Spot and Smudge - Book One

by Robert Udulutch

  Doug told himself he came here to check on the property but the chain link fence was intact and the gate was always locked, and the first floor windows were solidly boarded up. There wasn’t any real risk of vandalism but Doug came here twice a week anyway. He really came here to fume and try to figure out what the fuck went wrong.

  Doug got out of the truck and walked the perimeter of the building. He had been sick for almost a month straight and had a very short fuse lately. He wasn’t sleeping well. The nightmares he had when he did sleep were troubling and often followed him for a few hours after he woke up.

  The more he walked around the building the more pissed he got, which wasn’t uncommon but lately he felt real rage boiling. Once he was around the rear of the building he let loose. He pounded on one of the plywood sheets that he had bolted over a tall window and screamed “Fuck you, you God damn bastard! Fuck you and your fucking factory and your fucking accent and all your fucking bullshit!”

  Doug punched the wood a few more times until his hand really started to hurt. He kicked weeds and punched the air as he stomped around the overgrown rear yard. How the fuck did that old bastard fucking do it? he thought.

  He went over and over it in his head and just could not believe it.

  Doug had saved up some cash from a string of deals he did with Larry involving Rhode Island state-assisted housing rehabs. The state budget controller was on the take and they had overbilled almost a million in unused materials and labor. He also had some cash pocketed from the past year of shit he and Liko had done. Doug was looking for a big score. One that would set him up for a lot of years and let him kick out that crack whore wife of his. He saw Larry and some of his contractor buddies doing well with developments so he started looking for land to scam.

  Doug had thought meeting the old man must have been fate. Months prior Doug had hung up a carpentry and renovations sign at the vet clinic and out of the blue the old bastard had called him needing someone to help him board up the factory. Doug took the job, and as they worked together hauling the plywood he and the old man had got to talking. The old fuck was finally looking to slow things down and spend more time with family blah blah blah. Doug asked about the land. Turned out that with his farm across the street, which included some land by the bay and this factory land, the old fucker had almost fifty acres of prime buildable South Shore real estate. Doug knew it was like dirt paved in gold, but the quiet old fuck didn’t seem to realize it. He was more concerned about not living next to a strip mall or another fast food place. Doug pitched the idea of selling some of it to him. Doug said he wanted to build a house for himself and one for his mother and wanted a fair bit of land around them.

  The old idiot had gone for it hook, line, and bullshit.

  After some pleasant back and forth they came to an agreement. Doug then hooked up with one of Larry’s shady lawyers and arranged to have a hazardous materials clean up clause written deep in the purchase and sale agreement. It provided for steep discounts and recovery of costs if any chemicals that required mitigation were found on the property. Doug and Liko had acquired thirty-two small barrels of nasty experimental medical shit from one of Liko’s family connections. The evening before the walk-through they hid the barrels in the basement of the factory. Both parties and their lawyers arrived early the next morning to inspect the property before heading over to the bank to sign the paperwork.

  When they got to the basement of the factory all of the barrels were gone.

  The fucking barrels were gone.

  The God damn ass munching fucking barrels were gone and that old bastard had looked Doug dead in the eye, and smiled.

  After a hasty phone call to Larry during the car ride to the bank Doug and the lawyer completed the sale with Doug buying the land at a fair price. Doug wanted to walk away but the lawyer was screaming about it looking suspicious to back out. He was yelling about how Doug had fucked it all up.

  The sale went through, but now Doug had a problem.

  He only had enough money for the permitting and prints but not the construction. He had to give up three-quarters of his interest to Larry to get the funds to start building. Once the project finally launched he put up a crappy pre-fab house on the inland lot so he could keep an eye on the project, and immediately clear cut the rest of the land.

