Ben Reach

Continuance, Continuance

February 13, 2018 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments

Ben did not take criminal cases to be tried much anymore, but he knew he could not refuse to take this one. Sid Miles was charged with assault. Assault with his fists. His victim and accuser was Frankie Weeks, son of the owner of Burley Oak Plantation, William Weeks. Sid was a Cracker, Frankie and William, Yankee blue bloods. William Weeks was plumb rich, a native of Boston, fourth Weeks Read more

Two Birds With One Hat

February 7, 2018 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments

Monk Baldwin was one of Ben’s favorite people. He was the long-time butler on Mossy Swamp Plantation, and the epitome of a gentleman. Always pleasant, always observant of the needs for help of family and guests and fellow employees at Mossy Swamp, Monk had come to Ben for help more than once when he sensed something needed to be done at Mossy Swamp and that Ben might be able to Read more

Boomerang

February 5, 2018 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments

Pete-Bob Dix called Ben’s law office and got Joanne, whom Ben called PIC (for Person in Charge). He wanted to schedule a meeting with Ben for the children of Albert Chance, whose obituary had appeared today in the Thomasville Times-Enterprise. Albert had owned Murmuring Pines Plantation, having bought it after a “Liquidity Event,” the sale to Amazon of the warehouse company he had developed over a fifty year career. “What Read more

A Lecture For Harley

January 30, 2018 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments

Harley Gunn was among Ben Reach’s favorite clients, but perhaps also his most frustrating. Harley was wealthy beyond Ben’s comprehension, having built a brewery fortune and transformed it into a diversified one managed out of a family office in Boston. In his seventies now, Harley spent his winters and springs on his Leaning Pine Plantation just west of Thomasville where he indulged his passions for fine bird dogs, walking horses, Read more

Avoiding the Second UP

January 26, 2018 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments

It was the dread of every field trialer — the second UP. In this case the dread meant much more than usual. Floating Mary was running in the last brace of the Lee County Open All-Age. Ben Reach and a fellow from Virginia — I forget his name — were judging. The stake up to now had been mediocre at best. But Mary was laying down a hell of a Read more

The End of the Trial

January 5, 2018 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments

It was a situation Ben had encountered often in his long career as a field trial judge, but its ending would be truly memorable. Time had expired with both dogs out of sight at the front. Handlers and scouts rode in search, hoping to find their dog pointed. Success could mean victory, for the brace, the last of the Championship, had also been the best. Each dog had scored two Read more

Incompatible (A Story for Christmas)

December 24, 2017 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments

Ben Reach was accustomed to inquiries about employment from plantation dog men in the spring. In fact the firings and quittings among them in that season was known as the Spring Shuffle. But when Red Roberts called Joanne for an appointment the week before Christmas and reported he was out of a job, Ben could hardly believe it. First, because this was prime quail hunting season. Plantation owners had guests Read more

Four Visitors

December 9, 2017 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments

It was two weeks before Christmas. Ben and Sam had mixed emotions, glad to be seeing old friends back in Albany to visit family over the Holidays, sad to realize the ranks of friends were shrinking. A few of their many acquaintances knew the sure way to find them together this time of year was to drop by Ben’s office at 4:30 or so. With days short they met early Read more

Unfortunate Neighbors

December 1, 2017 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments

Ben Reach knew there would be trouble when he learned Robert Hart was buying Twisted Pine Plantation. The trouble would come because of who owned adjoining Gnarled Oak Plantation. The storied properties shared a north-south boundary for three miles. Twisted Pine lay to the west, Gnarled Oak to the east. Gnarled Oak was owned by Frank Knox. Knox and Hart had been partners in a private equity firm in Boston Read more