Mama and I were very hungry and Gramp was always a good man with a plate of food. Dennis smiled at us.
“I'm sorry about the dogs, but we raise them, you know. The.Gaylord is a famous breed. Has been fer hundreds of years in this state.”
Gramp nodded. “The Ohio Gaylord, a fine hound, ” he said, kicking at a dog under his feet.
Dennis said. “Ohio? This is Kentucky, suh …” I noticed a slight Southern tone suddenly in his voice and I looked up at the dueling pistols nailed to the wall.
“Kentucky?” said Gramp. “Damn. I was drifting south more than I thought. Must get that steering wheel fixed.” Mama looked at Gramp as if she hadn't come with him and went on eating. When it came time to serve coffee, a tall, very pretty girl came in (with two dogs, naturally), and she was wearing jodhpurs, those imported Indian riding pants. It was the first time I had ever seen any, and I found them amazing. but in this case form-fitting.
“My sister Dora, ” said Dennis, making the introductions. “She's been at a dog show. How did we do?”
“Lost,” said Dora, throwing her dog whip into the corner. “They're importing their own judges, Dennis. We haven't a chance any more.”
Dennis nodded. “It's hard to find honest men among dogs.”
Gramp agreed, “Show me a man who loves a dog too much and I'll show you a person who lacks respect lor the human race. Present company, of course, left Out.”
“I'm hungry.” said Dora.
I don't remember much more that night. I slept in a big bed all alone, and I heard the dogs in the hall all night sporting a mouse hunt. In the morning we sent out for help to get Emma, our car, in order, but something had snapped someplace and it would be some days before the local wagon-smith could fix it. The Gaylords invited us to stay on and we did. They were fine people. Much too proud a sister and brother to marry with the decaying stock around them, they raised hounds, kept up the big white family house, and expected to be the last of their line. It was all rather run-down and a little foolish, but to a kid raised on mid-Victorian novels it seemed very romantic and exciting. today we would call the Gaylords snobs, Dennis a secret drinker, and Dora frigid. But this was before freud and Marx had flavored our lives too much, and we saw the Gaylords as wonderful people upholding the family motto. Disce pati, “Learn to Endure.”
I was in the garden the next day helping the colored man water the plants, and Gramp was smoking his morning cigar when Dennis came out and spoke to Gramp.
“You know the points of a good dog, don't you. Captain?”
Gramp, who had not been expected to he hailed by his military title (even if he had spoken of his war efforts at dinnet), nodded. “But certainly. They all have four legs, a tail more or less, and enough cars to hear with.”
Dennis said. “Frankly, we're short of judges. And I'm on the committee, and I haven't been able to find a really good judge. Would you. sir, like to judge in the hound class this afternoon at the Club?”
“You fatter me, ” said Gramp, looking at his cigar as if it were a prize dog. “I know a good dog but not a dog's good parts according to the texts.”
Dennis rubbed a hound's ears. “You yourself saw the points of these dogs. You remarked at breakfast that you'd never seen such hounds.”
Gramp had said “hounds of hell, ” but Dennis hadn't heard it all. Gramp was a sport. He threw up his hand and nodded. “I'll judge. You can say I will judge and judge …”
They shook hands and went inside to try some prime bourbon and branch water. By the time lunch came around they were fairly glowing, and Gramp was explaining the kind of dogs Caesar had in Gaul and the breeding of lap dogs in London according to the shape of their noses.
No matter how the Gaylord hounds did. the food never went to the dogs. Gramp's journal lists baked ham with sauce bigarade and chicken wings fricassée à l'ancienne.The apple pie was a delight and the men had more bourbon, but Mama and Dora had some Spritzer, which was a Rhine wine with seltzer.
Mama and Dora went upstairs after lunch to wave each other's hair, and Gramp and Dennis and I went to the front lawn to pick up the winning team of three hounds Dennis was entering in the show. Dudley. Montez, and Mac were their names, I remember, and they looked just like any other set of three hounds, But Gramp and Dennis were very pleased will) them. I think anything would have pleased them. The bourbon had mellowed them neatly. We put Dudley and Mac in the back of a blue Jordan roadster with me and Montez in the front between Gramp and Dennis, Mama and Dora would follow later in another car.
We drove off in a clash of gears, the blue Jordan being a very fine car. For the young folk I might explain the Jordan was a real fancy car of the period. litis one had a low slung blue body, red wire wheels, and on the hood Dennis had welded in silver a running hound with flapping cars. The horn had been tuned to sound like a braying dog in sight of prey, and the dusty roads saw us pass in gray clouds of glory. Montez. in the front seat sat on her round little bottom and howled politely, and Mac and Dudley in the back seat licked my face from rime to time and Hogged me with their tails.
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