ANCHORS AWEIGH Chapter Two

Pretty Girls and Adventures on the High Seas

When Dad retired, my brother took over the family import-export business and it was beginning to do well. He tried to get me involved before I enlisted in the Navy but I had adventures in mind, not the kind while sitting in an office.

When I returned to the States and was mustered out of the Navy, my brother tried to involve me once again but as soon as I got my Seaman First Class papers, I was looking for a ship heading for the Far East.

My brother suggested I get a passport just in case I needed it. Although I thought it was a waste of time but because he insisted I might need it, I finally said, "okay."

I found a job on a freighter and was off to the Far East and the adventures of a lifetime. We put into some small ports but the old sailors warned me about going ashore. Too many sailors never made it back to the ship and some were found floating out to sea.

The fun times were ahead in the bigger cities where morals were looser or non-existent. By the time we neared port I was tired of stories and wanted to experience life for myself.

It was a deep port so we could pull all the way to the dock. The crew on this ship was a rough and rowdy bunch, so I felt I would be safe as long as I was with them.

Local dock workers did most of the unloading work and we were given a three day pass.

The guys had been talking about getting drunk and spending time with women. That was all they talked about after being at sea for a month. They went over their past adventures and the fights they had with the local people. After listening to all that chatter I didn’t know what to expect but I could hardly wait for this was going to be my greatest adventure so far.

I also wanted to see some of the sights and get some pictures of temples and the sidewalk cooking. The captain gave some strict orders about keeping out of trouble and being back on board before time to sail. I was sure I wouldn’t have any problem obeying him for I wasn’t going to get in any trouble.

The men hit the shore running and I was right in the middle of them. Some had been here before and knew where they were going while others like me were just trying to find a place with wine, women, and song.

I didn’t need the wine but was interested in the women. Later as I thought about it, it must have been all the stories that got me all fired up.

About six or seven of us went into this bar where there was music playing and women trying to get men to drink and buy the girls drinks also. I had heard about places like this but this was a real experience.

A beautiful girl came over to me and was rubbing up against me. As she was hugging on me she ordered drinks for us and we went to a table. I couldn’t understand much of what she was saying even though she was supposed to be speaking English.

I only drank a few swallows of my drink and was getting dizzy, and I couldn’t see things clearly. 

All at once a fight broke out. It was my mates fighting with some of the locals. The police were just outside waiting for a disturbance and they rushed in and arrested them.

They were going to take me but the girl I was with told them I wasn’t fighting and to leave me to her to take care of. The police left and the next thing I knew it was three days later and my ship had sailed without me.

I eventually realized I had been doped but couldn’t make any sense as to why the kept me there for they had my money and seaman’s papers. The pretty girl I had been drinking with showed up and we had some food. I had many questions and she answered most of them although not very satisfactorily.

As it turned out they had my papers and money and I had to cooperate with them or else.

The man the girl worked for ran the boxing matches among all his other enterprises.  I found out I was to be the Yankee villain and would fight all comers. I told them I wasn’t going to do it for although I had boxed a little I wasn’t much good at it.

Three goons showed up and whisked me away to where the boxing ring was. They stripped my clothes off and gave me some trunks to put on. Then I had to put on some very light weight boxing gloves. I thought these aren’t much better than fighting bare knuckles.

 

They urged me to enter the ring and a moment later there entered a giant of a man. I could see people betting on one of us although I couldn’t see anyone betting on me after seeing the monster man I was to fight.

 

There was some kind of gong and the fight was on. He lumbered over toward me and I felt frozen. He gave me a little tap and knocked me down. I rolled to my feet and realized this was real and I might be fighting for my life. I swung and hit him on the nose pretty hard.

It looked like it made him mad for the expression on his face changed and was frightening. The last thing I remember was being hit in the ribs so hard I couldn’t breathe.

I awoke the next day so sore I could hardly move. I already had it figured out but I asked Cheri Leng (That was the name the pretty girl gave me) what happened and she said after the rib blow he really went to work on me and after the fight (If you could call it that) the three thugs brought me back to her place.

Then I realized she could speak perfect English not like the gibberish she spoke while at the bar. She said she had to get me ready for my next opponent in four days.

