The old man looked into the bathroom mirror. Through the steam, he could see the wrinkled face looking back at him and he wondered where the time had gone. He sniffed the towel that he was drying off with and drew back quickly. “Ugh!”, he said inwardly. He wondered how in the world the smell of skunk could linger after all the tomato juice and peroxide Jim and his wife had drenched him in.
As it turned out, Jake hadn’t been pointing a bird earlier this afternoon, instead, in typical GSP fashion, he had turned his interest to the more furry quarry and he and Tom were the lucky recipients of a full blast of everything that skunk had to offer. Jim had insisted that Tom come back to his house to shower, refusing to let him return to the motel without cleaning up himself and the dog.
Tom walked out of the bathroom, resigned to the fact that what was left of the smell would have to wear off.
“Feel any better?”, Jim asked.
“A little, at least my eyes aren’t burning anymore. How’s Jake?”
“He’s fine. We washed him down and he is drying in the kennel out back. Your truck bed still stinks to high heavens though. I’m glad I made you ride back there instead of in the cab with me.” Jim paused and sniffed the air as Tom passed by, “Yep, he got you pretty good.”
Tom gave Jim a look as he took a seat on the barstool in front of the kitchen counter.
“I can’t thank you guys enough for taking care of him and me, for that matter, and for the clothes, too. I’ll get these back to you.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad I was on the upwind side of it all. It was pretty funny watching you and Jake take off across the field like that. I didn’t know a man your age could run that fast.”
Tom laughed, “I’m not sure who was faster, me or the dog.”
“I think Jake got you on the jump but it was a pretty tight race after the first 20 feet.” The two men laughed again, each of them replaying the story in their minds.
“Dottie should have dinner ready in about an hour. Now that you are cleaned up, why don’t you and I ride down the road and look at a pothole. I think we might have to shoot some ducks in the morning.”
Tom remembered the weatherman’s forecast of the front coming in and was happy to hear that Jim knew about it, too. “Ducks sound like a good idea to me. But if there’s any tall grass around, I’m letting you walk in first.”
The Fall Experience 