Sparky made his way up to the fence. From the distance Basil caught sight of Princess. She watched from the hilltop.
Sparky cleared his throat. “Didn’t know you were coming so soon. I thought I might have a few more days.”
“Oh.” Basil looked to Princess, her eyes already streaming.
“Did you tell her?”
Sparky nodded. He looked around before hopping up with his front hooves over the fence.
“She wasn’t happy.”
“But she understood?”
“Yeah,” Sparky nodded, looking over his shoulder. “She understood.”
“She’s a great,” Basil paused for a moment, finding the right word, “lady.”
“Yeah, she is.”
“I think that’s really great, to have that with someone.”
“How did things go at the office?”
“Good. Small probationary period, but after that I’m getting a promotion. Fudge and Reilly are looking at some serious time, and PGI is being very cooperative.”
“What about us?”
“The doctor worked alone on his research. PGI doesn’t have any records of whatever he wanted from you. And even if he speaks, he’ll sound like a lunatic.”
“That’s great.” Sparky nibbled at his lower lip.
“Yeah, you’re all safe.” Basil said.
“And all yours?”
“Well-”
Sparky cut him off. “So, are you bringing me in or are we going straight to Hollywood?”
“Well Sparky, the problem is that the deal had certain provisos. If you didn’t meet them then I got your family.”
“Now hold on!”
“If I didn’t meet them, then I got nothing.”
Sparky stared at the detective. He was watching his lips, waiting for the next words to form.
“I never got you to Montreal. You dropped me just outside the city limits. I’m just saying that-”
Sparky threw his arms around Basil. He reluctantly put his arms around Sparky, patting his back.
“Now hold on,” Basil said, breaking free of the goat. “There is more.”
Sparky could not contain his excitement. His tail jumped about. He bounced in place, eager for more news.
“It’s Frank.”
“What about him?”
“Well he got involved in a bar fight with some guy who called him a midget. It wasn’t pretty. The cops beat me to the scene, but there wasn’t much I could do.”
“Is he dead?”
Basil shook his head. “Worse.”
“Worse? What’s worse? Did he get eaten too?”
“He needs to get out of the city. It's just too much temptation for him. He keeps telling me that you invited him to live here? I tried to tell him that he heard you wrong, but he was so adamant that well…” Basil turned around and waved at the car.
The door popped open and Frank hobbled down. He was walking upright with a crutch under one arm. In his free hand he clutched a can of beer.
“Frank!” He almost hopped the fence seeing the mutt again.
“Hey, goat!” Frank took a heavy swig of the beer. “How’s the family?”
“Great! Are you moving in?”
“I’m weighing my options.” Frank looked out over the pasture, green and lacking in bars.
“He’s too high maintenance to stay in the city with me. Besides, he drinks all my beer.”
“Should you be drinking anyway with that cast?”
“Hey, I see you have your kids back!”
“Yeah, you should come meet them. When you’re not drinking.”
“Save the daddy talk for them, this beer is mine,” Frank belched as he emptied the can. “Can you pick me up another six-pack before you go, Bas?”
“Told you it was worse,” Basil said.
“I’ll manage,” Sparky said. “Are you going to be okay?”
“Yeah, I’ve got to get back to work on Monday so I have to head out. I just had to get rid of this thing before he drove me insane.”
“Thank you, Basil. I couldn’t have done this without you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Basil grunted, walking away from the fence and back toward the car. “You take care, Sparky.”
Sparky waved as he drove away.
Frank stood holding the empty can, upset that it was his last. “Don’t you still owe me a beer?”
“I don’t have an I.D., remember?” Sparky said.
“I’m sure there is someone around you can beat up and steal one from.”
Sparky turned away and started back across the yard. Frank scrambled through the fence posts and hurried to catch up. “I was just kidding.”
The goat strolled down the hill, the nagging mutt’s words fading from his mind. The little ones were all scattered about the pasture: one, two, three, and four. Sparky approached Princess and the two exchanged loving smiles. His lady’s arms came up, welcoming him into her embrace. Everything finally back to the way it was before.
“Sparky, I don’t see a TV here. We need to discuss this as this complicates the no beer thing.”
Almost.
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