Max is passionate. He has the kind of personality he once thought all really rich people should have, part crazy and part genius, each part keeping the other in check. He tries to reinvent the world. He is the type of person who will not be contained or controlled. He is pushy, aggressive, fearless, and sometimes stupid as a result. However, he is one to admire.

He has no respect for rules or authority, although he has become an authority himself. “What are you going to do?” he would say. He has been shot five times. He only received a blow… in the calf. He still ran away from the shooter.

He was in the air force and loved the exhilaration of flying. He would “push the envelope” in both the F-16 and his much less equipped blue and brown private jet. He would do things in his little private plane that other pilots would comment on “That’s just not what the plane was built for” as they shook their heads and looked down at the stable ground.

His theory of crossing streets is that if he were hit by a car, the collision with his soft, supple flesh would dent the car, thereby injuring his assailant. He walked toward traffic, unafraid of fast-moving cars.

Max is a man of learning. Once, at the age of 14, he read the encyclopedia from cover to cover. He also paid for college and law school.

Max’s style of practicing law is undoubtedly aggressive. He would make people nervous. Max is a tall man with a good build. This, especially when it really gets going, is extremely intimidating. I’ve heard stories where he made witnesses so nervous under cross-examination that when the witness was told to get back in his seat, he angrily stood up, pouted, and walked briskly directly to the wall behind him. from them.

* * *

On one of his fishing trips, Max got into a fight with nature. He went to a ranch in the Truchas Peaks at the base of the Rocky Mountains to fish. The two-day trip involved standing in the river, trying to retrieve his fly fishing line from a tree, diving on grasshoppers to use as bait, sliding down a steep hill into the river, breaking tree limbs to light a camp fire, having his tent collapse on him in the rain, catching several huge fish, losing blood, and of course becoming smelly.

At the end of the trip home he stopped at the ranch house with the trout he had caught in a pale blue cooler. He smelled of fish, smoke, earth, grass, trees, mud, and rain. He was inside the huge, dark, creaky, musty ranch house when a rancher’s dog smelled the fish. Max was learning how many coyotes had recently been captured on the ranch when the dog deftly figured out how to open the cooler. The dog started eating the trout only when Max was leaving the house.

Max was not pleased with the state of his hard-earned fish. He started yelling, yelling and waving his arms. The dog, confused by this, decided to move his food to a quieter place. He pricked his ears back and looked at Max, completely confused as to why he was jumping. The discovery of fresh fish was no time to panic. The dog picked up the trout he was eating and started to turn around.

The dog was part dingo, from Australia. He often tried to follow people around the ranch. He had a condensed build, one that could handle a lot of abuse without too much trouble. The dog’s coat was a thick brown on the sides and head with hints of white on the back. Living on the ranch, the brown faded to black and the white to tan.

Max was unwilling to let go of the fish and dove for it. The slippery dust caused to fly in the air. The thick plume turned all colors to pastel browns in the strong New Mexico sun. When the dust finally cleared, Max was lying on his stomach on the ground, staring at the dog. The dog looked at Max, even more confused than before. At that moment the dog realized that Max had the tail of his trout in his right hand. Max wouldn’t have eaten the fish now; he had dog drool all over him. However, Max was willing to fight for the fish with everything he had.

Both the dog and Max pulled the fish. Neither Max nor the dog advanced, though they both growled. After a short scuffle, the contestants were completely covered in a fine tan powder. Max was able to take the lead by standing up. He then proceeded to lift the dog off the ground by picking up the fish. The dog flailed his legs, as if he were running up, and growled defiantly as he dangled there, refusing to let go of the fish. Max took his other arm and put it around the dog. He had the fish in one hand and the dog in the other. Max then whispered to the dog as he used his negotiation skills to get the dog to drop the fish. The dog was unconvinced and made a strong rebuttal by shaking his head vigorously.

This continued until one of the dog’s legs was within pushing distance of Max’s thigh. The dog placed his paw on Max’s leg and pushed hard enough to jump completely out of Max’s arms. In flight, the dog was able to twist the fish out of Max’s hand. Max was so surprised by the dog’s movement that he didn’t react. He stood there in the same position, his arm still bent as if he were holding the dog and his hand still outstretched as if he were still holding the fish. The dog, however, misjudged his landing and landed the fish first, then the nose, leaving a flap of dust on his landing strip.

The dog got to his feet, unwilling to accept that his fish was now encrusted with rocks, and walked away triumphantly. Max gathered up his remaining fish, put them back in the cooler, and bought the dog.