Jon Denver had experimented one too many times with his liquor. If he didn't drink enough, he'd dream about his high school teacher, Miss Faye. If he drank too much, he'd dream about his first pet, Down-Boy, a golden retriever. Tonight he drank too much. Lying on his coupon-strewn floor, a barrage of dog images - little Down-Boy yipping and yapping - bounced off the walls of his mind. He always thought the dog looked half-human under his golden brows (reminding Jon of Jo-Jo, The Dog-Faced Boy, whom he'd once met at one of P.T. Barnum's booze-filled circus events). As Jon drifted off, he cued some 1001 Strings music in his head...to bid farewell to his childhood canine companion. Soon Down-Boy would blur with low-down boy, a curse that repeatedly haunts Jon Denver.
© BILL BLAIR 2010
