One too many ( Fiction )
Billy was now working as a free-lance field trial scout. For years he had scouted for Moose Morris, the top all-age handler on the circuit, but Moose died, heart attack. Since then, Billy had freelanced.
Billy needed ten grand by tomorrow, or tomorrow would likely (no, surely) be the last day of his life. How could he come up with ten grand? He wracked his brain. Then he remembered something, and he gained a ray of hope.
Tomorrow two dogs would compete in a run-off for the Masters Quail Championship. Not since The Hitch Hiker and Chinquapin Bisco Buck had been called back for a run off in the National Championship had there been such a run off. (Buck had run off (no pun intended) on a deer, thereby assuring The Hitch Hiker the National Championship).
Tomorrow Double Rebel Roxanne would go in the run-off with Marvelous Mack, a white-dog multi champion in the string of Kentucky handler Ozzie Blevins. Roxanne had been in the string of Moose Morris before his untimely sudden death. What Billy knew from his days scouting Roxanne was that if she had more than two finds in less than an hour, she would drop on the third. How could Billy turn that knowledge into ten grand for the gambling debts?
Marvelous Mack would be Purina Top Bird Dog it he won the Masters but not otherwise. Mack’s owner craved that award and its publicity. Billy decided to approach him with a proposition, and maybe save his own life. He knew the owner was staying at Merry Acres in Albany so a dawn he was waiting for the owner to come in for breakfast. When he did, Billy approached him with this proposition.
“I can guarantee you Mack will win today. I scouted Roxanne when Moose had her. I broke her in fact. She has a hole. If she has more than two finds in a race, she will drop on the third. I know the course she runs this morning in the run off with your dog. I can guarantee Roxanne has three finds and drops on the third-for ten thousand dollars.”
“How can you do that?” Mack’s owner asked.
“Just promise me the $10,000. You don’t pay unless it happens, but you have to pay right after the winner is announced.”
The owner agreed to pay.
The course for the run off was on Blue Springs Plantation. The cover surrounding the course was ideal for woods scouting, and Billy was expert at that. After Roxanne has her second find in the runoff, her scout had instructions not to call point for her again. But Billy Eanes called point for her (imitating her scout’s voice) and when the judges arrived, she dropped.
Mack’s owner paid Billy Eanes $10,000, thus saving his life from the bookie’s thugs, and Mack got the Purina Top Bird Dog Award.
The End
In Memory of Ch. House’s Shady Lady
About the Author : Tom Word
Visit authors website | View more articlesTom Word is a lawyer who represents individuals about managing their assets and for amusement writes fiction and non-fiction about bird dogs and humans obsessed with them.
About the Artist : Leah Brigham
Visit artist websiteAfter graduating from Millersville University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelors of Science in Art Education, Leah began teaching Art to inner city Middle School students in Houston and later Dallas, TX. Leah has shared with her students her passion for art and nature. This passion has sustained her and continued throughout her life in the form of painting and drawing.
Leah was introduced to American Field Horseback Field Trails and has been able to experience the excitement of seeing her own dog, competing for the National Championship at Ames Plantation in Grand Junction, TN ...standing on point, head and tail held high. This has inspired her to create works of art depicting dogs and the wildlife associated with the sport and hunting.
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