I could hardly breathe and they wanted me to fight again. I told her didn’t they know I couldn’t fight?

She said it didn’t matter! The people wanted to see a white man get beaten up and they were willing to pay for the privilege.

To Be Continued 

 

ANCHORS AWEIGH Chapter One

Today begins a New Short Continued Story -

Please sign up to follow by e-mail so as to not miss the coming adventures.

 

You're In the Navy Now

 

I was excited, I was in the Navy. I had joined for two years and was immediately sent to training school.  Since I wasn’t considered officer material I finished my basic training in four months.

For the next few months I had what could be considered menial duty. I was working in the preparation of the mess and cleaning up after “Slopping the hogs.”

There was still a year of my enlisted time left when I was given sea duty. My job didn’t change while at sea but every so often I got to see the sea or ocean we were on.

I can still feel the jarring in my stomach of the rough seas as the ship was tossed about. I wished I had been on a carrier or cruiser instead of the destroyer I served on.

When we anchored off Busan, South Korea, I was excited and thought I’m going to see another nation which was the reason I joined up to see the world.

The message came down that only a few mates would be allowed to go ashore for the ship had to stay on alert. So we were set for another week on the ship anchored without moving.

Borrowing some field glasses I was able to see the dock workers scrambling around but no women were in sight or they were dressed like the men and I couldn’t tell the difference.

For months I had been hearing about the amazing adventures of those who had gone on shore but so far I hadn’t even been near the shore.  After a week we shoved off and headed for Osaka, Japan.

During that trip the guys that went to shore in Busan told of their exploits while on shore.  I didn’t care if they were lies or not for they captured my imagination.

The word was there would be passes for everyone while in Osaka, not all at once but while we were there. 

 

Everyone was given double duty on the trip to Osaka for they wanted the ship to be spotless when we arrived.

Even though we weren’t one of the larger ships, our captain was a proud skipper and he wanted his ship to impress all who boarded her.

It looked like leave was to be divided into four segments with one fourth of the crew at a time going ashore. I was in the last segment. As the guys came back from leave they had stories that made it that much harder to wait my turn.

Their stories of sexual exploits made the rest of group four extremely anxious.

I thought this was what the navy was all about.  After three weeks waiting for the last returnee from segment three to return to the ship, we heard those most hated words that can be uttered from the bridge “Now hear this.”

Immediately my heart dropped, I knew it; it was too good to be true. Our turn for leave was going to be cancelled. Naturally it would be a good reason but I didn’t care about why my fun time wasn’t to be.

In the background of my thoughts I heard the captain say; “Prepare the ship for sailing.”

Upon hearing those words men began flying in all directions. I was barely moving till the chief petty officer grabbed me and said, “Heave to sailor.”

I didn’t know what “heave to,” meant but it put fire into my feet and I ran to my station and got it ready for sea duty. Once we were out to sea the captain came on the intercom and said the ship was overdue for retrofitting and the parts they had waited a year for had arrived and the ship was ordered to Pearl Harbor immediately.

 

He said he was sorry that some of us didn’t get to go ashore but we had to obey our orders.

When we arrived at Pearl Harbor for the retrofit most of us were sent back to the States for re-assignment.

Since I only had a short time left to serve it was back to the mess hall for me. 

To be Continued

STUFF THAT RUBBS OFF

This fictional short story by Robert could be someone you know!

You won't believe this BUT - - - this is what I heard !!

 

It is almost folly to try to get stuff to rub off another person onto you for luck.

People who gamble try to sit next to a person who is winning especially when playing the slots. They grab their winning machine when they leave and hope their luck transfers to them.

People who are lucky in love (lucky in love is open to interpretation) draw other people to them trying to imitate their success by acting like them.

There is some stuff that rubs off and is unwanted it is in the product of gossip. While there are no official titles for the gossipers but I could nominate some ladies for “The Queen of the Gossipers.”

There is such a thing as an undercurrent of gossip that is easy to accept and does great damage to reputations.  A happening such as this occurred several years ago.

Let me first say our failings and imperfections if left unamplified are of little matter but if the gossipers get a hold of them they become a destructive force in our lives.  Gossipers are the “masters of deceit” and their aim is to harm or destroy.