  The homes on Morgan Road and its off shooting cul-de-sacs were quintessentially South Shore. Not only were there the craftsman style converted cabins, but the rest of the neighborhoods were tasteful salt boxes and classic colonials. Doug didn’t give two shits about sticking with the look and feel of the community. He and Larry found the right people to pay off to change his submitted plans at the last minute and Doug built three mini-mansion type homes on his newly cleared lots near the water. To the right buyers, who Doug found to be anyone with deep pockets and not much taste, they looked impressive as hell. Behind the twelve foot ceilings and eight panel doors, however, they were built like shit. Every cut corner put another dollar in his pocket, and three in Larry’s. Some of the neighbors bitched about the garish eyesores, and that old Walker codger was downright furious. He showed up at Doug’s house ranting on and on about not clearcutting and developing the bloody land. Doug had pushed the old fuck down his front steps and told him to go fuck his Irish self with a shillelagh.

  The next morning he got a call from the Pembury Police Department. Before Doug could spout his prepared bullshit story about being accosted by the crazy old guy the officer told him there had been some vandalism at the old factory and they needed him to come onsite immediately. When he arrived half of the parking lot was taped off and two officers from the state environmental assessment team were there. They were wearing rubber gloves and paper footies over their shoes. They informed Doug that no property damage had been done but someone had put several small drums of an unknown substance in the basement of the factory. Thankfully all of the barrels were confirmed to still be intact and sealed tight and nothing had leaked. They were not properly marked and couldn’t be identified but based on the symbols on the labels it could potentially be some nasty stuff.

  It was an unfortunate case of illegal dumping.

  The environmental gestapo provided Doug with the names of a few approved clean-up companies and gave him a deadline to provide certification that it had been taken care of properly. Doug removed the barrels and Larry arranged for the forged clean up documents, which cost him even more.

  The real ass fucking came after that. The town stepped in and put a hold on any further development of Doug’s land. The river that ran just south of the factory passed under the road and between Doug’s lot and the old bastard’s farm. The town wanted Doug to arrange for an additional assessment of any potential impacts before approving his permits to build more houses. That last bit was utter bullshit, a real stretch even for the ridiculous Massachusetts environmental laws. Doug wasn’t sure how the old bastard had done it but he’d managed to bend Doug over and violate him with one of Liko’s big rubber dildos.

  Well, you’ll never screw anyone like that again, will you Mr. Walker? Doug thought as he looked at his red knuckles.

  He cracked a crazy smile. Miss Walker still had the crown jewel. Her old ass sat on a huge and very buildable farm that Doug was just going to have to take off her hands. That would help to make things right. There was also a nice lot just north of that one, and Doug had it on good authority the clinic there was soon to come upon rocky times.

  And Doug was confident he was going to get a bargain on both lots this time.

  Chapter 41

  “Oh Hun, you are almost the best wife on the planet,” Dan said as he took the glass of iced tea from Aila and held it to his sweating forehead.

  “Almost?” Aila said as she checked for children and then slid a hand into the bottom of Dan’s shorts as she stepped over his legs. He was stretched out on one of Mimi’s Adirondack chairs, relaxing with his shirt off and his bare feet up on the ottoman.

  Aila paused f
or a kiss before continuing past her husband and settling into the chair next to his. She took his hand, closed her eyes, and turned her face up to the hot afternoon sun. The warm days of June had been replaced by the hot days of July. Summer on the South Shore was in full swing and the residents of Pembury were enjoying their midsummer rituals of calling in sick, arguing who had the best lobster roll, and discussing the most recent shark sighting.

  “We gotta do this more often,” Aila sighed, and held her cool glass to her chest so the condensation could drip down her cleavage. It had been a busy two months for the Hogans. They had finished unpacking and were getting used to their new schedules. Aila worked from home and only had to head into her South Boston office every few weeks but Dan was now commuting to downtown Boston. He had flexible work hours so he missed most of the infamous traffic, but he was away from home more than when they lived in the city. They were enjoying their first Saturday with some down time. The kids had left early for Mimi’s so Dan and Aila had slept in, made love, fed Spot, and then walked the trails to Mimi’s to join the family for lunch.

