Unfinished Business
Background on
the Dobe Grant Page
© 2014 – Thomas C. Dugas
Anyone who is
a fan of Skeeter Skelton will recognize the name “Dobe
Grant.” Dobe was Skeeter’s print manifestation
of several people he knew in his life. Skeeter’s “Dobe
Grant” stories are among my favorites of Skeeter’s writings.
I purchased “Good
Friends, Good Guns, Good Whiskey” Skeeter’s first
collection of his writings back in the early 1990’s when I lived in
Texas. I grew to love that book and I read it often, the stories are well
written and timeless. Later on I purchased “Hoglegs, Hipshots and Jalapeños”
Skeeter's second book. It also became a favorite of mine.
Around 2010 I
purchased “I
Remember Skeeter” by Skeeter’s wife, Sally Jim Skelton. That last
book, published after Skeeter’s death, answered several long unanswered
questions I had about Skeeter, his characters, and his life. It was with
extreme sadness that I read in the final pages the story of Alex Bartimo visiting Skeeter’s home shortly after his death and
finding a writing pad on his desk with a paragraph that began: “A curl of
mesquite smoke surrounded his hat as he bent before the hot fire…”
Skeeter had
been working on a new Dobe Grant story when he died.
I kept
thinking about that moment.
Unfinished business.
No writer ever
finishes all of the stories he has in him. And over time I began to
wonder what that final unfinished story might have been. So, I
tried. I’ve been continuing the story of Dobe
Grant for my own edification for several years now and finally decided I would
share them.
Understand I
undertook this effort simply out of my own interest in trying to see where the
tale of Dobe might have gone had Skeeter lived to finish that short
paragraph. I am certain that many of Skeeter’s unwritten tales about
future Dobe Grant stories exist with Skeeter’s
friends and families. Never to see the light of day.
So, this is my
effort to continue the story of Dobe
Grant. I will publish new stories as long as I or you find them
interesting.
They will all
be dedicated to the legendary Skeeter Skelton.
Thomas C.
Dugas