Sherlock Dog

By Carolyn Wada

A dog tells of his American Mommy's obsession with BBC Sherlock, how it got her into trouble, and how he got her out.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Carolyn Wada
• Release date: Jan 21, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465782472

Carolyn Wada

4'10", 85 lbs. Oldest of seven. Raised in Hawaii. Author of fantasy novel For Cory's Sake and its FREE short prequel, Roci and the skycat. Fan of cats, philanthropists, Batman, Lego, Bruce Wayne, Batman Lego and nearly all sports.

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Sherlock Dog

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 Carolyn Wada

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Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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SHERLOCK DOG

Perspicacious Dog

Perspicacious: it means keenly discerning, and Mommy says I am. One morning, we were walking down the Big Hill, with the trees on one side and the road on the other. Mommy was wrapped up tightly in her John Watson coat, looking and walking straight ahead; to her, they were the same trees and road as from the night before and the day before and the morning before. I was zigzagging, giving attention to grass and pavement and air in turn, reading the dozens of tales they told of Who and What and Approximately When.

Mommy did notice when I suddenly darted six feet to the right and then six and six feet to the left and then six and six feet to the first spot on the right and began to lick the road. What is it Sherlock Dog, what is it? she said, in the bemused voice with which she always reacts to my shows of doggy genius. Mommy, loved but appallingly unobservant Mommy, couldn't know: that at some point since our last walk, someone had dropped a hot dog in the road near the curb; and it had been lying there for Some Time; and then a cat had run from a yard, snatched up the hot dog and carried it up a tree; and he (yes, it was obviously a he)(I) had made a sloppy job of eating it in the tree and had come down to eat the fallen bits in the grass.

After our walk that morning, Mommy took off and hung up my lead, scratched me under the ears for a few moments, took off her boots, gave me a biscuit, hung her John Watson coat on the back of a chair and sat down before her computer. This is what she does every morning after our walk.

Mommy's computer told her the Word of the Day.

Perspicacious: it means Sherlock Holmes, said Mommy to Ubu.

'Nuff said? laughed Ubu.

'Nuff said, said Mommy.

Mommy loves Words. As I like to chew on a meaty bone, so Mommy likes to chew on a meaty word. Word-of-the-Day sends a new word to Mommy's computer each morning. Mommy uses the word in a sentence that might possibly appear in the Sherlock universe, and saves it in her computer in her Sherlock folder. I know she does this because she told Ubu so.

Ubu is Mommy's Man. He is very big and strong. Once, Ubu was slobbering on Mommy's face, and I stuck my nose between theirs, wanting to slobber on Mommy's face too. Ubu effortlessly picked me up and tucked me under his arm, as if I were the cat and not a 90-lb. Labrador. He carried me outside, closed the door and resisted the most plaintive whimpers I could muster: he is strong in that way, too.

If you are perspicacious, you may have wondered: how did a dog know he had traveled six feet to the right to sniff the site of the Stolen Hot Dog? It is simple: I know my lead is six feet long. I had swerved laterally each time, and each time I was brought up by the jerk that tells me when I'm at the end of my lead. I know my lead is six feet long because Mommy once debated the merits of four-foot, six-foot and retractable leads with Ubu, settled on the six-footer as best, and put the others in storage.

Mommy tells Ubu everything she thinks about