The Pride of Howard County

by Kevin Bachman

  Chapter 13

  Lucky and Muncie were out romping along the Piney River when something odd and irresistible presented itself to them. At first Lucky thought it was a cat, she had seen wild cats from time to time, even chased a few up trees now and then. Now Muncie had seen many cats in his old neighborhood and knew right away this wasn’t your ordinary cat. First of all it didn’t run away from them, in fact it hardly reacted to them at all, practically ignored them. There was something most intriguing about this cat. It seemed to almost intentionally draw the two young dogs to it while at the same time there was a wisp of caution about the creature but not enough to keep two young carefree canines from having their fun. And so, they thought it would be fun to chase this thing around for abit, maybe nip it’s butt, harass it some, basically just play around with it for a while.

  It was black with a white stripe down its back, kind of pretty actually, an easy target for some old fashioned dog fun.

  Lucky and Muncie were about to learn of a temptation of this world that is better off just left alone. Both dogs had encountered flying critters that sting like the dickens, they’d run into long skinny critters that coil up and strike quick as lightning. But this black and white thing didn’t fly; it didn’t coil or hiss, it just waddled along without a care in the world.

  Lucky made the first move. She came in from behind and nipped its butt. Well, skunks don’t like being nipped on the butt or anywhere else for that matter and this one wasn’t about to put up with this rudeness. She had a secret weapon that evidentially these two characters didn’t know anything about. She didn’t like using her weapon if she didn’t have to so she tried to warn the trouble makers to just leave her alone. She would have much preferred it if they would just be on their way. Muncie found it curious that the creature was now pointing her butt at him and stomping her hind feet on the ground. Either this thing knew nothing about combat or it had lost its mind. Had Muncie listened to the whisper that was telling him that maybe he wasn’t being any too smart he would have avoided a lot of misery, yet the temptation was just too great.

  He moved close enough to reach out and tap the critter with a big brown paw when suddenly something happened. Muncie was frozen, couldn’t move, couldn’t see, couldn’t breath, this thing had done something horrible to him.

  Muncie’s eyes were watering so badly he could hardly see but managed to make his way down to the Piney. Lucky had abandoned him, he was on his own. The cool water helped some but he’d taken a direct hit to the face. He dunked his head into the water over and over until he could keep his eyes open. He rolled in the mud on the river bank covering himself with mud. Eventually, he made his way toward the house; surely John could do something about this.

  The skunk meandered along the river bank without thinking too much about the whole affair. She had tried to warn the dogs to leave her alone. She was slow and had poor eye sight but nature had compensated for this by equipping her with a very effective defense strategy as Muncie knew all too well.

  When John came in that evening he thought he smelled skunk and then when Muncie came around the corner of the house he knew he smelled skunk. Muncie was looking and feeling quite embarrassed. A horrible smell had invaded his entire world, he was covered with mud and even Lucky wasn’t having anything to do with him.

  At first John didn’t know what to make of this situation. He had to look twice to be sure it was Muncie. The closer the dog got the more John realized he didn’t have a clue where to begin cleaning up a mess like this. Maybe Gus could give him some badly needed advice on how to de-skunk a dog.

  Gus had heard that tomato ketchup was supposed to work. Of course he or John didn’t have enough ketchup on hand to wash a dog so John had to make a trip to the Country Mart buying all the ketchup they had on the shelf. The clerk said, “Skunk” and John said, “Uh huh” they both smiled.

  He poured bottle after bottle of ketchup on the dog. Gus had retrieved a nylon brush for him to use. John had tied a bandana around his face but still gagged as he scrubbed off the mud and musk. Gus stood at a safe distance shaking his head and saying things like, “Well, I’ve never.” An hour later and after the third rinse Muncie was bearable to be around. He had a lingering smell of skunk and had to sleep outside for couple of nights.

  For a while, Muncie thought he was a goner but with the help of John and Heinz ketchup it appeared he was going to survive. He had learned his lesson; there are things in this world that are just better left alone.