Blog

Looking Forward

November 16, 2017 | Prose | Comments
November’s half gone December’s just ahead January looms not long beyond So my excitement builds For come January’s second week I'll be at Chinquapin for my annual retreat To heaven on earth Where wiregrass grows on ridges of sand And quail whistle at dawn from all around And a bird dog can search wide and yet be seen Way off yonder Where a handler’s gut tightens before Let ’em go Read more

The People We Meet

November 13, 2017 | News From Tom | Comments
What shapes our lives? To a remarkable degree, it’s people we meet, largely by coincidence, not by anyone’s plan. Reflect on that. Think back on the people who came into your life purely by coincidence, and how they changed your life, for better or worse. Which changed you most? I’ll tell you of one from my life, now seven decades long. I met him in the late 1980s, on a Read more

A Desperate Handler

October 1, 2017 | Short Stories | Comments
The look of despair on the face of Vick Fell told Ben Reach the young handler had real troubles. Joanne had put Vick in the library-conference room with a cup of coffee to wait for Ben who was tied up in a judge-ordered settlement conference at the courthouse when Vick arrived for his appointment. She too had recognized the anxiety in Vick and wanted to spare him having to be seen by others who might stop by the office unannounced, as all sorts of friends of the curmudgeon were likely to do now that bream fishing time was arriving. Ben shook Vick’s big leathery hand, “Sorry to make you wait, son. How can I help you?” Read more