Buck Vs. the Bulldog Ants

by David Kersey

CHAPTER FIFTY THREE

  Minnick rocked back and forth on the porch of the mountain cabin. Nice place with a nice view across a valley to another rise, but the tinnitus like drone of a zillion crickets, the curiosity of the bumble bees that hovered just in front of him, the wasps working the wooden eaves too close for comfort, it wasn’t his life style. Turn the clock back about a hundred years. Too rustic for his taste, he liked air conditioning and modern conveniences too much. Good place to read a book or get lost in thought, but that was the only upside that he could see.

  What if someone saw me leave Lila’s? What if someone noticed the make and model of my car, maybe even the plate number? He had cleaned the steering wheel and passenger seat with Ajax liquid, but he knew law enforcement had gadgets that could detect blood stains even after a good scrubbing. He decided to ditch the car, trade it in, get an SUV maybe. He would do just that in the morning. The little town of Blue Ridge was just north of Cherry Log which was only a spot in the road, and the larger town of Jasper was a few miles south and he had passed a Jeep dealer there. It would be a Jeep, the SUV type. Used. Then off to Memphis to visit Sharona, followed by Little Rock for the Robertson woman. After that Sweetwater, Tennessee in the crisscross pattern.

  He had read all the news articles on his laptop. The Lauderdale Sun Sentinel, the Miami Herald, the Jacksonville Daily News, the St. Augustine Record, all of them made reference to a tragic homicide in their respective regions. Yet none of the articles yielded a fact that could possibly incriminate him. No reference to a vehicle, observation, witness, nothing of the sort. But it could be a squelch job. Ditching the car was an imperative. He would do it bright and early tomorrow morning, then leave this backwoods excuse of society forever.

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  The workmen had left but the work they did today was noticeable. We returned to the basement after the Land Rover was unloaded and the facility locked up. Cassie and I sat and listened to them talk. Tillie had a mesmerizing way of communicating.

  “Tillie, would you like a drink?” John asked while the three sat at the barstools.

  “No thank you, sir. I don’t drink. But a Coke would do me just fine if you please.”

  “I hope you don’t mind if I submit you to a drug test, it’s almost mandatory nowadays.”

  “I don’t mind a bit. I have never done anything stronger than an aspirin. Tried a cigarette once, if that counts.”

  “So there’s no man in your life, or kids?” John asked while drawing a sample of her blood.

  “No sir, just me and Bblackie, my dog.”

  “Marlene tells me you medaled. Tell me about that.”

  “Tweren’t nothin’. It’s what you got to do, get one off the ground and back. He got shot by a sniper and wasn’t in real good shape, couldn’t get up on his own, so I got him on my shoulder and took him back. I got shot at but guess I’m too little to hit. They tell me he recovered and went back for more sometime later.”

  “So you were K-9 Special Ops?”

  “Yessir. Me and Bblackie done real good so they say. I trained at Lackland for a good while an’ then me and Bblackie got called over to Iraq when they was runnin’ short on canines. We got about forty bombs uncovered over there. Saved a lot of butts they say. I’m thinkin’ I got the medal cause of that more than haulin’ that big ole black guy back. Bblackie got shot once, still limps a little bit.”

  Marlene asked, curious from her own experiences, “How did you handle the harassment?”

  Tillie laughed. “One guy in boot camp got a little fresh. I chopped him across his Adam’s apple an’ he cried like a little kid. They left me alone after that……guess I got a reputation cause it didn’t arise much anywhere I went. Bblackie was a big help too, he don’t tolerate shenanigans. No man ‘cept one has ever touched my boobies, and that was a mistake he made. I never asked for it, but I still dated him for a bit after that.” Marlene and John both laughed out loud.

  “What did you do after your length of service ended?”

  “Went back home to Tennessee. Knocked around lookin’ for somethin’ to do. Landed at the dog kennel place, me and Bblackie both. Right nice people that helped me a lot, but the wife passed on two months ago an’ I think it’s time for me to move on. Mr. Harris seems like a broken man and his heart ain’t in it no more. He pays me but his business ain’t long for this world I don’t think. Poor man doesn’t have the touch if you get my drift. His customers keep with him out of pity, most of ‘em anyways.”

  “What do you do at the kennel?”

  “Oh, it’s mostly just keepin’ the dogs nice and clean, and groomin’ ‘em, and playin’ with ‘em and keepin’ the place clean. I try to train ‘em a little bit, but it takes more time than I get with ‘em. Me and Bblackie talk, uh, well, I don’t wanna bore you. There’s another woman that does the front counter stuff, though I could do it in a pinch.” I saw Marlene cover her mouth to hide a smile.

  “Where do you live?”

  “I have a little efficiency place. It’s all I need and I’m paid up. I don’t have much. I can walk to the kennel and really don’t use the car ‘cept for groceries, but it runs good and is paid for, ‘cept the heat an’ air don’t work right.”

  “Hope you don’t mind me asking, but do you have a police record of any kind?”

  “Yes, sir. I mean no, sir. I don’t care for The Police and that stalking song. But I do have both Flats and Scruggs and Billy Ray Cyrus records.” Another round of laughing. This woman was too much. John had never met anyone quite like her. Pure innocence it seemed.

  “The folks down at Lackland call me all the time. They want me to take some of their rejects. They’s all good dogs, just didn’t make it through basic. Mr. Harris didn’t have no room for ‘em, in case that’s of interest to you. They’re young too, lots of life and good service once trained right. A good one’ll bring five thousand dollars and you can get ‘em for free ‘cept for the ride up here. I know how to train ‘em, believe me, I do. Can I ask you a personal question, the both of you?”

  “I guess so, what do you have in mind?”

  “Can I have the job? I’d be forever grateful and a good employee, I promise on the Good Book and it says if you don’t ask you’ll not get nothin’ from bein’ shy about it. I’ve already prayed about it and got the go ahead to come up here.”

  I barked once.

  John and Marlene made eye contact, then, “How soon could you be back here, Tillie?”

  “Tomorrow night I spose.”

  “You understand you’d be on probation for the first month, and if things didn’t work out, it might cause you some difficulty,” Marlene warned.

  “I have a place for her at the plant, Marlene, but I don’t think that will be necessary, do you?” Marlene looked at John and smiled and reached out for his hand.

  “Am I to take it as a yes?” Tillie stood to her feet.

  “It’s a yes,” Marlene said with a large smile.

  “Excuse me,” Tillie said lightly. She fell to her knees and put her hands over her face. “Thank you,” she wept. I cozied up to her side and she hugged me and buried her face into my neck. “Thank you too, Buck, I heard you sayin’ yes, I think.” She then looked up at the ceiling. “And thank you too, sir.” She stood as did both John and Marlene, Cassie and me too. Group hugs ensued.

  Mozetta yelled down into the basement. “What cha’ll doin’, come on up here, foods getting’ cold an’ I made extra for your guest? Ya’ll git on up here lickety split,” followed by her predictable belly laugh.