Notes on Chapter 22

This part of that chapter was my favorite passage in the entire book:

“You know, the phone company said they don’t have a “Mr. Densmore!” And I never got that ‘free gift’ you promised me, either. We don’t like people from the flats coming up here and lying to us!”

Len tried to defuse the situation, but Harry wasn’t paying any attention to him.

Gretchen’s ears went back and she started growling softly. Harry lifted his cane and swung it at Dan’s head. Dan tried to duck and put his hands up, but the cane bounced off the top of his head. He went down on one knee.

Gretchen leaped at Harry and they both went down. She grabbed his sleeve and yanked it back and forth. Harry screamed as Len knelt down and yelled “Off! Off!”, and Mickey pulled loose. Mickey backed up a few steps and barked furiously.

Gretchen continued to shake her head with Harry’s sleeve in her mouth. Dan grabbed Gretchen’s collar and tried to pull her off. 

A police car arrived, lights flashing. One cop that Len didn’t know and his old friend Detective Griffiths got out. The detective yelled, “Gretchen! Halt!”

Gretchen let go immediately at the German word halt and came and sat down in the “alert” position next to the detective, who said, “good girl!”

I get to write a passage that stars two dogs! One is a Labrador, like my own Ernie (RIP), who considered every human just a friend he hadn’t met yet. I’m pretty sure Ernie would have just barked if someone attacked me.

The other is Gretchen, the retired police dog whom Len adopted. Both of them have something left in them and aren’t ready to go out to pasture just yet.

This whole chapter is what I hope is comedy writing. There are no historical facts to give; it’s totally made up. Except I do know someone who plays bingo obsessively, and I know it is a passion with a certain population of elderly.

In the next chapter, we see the Great Bingo Ring Scandal play out some more.