Below is a seven page excerpt from A Greyt Greyhound Rescue. I’m working with an editor and the book will be ready to go to the publisher for formatting in a few weeks. This scene is about 60 pages in where Rachel (my amateur sleuth) introduces her new boy friend Will to her Greyhound friends at the dog park. Soon after this, they get involved in solving a murder. I hope you enjoy this scene:
As Rachel and Charley approached with Abby and Gooch, the four dogs already in the dog park ran toward the gate. Abby and Gooch pranced around, turning their owners into knots as they rushed to move the Greyhounds toward the gate, only to be jerked to a halt as they stopped to sniff or pee before resuming their rush to join their friends.
Will walked went through the gates to welcome Rachel outside the dog park. Abby barged between Rachel and Will, so Will stooped down to pat her. “Hi, Abby. I can tell you’re excited to be here,” said Will.
“Best part of the week as far as she’s concerned. She always has a welcoming committee.” Rachel held the lead firmly as Abby left Will and rushed toward the gate, pulling Rachel behind her.
“Do they always . . .”
“Do they always act like this? Excited to see a friend even if they already know her? Yep. Every week it’s the same. I suggest you stand back until the greeting is over with.”
Will did as Rachel suggested and waited outside the fencing. He saw Rachel maneuver Abby through the outer gate, take off her lead in the space between the gates, and then open the inner gate to let Abby in. The other Greyhounds rushed toward her, sniffing her all around. Rachel looked toward Will and shrugged her shoulders. Just another Saturday at the park.
Within a minute, Gooch had also entered and the greetings were complete. The Greyhounds separated to find sniffs throughout the dog park. The entire area was the size of two football fields in an L shape with one side of the L reaching toward the lake.
Suddenly the Greyhound named Maggie started running and all the other Greyhounds followed her to the far end of the dog park and back. After a moment’s hesitation, Maggie barked at Tattoo and they were off, again running all the way to the far end of the dog park and then back.
Charley turned toward Will. “Did Rachel tell you about how Greyhounds play?”
“How they play?”
Seeing the puzzled look on Will’s face, Charley continued. “Many dogs like to retrieve things. Thus, owners throw a ball or stick. The dog runs after it and brings it back and then the owner throws it again.”
Will nodded in agreement and now was curious.
“Not so our Greyhounds. For them, play means running, preferably chasing something. The way Greyhounds play actually can be traced back about two thousand years ago to ancient Rome,” said Charley.
“And here comes the history lesson from the history teacher,” said Stephen with a smile on his face as he spoke.
“Some of you could use a remedial lesson in history based on your attention span during my fifth period world history class about nineteen years ago…. when you were sitting in the third row, four seats back.” Charley looked pointedly at Stephen who kept smiling. This was clearly a kind of bantering that they had engaged in before. “As I was saying, nearly two thousand years ago, the ancient Romans trained Greyhounds in hunting and coursing. The difference being that when coursing, Greyhounds were trained to chase something but not kill it. The Romans introduced coursing which evolved into racing around an oval track and what we would today recognize as Greyhound racing.
“Coursing?” said Will.
“Ah yes. Coursing,” said Charley. “My favorite quote about coursing comes from Flavius Arrianus. As anyone who took my class in world history knows.” Charley looked toward Stephen. “I should say anyone who paid attention during my world history class knows this quote about hunting and coursing. Arrianus is attributed as saying the following about the objective of coursing: ‘The true sportsman does not take out his dogs to destroy the hares, but for the sake of the course and the contest between the dogs and the hares, and is glad if the hare escapes.’ Therefore, Greyhounds have been bred to run and chase, but not always as hunting dogs.”
“I had no idea,” said Will.
Charley continued after the short pause. “The Romans loved their Greyhounds so much that they brought them to England with them. I’ve read some accounts that say Henry VIII was the first person to actually wager on Greyhound coursing so that would have been in the early 1500’s.”
“Not sure I would have wanted to lose a wager to King Henry VIII,” mumbled Stephen.
“Indeed. It might not bode well for someone wishing to live a long life. Perhaps not all world history facts were forgotten after all, but we digress.” Charley turned toward Will. “Greyhounds originally came to the United States to help settlers who were having trouble with jackrabbits eating their crops. They taught Greyhounds to take care of their jackrabbit and coyote problem. Greyhound racing didn’t begin until the early 1900’s.”