  “Which part do we gotta do more often?” Dan asked, blindly walking his fingers up his wife’s arm to her breast.

  “Turn loose me only daughter, laddy,” Mimi said, “She’s not a hing oot, and there be bairn afoot,”

  She joined them on the porch and fixed Dan with a scolding smirk. Dan smiled and walked his finger back down his wife’s arm. Mimi had her own glass of iced tea and the remains of a roast beef sandwich from lunch. She took a seat under the picnic table umbrella.

  As if to prove Mimi’s point about kids being nearby, Ben came flying around the far side of the house carrying Smudge’s furry chicken. He zig-zagged past the picnic table and jumped over his parent’s legs.

  “Don’t tell Smudge which way I went,” he whispered as he flew by, ran across the driveway, and disappeared into the barn.

  A moment later Smudge poked the back screen door open with her snout and walked across the driveway to the goat pen. She pawed the bottom of the fence and Mr. Watt clopped down the ramp from the shed and walked over to her. Smudge shook her head and nodded a few times, and then the goat returned to the doorway of the shed. Smudge turned and walked back across the driveway to the porch. She jumped up on the picnic table bench next to Mimi and sat down.

  The little black dog looked at Mimi, put one paw up on the table, and wagged.

  “I suppose you want a piece?” Mimi said to her, tearing off a bit of her sandwich, “And I’m not supposed to tell you he’s away in the barn.”

  Aila opened her eyes and gave Mimi a raised eyebrow. “You wee clype,” she said to her mother, accusing her of being a tattle tale.

  As she gave Smudge another piece of sandwich Mimi nodded to her daughter and said, “Aye, watch this.”

  Smudge looked at Aila and then hopped down from the bench, and then jumped over her and Dan’s legs. She walked into the back yard, away from the barn. As soon as she couldn’t be seen from the open barn door she turned and walked straight over to it. She slinked along the front wall until she was just behind the barn’s large sliding door.

  Aila sat up, tapped Dan on the arm and motioned for him to watch.

  Smudge looked across the driveway at the goat pen, she shook her head like she was shaking off water and Mr. Watt, who had been watching from the shed door, started to bleat. Some of the goats joined in and even the chickens started to make noise. A moment later Ben appeared in the barn doorway and crept towards the pen.

  Smudge fell in line behind him, creeping in his footsteps until they were off the gravel and on the grass. She bit the back of Ben’s shoe. He tumbled and Smudge pounced on him. She grabbed the plush chicken toy and sped off, wagging and bounding. She passed the pen on the way by and bounced her backside playfully off the fence before she crossed the driveway and disappeared around the side of the house.

  Dan looked at Aila, and then they both looked at Mimi.

  “Aye,” she said, “She started doing that this morning. I’ve stopped adding whisky to my cuppa just to be sure I was seeing it right.”

  Mimi finished her sandwich, and as she sipped her tea and watched Ben chase after his dog her pretty, lined face pulled back into one of her big smiles.

  Aila loved that smile. It reminded her how much she had been missing her mother while she lived in Boston. The whole family was loving living so close to Mimi. They alternated hosting dinner a few times a week which gave them time to chat and catch up, and to see how both pups were doing. It also let them enjoy their kids, who seemed to be thriving on the South Shore.

  Spot and Smudge had been apart for almost eight weeks. Smudge had gained back all of the weight she lost and started to really pack it on. She hit fifteen pounds, finally passing her brother. Mimi and Ben noticed Smudge was getting bulkier, and not just due to her gaining weight. Her neck and shoulders were starting to fill in with solid muscle. They were both coming out of their chubby puppy stage, ahead of schedule of course. Spot was developing good muscle tone as well, but not like his sister. Ben noticed Smudge was now considerably faster than Spot, too. Her patches of missing fur had fully healed and both pups now had healthy, thick, short black coats. Smudge had grown almost eight inches in height, making her two inches taller at the shoulder than Spot. Best of all she was no longer infectious.

