PAWS IN THE ACTION (PAPERBACK)

Chapter 1

The town of Blackwood Cove was hard to find on any map, due both to its small size and the remoteness of its location.

Positioned along a stretch of the New England coastline not often seen by anyone but the hardiest of fishermen, the Cove, as the locals called it, was nestled up tight between two rugged and forbidding cliffs. Even if you happened to pass by it on your oceanic travels, you might be hard-pressed to distinguish many details, for the town was shrouded almost continually in a cold, clammy blanket of sea fog. Even at the height of summer, the Cove rarely saw temperatures in excess of seventy-five degrees. And in winter, the residents often joked they were trapped inside a snow globe. Trapped, with no way out.

There was only one road in and out of the Cove. A two lane stretch of asphalt, crumbling from the endless cycle of frost and thaw, meandered in curving switchbacks up the relatively gentle slope behind the town. It then became lost in dense and shadowed forest, stretching for over fifteen miles before it reached the next settlement.

Nearly a hundred years ago, Blackwood Cove had been an important fishing and shipping location. However, as the coastline further south was built up and added onto, the Cove became less and less vital. Now it made most of its money either through tourism or the generous contributions of wealthy, older folk who had decided to make it their very own retirement community.

Home to over two thousand at its peak, Blackwood Cove was now host to a mere eight hundred and fifty souls, as its oft-edited welcome sign announced. It was a strange sight for the traveler to behold as they came coasting down out of that primeval and seemingly endless forest. A scattering of ancient buildings set in terraces that sloped toward a gray and dismal beach, fog curling through the streets, filling the empty paths where once a never-ending stream of shoppers had strolled.

It was currently autumn in the Cove. Winter was just around the corner. The few deciduous trees around the town, including the ancient oak on the town commons, had lost all but a few black, curling leaves. The evergreens stood tall and proud, ready to accept their tonnage of winter snow. It wouldn't be long, no more than a couple of weeks, before the town of Blackwood Cove entered the long slumber. Short days and long nights. Frosted window panes and screaming sea winds, driving frigid air beneath their doors.

But for now, there was still a little bit of life left in the place. The local school, a building the size of the average middle school in a larger town, housed every grade from preschool on up. As the clock wore on toward the afternoon, less than a hundred students stared out the windows and urged time to move faster.

In the sleepy residential streets across town, along the populated stretches past the boarded-up homes of long-gone people, nothing much was happening. A cat ran across Ivy Road, pausing halfway along to glance toward a slow oncoming car with its ears erect and its eyes wide open. It then continued on its journey, toward home or toward some hunting grounds, and vanished along the brick foundation of an abandoned house.

A child, too young to be in school, was pedaling a tricycle along at a painstaking speed on the sidewalk of Foghorn Drive. The boy's mother walked along behind, smiling and laughing even as her cheeks turned red in the bracing air.

And on Main Street, under the glow of a half dozen OPEN signs, a trio of old women were walking along. Bundled up in their cold weather gear, they set their sights on the next shopping destination. And further ahead of them, where the street widened into a broad cul-de-sac, stood the town commons. A library, the oldest building in the Cove, held council over the broad and windswept grounds. Near to that was a town hall, barely more than a tool shed in size, as well as the large manor where the mayor lived with his wife.

Down by the seashore, bouncing along on the brackish waves in the small harbor, there was an expensive-looking pleasure craft. It stood out like a sore thumb from the more conservative boats around it, including a mossy old canoe that had been tied up there for almost two decades, never having been claimed or used by anyone.

And, standing outside her parent's home on silent Temple Street on the northeastern fringe of the town, a young woman named Jasmine Moore was contemplating the future.

At nineteen years of age, it seemed like an entire universe of possibilities was open to her. But the longer she stayed here, on the misty boulevards of her home town, the more content she felt just to wallow forever in the familiarity of it all. Yet, she couldn't help but feel there was a greater destiny waiting for her. It was a paradox of feeling that every human being had felt at one time or another... though Jasmine, being young, naturally felt like she was the only person in the world who was dealing with it.