The “desire to know” is the seed bed where rumors are planted and they quickly spring up into full blown material that can be used to ruin basically good people.

A good person may have some failures in their life and yet be a functioning human being and if left alone be productive. But the true gossiper will do everything within their power to bring them down.

They can take a small secure camp fire and turn it into a raging inferno.

Perhaps not the best example of this is a situation that occurred when I was growing up. You could define me by the word average. Actually that is a little liberal for I was not a good student as my grades reflected. I wasn’t popular and had only a couple of friends and was coming from a family with a moderate income. So there you have me.

I got my first dose of what the gossipers could do when I was just under five, say four and an half.  I got caught playing doctor by the Queen gossiper in town and it spread all over town. It must have been a slow day for gossip otherwise it wouldn’t have demanded so much interest.

For the next five years I lived under the shadow on that event. Even after five years I would still get “You naughty boy” out of some of the prime purveyors of the tongues of fire.  Finally I was rescued from them when we moved many miles away.

My father was raised on a farm and never got away from the love of the country. The town where we moved to had a place on the edge of town for sale and it was perfect for a boy from the country. We were actually in town but there was a barn and a couple of acres of ground.

Before I knew it we had a large chicken coop attached to the barn and were raising chickens.  We sold fryers and eggs. Ours were brown eggs and some people wanted them instead of the white eggs in the stores.

Our nearest neighbor was a widow and a daughter about my age. Even after four or five years I didn’t know them very well. My mother met the woman and found out the county supported them and they had very little to get by on. Mother told them to come down sometimes and she would give them some eggs.

I believe the only time they came down was at the end of the month when their money had run out. Usually my Ma would give them a couple dozen to get them by till the first of the month when she got her check.

The girl Mary rode the same school bus as I did but I never talked to her much. At school none of the girls would have anything to do with her because she wore things the other girls at school would have thrown away long ago.  Her clothes were washed and clean but still had spots on them. It was known they were poor and no one wanted to be friendly to her because of it.

Then things got worse for Mary.  One of the senior boys caught her after she got off of the bus and had his way with her. Then he went around and bragged about it saying she begged him for it.

Once the gossipers got a hold of his story they tried their best to destroy the young girl cause they hadn’t had a tidbit like this for a year or so.

I would have like to have helped her but I didn’t want them making up stories about me. The girl came back to school and had to endure the worst pain that one human could inflict on another human with their mouth.

The teachers tried to stem the swell of persecution to no avail. It was like a pack of hyenas ripping and tearing apart a kill. They were driven by the taste of blood.

No one cared about Mary and what had actually happened; instead they delighted to show how low she was.

I was threaten to shut up when I said what was being told wasn’t true and then I started walking Mary home after she got off the bus just in case someone else tried to molest her.

I was seen with her and there were whispering about me and her but it didn’t get to the frenzy stage. The whole town figured she was a tramp and many boys claimed they visited her often. As she walked the halls of the school she had to endure filthy remarks by both boys and the girls.

Girls would threaten her for being with their boyfriend when none of this was true. I was the only one who would have anything to do with her and I paid a price for that.

The remarks were bad enough but along with them were the fights I had because of sticking up for her.

Both Mary and I were near seventeen and were going to graduate early. I was looking forward to it for I was moving as soon as school was over.

One evening Mary came over to get some eggs and my mother said go out and get Mary a couple dozen.

 

Mom said you will have to look for them cause the hens got into the barn and laid some in the hay. I started to argue but knew I never won an argument with Mom so I didn’t bother.

The eggs were hard to find in the loose hay but we had just about enough when Mary pushed me down and started to wrestle with me. It was the first time I had ever saw her try to have a little fun. I felt of her as we wrestled and realized she had no underwear on.

Then I did the unthinkable, I kissed her and she kissed me back and things kept heating up (that’s one way to put it) and before we knew we were … we lay there not knowing what to say or do when I heard my ma call out, “Have you about finished?”

Those words brought many things to mind but I yelled, “Yes just one more.”

Mary took her basket and thanked my Ma and ran home.

