The Governor walked among the crowd on Nicollet Island. He wore a Twins baseball hat, sunglasses, and a grey tank top, smiling and nodding at the curious children who approached him and asked if they could pet Vince. While Vince absorbed the affection, the Governor scanned the crowd and kept an eye on Jack and his family.
The atmosphere of music, food, and games was intoxicating. Agent Miller seemed to be relaxed. He smiled and laughed as he played with his kids. The Governor also caught him staring at his wife when she wasn’t looking. His family was keeping him busy as they explored the activities so the Governor felt a little safer and confident that his plans would move forward. He still wanted to create a distraction for Agent Miller, to show him that he was still in control of events.
Two Minneapolis police officers were walking towards the Governor, scanning the crowd. The Governor felt exposed, standing in the open alone except for his dog. He turned and walked forty feet to the end of the concessions line without looking back. Vince stood patiently at his side, panting in the afternoon heat. The Governor gently scratched the top of Vince’s head as he plotted the path of the officers in his mind, trying to figure out when they would pass and he could feel comfortable to turn around and watch Agent Miller and his family again. He counted down five, four, three…
“Hey, mister. What’s your dog’s name?”
The Governor’s back and arm muscles twitched at the surprise. A burst of adrenaline shot into his system as it responded to the fight or flight reaction. He looked back into the eyes of a young boy. In an instant, he recognized him, Agent Miller’s son. He quickly looked around, his eyes hidden behind the sunglasses, to make sure that Jack wasn’t standing next to him. He calmed himself as he saw Jack sitting in the grass talking to his wife.
“This is Vince. Would you like to pet him? He loves kids.”
“Yes, thanks.” Willy squatted in front of Vince and held his big head between his hands, digging his small fingers behind the ears. Vince leaned into Willy and groaned.
Lynn leaned over and scratched Vince’s back. “We really like dogs. We’re trying to talk our parents into letting us have one.”
The concession line moved towards the window as the next person in line was helped. The Governor took a step towards the window, a hand on Vince’s leash, leaving him to the kids’ petting. “Are you two going to get something to eat here?”
“We’re each getting an ice cream cone,” Willy answered.
“Well, Vince seems to like you. Could I ask you to do me a favor? Could you hold him while you wait in line and keep my place while I run to the bathroom? I’ll be back before you get up to the window.”
“Sure,” Lynn answered.
The Governor stole a look towards Jack, who remained sitting on the grass with his wife. He handed the end of the leash to Lynn with instruction to keep a hold of it until he got back. Then the Governor kneeled next to Willy and patted Vince. “Be a good boy, Vince. I’ll be right back.” He turned to Willy, “Keep an eye on him for me. He likes you.”
The Governor got up and walked around the corner of the building towards the restrooms without looking back.
“Where are the kids?” Jack looked over at the concession line where they had been standing in line. He couldn’t see them. He jumped up and ran towards the concession booth without waiting for an answer to his question.
“What?” Julie asked, her voice trailing off behind him.
Jack looked left and right. He didn’t see them. He pushed through the line, mumbling “excuse me.” They weren’t in line. Could the Governor have found them here, taken his kids? God help me, he thought. He stood in front of the concession stand where he had last seen them. “Lynn, Willy?” he yelled.
“Hey, Dad.” Willy rounded the corner of the building, his face covered with blue ice cream from his nose to his chin. Lynn rounded the corner next.
Relieved, Jack walked to them while he scanned the area behind them and then looked to his left and right. “Where did you go? I got worried.” Then he noticed the dog that Lynn was leading on a leash. “And who’s this?”
“Can we keep him?” Willy asked. “He’s a great dog.”
Lynn started to explain to Jack what happened. “This guy asked us to watch his dog while he went to the bathroom and he didn’t come back, so we went looking for him.”
Jack looked down at the dog and then at the kids. Vince looked up at him with his tongue hanging out. He reached down and patted Vince on the top of the head. Then he checked the collar for tags. There weren’t any there. “Willy knows what this guy looks like?”
“I do, Dad.”
“OK. Lynn, you and the dog…”
“His name’s Vince, Dad,” Willy interrupted.
“Lynn, walk Vince over and introduce him to your mom and see if the owner shows up. Willy and I will go check out the bathroom to see if he’s in there. Maybe there was a line.”
“Or maybe he had a big job to do, Dad.”
“Right, Willy. Get going, Lynn. Tell Mom we’ll be right back.” Jack watched Lynn and Vince as they made it over to Julie. Vince trotted easily next to Lynn without pulling on the leash.
Willy ran up and grabbed Vince around the neck. “He wasn’t there. Can we keep him, Mom?” Julie looked at Jack as he walked up to the group and shook his head.
“We’ll see, Willy,” Julie said.
Willy sat on the grass, his lower lip sticking out. “We’ll see means no.” Lynn sat next to Vince and stroked his back, listening to her mother and brother.
“No, it means we’ll see. You talked to the owner.”
“But it’s finders, keepers.”
“But you didn’t find him. The man asked you to watch him.”
“But then he left him with us. He said Vince likes kids. We told him we wanted a dog. He thought we’d be a good match so he left him with us.”
“But he said he was coming back.”
Jack interrupted the argument knowing there was no winning this one right now. “Ok, ok, let’s make a deal.” Julie and Willy quit talking. All eyes were on him. “We’ll hold onto Vince for now, keep a look out for his owner, and we’ll decide later what the next step is. Maybe we’ll run into the owner while we hang out here today.” Jack put his hand in the center of the circle. “Deal?” One by one, the others put their hands on top of his with Jack topping off the stack with his other hand. “Deal.”