THE ADVENTURES AND MISADVENTURES OF MeTOO, THE SHIH TZU: Book 1 Down South Escapades

By SaraLee Morehouse

No information available at this time. Author will provide once available.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9781664119277

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Copyright © 2023 by SaraLee Morehouse.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 01/29/2024

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

794849

Contents

Foreword

Dedication

Adventure One

"Oink, Oink...Oink, Oink...Oink, Oink!

Oink, Oink...Oink, Oink...Oink, Oink

The 12 Million Dollar Caper

Day 1 Of The 12 Million Dollar Caper

Day 2 Of The 12 Million Dollar Caper

Day 3 Of The 12 Million Dollar Caper

Day 4 Of The 12 Million Dollar Caper

Day 5 Of The 12 Million Dollar Caper

Final Day Of The $12 Million Dollar Caper

The Gathering Of The Full Moon

The Maestro Meets His Match!

The Farewell Gathering

The Mayor Of Jupiter

The Shooting Star

The Shooting Star

The Shooting Star

A Piece Of Cake!

Dateline: A Beautiful Monday

Dateline: A Gorgeous Tuesday

Dateline: A Breathtaking Wednesday

Dateline: An Enchanting Thursday

FOREWORD

"Pupple Tales is a collection of adventures and misadventures of MeToo, the mostly pepper/dash of salt, slightly plumpish Shih Tzu, and her mismatched pupple friends. And, you rightly ask, What is a Pupple? Chances are, if you’ve decided to read this book, you either currently have, or have had sometime in the past, a Pupple." Perhaps he or she is snuggled beside you at this very moment.

A Pupple is a dog who loves his or her human life-partner or partners unconditionally, and because of this devotion, strives to become more than a mere dog. We humans, their Mommys and Daddys, through kindness and love, kindle this desire in our dogs to become more human-like and more lovable, thus a Pupple is created!

Pupples learn all kinds of unique mannerisms, i.e., Pupple Positions, such as Pulling Heart Strings, The Poor Me, and Touching. We’ve all experienced these little tricks of the Pupple trade.

Who among us hasn’t said time and again, Fido acts almost human. Well, if you’ve made this statement, Fido surely is a Pupple, and the more your Pupple tries to please you, isn’t it also true that you love him or her just a little bit more?

Read on my friend about my Pupple, MeToo, the Shih Tzu, and her Pupple friends. Hopefully, some of MeToo’s escapades will make you laugh, and in keeping with real life, perhaps a few tears will fall along the way.

Most of the pupples and human characters in Pupple Tales are real and either reside in Northern Connecticut or South Florida.

I hope you enjoy "Pupple Tales."

DEDICATION

Pupple Tales came to fruition because of the perseverance and positive force of my dear friend, Cinde. To her, Pupple Tales is dedicated. Thank you, Cinde.

ORIGINAL ART

Original art was taken from the original oil paintings of Grace P. Collies. Through Grace’s gift, the pupples came to life. Thank you, Grace.

ILLUSTRATIONS

Illustrations were created by Matt Ryan of Free Lunch Studio. Thank you, Matt.

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MeToo just sitting in Paradise - South Florida

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Larry, the Springer Spaniel. MeToo’s best friend & frontyard up North neighbor

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Quinn - MeToo’s frontyard neighbor and confidant in South Florida

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Angel - the hypocondric & neighbor in South Florida

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BeeGee, the pit bull with the magnificent teeth! Introduced in A Tale to Remember

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Mandy & Abby - MeToo’s sideyard neighbors - South Florida

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Lucy - A Tale to Remember - at her new home on Jupiter Island - South Florida

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Road Warrior - introduced in The 12 Million Dollar Caper

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Barrett, the Viszula - speaks only Hungarian - lives in the neighborhood in South Florida

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Jaques, the neighborhood Elder Statesman - South Florida

ADVENTURE ONE

A TALE TO REMEMBER

The First of the Many Adventures of

MeToo, the Shih Tzu

Whoopee! BIG RIDE in morin’. Maybe BIG Adventure on way to Paradise!, MeToo, the mostly pepper/dash of salt, slightly plumpish Shih Tzu, squeals in delight as she races down the hall and skids into her Northern Connecticut red and white candy-cane striped bedroom. Leaping bullfrog style, ears zinged back tight to her petite head, long silky black and white hair billowing around, above and behind her, MeToo lands smack in the middle of her white wicker custom-made featherbed! Whoosh, groans her feather mattress, sending dozens of tiny pink hairbows fluttering like miniature butterflies up towards the ceiling. Ever so slowly the tiny pink ribbons tumble down, scattering once again on MeToo’s featherbed at the exact moment daddy-pop’s antique clock gongs the ninth evening hour.

Phew, close call! Almost missed Sandman! MeToo sputters to no one in particular, yanking her prized Uncle Wiggley cotton blanket over her head.

MeToo always goes to bed at exactly 9 p.m. ‘cause Mommy told her that’s when Sandman tiptoes into her bedroom and carries her off to Never Neverland. Next to Daddy, Mommy knows EVERYTHING!

