Page 24 of Black Dog

Blackie opened one eye when he heard footsteps followed by the sounds of a door/gate thing clanking. It wasn’t his, but the one next to his. The footsteps were men, but the panting and soft growls were coming from another dog.

“Get in there and rest up,” said one of the men. “You got just enough left in you for one more go tomorrow night. Somebody has to be dog food. Right?”

Moran usually arranged the fights in two-day runs. He called it the sweet spot. Not so long that word got around to the wrong people, but long enough to recover the expense of putting on the show. Even though he had people scout locations that wouldn’t create too much overhead, there was always a list of things that had to be done. Costly things.

Blackie didn’t know what was said, but he didn’t like the voice of the man who did the talking. And he didn’t like the fact that the dog next door whined off and on the entire night. It was soft, but Blackie could still hear.

The second day of lockup was just like the first.

Hose in the trough.

Bag of food thrown on the ground.

He knew to the furthest depths of knowing that, sooner or later, the door would open and he’d have a chance. A chance at home.

Storm and Litha arrived with kolaches in time for a late, late lunch.

“Do ye know the time?” Ram asked him.

Storm looked at his watch. “Yeah. It’s eight in the morning.”

“Here,” Ram said, “’tis four in the fuckin’ afternoon. No’ only did ye miss breakfast. Ye missed lunch as well.”

Storm opened up one of the still-warm kolaches and took a huge bite. “Still good,” he said with his mouth full, smiling.

“I want one. Late or no’,” said Duff.

Elora was more concerned about Litha. “How are you today?”

“So much better,” Litha said. “Let’s find out if my tracker is back on track.”

“You look better. You want something? Tea?”

Litha pulled out her pendulum. “Good for now. Let me see if I can get a better fix on the pooch.”

As Helm walked by, he said, “Please, Auntie, I’m beggin’ you. Do no’ ever call Blackie a ‘pooch’ again.”

Litha chuckled. “Since you’re needing a really precise location, it would help if you have an atlas-style map of the county. Better yet, Derry and environs.”

Ram looked toward the study. “We might have somethin’ like that.” He grabbed a ham and cheese kolache out of one of the bags and headed off to look.

“Are you eatin’ all of those?” Helm challenged Duff. Looking at the easy and casual interaction between them, it was easy to forget that one day the two of them would be kings of Ireland and Scotia. When that day came, there would be lasting peace because of the growing respect and affection between them.

“No. There’s one left for you,” Duff said as he tossed a bag to Helm.

“Where’s Litha?” Ram said as he returned to the kitchen holding what appeared to be a large paperback atlas.

Litha had left the kitchen and wandered toward the dining room.

“She’s in the formal,” Song said.

Ram nodded and was gone. Spreading the atlas out on the dining table in front of Litha, he said, “Here’s where we are.”

“Yes,” said Litha. “This is fine.”

Elora had followed Ram. Now the two of them stood watching Litha.

“Go on now,” she said. “I work alone. You two are making me nervous.”

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