We never talked about what happen the next day or for that matter never at all.

I had planned to move away but instead I got a job in town and decided to stay.

I scarcely saw Mary for they had moved to the next town for some reason. On a couple times when I had business over there I saw her and waved as she turned away.

Five years went by and one day when I came home and saw that Mary was there. She had spent the afternoon with my mother and ma sharply said, “Sit down,” so I did.

Ma didn’t talk like this unless it was serious. My father came in and didn’t look too happy either.  I figured that they knew something that I didn’t know when Ma told me that Mary was sick and wasn’t going to live but a short time. She asked me if I remembered a time about five or so years ago when Mary came over and got some eggs and the hens had laid them in the hay.

Not did I remember but I remembered ever step we took as if it had just happened.

I simply said, “Yes I think so.”

Ma said, “Do you need me to refresh your recollection?”

I said, “No I don’t think so.”

She said, “Good.  Mary has a problem and wants us to help her if we can.”

Ma went into the next room and got a small girl who had been playing in the next room and brought her in and gave her to me. The child crawled up into my lap and gave me a hug.  Everybody sat there saying nothing for a long while.

The girl was playing with a string tie I was wearing when Mary spoke and said, “This is your daughter, and here is her birth certificate stating you are her daddy.”

She continued, “Regardless of what everyone says I have only been with two men in my life; the one who raped me and you know who the other was.

I wasn’t going to bother you with this for I thought you might want to marry a respectable girl and I didn’t want this hanging over you. Since I have gotten sick and I wouldn’t leave her with my mother I wanted to let you decide what you want to do with her. She is a fine young lady and is very smart.

There are some tests you can run if you don’t believe me but you must admit she looks a lot like her daddy. The reason we moved was because I was pregnant and I didn’t want anyone to know about it from this town. Your mother has said she would watch over her for you while you worked. There was no one else, only you, and the one I would make pay if I had been able.”

She said, “I must go in the hospice tomorrow and it won’t be long for me.”

As I looked at the girl on my lap I was all but speechless.  I knew Mary was telling me the truth and here was my flesh and blood in my arms.

Love that Sweet Five Year Old Girl

During this moment of bonding I became a believer in love at first sight.

For the next four weeks I visited Mary and sometimes brought Alice with me depending on her mood.

Then one day it was over. I sat out in the park area outside the hospice for some time wishing. I wished I had enough moxie to stand up to all of the people and their vile attitudes of loving a lie.

I wished I had been a better friend to Mary. I wished I had married her and been there when Alice was born, I wished I knew what a fine woman she was and gave her the love she deserved. I saw to it Mary had a decent funeral and put a stone with the inscription, “A woman this town was not worthy of. “

I told mom I was leaving this town for I was sick of it and its vile people. I could transfer and wanted to get as far from here as possible.

Alice and I located in a mid-sized town where no one knew us.  We rented from a young widow who watched Alice while I worked. She fell in love with the child and I became fond of the young widow who recently lost her husband in the ongoing war.

I needed some time to get over Mary and she wanted time to let some of her wounds to heal but as we got to know one another the faster the healing went.

It was a small wedding with a five year old bridesmaid.

I sent my mom a picture of her new daughter-in-law and our family as it now stood. I told mom I wouldn’t be coming back there ever but they were welcome anytime they wished to come.

Mom said she would like to come some day but my father said he couldn’t leave his chickens and wouldn’t be able to make it.

Finis
 

LARD AND FLOUR

Biscuits and Gravy

It was still spring time and we were trying to get the plowing done so we could get the crops in.

It looked like we were going to have plenty of fruit for the trees were in full blossom. The bees were working and it would be time to add a super to the top of the hive if things kept up like this.

The canned goods from last year were gone and the garden wouldn’t be producing until a month from now. We still had part of a 25 lb. sack of flour and the forty pound stand of lard was one fourth filled. This meant we could have biscuits and gravy every day and not starve.

Since there wasn’t anything pressing I decided to get my rifle and go hunting. The dogs were already out ahead of me and I checked my box of shells and saw I had half a box of 22s so I was set.

