the pair. Both boys began fidgeting with their clubs, silently admitting their error.

“We’re sorry, Dad,” Dave said, breaking the silence. “We should have asked first.”

“It’s my fault,” Steve confessed. “Dave said we should have asked, but I didn’t want to bother Mom because she was cleaning the house. Besides, I thought we could put it all back before you got home.”

“So, in other words, you didn’t get a construction permit before you started your project, right?” Father inquired.

The boys nodded in agreement.

“Well, I’ve got one other bone to pick with you boys,” Father added.

“You mean the rain gutter?” Steve asked, pointing to the improvised tunnel on the seventh hole.

“No, that would actually fall under the first problem of getting a construction permit,” Father said shaking his head. “I’m talking about the one thing that Mother said she reminded you to do at lunch.”

“Putting our bikes away and not leaving them in the driveway so you could park when you get home, right?” Dave acknowledged.

“Oh, yeah. We forgot,” Steve said, putting his head down. “We’re sorry.”

Father squatted down beside Steve and Dave. He put his arms around his sons and gave them a hug.

"You mean you’re not angry with us?” Dave asked.

“No, I’m not angry with you,” said Father. “But what you did was not okay. The rules we have for you boys are not hard to follow. They’re designed to help you grow up learning to follow instructions. The instructions your mother gave you were not hard and would have only taken a few minutes to complete.”

Father looked out over the back yard. He could see that they had worked hard on their project and were proud of what they had accomplished working together.

“I can see that you’ve put some real effort in making a great backyard golf course, and I can also see that you’re both sorry,” Father said admiringly. “The problem is that since you didn’t get a permit, you’re going to have to make some changes.”

“You mean, we don’t have to put it all back?” Dave asked.

“No, but you’ll have to make some changes,” Father said. “And, you understand that for any future projects, you have to get a construction permit first, okay?”

“Yeah, we will,” Steve said. “Thanks for letting us keep our golf course.”

Copyright 2010 by S. R. Morris