Rocco made the turn down the private drive and we could see the white tent. Special lighting lit the road just for the party and I could see thirty or forty cars parked on Rudy's lawn. He even had a valet service for the night. The hounds reacted to slowing down, kicking their excitement up a gear.
"Park it right over there." I pointed to a spot about twentyfive feet from the tent.
"Rocco, I'm running in with Gladys to find Rudy. Can you direct the rest of the crew?"
"I got it Duff. Good Luck."
I scooped up Gladys, in her tattered blanket, and she let out a sad half moan, half howl.
"Easy girl, easy girl."
I ran through the tent entrance, with its ivy-covered trestle. Fancy looking folks, some I recognized from the hospital, in fancy cocktail attire with their drinks in hand looked at me like I came from Mars.
"Rudy! Rudy," I screamed at the top of my lungs. The string quartet played on.
I madly looked from side to side. Party goers cleared a path, mostly out of fear, as I ran through them. Finally, I saw him. He wore a white tuxedo jacket and black tuxedo pants. He was with Marie, who dressed in a sharp looking black sparkly cocktail dress.
He caught a sight of me and his eyes went wide, beyond what I thought was possible.
"Duff-what the hell-" he said. I don't know if I ever saw a man with a look of such intense horror and anger.
"Rudy, she's in trouble-I didn't know where else to go. She's pregnant and I think she's ready."
"I'm not a freakin' vet. I'm a-"
"C'mon Rudy!"
I laid Gladys down. Rudy took his coat off and got down on all fours. Marie had her hand on her chest and her mouth wide open with nothing coming out. Al sat next to me, whimpering.
"Okay…okay…easy girl…Duffy, get some napkins or a table cloth or something…" Rudy concentrated on Gladys. I ran through the stunned party goers who had now gathered around Rocco. The string quartet continued playing, giving everything a weird feel.
I gathered up napkins and supplies, rushing around all frantic, not knowing what the hell else to do. As I ran back towards the circle around Rudy, a roar of applause came up from the crowd. They clapped, hooted and hollered.
I pushed my way through the crowd with my stuff and there knelt Rudy. His tuxedo shirt covered in blood and his own sweat, his comb-over had flopped over his ear, and he was busy pulling out puppies. The party-goers continued clapping, the women crying and the men just had their mouths open.
"That's number eight," Rudy said, with a heavy exhale. He had some sort of creepy clearish fluid all over him. He ran his hand over Gladys.
"Easy girl…" he said.
"She okay?"
Rudy looked up at me and rolled his eyes.
"Yeah kid, she'll be fine." Rudy stood up, looking disgusted.
"You have any idea what you've done or how hard I worked on this?" He looked around at what had become a less than glamorous affair. Covered in blood, dirt, sweat, and that creepy fluid, he had totally lost the Great Gatsby look.
"You know, Duffy I ought to-"
Marie didn't let him finish. She ran up and threw her arms around him. She cried really hard and shook.
"I'm sorry, so sorry Marie." Over her shoulder, he glared at me. I hung my head, knowing I had fucked things up for him again.
Marie cried and cried. The circle of partygoers around them got quiet and awkward. Marie pulled away and wiped her eyes.
"I'm so sorry, Marie. I wanted so much to-"
"The man I knew before never would've done something like this. This was so beautiful and so selfless." Marie and Rudy looked each other in the eyes, as if no one else existed. "God, I love you!" She threw herself into his arms and hugged him tight. The partygoers cheered.
"God, I'm so glad you called me back," Marie said. While they we're hugging, Rudy looked at me, shook his head and rolled his eyes at me. I gave him a big thumbs up and I think I had a tear in my eye.
"Marry me-again!" Marie said to Rudy. Everyone cheered like a bottom of the ninth home run at Yankee Stadium.
"Oh my God-you bet I will," Rudy said. You couldn't ask for a better feel-good moment. Then Rocco released the hounds
Suddenly fifty, or so, hounds descended upon the party. They ran, barked, and generally went nuts-until they found the caterer and the buffet.
A group of about six, including Lola Love, Sherlock, and Blake, knocked over the tenderloin carving station and pulled at the peppercorn-encrusted slabs. Arthur, Louie, and Sadie, and three of their best friends including that little Maltese-Pom Tedward, had buried their heads in the gigantic shrimp cocktail bowl, slobbering all over the sterling silver. All of AJ's Army joined in the party, chasing the hounds around. Quite a scene had developed and it dawned on me that my close friends weren't really the society party types. The gangbangers ran after about six bassets that barked and howled and had a good time. Jerry Number Two tried to talk a big brown and white fellow out of eating the foix gras, but he appeared to be being ignored.
Billy chased Sally, Maui, and Guffy, who headed straight for the pool and dived in. Billy, having spent some time with Al and me, knew there was a good chance the dogs couldn't swim, so he went in after him. That started kind of a chain reaction and four or five hounds dove in to get refreshed. Billy's buddy, Timo, went in, and one by one he lifted the hounds out of the pool. Each hound got out and did that tornado basset thing to shake off the water before heading for the buffet table. Somehow a bunch of bassets got into the caterer's portable kitchen and had a field day with the mini-quiches, eating them by the paw-full. A couple of other big fat red and whites had their heads stuck in an ice bowl, having a drink. The society crowd kind of collectively gasped. Some of the women had their hands up around their necks in terror, while many others took it all in and laughed at the chaos around them. One couple sounded a little distressed over what they anticipated would be high dry cleaning expenses.
"Thanks for comin' Duff," Rudy said and put his arm around me.
"Did you hear?"
"Hear what? I've had my head in this party all summer."
"They found a weapons cache in the Asian kid's room at Notre Dame. The cans of Vienna Sausage were filled with explosives headed to our soldiers."
"You're shittin' me," Rudy said.
"Maybe I'm not as crazy as people here think," I said. Rudy and I quietly watched fifty basset hounds run crazy all over his party, scavenging gourmet food, swimming in his pool, and dunking their heads in crystal serving bowls.
"Maybe, maybe not," Rudy said.
48
It wasn't long after Kelley showed up and I got to meet his girlfriend, the conservation cop. He let me know Karl was fine; he'd lost a bit of blood but fortunately, he didn't take the full force from the shotgun. He also reported Karl didn't beat any orderlies up and seemed remarkably at peace during the whole process. Maybe the hospital staff ran out of tracking microchips.
"I know plenty of people in the dog rescue business," Kim said after we got introduced, and she took out her cell phone. It was after two in the morning and the three of us stood at the entrance to Rudy's watching the hounds sleeping peacefully on his once finely manicured lawns.
"Kim, you do know it's after two in the morning, right?" I said.
She smiled. "You've never met people in the dog rescue business have you?"
Within an hour, five people had arrived, and each said they had two or three other folks that would 'foster' some hounds. Like some sort of canine UNICEF they came, rounded up the dogs, and let me know what a great guy I was for having the courage to storm the puppy mill.
I shook my head and smiled, mostly to myself.
"It wasn't me, trust me," I said.
They looked at me kind of funny, but they were busy rounding up the bassets.