The Case of the Hooking Bull. John R. Erickson

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СКАЧАТЬ and Alfred. It went on for quite a spell and I quit listening to it. You see, my attention had been drawn to a small detail that a lot of dogs would have overlooked.

      It suddenly dawned on me that after packing the luggage into the back seat, Loper had left the car door open. Everything in this old world has a reason. A car-door-left-open is part and partial of this old world, therefore it has a reason.

      It was my job to find the reason. In other words, why had Loper, a careful and precise kind of feller, left that door open? To air out the car? No. To load Baby Molly into the back with the luggage? No. To let Sally May ride in the . . . no.

      I submitted this mystery to the Funnel of Logic (another of the techniques we use in the Security Business) and it funneled down to one and only one simple explanation: For private and unknown reasons, Loper wanted ME to accompany them on their trip to Abilene, and possibly even to attend the wedding.

      Why? I had no idea. The Funnel of Logic does not address why-questions. It only deals with broad general truths and long-term trends.

      Well, a trip to Abilene wasn’t exactly part of my scheduling for the next couple of days. Could I squeeze it in? For anyone else, the answer would have been a big, lymphatic NO. I had much too much work lined up to be running all over the state of Texas.

      But for Loper and Sally May? You bet. Loyalty runs deep in my line of cowdogs. When duty calls, we are there, Johnny-on-the-Spot.

      It happened that Drover appeared at that very moment and said, “Hi Hank, I got bored.”

      “Never mind what you got, Drover. I have been called out on an assignment. Within minutes, I’ll be leaving on a secret mission.”

      “I’ll be derned. Where you going?”

      I glanced over both shoulders and dropped my voice to a whisper. “We’re not sure, Drover. The decoy destination is Abilene. The actual destination could be anywhere: London, Paris, Bangkok, Amarillo. A guy never knows.”

      “Sounds pretty exciting.”

      “Exactly. While I’m gone, you’ll be in charge.”

      “Oops.”

      “I know, but we must take life as it really is. Take care of things, son. Good-bye.”

      Before this emotional parting could get out of hand, I turned away, squared my shoulders, lifted my head to a stern angle, and marched to the transport vehicle, which was waiting for me.

      I hopped in, found myself a place on the seat amidst the suitcases and high chair, and settled down for a long . . .

      Perhaps I had misread the signals.

      The, uh, secret mission was suddenly cancelled, so to speak.

      After thinking it over, Loper must have decided that . . . well, just think about the risks of . . .

      I stayed at the ranch, and never mind the details.

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