Dido the Border Terrier

THAT NIGHT, it took all of Hunter’s reasoning and £30 to convince the housekeeper at The Sun Bar & Grille to let him bring Dido into his room after dinner–in a wicker basket he picked up at Lancaster Market.

    “What do you weigh, seven pounds?” he asked when the door closed and left the two alone. “Maybe you’ll like this.” Dido gobbled up the poppers and kidney he’d rescued from the pub downstairs. Watching her circle round and round at his feet and then settle down, he sipped another pint of ale. Dido looked up at him, searching for the first words she would ever speak. “I will take care of you,” she said with her liquid brown eyes. “And I will never let you go.”

–From Flying Dark