The Truest Friend - Tooter of the Fourche La Fave

This boy-dog love and adventure story is a gentle mixture of fiction and actuality, set in the Fourche La Fave River Valley of the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas.

     Tooter was my best friend of my boyhood. 

     Many of the folks of the valley make their literary debut in this story; some as themselves, some with changed names, others moved around in time, one of the wonderful options of fictional writing.
     My first order of books are sold. My second order is in hand. They are available at the Yell County Record in Danville, Gypsy Junkton in Plainview, Emerson's Country Store in Plainview and on amazon.com. Personalized books may be ordered by contacting me at barbandpat66@suddenlink.net. The price is $12.
    I have included here a few excerpts.

                                        ***
WHEN THE STARS ARE ALIGNED JUST RIGHT, and God looks on with favor, the length of a boyhood and a good dog’s life pretty much coincide. But in this story, there are heartbreaking problems along the way before Tooter came to me.
                                        ***

     The Fourche River has its headwaters in west-central Arkansas. The upper reaches of the river flows through a beautiful valley, up to three miles wide, bordered by high mountain ranges on each side. These high mountain ranges, together with the fact that there are no large light sources in the valley, produces some of the darkest skies, and brightest stars, in America. This is Fourche Valley, one of the most beautiful valleys on God’s green earth, and a wonderful place for this story to take place.

     The beautiful river still flows pristine; Eventually, it will flow into Lake Nimrod on the eastern end of the valley, well along on its way to joining the Arkansas River.

                                           ***

     The forest had come alive in that last hour of daylight. The squirrels scurried here and there, in a frenzy, barking and chasing each other, as they do at day’s first light. An early-awakening owl hooted in the distance. The sparrows were on the forest floor, pecking, gathering in their last few seeds before darkness enveloped us all.

     Tooter still lay with his head on my shoulder. He paid little attention to the animals around us. He had not yet learned of the importance I attached to the squirrel. But I would teach him, when the first cool nights arrived, and the brightly colored leaves dangled on the tips of the limbs of the oak, the elm and the hickory, about to begin their fluttering journey to the forest floor.

                                           ***                                      

     About an hour later, we could hear rustling in the leaves. I could tell Tooter was ready to fight. But he made no move to leave me, and go after the enemy. He seemed to know he was not physically up to spoiling for a fight. If a fight came this night, he would make his stand right in front of me. And I knew he was ready to give up his life to protect me.

                                             ***

     This story is suitable for any age.