Blind Switch by John McEvoy

Author:John McEvoy [McEvoy, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-1-61595-133-8
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Published: 2011-01-12T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Following his faux pas with Pedro regarding Chisox the teaser, Doyle took to heart Bolger’s advice about doing more listening, less talking. Rather quickly he picked up the daily routine of life on Willowdale Farm, although he never found himself adjusting completely to the fact that his shift, along with those of the vast majority of the farm’s employees, began before six each morning. As he pointed out to Bolger, “My life used to find me coming home at the time you’ve forced me to get up.” Bolger would smile good-naturedly, commenting, “The horseman’s life is not for the lazy man.”

“I was never lazy regarding my nightlife,” responded Doyle.

After the first few weeks, life at Willowdale proved to be a pleasant surprise to Doyle. The steady rhythms of outdoor work, plus the warmth of the Bolger family, were starting to smooth out some of his hard edges. This change did not go unnoticed.

Aldous said to Jack one morning when the last horse had been fed and watered, “After observing you these weeks, laddie, I’ve decided something.”

“What’s that?” Jack said. He bent down to retrieve a rubrag one of the grooms had dropped.

“You remind me of an orphaned colt I was given when I was a boy. I was young, and so was he, and he’d been mistreated in some way or other at the farm my father bought him from.

“When I got him he was the meanest little critter you’d ever see. He didn’t trust anybody and he lashed out at everybody every chance he had. It took me months to convince him the world wasn’t the hell hole he thought it was. Once I got through to him, he’d still pretend to keep his mean ways, but he really didn’t have his heart in it anymore. He’d changed, and we both knew it.”

Jack turned away to hide his grin. “You’re a cheeky lot, you Kiwis,” he said over his shoulder as he walked away.

***

The more Doyle got to know Bolger, the more he appreciated the man—for his work ethic, his fair treatment of his work force, for the joy he took in spending time with his sister and her children. Bolger’s energy supply was apparently inexhaustible. Not only would he work twelve hours most days, he would reserve the time to spend with Helen and Ian almost every evening, usually taking them to fish in the Willowdale Farm lake, or else monitor their riding of the Shetland pony he had acquired just for their use during their stay.

Doyle sometimes accompanied Bolger and the kids to the fishing hole, but he rarely remained for long. He could appreciate the calm and peaceful setting, and the feel of the lush green grass that draped the sides of the blue lake, and, no question, the obvious joy evidenced by Caroline’s children as they competed with each other to catch the most, or biggest, fish. But as Doyle put it one evening to Bolger as they observed Ian and Helen in their dead-serious competition, “Fishing just doesn’t do it for me.

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