Book excerpt: It's 1980. Ronald Reagan is running for president, greed is good, and Franklin Fletcher wants to build a high-rise apartment complex on his deceased aunt's estate. There's just one problem. Mrs. Fletcher's will states that Franklin cannot destroy the old oak trees on her property until her basset hound and all his descendents are dead. Meet Otis, the basset with a bad haircut. Otis loves to lie between the old oak trees. Moreover, a former student of Mrs. Fletcher's, Joshua Toss, has vowed to protect Otis, to ensure that nothing happens to him or to the trees, even if it means providing the dog with a mate to continue his legacy. Unfortunately, Otis appears to have little interest in the opposite sex. So begins a race against time, money, the power of politics, and an old basset hound's lack of desire as Joshua and some friends fight to preserve Mrs. Fletcher's oak trees amid the backdrop of 1980s greed. Bill Golembeski is a teacher and author of the novel The English Setter Dance. The Gospel According to Dara is his second novel.