The Conclusion of
Bergamot Fury Private Boston

Everything was turning up roses until I looked at the archived photos. The photos showed me in my office at the time the lamp was being knocked off, but they showed something quite different in the way of revealing the identity of the burglar. The photographs showed not Charlie "The Nudger", but the Brindle gal instead. I should have known the cat would use her to do his dirty work, but I still couldn't believe she would do that to me. I couldn't turn her in for the theft, but I could show the cops the pictures that would eliminate me as a suspect in the oil lamp caper and that would put her right back in the hot seat where she belonged. It seemed I had misjudged her and that was the part that hurt the most. I've been in this town a few years, and I should have known better than to be swayed by a set of legs and a smile. Perhaps I was getting soft in my old age, but I really liked that little gal.

I had a pit in the bottom of my stomach all the way down to see the police. I felt bad about what I had to do, but then again I didn't ask to be in this mess. As many times as I told myself she deserved it, I still didn't believe it. The cops were very interested in what I had to show them and trudged off to round up the girl as soon as I had finished. I didn't expect an apology and it's a good thing too, because I didn't get one.

I thought about the cat and the girl and how this whole mess had started. A quick check of the scorecard told me that I was up five bones and down one priceless artifact. Somehow it didn't seem to matter to me anymore. I think that sneaker would have lost its luster even if I had gotten it back. It had been a long day, and I was looking forward to settling down with a nice bone and getting some sleep.

I had put a small piece of stuffing from a plush toy under my office door so that if anyone had opened it the piece of fluff would be moved, and I would know I had company. Sure enough as I walked up the hall the piece of fluff was out there to greet me. I thought for a minute it has got to be the cat. I had left the camera running and perhaps now I would have enough evidence to put the cat away for breaking and entering. When I looked at my office, nothing had been moved. The only thing that was different was a small box had been placed right in the middle of the room where I couldn't help but trip over it. I opened the box slowly half expecting it to explode between my paws. Inside the box wrapped in white tissue paper was the Rawhide Sneaker. It seemed that she couldn't bring herself to do it after all. I felt my heart break as I remembered a line from Shakespeare "…so shines a good deed in a weary world."

I didn't move for a long time, I just sat there waiting to be crowned chump of the month. There was nothing I could do about it. She had been on her way here to return my goods right when I was busy throwing her to the lions. There was no way I could have known that, but I should have trusted my instincts. I should have shown more loyalty. I thought about what the cat had said… about how loyalty and faithfulness would always be the downfall of dogs. Maybe the cat was right, but weren't those things what separated us from them? Weren't faithfulness and loyalty the reasons why we carry the title of man's best friend? I sure didn't feel like anybody's friend that day. One thing was for sure, faithfulness and loyalty had cost the cat his prize and that was something I was sure he was not happy about.

I thought that I had never felt lower in my life and that it wasn't possible to feel any worse than I already did, and that's when I started to think about the girl. She was just a sweet young kid who had come out here from the hills of West Virginia to try to make it big in the show ring. She had fallen on hard times and had gotten mixed up with the wrong cat. All she wanted to do was follow her dreams, but this place tears up dreams faster than a Boston pup with a cheap plush toy. I tried to convince myself that she was going to be okay, but I knew I was kidding myself. She was looking down the barrel at 30 minutes to an hour and that kind of time in the joint changes a person. I thought maybe I'd go down and see her sometime; just to see if she needed anything or to keep her company.

I thought about the cat too, and about how I'd like to go down there and bounce the sneaker of his head for good measure. Maybe I'd just go down there with the sneaker to gloat a little in front of him, but I knew that it would never happen. That cat was all claws, and he was probably already itching for an excuse to use them on me. Cats have nine lives and no remorse and that makes them dangerous. I probably wasn't even safe with the sneaker in my own office. I didn't want it because it only reminded me of her, but I was determined to make sure the cat didn't get his claws on it. That's when I decided to hide the sneaker at her place. The cat would never think to look there, and she could use it to get back on her feet when she got out. It was a good plan… not perfect but good.

My feet felt a little lighter as I walked over to her place. Things had not turned out as I had planned, but then again things never do. I was just a few feet away from her door when a familiar silhouette appeared out of the darkness. It was none other than Chazzy "The Nudger" coming out her door with his red-hot paws clamped around her snuggle-ball. The look on his face at that moment will stay with me the rest of my days. In the brief space of a second I had learned everything. He was never after the Rawhide Sneaker at all. It was a double red herring!! Charlie wanted a snuggle-ball and had made sure that he was going to get one. His plan was flawless. It didn't matter to him, which one of us took the rap for the oil lamp, just as long as one of us went away and freed up a snuggle-ball in the process. I almost admired him for his meticulous planning and execution, but then right at the last moment he had lost points for style. You should have seen him trying to tear at me with his claws through that snuggle-ball. The poor guy was helpless as I leaned into that soft fleece and pinned him in the doorway. It was pathetic how he was stuck there trapped by the object of his own greed. He was furious at me, and there I was only inches away and yet he couldn't get to me. A quick bark to the local police and the cat was dragged off like Tuesday's garbage. I heard that he had gotten scrappy with the cops and wound up doing an all-nighter down state.

I stopped by to see the girl. She was going to be okay and might even get time off for good behavior. I slipped a couple treats through the bars and told her I'd be there for her when she got out. She gave me a smile that let me know she was going to be all right. She was tougher than I had given her credit for, and I knew she was going to do well for herself someday.

I walked back to my office to sit down and get a handle on everything that had happened. The place was still a mess but I didn't care. I plopped down into my snuggle-ball and went over the day's events. A quick check of the scorecard put me 5 bones, a beautiful lady, and one caged cat to the good. Not a bad day when you sit down to think about it. Soon the warmth and comfort of my snuggle-ball overpowered me, and I drifted off to slumber land. Sometimes when it rains it pours.

The End