Part 4- Freedom on the Road

The following day Austin and I decided to drive over to Deland and see his dad. It took us three hours of hard driving and we arrived late morning. His dad lived outside of the town of Deland on a small farm of one hundred acres. The south is unlike most places in the U.S. and I found out very quickly just how different. We arrived to a dozen grown men intensely involved in fighting pit bulls against each other. If you have never seen these dogs fighting count your blessings. It’s viscous to say the least. These dogs were fighting to the death and the dozen guys were yelling and screaming encouragement to their dogs. Blood was flying everywhere as the dogs took turns sinking their sharp teeth deep into the throat of their victims. It was horrifying, but like a traffic accident at the morning rush, I couldn’t avert my eyes. I was like I had somehow been transported to an alternative universe with Hells Angels on my left and guys that enjoyed (like someone who enjoyed a day at the beach) dog fighting on my right. But true to my nature I said to myself, ‘ what the heck,’ and went with the flow. The fighting was conducted in a makeshift circle about forty feet in diameter with wire mesh all around the perimeter about four feet high. A small hinged door was at the far end to allow the dogs to enter and, if still breathing, exit. I could tell right away who would win any particular fight as the weaker dog would cower a bit when confronted by the alpha male. I felt sorry for these dogs but to prevent myself from being mauled (by these rednecks not the dogs –I hoped) I kept that particular opinion to myself.

Austin was having a nice visit with his dad as he left me to forage among these people that seemed so foreign to me. I tried not to be noticed, but it’s kind of hard when everyone around you is yelling and seemingly having a great time while I was quietly saying, “Yeah,… go get him Butch, clamp your jaws tighter around the poor sucker’s throat.” Anyway, I was able to extract myself from the celebrations and walked back to the house and knocked on the front door. Austin answered and invited me in. The house was clean and orderly. I met his dad and we sat in the kitchen drinking coffee. I said hesitatingly, “Nice bunch of guys you have there with their dogs.” “Just a bunch of guys from the area. They like to fight dogs and I let them use my cage,” he said as if he was inviting his family and friends over on a Saturday for a picnic. Every cell in my body said, ‘ run,’ but, being polite and not wanting to be tossed into the cage with some nice puppies, I sat there quietly nodding my head. Years later, after Michael Vick was convicted for dog fighting, I knew exactly why the public had such a visceral reaction.

We set off later that afternoon to head back to Del Ray Beach and my new best friend, Hoyt Elam. Austin and I arrived around 9:00 and being tired from the road just decided to call it a night. I think it was around 3:00 a.m. when a loud noise woke me from a deep slumber. I could hear someone shouting just outside our door and I stumbled to the front lawn and saw above me helicopters with spotlights searching every square inch of Hoyt’s property. They were looking for him and I instantly was jolted fully awake. I wondered if something happened. Did he kill someone? Or maybe the police touched his Harley or his drugs or woman (couldn’t be his woman) and he decided to get his revenge. Then an odd thought occurred to me as I meandered around the police barricades. If the police did touch his bike, drugs or woman I wanted a front row seat to see what would happen. They searched the property for an hour and finally decided that Hoyt wasn’t there (probably road off on his Harley with his drugs) but they were questioning a woman that I immediately recognized as “his woman.” Apparently Hoyt didn’t think to bring her along.

Anyway I did read years later that Hoyt was finally arrested on some charge (I think he committed every crime that is currently known to man) and is spending the holidays in a nice 6 x 9 foot lovely room with a window view.