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Top Tobacco Inspired My Veterinary Career

  Top Tobacco Inspired My Veterinary Career Dave Wright, DVM I brushed the tobacco leaves from my feet before I crawled between the sheets in my dorm room on the seventh floor of Stearn’s Hall. It was winter quarter of my freshman year at St. Cloud State—1972.   Tomorrow is Friday, I thought. Woz, my sleepy-eyed, shaggy-headed roommate will leave for his home on “The Range” taking his can of Top tobacco and roll-your-own cigarette papers with him. Most of the other residents will depart as well, leaving the dormitory nearly empty until late Sunday evening. Those of us without a car or a confident hitchhiking thumb will be stranded here…but it will leave me plenty of time to air out the room, sweep the tile floor, and listen to the latest Three Dog Night album. I closed my eyes and considered my future. I have a passion for biology, owing in large part to an excellent high school teacher. But what will I do with a biology degree four years from now? I don’t want to teach—even thou
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A Walk in the Rain

  A Walk in the Rain by Dave Wright I study my watch. The second hand touches the 12. Six o’clock. Time for my walk, a routine I have done every day for the past ten years—except for once a couple of years ago. The evening news reported some kind of problem in a nearby neighborhood—a race riot or gang violence—something like that. I could have gone for my walk as usual. But I didn’t feel well, you see. I went to bed early that night, pulled the covers over my head, and slept until morning. Sometimes my bravery frightens me. I check my watch again. Five after. I’m late. I bolt the back door, check the lock a second time, then shuffle to the front entry. The only sound is my slippers sliding across the linoleum in the empty house, which has been my home for fifty years. It used to ring with music, but it is deathly quiet now. I drop onto a bench by the door, grunt, and stoop to tie the laces of my walking shoes that are neatly under the bench. I rise from the bench and reach for m
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Miracle of Birth

  Miracle of Birth by Dave Wright, DVM “That was amazing.” exclaimed the doctor as he stepped into the office. “You’d have thought I just delivered Jesus Christ!” He filled a water bottle and took a sip. “I’ve assisted lots of deliveries, but never before hundreds of cheering fans.” This is the way many volunteer veterinarians feel after assisting the deliveries of cows, pigs, and sheep at the Minnesota State Fair Miracle of Birth Center. The MOBC, as it is often called, is the most popular exhibit at the fair. While nearly two million people attend the Great Minnesota Get Together, it is estimated that half of them visit the MOBC. It is an opportunity for farmers and veterinarians to share the miraculous experience of live births with people who are often two generations removed from farm life and have never seen an animal being born. As one of the veterinary co-chairs, I often join the other volunteers—veterinarians, veterinary students, FFA students, vet-techs, and industry r
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An Unlikely Superhero

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 “An Unlikely Superhero” is a book for young readers who, if they are like his grandchildren, may be more interested in superheroes than in Sunday school. This short book is a work of historical fiction based on the life of Jesus who has been given superpowers to battle the evil Dark Force. Paperback and Kindle eBook available at Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/398vwysd
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The Red Tempest

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Four people meet on a train. A woman flees the expectations of her father and her ex-husband. A romance novelist seeks inspiration for a new hero. An unhappily married accountant hides money from his wife who is a compulsive gambler. What could go wrong? Find out in this novella.  Find the paperback and eBook online at: https://www.amazon.com/Red-Tempest-Dave-Wright-ebook/dp/B0CFT9SHJ4
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Country Bumpkin Returns to the Big Apple

  Country Bumpkin Returns to The Big Apple by Dave Wright “Listen up, everyone!” The greeting came from a bald man with crazy eyes. He stepped into the subway at 34 th just before the doors closed behind him. I didn’t see a gun, but I imagined he had one in the pocket of his soiled khakis. What the heck? Will I be the victim of another mass shooting? The man grabbed the bar above his head as the train lurched forward. He cast a piercing stare over the coach. “I could use some change,” he shouted. “Anybody have some change?” Then he strode through the car daring anyone to meet his accusing eyes. I focused my gaze on a stray gum wrapper on the floor of the train. A few minutes earlier when we had boarded the southbound at 42 nd and Broadway, a young woman with wild, dark hair made a less intimidating plea: “Can anyone spare some loose change? Any little bit will help.” Persuasion is in the delivery. Sue dug in her purse. Not finding any change or small bills, she handed t
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Maasai Mission

  Maasai Mission January, 1999 Dave Wright, DVM Olendorrop’s third wife, Naisiae shook a long gourd decorated with colorful beads. It was full of milk that had been fermenting for three days in the Tanzanian heat. Naisiae means “hard working” in the Maasai language . She had risen before sunrise to milk the three Zebu cows that, along with two calves, composed Olendorrop’s herd at this shamba in the foothills of Mt. Gelai. She squeezed milk from the two right teats into a gourd, leaving the left two teats for the cow’s calf to nurse at the same time. After collecting the half-liter of milk from each cow, she kept the calves in the corral and ushered the cows out to where her two sons were waiting by a gate made of sticks and brush. At eight and ten years of age, the boys were responsible for the herd. They led the cows into the bush where they watched while the cows scavenged for random sprigs of grass. Today was also the day the cows got to drink. It was the dry season, and th
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