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 “I took Duckworth to the dog show up in the city
last weekend,” Dud said.
The other members of the Mule Barn truck stop’s world dilemma think
tank and philosophy counter just looked at him.
Doc put it gently. “Dud, was this so he could get some inspiration
on looking good?”
Duckworth was a medium-sized dog that found Dud while Dud was
walking and thinking about the novel he’s writing. No one answered
the ad he put in the Valley Weekly Miracle, so he was henceforth
known as Duckworth, for some reason Dud seemed to want to keep to
himself. To be honest, Duckworth looked like he fell out of the ugly
tree and hit every branch on the way down.
“No, I was going to enter him in the dog show,” Dud said. “Took him
right up to the registration table and tried to get him in a class.
The lady there looked at ol’ Duck and asked to see his papers.”
Dud grinned. “I told her they were back home on the floor of the
laundry room. She didn’t think it was funny.”
Now Duckworth had been introduced to the other dogs in the group at
the sale barn, as is the custom, and Dud’s pals had been hesitant to
ask much about him. Duckworth looked like something put together by
a committee with a sense of humor. Oh, he was a dog … no doubt about
that. But what kind of dog was he? It made for interesting coffee
speculation, that’s for sure. [to top of second
column] |
“You know,” Dud said, “Anita was
against me getting any kind of dog until Duckworth came along. When
I explained to her that Duckworth was a bird dog … a duck dog,
actually, and that he’d help me bring more birds home, she finally
gave in.”
“He’s a bird dog?” Steve said. “What kind?”
“Now that’s what that dog show lady asked me, you know? I had to
explain to her about canardly terriers, because she wasn’t familiar
with them.”
“Canar…”
“Canardly terriers, you betcha,” Dud said, grinning, “why, I’ll bet
you canardly tell what kind of terrier he is!”
[Text from file received from
Slim Randles]
Looking for a
Christmas gift? “Dogsled: A True Tale of the North” by Slim Randles.
Now on Amazon.com.
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