Free The Wager by Rosemary I Patterson PhD

being the favourite. Linda could tell from her recent hospital visits that Malcolm was grumpy and discontent. She realised from their discussions that he was looking back at the last thirty years of his life and wondering if he had made a bad choice to invest in his widespread horse racing and training empire.
    Linda felt herself comparing Malcolm and his nephew Lorne. To her surprise she had enjoyed her date with Lorne
    at the local symphony. Kiri Te Kanawa had been magnificent and Lorne seemed to enjoy the performance as much as she did. Linda realised that Lorne was much more informed about cultural and art matters in the community than Malcolm. He had been the perfect gentleman, dropping her off at her house immediately after they had an ending drink. The only thing that was bothering her about accepting another invitation from him was the questions he kept asking about Malcolm.
    "Does Malcolm forget things?" he had asked and "Is Malcolm ever late for meetings or not show up at all?" "Are your bills to him paid on time?" "Can Malcolm always remember names that he should remember?" "Had she ever noticed any deterioration in Malcolm's cognitive functioning?" " Did Malcolm ever drink to excess in her presence?"
    Reviewing the questions in her mind Linda realised that Lorne had almost been checking off questions from a mental functioning checklist. Linda realised that she had done the right thing by refusing to accept Lorne's invitation to another upcoming symphony concert.
    "He's just using me to try and dig up some dirt on Malcolm," she realised with a stab of pain. Her thoughts turned back to Malcolm's approach on crutches across the sand and rocks.
    Malcolm Brooks hesitated as he came to the start of the dog walking park. He ignored Tyler Thompson, who seemed to be trying to get Honey Pratt to talk to him, looked out to the ocean and spotted Gus Gustafson talking to Linda Daniels on the sandy area exposed from the ocean when the tide was completely out. Malcolm had come to find Trump. He wanted to take him with him to Kentucky. He was missing the only source of unconditional love in his life.
    "I wonder if Trump is going to be another failure?"
    Malcolm mused. Trump had received the attention of several of Malcolm's animal trainers but his stubborn nature had proved extremely resistant. Trump would come, heel, sit, fetch and roll over but only at his own pace (erratic) and provided that something more interesting had not already captured his attention.
    "Sort of like Monica," Malcolm realised with a slight laugh, thinking of how fast she had gone back to directing all her attention to her modelling career with him in the hospital.
    "Call when you get out of this boring place," Monica had requested.
    "After I get rid of the crutches," Malcolm sighed. He did not feel up to making love while using crutches.
    "I guess I had better try walking out on the sand to where Gus and Linda are," Malcolm decided to ignore his doctor's advice to take it easy and stay on smooth, fat surfaces for quite some time. He moved onto the slippery sand, barnacles and rocks, ignored the instability, and moved slowly on his crutches toward his friends.
    "They'll know where Trump is."
    "Hello Gus," Malcolm said as he reached his old friend.
    Gus Gustafson greeted him with a hug. "Nice to have you out of the hospital."
    Malcolm shrugged. Linda Daniels stared at Malcolm. As always, he was extremely well dressed.
    "You look better without the hospital gown," she teased. Malcolm gave her a slight smile. He started to move in her direction but when Linda glanced beyond him she gasped as she realised that Malcolm's dog Trump had spotted his owner from the walkway and was heading down the beach toward him at lightning speed.
    "Look out Malcolm!" Linda shouted but it was too late. Trump crashed into his owner with a sickening bang and Malcolm went flying once again. Trump jumped on his sprawled master and lavishly licked him on the face.
    Gus Gustafson