#1.
JACK RUSSELL: Dog Detective –
DOG
DEN MYSTERY. Jack’s First Case.
D
& S Odgers.
Chapter
One. Meet Jack Russell.
Round and round and round.
The
paws are faster than sound.
Round
and round, round and round, round and …
I was running my ninety-fifth lap of the boring backyard. There was nothing else to do, except sleep in my basket and chase sparrows.
Then Sarge came home.
‘We’re getting a transfer, Jack,’ he said.
Round and
round and … ZOOOOP!
I skidded to a stop. I wagged my tail and did the *paw thing. Sarge isn’t the brightest biscuit in the pack, but he knew that meant—
Great! Where are we going? Is Auntie Tidge coming?
‘Place called Doggeroo,’ said Sarge. He kicked my **squeaker-bone so it squeaked. ‘It’ll make a change from the big city.’
He was right about that.
Auntie Tidge wasn’t coming.
I was sad about that. Auntie Tidge is Sarge’s aunt. She’s a big fan
of mine. The day we left, she helped us pack up our things. Then she gave me a
big hug.
‘See
you Jackie Wackie.’
Auntie
Tidge is the only person alive who can call me that.
I
slurped her cheek and knocked her glasses sideways. She loves it when I do that.
Sarge
and I went to Doggeroo in Sarge’s car.
While
Sarge drove, I checked scents out the window.
Jack’s
Facts.
Cars have windows. Dogs have noses.
When these things come together, one must be stuck out the other.
This is a fact.
While my ears flapped, I made a ***nose map.
(1)
Pass sausage factory.
(2)
Pass a yard where someone buried a bone last March.
(3)
Turn left near the house where someone ate chops for breakfast.
(4)
Pass a house where three cats live.
(5)
Big dog alert!
(6)
Pass pizza place (consider return trip to check for cheese).
(7)
Turn left near house with three little kids. Just the right age for
dropping biscuits.
(8)
Pass porch with old boots.
(9)
Left at empty house. Suspect rats.
Must check later.
Sarge
turned past the empty-house-that-might-have-rats. He drove down two blocks and
stopped the car.
‘Here
we are, Jack.’
I
grabbed my squeaker-bone and jumped out.
I
landed on an old boot that smelled of dog.
Jack’s Glossary.
*Paw
thing; up on hind legs, paws held together as if praying. Means pleased
excitement.
**
Squeaker-bone.
Item for exercising teeth. Not to be confused with a toy.
***
Nose
map. Way of storing information collected by the nose.
