Writing By Laura

Since it’s Halloween season I thought I’d “celebrate” by writing two very short stories inspired by topics, themes and genres chosen by some of my Facebook Friends. I decided to then write and share the stories here. (This is story #1/part 1. For story #2/part 2 click here.)

This was the request I put out on Facebook the weekend of October 5th.

These stories are meant to be cute and silly. Not high art! I had fun. Without further ado, here are the stories (here’s part 1 of 2 of my Halloween short stories).

Story #1

Topic: A Sherlock Holmes 🕵️‍♂️ style mystery with my puppy Selby as Sherlock and her doggy cousin Bella as Watson. My friend Amanda who recommended this idea has a cat named Ebony that we’ve decided to cast as the villain Moriarty. The case Sherlock Selby is solving is a missing bone. 🦴

Genre: Mystery

Title: Sherlock Selby and the Case of the Missing Bone

Story:

It was raining and still over the pitter patter of little raindrops on the ground Selby heard another noise. It was coming from a corner of the backyard so Selby ran quickly to see what it was. Her cousin dog Bella may be over visiting but Selby was still the primary pup in charge of all guard duties. 

As Selby got closer she saw that the yard was all dug up with many holes. And at the bottom of one of those holes was Selby’s doggy cousin, Bella. “What are you doing? Grandpa is going to be so mad when he sees the yard!” Selby said as she almost fell into a hole. “Careful!” said Bella as she moved Selby away from the many holes. “You gotta be careful. I’ve fallen into a few myself” Bella said as she started to dig another hole. “Stop that! And tell me WHAT you’re doing” Selby demanded as she looked worriedly towards the house to see if Grandpa was coming. With a dramatic slinging of dirt, Bella stopped digging holes long enough to say, “I lost my bone. Well it’s gone missing. And I think SOMEONE took it!” They decided that since they had visitors from Iowa (by way of London, one can presume) and they brought a villainous cat with them (aren’t ALL cats villainous?) that perhaps the cat had taken Bella’s bone. It was too coincidental that the bone went missing just when the cat, Ebony Moriarty, arrived. 

Selby didn’t believe in coincidences. Not when she was in super sleuthing detective mode. And ever since they moved away from the dog park and her dog detective friend Hank (he was a basset/blood hound mix and had helped her solve the case of her curious freckle) Selby had taken on the role of dog detective. She decided she was pretty good at it so she thought of herself as Sherlock Selby when sniffing out clues. The first clue in this case came in the form of black hair near where Bella said she last saw her bone. “Ah hah!” Thought Sherlock Selby: it had to have been taken by the black cat, Ebony Moriarty. 

Sherlock Selby and Bella continued to sniff around the house for clues. Sherlock Selby had been read a few Sherlock Holmes stories by her Mommy so she knew she needed a sidekick. A Watson. Bella made the perfect Watson even if she did hate being called a sidekick or Bella Watson. Bella was giving into Selby’s oddness and calling her Sherlock Selby because Bella really wanted her bone back. It was one of those nice long thin rawhide bones that Grandma always gave them and Bella wanted it back! What did a silly cat want a bone for other than to torture its dog owner? 

After a long day of sleuthing and finding a lot of hair (both Bella and Ebony shed a lot so Sherlock Selby stopped barking “A ha” with each fur ball discovery) and no bone, Sherlock Selby and Bella Watson were ready to call it a day. They ran into the living room where everyone was sitting. When the pups entered the room a once lethargic Ebony Moriarty sat up and her long black tail knocked over the glass of water she kept near her milk dish. Ebony liked to bat at the water in the water glass and imagine she was grasping a slippery fish in her claws. Sherlock Selby and Bella Watson thought the water glass habit was odd and showed Ebony Moriarty’s evil propensities. They watched with fascination as the glass toppled over revealing Bella’s bone. “A ha!” Sherlock Selby and Bella Watson barked in unison as they went racing after Ebony. Ebony ran out the open door to the backyard. The sleuthing dogs were hot on her trail and everyone else ran after them. To the particular horror of Grandpa, they all saw the torn up backyard. Sherlock Selby and Bella Watson had been searching all day for the bone and hadn’t realized it had started to rain again. The rain had gathered in Bella’s holes in the ground to create 10-15 small water ponds. When Ebony had ran out the door to escape she had seen the 10-15 little mini holes/ponds and ran over to them transfixed. She stood there splashing at the water and Sherlock Selby and Bella Watson felt kind of sad for her. Here she is splashing water when she doesn’t know how truly great bones are. Especially the long skinny rawhide bones that were their favorite. Sherlock Selby looked at Bella Watson and decided this poor cat led a pretty solitary life so the least they could do was give her a bone. Even if cats don’t like bones, they should. They really should. 

Once Ebony and her family left, leaving behind all bones (Ebony didn’t want the one the dogs offered her) the dogs were ready to hang up their sleuthing and just be very pretty spoiled pups. 

Story #2: To come (read it here).

Sorry, but I ran out of time and energy again. So instead of rushing to complete Story #2, I’ll post it tomorrow!

I hope you enjoyed my Sherlock Selby story. Happy Halloween (early)!