02/26/01

I was getting ready to report to probation this morning when I heard a gun shot at Tommy New Yawka’s house. I went right over there to see what was going on. Tommy said he clipped a coyote. He said his oldest son spotted it in the yard and he had all he could do to run to get the gun, load it, and squeeze off a round. I found the blood trail. It was running down on my place toward Purgatory Swamp. Tommy followed close behind clutching the 30-30. Liam---he’s about 11--- was following close behind him, excited as all can be. Turns out the coyote had a collar on. It was one of those Alaskan sled dogs people have nowadays, looks a lot like a wolf, but certainly much too big to be a coyote. I don’t know what Tommy was thinking, if he was at all. You don’t want to think of Tommy as a City Idiot, but there’s nothing else you can say in this situation. The dog’s front left leg was shot off. Tommy asks me if I’d put the dog out of its misery for him. I say I didn’t think the wound was fatal. I say he could be taken to the vet to be patched up. Liam was pretty distraught when he realized this was someone‘s pet. Tommy was looking all pale. The dog stopped resisting me after I talked to it for a few minutes. I used some old baling twine I had in my barn coat to put on a tourniquet to staunch the bleeding. The owners address was on a tag on the collar, in the same neighborhood as that kid I‘m supposed to stay away from, where my beagle was porking that fluff dog the other week. I put the sled dog in the back of my truck and took it home. The guy who owned it looked like he wanted to shoot one of my legs off.

What happened to him? Did he get hit on the road? The guy asks.

It wasn’t me! I can only bring myself to say.

Meanwhile I’m late for probation. A gun that belongs to me was used to shoot a dog. I have blood all over me and the truck. I’m well within a thousand feet of that punk kid’s house, violating the order of protection. I’m thinking to myself I either have to tell Cupid Boy the whole story, or I have to say nothing at all.

That was no easy decision to make, believe me.