I usually could get a squirrel or rabbit with each shell. We hunted through where I usually found something but there was no luck today. The dogs weren’t for giving up so we went deeper into the woods until the trees were almost a 100 foot tall.

After a half hour one of the dogs started treeing and then the others joined in.

I didn’t know whether to trust a couple of the dogs for they treed by smell but Zeke always treed by sight.

If Zeke was barking you could be sure there was something up there. I started looking around the middle of the tree and saw nothing. Then I moved on up looking very careful so as not to miss anything till I finally got up to the top of the tree and after looking for 15 minutes there was nothing that came into my view.

I repeated starting in the middle and went to the top and there was nothing.  The tree forked near the top but I could see there wasn’t anything in the fork.  Then I began to circle around the tree several times but… nothing. I was getting tired of this foolishness and if Zeke wasn’t with me I would have given up. I looked at him and asked “Is there anything up there boy”?

He took a couple of steps further around the tree with his head looking up and he barked. When he did that I knew without a doubt there was meat in the tree.

I told Zeke to walk on around the tree and told him sic-em.

He walked around the tree slowly and as I waited looking up three squirrels came around the tree. They had been going around the tree out of sight as I walked around it. But when Zeke circled they exposed themselves.

I knew they had to be up there for Zeke was right every time. He wouldn’t bark unless he could see it. I stepped back about forty feet so I could get a better angle for my shot but it was a pretty long shot and I had to pull a fine sight on the squirrel if I was going to hit him.

I held my breath so my breathing wouldn’t throw my aim off and fired. I hit the one I shot at and ran to the foot of the tree to get the squirrel before the dogs could chew him up. I waited… and he didn’t fall.

I knew the dogs didn’t get him for we were looking right at each other. I went back from where I was when I shot and rehashed the event…no I’m sure I hit him and he was falling.

I stared upward for some time and then I saw him. He had lodged in the fork of the tree. I’m on the ground and our dinner was 80 feet above me. I couldn’t see enough of him to get a shot and try to knock him out of the fork but I took a couple anyway to no avail.

It was getting late and soon I wouldn’t be able to see well enough to get a bead on anything so I repeated the process and another came around and this time I had positioned myself so the squirrel wouldn’t fall into the fork. My next shot dropped the squirrel to the ground. I had to quickly get to the dogs and take my dinner out of the dog’s mouth.

It was getting near to biscuit time when I got back home. Everybody was pleased to see something to go with our biscuits and gravy. It didn’t take long to skin and prepare him for our dinner.

Hearing him sizzling in the lard was a sweet sound. It was good to have a good meal before we went to bed that night but I was wondering if the hens had laid some eggs for our breakfast.

I planned to check the hen house early in the morning.

Finis

THE SWEDE

Hope you enjoy this fictional short story by Robert

 

Swede

THE SWEDE

What can I say I love money or correctly, "I love making money."

It doesn’t make any difference how I make it as long as I don’t get put in jail doing it.

Some time back a fellow said he had a deal that would make us rich and he wanted to meet with me.  As it turned out he wanted to meet me in a bar.

When I showed up he was at the bar talking to a big man and by his looks I judged him to be a Swede. Before I made the man aware that I was here some guys went over and picked a fight with the Swede. They started to hit the Swede from all sides and he just stood there taking it.

Finally the two bar keeps broke it up and the Swede acted as if nothing had happened. I asked the man I was to meet why the Swede didn’t fight back and he told me he is one tough man and that pounding didn’t seem to bother him.

The guy I met wanted to tell me about his deal which included the bar we were in. I told him maybe later for I had something else on my mind.

I went over and engaged the Swede in conversation and learned that he spoke broken English well enough for me to follow. After trying to buy him a drink he said alcohol isn’t good for you so he didn’t drink.

“What are you doing in a bar if you don’t drink,” I asked.

He said, “This is where the paymaster comes to pay everybody off at the end of the week so I wait for him here.”

I asked him his name and he said, “You can call me Swede, everybody else does.”

I said, “Okay, Swede it is then.”

I had to ask, “Why didn’t you fight back when those guys were pounding you?”

He smiled and said, “They couldn’t hurt a flea so I just ignore them and they quit when they get tired.”