  Ben had been training the puppies separately while they were apart. He enlisted help from the rest of the family where needed but most days it was just him and the pups working together as he bounced back and forth between the houses.

  He had gotten into a well-practiced routine of tossing Mimi’s tablet into his backpack and flying down the bike path. Kelcy had helped him trim back some of the arm-scratching branches on the trails, and they found a new shortcut north of the river. He could make it to Mimi’s in just under ten minutes, including washing up and changing clothes on both ends to keep the contamination risk low.

  Mimi and Aila always knew when he was close as Spot or Smudge would alert them with one small yap about thirty seconds before Ben walked through the door.

  The little black puppies soaked up new tricks like sponges. It seemed to Aila and Dan that they had progressed from sit and stay to walking backwards and fetching different objects on command almost overnight. Most nights after dinner Ben would demonstrate what he had taught the pups that day.

  On one of the nights Mimi had come to the Hogan’s for dinner, Ben sprang to his feet after the dishes had been cleared and ran to his room with Spot close on his heels. He returned a few minutes later wearing his top hat and cape from an old magic show kit.

  Spot was wearing the white bow tie.

  Ben announced with great fanfare that both pups had now perfected their most awesome trick yet. He admitted he stole it from the internet, but modified it for the pups. He also explained he was allowing Spot to be the one to demonstrate it as he was the first to get it perfect.

  “Behold,” Ben said, “Ladies and gentleman, an ordinary deck of cards.” He stood next to the kitchen table and produced a deck of playing cards from his sleeve. He swept it in front of them and then handed it to Dan who checked it, and nodded to the kitchen audience that it was indeed a real deck.

  “Madam, please shuffle the deck and deal out twenty cards,” he said as he handed the deck to Aila, “Face up on the table.”

  His mom shuffled the deck a few times and dealt out four rows of five cards each.

  “I need complete silence for this next part please,” Ben said, and tapped on the table. Spot jumped up on a chair, and then hopped onto the end of the kitchen table.

  “Oh honey, not on my table,” Aila said.

  “Which is exactly why I asked for silence,” Ben said between his teeth.

  Mimi and Kelcy laughed out loud.

  “Now, as I was saying before I was so rudely heckled,” he said as he shot Aila a look. “Be prepared to be amazed. Remove your hands from the top of the table, please,” Ben said. Everyone put t
heir hands in their laps so the only thing on the table was the twenty cards, and a small black wagging dog.

  Spot was looking at Ben, and waiting.

  “Young lady,” Ben said to Kelcy as he waved the wand over her head, “Please scan the cards before you and select one. Plant its suit and rank firmly in your mind, think about its position on the table but be careful! Don’t say which one it is or touch it.”

  “Got it,” Kelcy said, smiling at her brother.

  Spot was looking right at her.

  “Okay, please tell Spot which card it is, and ask him to find it,” Ben said as he pointed the wand at the dog and shook its tip.

  Kelcy looked at Ben, and then at Mimi, and then at Spot. She shrugged and said, “Spot, please find me the six of clubs.”

  Spot looked at Ben and then took three confident steps forward, stepping between the cards until he hovered over the second one in the third row. He gently put his paw down on it as he looked up at Kelcy.

  “Ho-lee-crap,” Kelcy said.

  “Well that’s just champion,” Mimi said, clapping her hands.

  “Okay, good boy,” Ben said.

  Spot walked backwards, being cautious not to step on the cards until he cleared them and sat down at the far end of the table again, wagging.

  “Ben, that’s seriously cool,” Dan said, removing his glasses and cleaning them on his shirt.

  “Thank you ladies and gentleman,” Ben said, “Now I want everyone at this table to select a card please. As with the young lady, I don’t want you to touch the card, or say which card it is.”

  The family nodded.