The Dog Boy, a 39-year-old man child, is being forced from his home. He has nowhere to go. Charon's Crossing, a failed racehorse, will be put down unless she wins her next race, but she has lost each one of her previous 64 races. The worst is certai...
Henry William "Billy" Greene stayed in bed much later than usual that day. His only mount was in the ninth race, so there was no reason to hurry. With his pillow propped against the wall, he watched mist collect on his bedroom window. Very slowly, micro-sized droplets would merge into something resembling a full-sized drop of water. But before that happened, the weight of the drop and all those slippery micro-droplets surrounding it would send the raindrop skidding down the glass and onto the frame below. The clear trail it left behind reminded Billy of invisible strings attached to balloons. Or better yet, invisible strings attached to kites. Billy Greene nodded his head and smiled.
"Kites. I like that better."
On another day, Billy might have arrived early at the track so he could beg for more rides, but that wasn't the plan for Pimlico's Makeup Day. Billy wouldn't beg for anything anymore. His only mount that day was a plodder by the name of Charon's Crossing. She was seven years old and had never won a race. Her owner had put her in every cheap, short race he could find over the last five years. 64 races and 64 losses. Never higher than fifth. After so many fruitless years of racing, a decision had been made. When the fall meet at Pimlico was over, they would dispose of Charon's Crossing – send her to the slaughterhouse. But then, the trainer saw that the ninth race on the Makeup Day was a maiden race. It was restricted to fillies and mares who had never won before. Even though this race was more than twice as long as any of her previous races, Charon's Crossing would get one more chance to win.
Billy Greene would also get one more chance. All morning, as he sat in his tiny room in the Maryland Avenue Motel, he watched the weather deteriorate. When he saw fog begin to form late in the morning, Billy was certain that he would be famous by the end of the ninth race.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