“Didn’t they hurt you?” and he answered; “Oh maybe a little and usually I have some bruises.”

I thought this is a mega oddity. I asked, “How would like a lot of money?”

He said it didn’t make much difference to him one way or another.

After spending two hours trying to get him to agree that making money was a good thing he said he would go along with whatever I wanted him to do.

I took Swede to a boxing camp and we were there for four weeks of intense training. The main thing taught was on how to release his full power on an opponent and on how to absorb the opponent’s blows on his arms instead of his face. There were other minor things but those were the majors.

At the camp there was a nurse, Abela there to take care of any injuries that inadvertently happened to any of the boxers. It was easy for tempers to out of control while you were getting bested.

Abela was a Scandinavian like Swede and she took a liking to him. So much so that when we hit the road she insisted she go with us. I had an old partner who had worked with me before and when I told him what I had planning he was all for it; and he became our front man.

In every city there is the scoundrel who everybody considers to be the toughest guy in town. The rascal no one would mess with.  Our front man Morley’s job was to find out who the guy was in these towns and set up a match with him.

Of course there was to be a lot of betting going on and we would get some good odds for the locals thought their man was the baddest scalawag around so they had to show their support by giving odds on him.

Morley could set up matches faster than we could fill them. The betting was always cash and put in a brief case for security reasons. The plan was for Swede to carry the local guy for a round or two and then the kayo punch would come out of nowhere.

Abela would always be the holder of the money and at the count of ten she was out of there with the cash. This went on week after week until we had built up a sizeable amount of betting money.

Morley set up our big match in a larger city where there was some real cash. This was to be our last big hit. Swede was in the best condition of his life. Abela managed his work out every day in and day out.

The night came when all of our cash was put up and this town had a professional as their hero. With the heavy odds the purse came to over two million dollars. We knew there were some tough guys involved and they didn’t plan on us walking out with the cash so they put a couple of their men with Abela guarding her and the money.

The fight was ready and round one was waiting for the bell.  Morley slipped up behind the two guards with his 38 S&W and put cuffs on them. He then locked them in a secure room and tossed the key away. As soon as the bell rang Swede went straight across the ring and hit the other guy with an uppercut that lifted him off his feet.

The referee just stood there looking at the unconscious professional fighter and Swede spit his mouthpiece out and hollered; “Count him out.”

At the count of ten Swede ran out of the building where our car was waiting for him, and we were well down the road before the people realized what had happened.

When we divided our money it turned out that Swede and Abela’s share was over a million dollars and Morley and I split the same amount.

This was the last of this business venture and I was looking for my next interest.

We had picked this last town because it wasn’t too many miles from Canada for Abela’s folks lived there and produced Maple Syrup.

As soon as Abela presented Swede to her folks she told them they were getting married.

At first her folks objected to having a wedding so quick after being introduced to the family but after Abela told her mother she might be with child (she wasn’t) the wedding was held right away; and Swede was ready to learn the right way to tap a Maple tree.

Finis

 

 

 

LITTERMATES (A True short Story)

 

I recently posted a blog about a day of hunting and the necessity of doing it.

In the story I mention a dog named Zeke. Now Zeke had two brothers that became famous in some circles. They were Mac, Jack, and Zeke. To look at the three of them you would say there is no way they are littermates.

Their mother was a Shepherd not unlike an Australian Shepherd. Their father was a Walker Hound so the pups were half Shepherd and Half hound. Mac and Jack looked like hounds and Zeke looked like a large version of a Shepherd but not like his mother for he had long hair.

At about six months Mac and Jack were excellent trackers by smell but Zeke found game with his eyes. In the woods he would always be looking up and if he treed you always knew the game was in the tree.

With Mac and Jack game would sometimes slip over into another tree and be gone.

My two uncles owned the dogs and the one who had Mac and Jack sold them to some field trial hunters and the last thing I heard of them was they were in Ohio.

Mac had won the Ohio State field trials championship with Jack not far behind him.

 My uncle got forty five dollars for the pair of them and the last time I heard they were sold Jack brought a thousand dollars and Mac fifteen hundred.

My uncle was working for three dollars a day at the time.

