Ben Reach had always loved the prairie trials. When younger he had judged one most years. He was going to one this year as a gallery guest of Fred Dane, owner of Old Grove Plantation below Thomasville. They would fly in Dane’s private jet to an airstrip near Columbus, North Dakota, owned by an energy exploration company that one of Dane’s private investment partnerships controlled. Dane’s dog trainer, John White, would be there to run the plantation’s small string of trial dogs. This year they had two derbies and one all-age. The trainer had come to the area primarily to train and condition the plantation’s wagon string on training grounds, part prairie pasture land, part crop land, Dane had rented summers for twenty years July thorough September for the purpose.
This year John White had with him a helper he’d recently hired on trial on Ben’s recommendation, a mystery man named Carle Reed. About thirty, he was quiet and retiring, with a pronounced Appalachian accent, but according to John White , a good hand with a dog or a horse. Only Ben and John knew his background.
Also in the crew was Fred Dane’s grandson Eddie, who had completed his second year at Brown University. Completed, but not successfully. He had not been invited back for his third year, though neither his parents nor his grandfather Fred Dane knew it. He’d been caught cheating on his year-end exams, then called his grandfather and asked if he might accompany John White to North Dakota. Of course Dane had said yes. He did not know of Eddie’s departure from Brown.
Ben and his host arrived two days before the trial would begin, planning to watch the dog training for a day and a half, then attend two days of the trial and see Old Grove’s derbies compete.
On the evening of their arrival, John White and Carle Reed grilled steaks from a locally raised grass-fed steer over charcoal. Eddie went to bed early, saying he did not feel well. Ben and Fred Dane were not far behind.
At ten-thirty, they were awakened by loud shouts from Carle Reed. When Ben scrambled out of his bedroom he found Carle bending over Eddie Dane, who lay unconscious on his back on the floor of the dining room. Ben saw Carle place in Eddie’s nose a small device and squeeze it. A few minutes later Eddie came to and struggled to get up, but Carle restrained him. In twenty minutes Ben heard the wail of a siren, and then an EMT team from a volunteer squad arrived and, after checking Eddie’s vitals, loaded him on a gurney and carried him to their truck. In a rush they were off to the nearest hospital, St Luke’s in Crosby, siren blaring and red and yellow lights blinking.
Carle left the house after announcing he would check on the stock.
Fred Dane asked John White, “What was Eddie’s problem, and how did Carle know how to handle it?”
John White did not want to tell his employer what they had just witnessed, and looked to Ben with pleading eyes.
“Why don’t we ask Carle Reed to explain,” Ben said. John White’s relief was apparent.
“I’ll ask him to talk with you all as soon as he finishes with the stock,” John said.
“I suggest you all let me talk with him privately before we ask him to tell us about Eddie,” Ben said.
Ben went outside to wait for Carle. When in a few minutes he walked back to the house, Ben said,
“Carle, I know you don’t want to talk about Eddie’s problem, but it’s important that you tell his grandfather, important for your future.” With that, Ben explained to Carle what he had in mind. Carle listened, then said,
“I am not sure I can, Mr. Ben, but I will try. Could I do it in the morning, have tonight to figure how best to tell it?”
“Yes, Carle. And I am sure you can handle it.”
Ben went in and told Fred Dane,
“Carle is going to tell us at breakfast tomorrow. He is emotionally exhausted tonight.”
Ben and Fred Dane had adjoining bedrooms in the old farmhouse, manufactured by Sears Roebuck in 1915, shipped from Chicago by rail, and first occupied by a homesteader family, the same family that owned the property today but whose members now mostly lived in Arizona. Ben and Fred were soon again sleeping soundly. In what seemed no time they were awakened by John White who already had the horses and dogs loaded in the trailer, ready to go to the trial grounds. A breakfast of bacon, eggs, grits and biscuits, prepared by Carle, was on the table.
When Ben and Fred sat down to eat, Ben said, “Carle, will you please explain Eddie’s problem and how you knew how to handle it.”
With that introduction, a nervous but determined Carle poured out the story in his deep Appalachian drawl, explaining how life had prepared him to save Eddie Dane’s life.
“Mr. Dane, I was in federal prison before Mr. White hired me on my release, on Mr. Reach’s recommendation. I was there for dealing drugs, lots of drugs, cocaine and heroin. And I was a user of what I sold, an addict, by then in recovery.
“While serving my time I found Jesus, or rather he found me. I took advantage of a program there to learn about addiction and helping fellow addicts — they call it the Peer to Peer Program. That’s how I knew to give Eddie Naloxone for his opioid overdose and why I am never without it.”
“Eddie is an addict?” Fred Dane said in disbelief.
“Yes, Mr. Dane, he is. He is hooked on Oxycodone, Hillbilly Heroine, but he can recover with the right support. And I will give him all the support I can, if I have the chance. And I have trained for it.
“I really like working with Mr. John on Old Grove, Sir,” Carle finished.
On their drive to the trial grounds in their rental car, Fred asked Ben, “How did you come to know Carle Reed?”
“Federal judge in Virginia was my law school classmate introduced us. He had tried and sentenced and paroled Carle.”
Ben called the hospital and asked about Eddie, was told he was stable. He left a request that a treating physician call Fred Dane and left Fred’s cell phone number.
“I am dreading telling Eddie’s parents,” Fred said when Ben hung up.
“I’ll bet Carle can help you with that too,” Ben said.
The Old Grove derbies placed second and third, John White handling, Carle scouting, finding each derby once on a limb find. Eddie entered a residential treatment facility Sam Nixon recommended, and on release at Thanksgiving went to work on Old Grove on the quail hunting team beside Carle and John. Two years later Carle entered nursing school at Mercer University, sponsored by Fred Dane, and Eddie reentered Brown.
* * * * *
Author’s note: This fictional story is dedicated to Jason T. Pritchard of Ballad Health, whose life story is not unlike Carle Reed’s.