Linda Hebert Todd

Author - Westlake, Louisiana

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The Great Watermelon Heist

June 15, 2015 By Linda H. Todd 4 Comments

Linda Hebert Todd, Author - Westlake, LA
Back when I was still in high school, back in the fifties, we had two pit bulls—Missy, black and white, and her son, Cougar, a tan. Back then, also, my dad had a first-class crop of watermelons in a field adjoining Phillips Road, just ready to pick. There were watermelons everywhere and we couldn’t wait.

One day my mother’s cousin and husband came from Texas to spend a weekend with us. They brought along their dog, Cougar’s litter mate, Buddy, also a tan. Cougar and Buddy could pass for each other—same size, same markings—and they became fast friends after reconnecting. Chasing squirrels and birds was their favorite pastime. Missy slept under the house all day.

Night fell and everyone, worn out after an afternoon in the river, ate supper and went to bed. Buddy was in the house with his people. Cougar, being a night wanderer, was chained to the clothesline so he had plenty of room to maneuver without being able to leave the yard.

Along about midnight the dogs went crazy. We could hear Missy barking. We heard the chain zipping back and forth on the metal clothesline as Cougar tried to get loose. The next morning Shirley, Mama’s cousin, said Buddy growled and paced around the room. We just figured someone was walking down the road. We were in the country, after all, and dogs barked at everything.

My dad went out to water the garden like he did every morning before the sun got too high. He came back in sooner than usual. Took off his hat and sat down on the breakfast nook bench. He looked around at those of us who were in there eating. Shook his head and ran his fingers through his dark, curly hair.

“What’s wrong, Preacher?” Shirley asked.

“Forget watermelon after swimming this afternoon,” he said. “There’s not one melon left. Looks like a truck parked and took ’em all. Pretty deep ruts in the road.”

“The dogs tried to tell us,” my mother said. ”

“Yep. Doing their job,” Daddy said. “Guess I better get busy. I’ve got a whole field to plow today.”

I don’t know what would have happened, but I have a feeling that had we turned those two big males loose we would have been chowing down on watermelon the next afternoon after our time in the river.

That was a long time ago and the dogs are long buried, but I’m sure they’ll be waiting at the rainbow bridge for us.

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Comments

  1. Mollie says

    June 19, 2015 at 4:30 pm

    Great story, Mama.

    Reply
  2. Micki Todd says

    June 19, 2015 at 9:36 pm

    I love this Mama!

    Reply
    • Donna says

      June 20, 2015 at 2:34 am

      Awesome!

      Reply
  3. Hillene says

    June 24, 2015 at 12:00 am

    K and L and some others from Westwood had come earlier and had taken 1 or 2 and when K heard about it. Her conscience Got the better of her And she confessed.

    Reply

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About Linda

Linda Hebert ToddLinda has completed her novel—Wild Justice, a crime story with a revenge theme, and has started another one set in Labrador and Louisiana. She writes all her stories in longhand, bringing to life the beautiful bayous of south Louisiana. Read more...

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Linda Hebert Todd, Author, Westlake, LA - Mystery Novel
Mystery Novel

Wild Justice

By Linda Hebert Todd

Keeley Chesson, a crime reporter for a city newspaper, is orphaned at age fourteen, courtesy of a sheriff's deputy who killed her parents and got away with it. Now, fourteen years later, the deaths of her parents still a mystery and the deputy now her town's police chief, tragedy again rocks her…

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Sidonie and the Loup-Garou and Other Stories from the Bayou

By Linda Hebert Todd

The short fiction in this book introduces the reader to an interesting assortment of characters. The lead story—Sidonie and the Loup-Garou—features a high school girl who learns it is a good idea to heed the warnings of her Cajun grandparents. The final tale—The Ghost and Sadie Stackpoole– solves…

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