Dog Noir 2

in

It was a day where everything's too still, so still it puts an itch between your shoulder blades, one you can't reach to chew. I was working out of The Couch, my favorite hangout. The bosses didn't want me there, but I'm not always a good dog.

I was worrying the old Squeaky Frog Case, and I felt on the verge of cracking it when she walked in. Sleek, subtle, and insidious, we'd tussled before. It had never ended well. Usually, she stayed on her turf and I stuck to mine, but The Couch was neutral territory.

I could almost hear the schemes percolating in her mind like the water in a powered-pump water bowl. But she wasn't looking to fight. She had a puzzle for me. She disappeared around the corner and I heard a sound a high wheeze that could only be a break on the Rubber Bone Mystery. I followed at a run.

I found the bone, but not her. Suspicious, I returned to The Couch to find her in my spot. There was no use arguing. When that cat's claws come out, no one walks away happy. It wasn't fair, but hey. It's a dog's life.

Dog Noir

in

The air's unseasonal chill tickled my nose as I sat in The Yard. It smelled like trouble. That's why I wasn't surprised when she walked in. Her legs went all the way up, to a butt too high to sniff. I could tell by the way she approached that she had a job for me.

She wanted me to come with her. Normally I'm too suspicious, but there was something familiar in the way she stood. So I followed, and once we turned the corner I knew exactly what she wanted.

It was an old song, so old I could sing along if I hadn't been salivating at the mystery I knew was coming. She'd lost something. A ball, no doubt. These dames and their balls. And she wanted me to go get it.

Nothing's free. If she wanted me to do her dirty work for her, she had to do something for me first. She had to throw it. The moment she did, I knew why she seemed so familiar. She was my partner, my frequent companion... she'd just changed her hair.

Mystery solved, I prepared to do what I do best. It was time to earn the biscuits.

Forty Years in Service

in

Suwo snapped to attention as the officer entered the the interview room, all concrete and bolted steel and wide, shadowed one-way mirror. Her uniform marked her as a major, but conspicuously lacked her name. She nodded and said, "Take your seat."

"Yes, Sir." Despite the major's easy manner, Suwo maintained her posture.

Sitting, the major slapped a thick file on the metal table and flipped through it. "Trained, conditioned in '43. Saw action in '44, '45 and '47. Reconditioning  in '49, back in the field in '51. Since then, stationed for rapid deployment in Libya, the Ukraine, Guatemala, and Phoenix. In the service... almost forty years." She paused for reaction, but Suwo had none.

"And now you get to retire. Normal." The major set a large, metal syringe on the table, filled with a metallic liquid. "This will deactivate your enhancements."

Suwo picked up the needle, looked at it. "The lab coats always told us these enhancements were permanent."

The major shrugged. "Science, am I right?"

Suwo dropped it; it shattered. "Oops." The major's easy manner vanished. She straightened, her hand conspicuously under the table.

"You know we have to decommission you, soldier."

"I know you're going to try. Sir."

First Position of Dignity

in

"Siward! Come forward, Siward!" King Cnut's bellows drowned in the raucous celebration, but the bearlike Siward dumped the man in his lap unceremoniously on the ground and shoved people aside to approach. "This man," bellowed the king, "stood by me when our odds were not worth a wager. He has saved the lives of many of us, and taken more from the enemy!" The host roared, filling the long hall with God's own cacophany. "Without him, I should not be sitting this throne today. His honor is unmatched. As a just reward, I swear to you, Siward, you shall have the first position of dignity to become vacant in my new realm!" Another cheer shook the stone walls.

Siward grinned. "The first? On your honor? And if some trouble should prevent me from claiming the position?"

Cnut stood and shouted. "Nothing on this Earth shall stand in the way of Siward's title! But if you find yourself in God's lands, not even I can help you." The thegns, high-reeves, and aeldormen in attendance laughed.

With a single motion, Siward sheathed his knife in Aeldorman Tosti's heart. "I'll take Northumbria, then.

"On your honor, my king." Siward knelt.

The king gulped.