Reaching Out at Henderson's Ranch by M. L. Buchman

Author:M. L. Buchman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Buchman Bookworks, Inc.
Published: 2016-04-11T04:00:00+00:00

6

“I had this crazy idea.”

Stan sat on the verandah of the big house, a beer bottle pinched securely between his hooks, and his good hand rubbing Bertram’s ears.

Mac sat on the dog’s other side and they both faced out across the ranch. It was now busy with the first of the June tourists trying to prove they could ride a horse around the corral and being shocked as shit that they actually could.

“Let’s hear it,” Stan was open to any ideas at this point.

“Back in my day, we didn’t have the dogs. Left them behind in Vietnam and didn’t need them again until Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Stan knew about that. The entire program had been lost for thirty years and had to be rebuilt from scratch. Same thing had happened between the World Wars and again until Vietnam. The military swore that wasn’t going to happen again, but he knew the main training center down at Lackland Air Force Base was already feeling the budgetary pinch with the supposed end of Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Now the Special Ops dogs, they’re special, aren’t they?” Mac asked it as half a question. Clearly he already knew the answer.

“Sure. They’re trained by select contractors rather than going through the standard Lackland program. We—” Stan practically choked, had to sip his beer to clear his throat. “They, the Spec Ops, need dogs with more skills than the standard program gives them, no matter how good it is.”

Mac nodded sagely. He gave Bertram a rough rub on the head and the dog sighed happily.

“Takes a lot to run a ranch. A lot to keep it afloat.”

“Hell of a spread you’ve built here,” Stan agreed going along with the subject change. He’d spent the winter and spring out at the fishing cabin. It was only now that he was seeing the horse wranglers, the recreation directors, the kitchen staff, and all the others it took to run the place.

“Still haven’t figured out what I’m going to do with that patch of pasture,” Mac waved off to the south of garage. “There’s also a lot of room to try crazy ideas.”

“Such as?” Stan still didn’t see where the old man was heading.

“You trained Bertram up a treat,” which sounded like another subject change.

“Thanks,” Stan wondered when the man would find his point, but he was just as wily as his wife on working his way there, so Stan waited a little longer.

Mac stood up and stretched. Finished his own beer and tossed it in the small bin on the porch with a sharp rattle of glass.

Stan watched him walk down the front steps and head for the horse barn.

He could barely hear Mac’s final words as he walked off toward the barn, “Bertram has five brothers and sisters. Come along if you want to look ‘em over.” Then he kept walking.

Five brothers and sisters? A whole litter of Malinois? And enough room to train them. He looked at the south pasture again. There was plenty of space for him to build an obstacle course for the dogs.

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