The Boy Who Talked to Dogs by Martin McKenna

Author:Martin McKenna [McKenna, Martin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-62914-880-9
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2014-10-12T16:00:00+00:00

Things were heating up at the horse fair. Horses were selling fast. Chance Casey and the other horse brokers were run off their feet, fixing deal after deal. The really grand impressive stallions were now center stage, being ridden up and down a grassy space for all to see.

A horse took off, galloping like a lunatic to the end of the field. Men laughed and jeered and raised bottles of beer as it passed. The owner ran after it panicking. “Give you ten quid for the speedy two-legged donkey!” one wit yelled after him. The crowd laughed and raised their bottles again.

Chance was smoking his pipe, enjoying a well-earned break. Two young men wandered past him and lazily tossed their beer bottles and a crisp packet on the ground. Chance stepped quietly in front of them and lifted his eyes to meet theirs. “Ah, come on, fellas. Bit of respect for the place. This is an ancient burial mound. Our culture. We can’t be tossing junk all over it.”

I’d never heard Chance say so much.

Both men glared at him. One spat, narrowly missing Chance’s boot. “Shut yer mouth, old man.” He stuck his face in close, so they were eye to eye, noses touching. “Or this fist will take great pleasure in shutting it for ya.”

They laughed and then elbowed rudely past.

Chance pulled his cap lower and stared down at the grass. I didn’t want him knowing I’d witnessed his humiliation, so I slipped back in the crowd to see what he’d do next. I was curious to see how an outsider like me would handle these bullies. I have to admit he surprised me when he waited until the men were gone then quietly picked up the litter and gently put it in the trash. After that, he calmly re-lit his pipe and walked off.

Good for you, Chance. I thought.

He hadn’t made a scene. He hadn’t muttered anything bitter under his breath at the two oafs. He’d simply fixed the problem in his calm, quiet way, yet there’d been nothing cowardly about his actions.

It was like watching old Ireland meet new Ireland, and I sure knew which world I respected most.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.