Manpot's Tales of the Tropics Read Online Free

"blind"
L'Amour let Leon climb onto his lap…..and right then and there Leon
deposited the very considerable contents of his tummy all over
L'Amour.
    Now L'Amour's natural reaction was to leap to his
feet...run to the ferry's tiny head and clean himself up. But, just
in the nick of time he remembered..." I am blind."
    By now Leon was trying to clean up his master...and
Floyd was wiping poor L'Amour down. There wasn’t even anything for
L'Amour to change into as the luggage was stashed on the stern of
the ferry.
    Poor L'Amour had to make it through immigration and
customs before Floyd could retrieve their luggage and he could
change into something clean.
    Washed down, spruced up and smelling strongly of Brut
aftershave L'Amour, Leon and Floyd headed out to the taxi stand.
The lone cabbie took one look at the big black dog and got a whiff
of the pungent, over Brut-ed L'Amour, and announced in no uncertain
terms that they would not be welcome in his cab.
    Floyd explained his partner was "blind" and that Leon
was his "seeing eye dog" but the cabbie would not budge….that is
until a couple of "quality ladies" of "questionable repute"
overheard the conversation.
    The next thing anyone knew the "ladies" had the
cabbie pinned against his vehicle as they waved their sun umbrellas
threateningly at him. The cabbie relented…L'Amour and Floyd kissed
the "ladies" and gave them something for their trouble...and all
three climbed aboard the cab.
    Things seemed to be back on track and an hour later
L'Amour and Floyd were enjoying a rum punch in "Sparky's Sky
Lounge" at St Thomas Airport while Leon contentedly slurped a
saucer of water.
    The flight was announced and the threesome, with
L'Amour led by the arm and Leon, headed across the hot tarmac for
their flight back to New York City.
    They were sad to be leaving but they'd had a
wonderful time ...and managed to bring Leon along. The "blind act"
had worked almost perfectly.
    But, about an hour out of New York, things started to
change. L'Amour had been dozing when he heard the captain announce
they would be making an "unscheduled stop" in Baltimore.
    Moments later, the plane started to descend.
    Although L'Amour was still "officially blind" he
opened his eyes a crack behind his sun glasses and saw a sight
he'll never forget. Everyone on the plane was staring at him, and
Leon, with a look of pure hatred in their eyes. They obviously
believed his beloved "seeing eye dog" was solely responsible for
this "unscheduled stop".
    L'Amour closed his eyes tight and hoped for the
best.
    The plane landed on a snow covered runway and taxied
off to a waiting area (remember this was the sixties...long before
"airbridges" connected terminals to planes.) Stairs were brought up
to the plane and Leon did nothing to help the trio's causes when he
darted for the opening plane door...shot down the stairs and
promptly made a huge circle of yellow snow.
    Now everyone was convinced the plane had been forced
to land because of Leon's "call of nature". The reality was the
same snow storm that had dumped on Baltimore had briefly closed
down JFK and that was the reason they landed. Not one of those
passengers would have believed it. That damn "seeing eye dog" and
his master were the problem.
    After a while everyone re boarded the plane and it
was obvious L'Amour, Leon and Floyd were in everyone's, pardon the
pun….doghouse.
    The plane finally landed in JFK and the threesome
could not have been happier to put some serious distance between
themselves and their fellow passengers.
    Only when they were in the cab heading back to
Manhattan did L'Amour dare to open his eyes. He had become pretty
good at navigating through the terminal as a "blind man". He felt
maybe this was some sort of eternal punishment.
    If it was...this group had one more thing to ponder.
They entered their lovely apartment to find their kitchen scorched.
Soot and smoke were everywhere. Anything that hadn't been damaged
by fire or smoke now had a deep