Snuggling deep under her Uncle Wiggley blanket, MeToo has visions of her ‘citing day swirling and twirling in front of eyes already heavy with sleepy sand. Blinking back sprinkles of Sandman’s precious magic, MeToo sees herself helping Daddy earlier in the day loading ‘Silver Bullet’ with Mommy’s junk for BIG RIDE to South Florida where they’ll spend the Winter months. Junk it has to be ‘cause Daddy really does know everything! Mommy whispered that fact in MeToo’s ear one night when Daddy was yelling at Loud TV!

Suddenly, an uncontrollable shudder creeps through her body as snapshots of the two miserable hours spent at the Snip & Snarl, her groomer, pop into her head. No fun getting all spruced up for BIG RIDE to Paradise, she grumbles. Quickly erasing THAT memory, MeToo drifts ever so slowly towards Never Neverland and as her sand-filled eyes slowly close, she sees herself stuffing all her treasures – Memory Box, Piggy Talking Alarm Clock, 3 bags of her favorite low-cal snack, PupCorns, and her Jeff Gordon Car-24 walkie-talkies –into her handy-dandy travel tote.

MeToo then dreams, not of chasing snowflakes and bushy-tailed squirrels, but of BIG Ocean’s sandy beaches and, best of all, traveling The Neighborhood with her pupple pals in search of adventure.

Tiny feet kicking and pawing under Uncle Wiggley and murmuring a faint Goodie! MeToo dreams of a BIG Adventure on BIG Ride that she can tell her friends all about the moment she hops out of Silver Bullet in her very own South Florida Paradise, The Neighborhood.

Cuddled tightly in the soft down feather mattress, MeToo has no idea that her BIG Adventure of the Winter won’t happen on BIG RIDE, but using every skill she can muster and all her determination, with the help of her pupple pals, she WILL pull off a Tale to Remember!

MeToo! 4 o’clock! Get up! Time for BIG RIDE! Mommy shouts from the hallway at the crack of dawn.

Peeking out from under Uncle Wiggley, eyes crusty with sleepy sand, MeToo grumbles 4 in morin? Just went to Never Neverland!

Fishing under her pillow and grabbing a pink checked hairbow, she quickly twists it round and round her 4 ponytail topknot and leaps out of bed. Quickly snapping her hot pink upscale snackpack around her slightly thick middle, MeToo yanks Uncle Wiggley off the bed, grabs her handy-dandy travel tote filled with all her treasures, and dashes through the house. Dodging pin-pricking pellets of sleet, she leaps into ‘Silver Bullet’ landing on her sheepskin throne exactly in the middle of the front seat and waits impatiently for Mommy and Daddy to hop in the car. Excitement rippling through her once-lithe body, MeToo puggles her bottom lip and whispers, BIG Adventure ‘acomin’ – can feel it!"

As Daddy steers Silver Bullet down the driveway, Larry, MeToo’s best friend and frontyard neighbor, a Springer Spaniel, stands at the edge of the road, his buttermilk and chocolate chip fur studded with slush and sleet, wagging his stub of a tail bye bye to MeToo. MeToo, peeking out Silver Bullet’s back window, returns the wave and quickly wipes away tiny Will miss you, Larry tears.

Settling herself on her throne MeToo promptly falls asleep, dreaming of BIG Adventure.

"OINK, OINK...OINK, OINK...OINK, OINK!

Let me out! Let me out!

My Pupple Friend

We made it to Paradise

By 2 a.m.!"

Piggy, MeToo’s purple and pink polka-dotted talking alarm clock, squeals from the bottom of MeToo’s handy-dandy travel tote as Silver Bullet pulls into MeToo’s South Florida driveway.

Ignoring Piggy’s muffled plea, MeToo hops out of Silver Bullet, stiff-legged and grumpy after spending two miserable days squeezed in between Mommy and Daddy watching snow and sleet swirl around Silver Bullet from ‘necticut to the Carolinas.

Tiptoeing to three pygmy palms clustered at the edge of the driveway and fully expecting a royal homecoming celebration from her Neighborhood friends Quinn, Angel and BeeGee, MeToo excitedly whispers, Hi, guys! You can come out now! I’m baaaaaack!

Staring at the tiny palm fronds shimmering and sparkling in the brilliant moonlight, MeToo impatiently presses first one back paw then the other in the twinkling dew-heavy grass. Unable to wait a second longer, she stoops and separates the fronds and peeks underneath. BeeGee’s old tennis ball! What’s that mean? she sputters staring at the lonely orb glowing in the moonlight. A tiny lizard, startled by the shaft of white moonlight, slithers out from under the palms and dashes for cover under Silver Bullet.

Phooey, MeToo groans slumping to the ground, friends unremembered I was coming.

Tail drooping, and dragging her handy-dandy travel tote behind her, MeToo trudges to the house and staggers into her shabby chic Paradise bedroom.

Tossing the tote’s contents in a heap on the PupCorn encrusted floor, MeToo sorts through her treasures and pulls Piggy out by the tail from the bottom of the pile. Gently placing Piggy at the edge of her checkerboard table, sobbing and snuffling, MeToo whispers in Piggy’s ear, Don’t wake me in mornin’, got no friends and crawls into her white wicker custom-made featherbed.

Heart heavy with disappointment, MeToo slowly pulls Uncle Wiggley over her head and patiently waits for Sandman to carry her off to Never Neverland.

"MeToo! Time to