But this feeling came from a place of logic. After all, she knew for a fact that she was unique in at least one way.

"What are we waiting for?" a gruff, friendly voice asked from somewhere near her right knee.

She glanced down and saw Luffy there, using his back right paw to get at an itch behind his ear. He put his foot down and looked up at her with wide, brown eyes. Eyes that were excited, but not expectant. Eager, but patient.

"Well," Jasmine said with a smile, patting him on the head, "it's only 12:41."

"So?" Luffy asked, cocking his head.

"So," Jasmine added, "it only takes me fifteen minutes to get to the Nook. There's no reason to leave until quarter to one."

"There's nothing wrong with being early," Luffy pointed out.

"And there's nothing wrong with being exactly on time!" she replied. "Don't try and push me, mister. I know your angle. You think if we set off early, we'll be able to do a lap around the commons."

"Walking is fun," said Luffy.

"Walking. Right."

He cocked his head again. "What do you mean?"

Jasmine laughed. "We both know all you want to do is pee on that big old oak tree."

"It smelled wrong the last time we were there," Luffy replied in a defensive tone. "I still have that smell stuck in my nose. I need to get rid of it."

"Well, we'll swing by after my shift. How does that sound?"

Luffy barked once, wagging his tail to show that her suggestion was perfectly fine by him.

And then they waited. In the silence, as a foghorn blared somewhere out at sea and echoed eerily through the town, Jasmine experienced a moment of realization. It was not normal, by any definition of the word, to be able to talk to your dog. Sure, every dog knew a few words in the language of their human masters. Walk, food, bath, dish, et cetera. Speak, shake, sit, roll over. Play dead. But what she and Luffy had went far beyond that. And it was only with him. She could talk to Luffy, and Luffy could talk to her... but she had no such connection with any other canine.

When she was younger, when she first found Luffy stranded on the beach, she had thought she was a freak. Some kind of mutated creature that would never fit in to society. Sometimes she still felt that way, like she wasn't quite human. These thoughts were the only thing she ever hid from Luffy. He was the innocent party in all this. He was nothing but a faithful friend, a confidant, someone who was always there for her. He did not deserve her burdens, as much as she knew he would carry them gladly if only to save her a shred of pain.

"Okay," she said, glancing at her watch. "Let's go."

Luffy pranced along behind her, bouncing excitedly. He knew the way. He could run there on his own with a blindfold on. But he knew the rules. It was a two-way bargain. He didn't need to wear a leash, as long as he stayed close and let her lead.

"It's a nice day," Luffy remarked, sniffing at her hand.
"Yeah, real nice," she replied sarcastically. "Forty-nine degrees. Wind blowing at about, I dunno, twelve miles an hour. Pretty much the perfect conditions for sailing, come to think of it."

"I bet Mrs. Carter will be going out onto the water today. Maybe we can tag along. I love sailing. I love it!"

"Sure thing, Luffy. We'll just walk right up to the mayor's wife and ask if she wouldn't mind us tagging along on her latest expedition. I'm sure she'd love to host the weird dog girl and her pet for a day."

"What do you mean? I'm sure she thinks we're cool," Luffy said.

"I doubt it. She likes Barry, remember?"

That took the wind out of Luffy's sails, so to speak. At the mention of Barry Brock's name, he growled deep in his throat.

"Down, boy," Jasmine said. "We're not going to hurt Barry. Right?"

"Right," Luffy agreed. "I love people. Most of them."

The rest of the walk passed in silence. Luffy moved out a foot to her right, sniffing grass in every lawn they passed. When it was time to cross a street, he tucked in by her side again for a brief moment. Not that there was much need. This time of day, the Cove was silent and dead. They might as well have been the last two remaining residents in a ghost town.