Dear Readers and Animal Lovers,
Recently, my sweet dog, Jimmy Lambchop, got a predawn dash to the animal emergency hospital. He’s home now and doing well, mostly recovered from an allergic reaction to some flea prevention meds. His seizures caused me to pack him into my car in the wee hours that scary morning.
While Jimmy was hospitalized for fifteen long hours, I noticed that the house was as quiet as a tomb. I didn’t like it one bit. No one barked to tell me the mail carrier had come. No one looked longingly at me for some of my lunch. No one watched over me as I wrote. His absence made me realize how important pets are to us.
Jimmy’s frightening incident inspired this blog, but his faithful companionship probably caused the writer in me to give each of my detectives a pet. I thought I would share them with you.
Twins Lanny and Lexi have two pets–a border collie and chow hound named King Ramesses II, nicknamed Pharaoh. Their finicky, proud Abyssinian cat is Queen Cleopatra VII, Cleo for short. The two pets enjoy playing together, kicking up dust, and leaving the living room throw rugs in heaps.
Moki has a loquacious mynah bird named Aloha. The bird says brilliant things of unknown origins. Moki and his dad think they should have named him Nostradamus instead.
Rani has a desert tortoise named Tortuga, who loves Moki. She gets hauled around town in her little red wagon, known as the tortoise taxi. Tortuga often helps the kids solve their cases.
So get a clue, Readers. If you have pets, consider yourself lucky. Their love is unconditional. Please return that love to them in kind. Then, come February, when Nutmeg Street: Egyptian Secrets is released, may you enjoy really getting acquainted with Pharaoh, Cleo, Aloha, and Tortuga. Rock on, pets, real and imagined.
