Chet The Dog

Posts Tagged ‘Capitol Hill’

What’s In A Name?

Mrs. Publicist: Fifteenth of the month, when Pete and I discuss a character name from the Chet and Bernie series. Hi, Pete. Bike ride this morning?

Pete: A little wet out there. I’ll hit the gym instead.

Mrs P: And get even stronger?

Pete: Can you imagine?

Mrs. P: I was thinking today we could do the name of a non-human character. There are so many in the series.

Pete: And naming them is always fun. The name says something about the namer, of course. Take Capitol Hill, the racehorse in Tender Is The Bite. Thoroughbred names – a fascinating subject on its own. Man O’War! Red Rum! Anyway, Capitol Hill is owned by Caroline Wray, wife of Senator Wray, up for reelection, whose ambitions are important to the plot. The senator’s ambitions, but Caroline turns out to be the brains, and more. The name of the horse is all about entitlement and power – and so are the Wrays. But it turns out Capitol Hill isn’t quite measuring up on the track. And in the eyes of Caroline, neither is the Senator.

Mrs. P: Meanwhile Chet had his own take, horses to him being prima donnas, every one.

Pete: He always does.

Mrs. P: Thanks, Pete! See you next month for more of What’s In A Name!

Capitol Hill

“Can you ride, Bernie?” she said.

“Not well,” said Bernie, which wasn’t a lie, since Bernie’s not a liar. It just meant he’d forgotten an episode with a horse named Mingo on a case not very long ago where he’d revealed himself to be maybe the greatest rider in the world. But who remembers everything? “I had a horse when I was a kid,” he said.

Is there a human expression about being knocked down by a feather? I’d seen a perp knocked over by a whole bird once – the case involving a Thanksgiving turkey and an angry girlfriend – but no cases where it was just the feather part. But not the point, which was about how stunned I was at that moment. Bernie had a horse when he was a kid? I was just finding that out now? One thing for sure: I did not like that horse. I felt a sudden need to be active. Close by stood Capitol Hill, swishing away flies with his tail, a vacant look on his very long face.