Sunday! Beginnings! The other day on the tennis court some of the guys, most of them younger than me, asked if I’d written anything their kids might enjoy. How about the Bowser and Birdie series? Here’s the beginning of WOOF, book 1.

Two humans stood outside my cage, a white-haired woman and a gum-chewing kid. Gum-chewing is one of the best sounds out there, and the smell’s not bad either. I liked the kid from the get-go.

They gazed in at me. I gazed out at them. The white-haired woman had blue eyes, washed out and watery. The kid’s eyes were a bright, clear blue, like the sky on a cloudless day. I hadn’t seen the sky in way too long.

“How about this one, Grammy?” the kid said.