The other uncle kept Zeke even though the guys who first bought the hound brothers tried to buy Zeke but my uncle wouldn’t sell him.

Zeke’s mother was by nature a sheep dog and she would try to herd the cows and the horses on the farm. She could get in and nip the heels of an animal so quick they couldn’t see her until they felt the bite. She did that both to horses as well as cows.

The animals would instinctively kick at her but she would drop flat to the ground after biting and they would kick above her head. She amazed me at the way she could get by without getting kicked.

When Zeke was six months old he was a big dog, much bigger then his brothers and he had hair on him that was about three inches long. He was one shaggy dog.

I was standing in the barnyard and I saw Zeke walk behind one of the horses and the horse kicked him. Zeke was giving out with his “I been killed yelp” and running in a tight circle. Then I saw what his trouble was the horse kicked him on the jaw and it was locked wide open.

After several circles his jaw snapped closed and he sought a place to be until the pain subsided. A few days later I checked his jaw and it had been fractured. When it healed he had a knot on his jaw from then on.

Zeke could whip his brothers and all other dogs that came to visit. He was big and hairy and thought he was top dog in the county. This uncle lived on the county road where a lot of farmers went by with their wagons and of course they would have one or more dogs with them.

The farmers who went by often - - their dogs would go way around into the field across from my uncle’s house for they knew Zeke would whip them if they stayed on the road. The ones that stayed on the road got whipped before they got by every time for you could hear the wagon coming a long ways off.

The word got out that there was a mean dog on the road and one day two men came to see my uncle. They talked around the subject but finally got around to talking about Zeke and his whipping all the dogs that came by. They kept talking until they talked my uncle into letting Zeke fight a dog they had.

They maneuvered my uncle into a position where if he thought Zeke was able to whip all the dogs around here then he ought to let him fight their dog. It finally came down to a case of pride and my uncle agreed for he was proud of Zeke. The men wanted to have the fight down by the river and on the given day we were there with Zeke.

I didn’t think it was right but we were there. There were a lot of people there and they had been betting on previous dog fights. The men brought out their trained fighting dog. He had a large mouth and was very muscular. It was obvious this was no run of the mill animal. They had set us up and Zeke was going to get the beating of his life.

The big crowd circled around us and made their bets. One of the men was yelling they have brought down a bear to fight my dog trying to whip up the crowd into betting on Zeke.

Zeke was quite a bit bigger than the man’s dog but the man didn’t seemed to be bothered by that for he knew what the outcome was going to be in a few brutal minutes.

The man released his dog and he went for Zeke.  Zeke was loose standing by us not knowing he was going to be fighting for his life in a second. The dog went directly for Zeke’s throat.

He grabbed Zeke by what was supposed to be the death grip. Once he got his grip his Jaws would lock and it would be hard for men to get him off even after the fight was over. As he grabbed Zeke’s throat all he came up with was a mouthful of his long hair and Zeke got him down and with his strong jaws proceeded to chew him up.

The dog had never been eaten up like this and when he could get loose enough he lit out running and one of his owners was chasing him shouting don’t let him get into the river. I wondered why he didn’t want him to get into the river I thought there must be a reason and left it at that.

We took off as soon as it was over and Zeke followed along with us. My uncle was angry at himself for getting talked into doing the fight. We found ourselves in the middle of a crowd of brutal men that were willing to see animals killed for their pleasure.

We both had a sick feeling in the pit of our stomach. Later the men showed up and wanted to go on the road with Zeke and have him fight all comers. My uncle went in the house and got his shotgun and said if I see you around here again I will give you both barrels.

The men left rather hurriedly. I checked Zeke over and he seemed to be fine except he may have lost a little hair.

I had to join my dad for we were moving west but Zeke lived out his life on the farm, his pro fighting days were over. His record was one win and zero losses.

Finis

THE DATE

Chelsea and Sarah had been best friends since grade school. They went everywhere together.

After finishing high school they went to the same college and were roommates. 

They dated a lot while in college but always went out together much to the chagrin of their dates. The romantically incline guys tried every wile they possessed to divide but to no avail.

The girls wouldn’t separate. They had agreed if either one wished to be alone with a guy the other would bow out but so far they weren’t impressed to that degree with the men they had met.

