Normally on Sunday we do beginnings, taking a look at the start of a Peter Abrahams novel (including those written under the Spencer Quinn moniker™) but it’s Father’s Day. So, from A Farewell to Arfs the next Chet and Bernie novel coming Aug. 6, here’s this:

And there was Charlie! What a kid! Who else would think to carry a back pack like him? Every single kid out there had bought into the back pack on the back approach, but not our boy, meaning mine and Bernie’s although I suppose I should include Leda. Our boy was the only one who knew that a back pack didn’t have to be on your back! It didn’t even need to be carried at all. Not if you could kick it, kind of like an odd lumpy ball. And then one of his sneakers flew off! How amazing was that?

“Good god in heaven,” Bernie said quietly, which must have meant he was a proud dad.