Dooley's Legacy

By Kenny Phipps

A true page turner about an all American favorite, the cowboy. Witty, charming, and funny, Kenny brings to life a story about a retired rodeo cowboy and his family and how they manage and outwit, outsmart, and have an adventure in today’s modern times, all while teaching his grandchildren lessons they can use throughout their lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A Vegas Publisher
• Release date: Aug 2, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370931248

Book preview

Copyright © 2017

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means…electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording of any other, except for the brief quotations in printed reviews without prior permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress: 1-5098368591

Requests for Information should be addressed to:

www.AVegasPublisher.com

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First Edition 2017

Cover Design and Interior is formatted by Tugboat Design

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my grandchildren

Lane, Caden, Landon, Brooklyn, Kinley, & Case

They are the reasons I enjoy getting up in the mornings.

Contents

Foreword

Chapter One: The Gathering

Chapter Two: We Ain't in Kansas Anymore

Chapter Three: The Homecoming

Chapter Four: The Reunion

Chapter Five: The Dilemma

Chapter Six: The Big Day

Chapter Seven: Dooley's Gang

Chapter Eight: Cowboy Up

Chapter Nine: Legacies

Chapter Ten: Lesson of the Squirrel

Chapter Eleven: The Meeting

Chapter Twelve: Let the Games Begin

Chapter Thirteen: The Law of Physics

Etienne A-10 Etcheverry

Foreword

I realized from an early age that I had an exceptional, but sometimes unusual family history. My parents, of course, were instrumental in my development into manhood. And although I didn’t tell them often enough, I admired their work ethics, business sense, and the freedom they gave me to make decisions for myself, some of which were successes, and other disasters.

My father enjoyed life, maybe more than anyone I’ve ever known. He never met a stranger and was a success in any business he tried. My mother was always there for him as well as my brothers. Rarely did she give us the Wait 'til your father gets home speech as she was more than capable of taking care of any issue that arose.

During my junior and senior years in high school, my parents owned and operated a motel on North Commerce in Ardmore, Oklahoma. They lived on site, and I had a small travel trailer parked in the rear of the property. After they had sold the property, I could honestly tell folks that I was raised in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

My father’s stepfather, Captain H.H. Phipps, who adopted my dad at an early age, was a career Marine, who fought our nation's battles and wars all over the globe. As a Calvary officer, he understood the value of good horses and mules. He died when I was eight-years-old, so I don’t remember much about him, except he could be very strict, which undoubtedly was a product of his Marine years, and he could be very kind. He bought my two brothers and me our first horse, which he named Boo Boo. He picked this name because he said it was the only boo- boo he’d ever made. My dad’s mother, Melba, who also passed when I was very young was, from the stories I’ve heard, may have been a bit eccentric, whatever that means.

My mother's father, Alva Fields, was the foreman on some of the largest ranches in Oklahoma, from the Arbuckle Mountains in south-central Oklahoma to the Osage country near the Kansas line. He understood horses well and fired any cowhand who mistreated their mount. My mom’s mother, Hazel, was known as Granny to anyone who knew her. Her life spanned an incredible 101 years. Never in history have there been so many advances in mankind, from horses and buggies to that first small step on the moon.

Now that I am a grandfather, I started thinking about what my grandchildren would think about me years after I’m gone. What would be my legacy? So, the idea was hatched for this little book, which I’m not sure is a short novel, or a very long story, and is a mixture of questionable fact and thinly disguised fiction. I’ll let you decide which is which.

Chapter One

The Gathering

Raindrops gathered in the crease of his cowboy hat and dripped down his back as the old man slowly lowered the faded American flag. It was a ritual that he had completed every evening, rain or shine, for the last forty odd years. His wife of as nearly as many years, often wondered why he couldn’t remember to remove his muddy boots before coming into the house, but never forgot to remove Old Glory from the thirty-foot joint of oil-field pipe that served as a flag pole.

He brought it onto the back porch of the old Oklahoma farmhouse, and as he carefully folded it, she could not tell if that wetness around his eyes was from the dark cloud overhead or tears. One thing she knew for sure was her husband was proud of this country and loved every inch of the land in this great ol’ United States of America. There was never an instance, whether it be a high school football game or one of the thousands of rodeos she followed him to that he did not remove his hat and place it over his heart when the national anthem started playing.

Dooley Harlow had been accused of many things, but not loving his country was never one of them.

As he walked back into the house, Kelli, said, The kids will be getting here tomorrow. I can’t believe that within two days our entire family will be back together again.

Yeah, I guess it’ll be nice to have them around for a few days, Dooley replied in his slow Oklahoma drawl.

What do you mean? Kelli Harlow replied. It will be wonderful. We haven’t seen Nicole and Wyatt since last Christmas. Since he got that assignment in Hawaii, we never get to see them enough. You say you’re going to take me there someday, but I suspect I’ll see that Hawkins boy become a priest before you do. I wonder how long he will be in prison this time.

Don’t quite know Kell, but I’ll give the governor a call if I hear any news about his release.

I’m sure you will try to convince the parole board that he needs to stay incarcerated forever. She continued. After all, all he did was steal a few pigs.

If it keeps me from getting on one of those jet airplanes, I’ll tell them he stole a whole damned herd of pigs, Dooley said with somewhat of a smirk.

I swear Dooley; I don’t know why you are so adamant about not enjoying a trip to see your daughter and grandchildren in Hawaii. It’s only five hours and forty minutes from Los Angeles to Honolulu. We can fly from Dallas-Ft. Worth one day, spend the night in one of those fancy airport hotels, then fly the next day to Hawaii.

"You seem to have forgotten Kell, I have been to Hawaii. We had a