Dogwalk Country Store

(The Dogwalk Country Store is based on an actual gas station-convenience store-mini deli in a rural area of Kentucky commonly known as "Dogwalk".)

The bells on the door jangled as Bill entered the Dogwalk Country Store.  Betty and Mary smiled and said good morning from behind the counter.  He tipped his hat to the ladies and returned their greeting.  Mary handed Bill a steaming cup of coffee as he passed the register.  "Obliged, Mary," he thanked her, "you know just what I need of a morning."

He made his way back to the tables where John and Bob were already talking up a storm.  The men nodded their good mornings to each other.  John moved Bill's chair out from the table a little with his foot and said, "Looks like you got your hands full this morning, Bill."  "Always," Bill replied, sitting down stiffly and stuffing his trucker's cap in the pocket of his down vest; men around here knew better than to spend time indoors still wearing their hats.

Betty walked amongst the tables with a coffee pot, freshening up the cups of the men who had been there talking long enough that they needed to take a breath and a drink of joe.  "What's this I hear about your tractor, Bill," she asked.  Bill raised an eyebrow and winked to the other men at his table, "Well, now darlin', how did you know about that?  I haven't said anything about it yet this morning!"  "Why, Mr. Nosey-Nate, you know this place his better for learning stuff about your neighbors than tv news," Betty retorted, and everyone in earshot chuckled in agreement.

"Well," Bill began, "Sal took me to the doctor's yesterday up Ambleton way to get a shot in my knee," subconsciously rubbing his knee.  "When we got back, the tractor was gone!  It's not like you can see it from the road.  Shoot, a body can't even see ten feet down the driveway from the road.  If you didn't know someone lived back there, you'd never guess it from the highway."

Questions began flying in from all sides, "Did ya call the Sheriff Johnson," "Got any ideas who did it," "How you gonna get your crops in"?  Bill answered each question in turn, until he forgot what came next.  "Yup, called the sheriff.  Luckily, Sal had the serial number and such writ down for identification and such."  He stopped for a drink of coffee, and Betty chipped in, "What you going to do 'bout your crops, Bill?"  "Don't rightly know that this morning, Betty," Bill answered, "Gotta study on that one a little."

Everyone nodded.  If it wasn't one thing on a farm, it was another.