Ben Reach and Sam Nixon MD were settled in Ben’s library-conference room at 4 PM on a Friday with drams of The Macallan 12 in plastic mugs and splits of club soda to dilute it on the table before them. Both were glad the work week was over — it had been a tough one. Sam had to tell a patient her cancer had returned. Ben had to tell a grandfather his favorite grandson had failed out of the grandfather’s Alma Mater.
Ben mentioned the bird dog trainers, field trial and hunting plantation types, were just back from summer training on northern prairies. He and Sam were invited to a dove shoot on Mossy Swamp Plantation tomorrow.
“What was the worst screw-up you saw field trial judges make in your years of doing that?” Sam asked, reaching for a subject with no human tragedy involved.
Ben immediately remembered the answer from many years before, and smiled at the memory, which pleased Sam, in no mood for a serious answer from Ben.
“It was at the Mid-South Championship many years ago. They decided they wanted three judges and asked me to be one, and I reluctantly agreed, provided I could be the lay-back judge, not have to follow either dog, so the other judges would each follow a different dog half each brace, same a judges do when there are just two judges. Sixty were entered, and it turned out a pretty good stake. The other two judges each had a different dog for Champion, but they agreed on the two that were best, just not in which order. I told them to decide it, I was not going to vote because I did not see enough of either dog’s performance to have a credible opinion.
They talked twenty minutes and came to me and said, “We want to call them back head-to-head and announce they would be down together a half hour and one would be named Champion, one Runner-Up.”
“I said, ‘Boys, don’t do it. Pick one or the other as Champion, one Runner-Up. Too much can go wrong if you call them back. If you cannot agree, flip a coin.”
“But they would not take my advice and they called them back together.
“On their opening casts, one busted a covey right in front of the judge following it. Then it stood a covey and the other dog refused to back and ran up that covey.”
“Remember, before turning them loose they said when they were picked up one would be declared Champion, one Runner-Up.”
“What did they do when the half hour was over?” Sam asked.
“They rode out of site of the gallery and flipped a coin,” Ben said, and with a grin poured them dividends.
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