Chapter 45

As The Years Pass By

Almost four years later, Regina, Cindy, and Mrs. Wilson are seated in the gazebo behind Regina's mansion. The same shaggy dog is chasing a ball being thrown by a little boy when Sheriff Hart comes driving up. The little boy ran to the sheriff with the dog close behind. "Hello Danny," the sheriff said to the little boy as he reached down to pet the dog. "Are you and Danny having fun today?"

"Yes, Sherp," the boy replied.

"And how old are you now, Danny?"

"Tree," the boy said holding up three fingers.

"Good afternoon, John," Regina said. "What brings you out today?"

"I just thought I'd be the first to tell you how the court proceedings turned out."

"Okay," Regina said. "What happened?"

"Well, John Knight got life in prison for the murder of a man in Tennessee plus twenty-five years to be served successively on a money laundering charge, and his brother Kenneth is being held for extradition on four counts of murder in Alabama."

"Is that all?" Regina asked.

"No, James Blake, the man that helped Junior kill Simon and Tommy got twenty years for accessory to murder."

"How long do you think he'll serve?"

"Well, the truth is, he'll probably be out in about eight years, but he's still pending on a heroin smuggling charge in Virginia and we're expecting a solid conviction on that case with a few more years tacked on."

"Maybe Ya'll can dig up some more stuff and keep him in jail for life," Mrs. Wilson said.

"I sure hope so, Mrs. Wilson. Some interesting things did come out of the trial,though," Sheriff Hart said. "Seems Deputy Cox was working for another bunch of crooks who were looking to get in on some of Tommy Smith's business so he was just there to sabotage Tommy and Junior. Of course, that's what got him killed."

"I just can't understand why rich men would want to chance losing everything just to make more money," Regina said.

"If we knew that, we could stamp out most crime," Sheriff Hart said. "The FBI figures they'll convict at least twenty men before all this is finally over."

"Look at that," Cindy said pointing at little Danny. "Danny is riding his dog across the yard."

"That boy sure loves that dog," Mrs. Wilson said.

"That dog sure loves that boy," Regina said. "They're never apart. Watch this. Danny, it's time you took your son inside for his nap."

The big shaggy dog carried Danny toward the house, and when Danny got off the dog nudged him closer toward the door, where the two of them ran inside. They all began to laugh, and John said, "I'll check on you later, Is there anything I can bring you?"

"Just yourself," Regina said as Sheriff John Hart got back into his car and drove away.

"So," Cindy asked, "how's it going with you, and the new sheriff?"

"It better be good," Mrs. Wilson said with a laugh. "Danny won't let no other man 'cept Regina's Daddy set foot in that house."

"Little Danny?" Cindy asked.

"No," Regina laughed, "Danny the dog has run off every man that's tried to go out with me except John. He chased that bank president, Jason Fritz all the way down the driveway."

"Do you still believe that dog is Danny?" Cindy asked.

"Well," Regina replied, "he does everything Danny wrote in the poem. If that dog isn't Danny Johnson, then I'm not Regina Ripley."

"And he loves my stew beef and pineapple upside down cake just like Danny did," Mrs. Wilson said. "You should see the fit he throws every time I fix it. I can have every window in that big ol’ house shut down tight and that dog goes to howling ‘til I feed him stew beef and pineapple upside down cake."

"And your hushpuppies," Regina added.

“Yeah, and my hushpuppies too.”

Author's Note: I hope you've enjoyed Shaggy Dog. While I've written lots of books since, this is my first. The text is available to print publishers and hopefully one of my readers will know an agent or publisher who'll be interested. For info. please e-mail me at idlehandsmag (AT) gmail.com . (Copy and paste the address to your e-mail, remove the spaces, and exchange the "(AT)" for an "@".) Thanks for reading. -Billy Jones

Comments

[Vickie]

Outstanding, Billy. The shaggy dog was a wonderful twist even if Danny had to die before her married Regina. I'll never forget this story and may be back to read it all again. Thank you for sharing it. Thank you for writing it. Just, thank you.