Sunday! Beginnings! In the new Chet and Bernie novel I’m writing now, the Teitelbaum divorce case came up yesterday. Since there’s a whole short story (digital and audio) about it – Tail of Vengeance – how about we look at how it starts? (Might even be good way to introduce someone to the whole series.)
“I think my boyfriend is cheating on me.”
We should have walked away at that very moment, me and Bernie, or better yet run, our tails between our legs. Not so easy in Bernie’s case, since, maybe like you, he’s stuck with living a tailless life, poor guy. Imagine that! Actually, I can’t. The good news is that I’ve got enough tail for two, a strong, bushy, pleasing-to-the-eye tail that even has a mind of its own. Sometimes it wags me! Or just about. I’m not so easy to wag, being a hundred-plus pounder, and strong for my size, Bernie says. And not just Bernie: ask some of the perps up at Northern State Correctional, although they may not have time for chitchat, what with being so busy breaking rocks in the hot sun. The point is we’ve taken down lots of perps here at the Little Detective Agency. Bernie’s last name is Little. I’m Chet, pure and simple.
5 Comments on “Beginnings”
Good day to all.
These beginnings never fail to make me smile! How does OFA manage to create something brand new with each story, yet include enough references to past ones to provide a sense of continuity and comfort? Secret sauce.
Little Jilly gets to resume post surgery exercise, slowly, today. A short walk in this beautiful autumn weather is on the agenda. Yay!
It’s been a long time since I read Tail of Vengeance. I’ve got the ebook so maybe I should do a little recreational reading today. I had no idea there was an audio version.
It also makes me think. How would Chet know they were breaking rocks in North State Correctional? Has he been there? Or has he gotten his info from watching old movies on TV. But if he did that, wouldn’t they be wearing black and white striped pajamas instead of orange jumpsuits? Do any prisons have inmates break rocks anymore?
Yesterday was National Fetch day so I hope Peter and Dottie were out having a ball. My dogs don’t fetch. Not even Diana who is part GSD and part Golden.
Today is National Brandied Fruits day. I’ve been going through all of my Christmas recipes deciding what I am going to make this year. It will be a lot, some things I’ve never done before, but none involved brandied fruits, at least upon cursory reading. Fruits, yes. No brandy, but rum and bourbon involved. I’m making Stollen for the first time and that needs to age for two weeks to be really good, according to the recipe. The Panettone and Pandoro involve several rises of longer duration. The biscotti are twice baked so age isn’t such an issue with them. Even the regular cookies need a time line as I can’t make them all at once. So I’ll start with the bourbon balls, make my way through the Dutch White Ginger and Spritz and the last will likely be the Butterzeug. Most of our cookies are rolled and cut so they are time consuming. The Spritz needs a press. I’m making marzipan for the Stollen and will have left over so going to use a Springerle mold to make Frankfurter Breten with the extra marzipan. It will be an epic baking season. I need it all done by December 17th. I just hope I can hold out to do it all. I’m starting early as I have to make Lebkuchengewürz, candied orange and lemon peels and marzipan. Then I have cranberry sauce and spiced apple rings to make for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They are preserves so will keep for months. And yes, I have recipes for dog cookies too but they would be last and I can’t guarantee I won’t be burned out by then. But hopefully after a bit of a break I can make some for my sweeties by Christmas Eve. They still believe in Santa Paws, the bringer of the beloved Lambchop.
According to Franklin, every day is national fetch day! But definitely not so for either Teddy or Wookie. Teddy might et a ball a couple of times, but after that, you were on your own. And Wookie was even worse. We used to joke that Wookie was not a working dog (mistakenly believing that goldens were categorized as working dogs rather than as sporting dogs at Westminster), but that he was a management dog. He would hire others and supervise if a ball ever needed to be retrieved.
LOL. Wookie was in to delegating the work. A born “stupidvisor.”
I never got the whole sporting working herding dog thing. They are all work. One is more herding stuff to where you want it and the other more bringing you stuff, personally, in the mouth. But both are jobs so they’re work. But a Golden Retriever should retrieve. Caesar was half lab but he didn’t retrieve either. Rameses was majority Afghan Hound and Boston Terrier and he as a retrieving fool.
Freyja is more ADD. Occasionally she will pick up a toy that Diana has dropped and toss it, pounce on it and pick it up and shake it. For about 90 seconds. Then she’ll suddenly drop it and go off somewhere. She is the original “SQUIRREL!” dog.
Diana does not fetch but she will pick up balls and carry them around in her mouth. For a while I was making some headways into teaching her to hold the ball in her mouth and then just squeak it at pedestrians, but she caught on and now will bring it, then drop it to bark at them, then pick it up again. She may be dumb but she isn’t stupid.