Hi there. This is Ulysses speaking. I’m a dog. Not just any dog. I have a nose for snooping, and I live with Ned McNeil. It wasn’t always this way. I do not even like to think back to my previous life. Let me just say that it wasn’t happy and it involved being tied up, an owner who forgot to feed me and was mean and vicious. But, I don’t like to think about that. Let me tell you how I met Ned.
I had been roaming the woods for days, hunting for an unwary rabbit or squirrel and not finding any. I was hungry. One evening, the smell of food brought me to a big house that I now call home. It wasn’t home then. And, sad to say, I didn’t know Ned. I was hungry and desperate and when I saw her putting cornbread out for the birds, I growled at her. I know. It’s hard to believe now, but, remember, I was starving and desperate.
She didn’t stop me when I wolfed down that cornbread in about a second. Yum. Delicious, but not enough. I wondered if, maybe, there was more somewhere, but just as I was wondering that, my blood froze. Rawl Decker stepped into the yard. I was not going back to my miserable life with that excuse for a human being. I wasn’t! What would he do? Would he be mean to this woman with the cornbread?
I gulped and listened. This small woman was daring to stand up to that vicious Rawl. She told him to leave me alone. Oh, boy! I crouched down, looking at one and then the other. Who would win this stand-off? I couldn’t believe it when Rawl backed down. He left and I didn’t waste any time in getting out of there. I left too, but I came back.
Later that night, I crept back to the big house and the bird feeder, which is where I’d found the cornbread. My heart sank. Nothing there, but my magnificent nose (I don’t brag about this, but it is pretty great) told me to check out the back porch. There was food! Yummy, delicious smelling meat. Had the woman who lived here left it for me? I took a bite. Delicious! It disappeared pretty fast.
Then, I thought about it. This woman (this was Ned, you know) had courage. She had faced up to a mean, snarly man, and she gave me food. Maybe she was worth checking out a little further.
So, this is the way I came to be a part of Ned’s household. Good thing I did because she had the habit of getting into some tight places. Danger seemed to dog her days. (Heh) I don’t know how many times I’ve helped her solve a mystery. And, we are good friends. She talks to me. I listen and I do my best to solve problems. Let me tell you, it’s a wonderful life!
You’ll find all the Ned McNeil mysteries with Ulysses the dog and also Penny the cat at Amazon.com. There are four of these cozies. If you have Kindle Unlimited, they are free. If you don’t have Kindle Unlimited, they are only $4.97. That’s a pretty good deal for a whole lot of shivers!
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