Let Sleeping Dogs Lie (33 page)

That night, Sister visited the stables at Roughneck, saying good night to each of her horses, including the two newcomers from Broad Creek. Then she walked across to the kennels, careful not to awaken anyone if possible. She spied Inky looking at her from the edge of the orchard.

She winked at the beautiful vixen who remained motionless. Then Sister walked back up to her house, the pale smoke curling from the chimney.

She thought the Three Fates had cut the threads of two good lives recently as they were spinning out the lives of others. Spinning, spinning, spinning, and she prayed she would live a much longer life to be part of the tapestry.

To the Reader,

You might wonder how The Jefferson Hunt could have such a good season in such nasty weather. I have no idea.

Our season (Oak Ridge Foxhunt Club) from January to March 2014, proved bitter, snowy with odd, wild temperature bounces as in fifty degrees. Yes, fifty degrees. Without gilding the lily, it was the strangest, worst winter I’ve ever experienced, yet the hunting was terrific. On the days of the huge temperature bounces it was not terrific, granted. The rest of the time, we picked up fox after fox and ran as best we could in snow and sometimes over ice patches. When the snows melted, we ran in mud, returning splattered to the trailers. But when we smiled our teeth were white.

Parking proved more of a problem than hunting.

For those of you who do not foxhunt, most of us who do, do not go out in a deep powdery snow. For one thing, should a fox be out they can’t get away from you. Usually they are tight and warm in their dens. If there is a good crust on the snow, I will take hounds out because the fox, being light, can get away. However, one must
be careful because if the crust is too thick it will cut hound pads. One has to use judgment, obviously. Also, if the snow is deep it tires horses and hounds quickly.

A light snow, a few inches on the ground is perfect and to hunt while flakes are twirling down is the best. The horses and hounds become so excited, hounds will throw up snow at one another and people ignore the snow sliding down their collars. It’s too much fun to complain.

If nothing else, I hope the Sister Jane novels impart the respect we have for our quarry and the care we give to our partners: horses and hounds.

Given that 80 percent plus of the U.S. population lives in cities and suburbs, the connection with nature is fading to the detriment of all living creatures. You and I are medium-sized predators. All mammalian creatures divide into predator and prey. To know where one falls on that scale goes a long way to integration in that scale. In other words, sisters and brothers, we are not the crown of creation. But we sure can be fun.

Up and over,

Rita Mae Brown

During hunt season, mid-September to mid-March, you can follow some of our hunts at
http://​www.​facebook.​com/​sisterjanearnold

Dedicated in Loving Memory

to

Idler, American Foxhound, Bywaters blood

Who patiently taught me to carry the horn

The oldest equine graveyard in the United States is at Walnut Hall. Benny Glitters, however, is a fictional horse.

The owners of Walnut Hall, Meg Jewett and Alan Leavitt, are not fictional, and Lexington, Kentucky, is grateful for this. Their generosity and kindness is legendary. I especially call attention to their support of the library.

And I thank Alan again for the exciting tour he gave me of his stables and its residents.

As for Jane Winegardner, MFH of Woodford Hounds, what can I say about a beloved friend of years and an inspiring Master? Whenever I think of this hard riding lady, I remember the laughter first.

I also thank Robert M. Lyons, MFH, and Justin Sautter, MFH, of Woodford for their hospitality to Oak Ridge members and myself when we visit.

My much abused whipper-in, Dee Phillips, walked me through most of the DNA material, all that stuff about a mother’s DNA, etc. Thank God, she is a tolerant soul as well as a terrific whipper-in to
myself as well as Deep Run, the grand hunt outside of Richmond. The history of that group alone would make a fabulous novel. Deep Run has experienced everything: war, fast women, beautiful horses, men too handsome for their own good and the good of the ladies, and all of this shining with that Virginia veneer of perfect manners. Ah, yes.

I suspect this could be said of most hunts in the United States and Canada. Dull people don’t foxhunt.

Thank you to Kathleen King, Oak Ridge member, and lawyer who digs into my research keeping me this side of trouble. We also hunt bassetts together.

And one last request. Please do not visit Walnut Hall. It is a privae residence and the equine graveyard is also private. Peace should be preserved.

To anyone I might have forgotten, just cuss me out.

Always and Ever,

The Sister Jane series

Outfoxed

Hotspur

Full Cry

The Hunt Ball

The Hounds and the Fury

The Tell-Tale Horse

Hounded to Death

Fox Tracks

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Books by Rita Mae Brown with Sneaky Pie Brown

Wish You Were Here

Rest in Pieces

Murder at Monticello

Pay Dirt

Murder, She Meowed

Murder on the Prowl

Cat on the Scent

Sneaky Pie’s Cookbook for Mystery Lovers

Pawing Through the Past

Claws and Effect

Catch as Cat Can

The Tail of the Tip-Off

Whisker of Evil

Cat’s Eyewitness

Sour Puss

Puss ’n Cahoots

The Purrfect Murder

Santa Clawed

Cat of the Century

Hiss of Death

The Big Cat Nap

Sneaky Pie for President

The Litter of the Law

Nine Lives to Die

The Nevada series

A Nose for Justice

Murder Unleashed

Books by Rita Mae Brown

Animal Magnetism: My Life with Creatures Great and Small

The Hand That Cradles the Rock

Songs to a Handsome Woman

The Plain Brown Rapper

Rubyfruit Jungle

In Her Day

Six of One

Southern Discomfort

Sudden Death

High Hearts

Started from Scratch: A Different Kind of Writer’s Manual

Bingo

Venus Envy

Dolley: A Novel of Dolley Madison in Love and War

Riding Shotgun

Rita Will: Memoir of a Literary Rabble-Rouser

Loose Lips

Alma Mater

The Sand Castle