All they could see was little boys wanting to claim trophy’s for their diary.

On the one hand the guys didn’t like to be rejected but they considered it to be a challenge to overcome and be the first to break the duo up.

After college they both got jobs but not at the same firm. This was the first time they had to separate and when guys asked them out it was harder to date together all the time.

They didn’t like that but on occasion they did go solo. Because both worked for large firms and a few of the guys they went to college with also worked at one place or the other. The guys couldn’t get over the fact the girls were still together making it more difficult for guys to get them alone for some romance.

One of the guys had a friend named Zen. He was slick as glycerin when it came to breaking down a girl’s will power. He could do pretty much as he wished with the women he took out.

All the guys got together and watched him operate and were awed by how smooth he was.  They talked for hours about how to get him to take on these two girls. Finally one fellow said Zen has all the women he wants and they are easy marks so it will have to be something besides that to get him to make it with “our girls.”

After several suggestions one came up with the idea of offering him money. Sid had talked to the chap a few times although Zen wasn’t interested in conversing with him.  

 

The group of young men came up with ten thousand dollars between them and sent Sid over to make Zen an offer. They were willing to give him the entire amount if he could seduce the girls.

It was a lot of money but they figured if they gave in once then they could have a chance with the girls. Sid got Zen’s attention and he went over the whole thing from the early years they had been trying to get to the girls. Sid said you will have to get them apart or it won’t work for they are like glue stuck together.

When Sid finished their plea, Zen asked, “Do you have cash?”

They showed him the money, and he said, “Leave the money and it will as good as done.”

Sid said now remember you will have to separate them.

Zen said, “No I will take both of them at the same time.”

The next day, Zen and Sid went up to the girls during the lunch break, and Zen invited them to go sailing on his sloop. At first they said no but he knew how to overcome objections such as theirs. In the end the girls said, “We will be together and Sid will be there so let’s go.”

At the appointed time the girls showed up and they waited for Sid. After some time Zen said, “We need to catch this tide so we will forget him and go.”

The girls looked at each other and said I don’t know… then said let’s go without him.

He showed them how to release the sloop from its mooring and he started the small engine to get them out of the harbor. Once out of the harbor it was up sail and the tacking began. They were having a wonderful time. He showed them how to steer and let the wind take her.

All the time he was using his charm to make them relax and he gave them some wine.   Soon he pulled into a cove and they had some more wine in the cabin.

They began to feel strange as he went over and locked the cabin door. He began to make advances on each of them and when they refused he told them he had poisoned them. You are just beginning to feel the effects of the poison now.

He said I have an antidote but the only way you can get it from me is to be willing to come to me one at a time. I don’t want to fight with you but if you want to live you will do what I tell you.

He took a vial with some liquid from his pocket and said five drops and you will live but without it you will die. Chelsea grabbed for the vial but he put it in his pocket. As she struggled with him Sarah hit him in the head with a wine bottle and hit him once again.

After he fell they quickly took the vial from him and put the drops into a spoon and took it. They looked at each other and said, “Its only water.”

They went up on deck where there was a breeze blowing. An hour later the effects of the doped up wine wore off and they realized he was lying about the poison. It was his method to get them to give themselves to him as he put it “willingly.”

This angered them and they went back down into the cabin and he was still lying there where they left him. Sarah checked his pulse and there was none. They tried to revive him but it was of no use. He was dead.

They manage to send an S O S and a nearby vessel answered the call. The coast guard and the local police were notified and it was decided that the local police dept would handle the investigation after the sloop was towed back to its mooring.

The whole plan came out how the guys set the girls up and Sid told everything he knew, even about how they arranged for them to leave without him.

The blow had stunned Zen and he struck his head when he fell. The girls were found to not know what they were doing due to the doped wine and they were given no sentence.

After this episode the girls split up and Chelsea went back home and eighteen months later was married to a local gentleman.

Sarah moved east to live with her Aunt. After twenty months she wasn’t married but was engaged.

As for the boys, they were given the obligatory slap on the wrist and that was it.  

The money they gave Zen was never recovered.

It does not pay to mess with “Best Girl friends.”

Finis