photo by Barking Royalty on Unsplash

This morning I woke up with five well slobbered pieces of kibble in my hand. That happens from time to time, though it’s been a long while. Five pieces seems suspiciously generous, don’t you think? They’ve been carefully chosen too; I’ve been handed not just any old kibble, but the best kibble out of the bowl. I can tell by the amount of slobber. Yep, the contents of my hand are an offering that heralds some early morning intrigue.

Good morning, everyone. Sleep well? Me too.

It might seem I’m ungraciously kicking a gift horse in the mouth, or in this case a gift beagle. I can understand that line of thinking, but experience has taught me that waking up to a kibble ‘gift’ is more like a trade for something stolen or reparations for some canine misdeed. It’s not really a gift at all.

Well, this mystery isn’t going to solve itself. We best get cracking. Want to tag along?

Yawning and stretching, I look performatively at my hand and then at Jupiter, the beagle in question. She looks anxious. Did you catch that? See? We were right to not be fooled.

You’re right, she is looking a little shifty too. She’s a really sweet hound and all, but she’s got no poker face at all. That means we’ll get a confession if we play our cards right, so stay cool.