The Dog

Paul is the son of a wealthy businessman who owns Duty Free stores. I wanted to take a photo of his dad's house, which I painted, but they live in a very exclusive area of town on a private drive and I did not feel comfortable trespassing on the property without an invitation. Paul has become his dad's business partner and bought this house. Because I was his dad's decorator, Paul called me to do the painting in his 'new' home. It had been badly neglected and by the looks of it, it would be again, because Paul had a rather large dog which he kept inside. It was a Ridgeback Hound, one of those dogs that they train to hunt Lions in Africa. This was a BIG dog. The big challenge here was painting around the monster fish tank, but a few days after we had completed the work, we got a call to come and re-do the Family Room. It seems Paul had the veterinarian clip the dogs ears and somehow the dog had managed to strip the bandages off of his ears. The wound was fresh and it started bleeding. The dog had been shaking its head violently, as dogs do, to get rid of the dripping blood. The walls were splattered from top to bottom in bright red. Thank you, little doggy, for the extra income.
I meet Paul at the local airport whenever we fly out of the country. He mans the temporary Duty Free store in the departure lounge. Nice guy.