Charley turned toward Stephen. “Perhaps a multiple-choice quiz is in order to make sure we all know our basic facts about Greyhounds?”
Stephen laughed and started to answer Charley when suddenly Maggie started running again and the race was on. Again, all the Greyhounds followed her, running toward the small dog park area on the far side of the park and then back again in an oval as though there were running around a track. They paused by their owners and then Tattoo started running again and the other Greyhounds followed the same pattern.
Rachel looked toward the parking lot at the red SUV that had just pulled into the parking lot. She smiled and looked toward Will. “Wait until Casey gets here. This is always interesting,” said Rachel, looking toward Will.
“Interesting? What does that mean?” asked Will.
“You’ll see.” Rachel looked toward the other Greyhound parents who were standing around the bench near the entrance. “Here comes Casey and Violet.”
The group all took note of where their Greyhounds were. Will remembered that Rachel had told him that Violet had adopted Casey after she had been returned by her first family. Casey never responded to the name her first family had given her. Nor did she respond to her racing name. Violet figured that once her first family returned her, she wanted to forget them. Will wondered why they were all so attentive when Casey came. He didn’t have long to wait.
After the same welcoming and sniffing ritual as when Abby entered, Casey came into the park. She walked around casually while all the other Greyhounds watched her in anticipation. Will looked at Rachel.
“Just wait. It won’t take long.”
It didn’t.
Suddenly, Casey started running toward the far end of the dog park. Just as they had when Maggie and Tattoo led the pack, the other Greyhounds quickly followed the leader, but a few steps into the run, Casey suddenly veered to the left nearly crashing into Abby. Some Greyhounds paused with her and some went on. Casey started again then suddenly stopped and ran in another direction with Abby and Monroe following her. Then she turned again and ran toward the end of the dog park where the other Greyhounds had just turned to come back.
Will looked at Rachel. “What am I seeing?”
“Well,” answered Charley. “We’re not sure. Casey is the only Greyhound we’ve ever known who doesn’t run in circles as though she’s running around a track. She stops and goes. She changes direction.” Charley shook his head.
“She came that way,” said Violet. “That and her propensity to want to jump up and lick you in your face are just two of her endearing qualities that she’s had since the day I picked her up.”
“Endearing,” said Charley. “Well, that’s one way to look at it I suppose.”
The Greyhounds ran for a few minutes, stopped to rest, then ran some more. After about thirty minutes, Violet said, “I think Casey’s made some progress. Can we try again?”
“For goodness sakes,” said Charley. “Do we have to do this today?”
Will looked at Rachel who was smiling. “Sure,” said Rachel. “Abby’s game.”
Charley and the other Greyhound owners distracted Abby, Monroe, and Casey with Will assisting while Rachel, Violet and Stephen jogged to the far end of the dog park. They spread out, each person kneeling behind a bush or tree as the other owners waited. Then Charley opened three bags and took out a piece of clothing from each. He held them out, the first one for Abby, the second for Monroe, and finally Casey. Each Greyhound was being held by one of the owners.
Charley said, “Ready? Go Greyhounds. Find your person!”
The three Greyhounds sprinted to the far end of the dog park while other Greyhounds were held back. Casey circled back toward Charley, but Abby and Monroe kept sprinting forward. Both of them went straight to their person and happily wagged their tails anticipating a treat.
“So, what exactly did I just see?” asked Will.
“That’s a game we’ve been playing for weeks,” said Charley. “We’re trying to see if Greyhounds can be trained to follow a scent. They are great sight hounds, but it’s fun to see if we can expand their skills a bit. One of our friends who has a Golden Retriever said her dog was a better tracker than any Greyhound. We couldn’t resist the challenge. I’m still not convinced it’s really working. I think they can see through those bushes.”
“No way,” said Violet, walking toward them. “Abby and Monroe are doing great and Casey is getting better each week.”
Charley rolled his eyes again and started to walk away. “Actually, I think this proves that Abby loves Rachel and that Monroe loves anyone who’ll give him something to eat.”
Randall Wisehart 