{"id":257397,"date":"2026-07-13T15:29:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T12:29:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1kitap1.com\/en\/cry-woof-sarah-hines-stephens\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T15:29:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T12:29:31","slug":"cry-woof-sarah-hines-stephens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1kitap1.com\/en\/cry-woof-sarah-hines-stephens\/","title":{"rendered":"Cry Woof – Sarah Hines Stephens"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cShe won\u2019t be here forever.\u201d \u201cI know, honey. But if she can\u2019t get along with the pets we\u2019re committed to \u2026 the permanent members of our family \u2026\u201d I looked at Dodge and Bananas on the floor, still tussling happily. The little cat was getting along just fine with some of the permanent family members. Dodge stopped playing long enough to give me a look of pure puppy concern. We couldn\u2019t let Bananas get booted out. \u201cMaybe we can just keep the cats separated for a little while.\u201d<\/p>\n

I tried not to sound beggy. \u201cUntil we can find Bananas her own family.\u201d Dad looked at the furry pair on the kitchen floor, too, and relented, but barely. He didn\u2019t actually say Bananas could stay; he just didn\u2019t say she had to leave right that second. Which meant I had a new job to add to my list: find Bananas a home, quick!<\/p>\n

And while I was at it I could try to help the rest of Madame\u2019s cats, too. After dinner Sam and Furball went upstairs while I cleaned up the kitchen and made a mental to-do list. On the top of the list: find out what Mom thought about the whole \u201cslipped and fell\u201d theory. A detective had to trust her instincts, and mine were screaming that something wasn\u2019t right. I needed to find out what Mom\u2019s were telling her.<\/p>\n

It was a well-known fact in our family that Mom watched TV when she didn\u2019t want to think. So when I found her in front of the television watching a home makeover show I immediately wondered what she didn\u2019t want to think about. I knew better than to blurt out a bunch of questions, though. Mom had barely recovered from the stress of being suspended and was still dealing with the craziness of catching up at work. I was going to have to go in slow.<\/p>\n

I gave Dodge a look he understood. He walked over and put his square head on Mom\u2019s knee, gazing up at her with his liquid chocolate eyes. She pet him limply, and Bananas (once she saw that this human was okay in Dodge\u2019s book) got close enough to attack Mom\u2019s shoelace. Mom made room for me on the couch, and we both sat and stared at the screen.<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t sure what to say.<\/p>\n

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The doors to the Bellport Police Station whooshed open, and Dodge and I stepped inside. \u201cHey, guys,\u201d Deb Brubaker, the dark-haired dispatcher, greeted from behind her desk. \u201cWhat\u2019s doing?\u201d Dodge let out a little bark in response \u2014 a friendly hello \u2014 and I reached down to give him a pat. \u201cWe just thought we\u2019d drop by, say hi to Mom,\u201d I replied with a shrug, even though that wasn\u2019t exactly true. Dodge and I didn\u2019t ever just \u201cdrop by,\u201d especially at the station. We were detectives \u2014 always alert, always looking for clues, always sniffing out information.<\/p>\n

Especially Dodge. My ninety-pound German shepherd had a nose for trouble, and could sniff out anything. Deb nodded and we moved into the big open room with the cubicles, heading for Mom\u2019s office. Mom was chief of the Bellport police force, the boss of everyone in the station. She used to be Dodge\u2019s boss, too, before he lost his job.<\/p>\n

My partner wasn\u2019t just any dog \u2014 he was a trained K-9. He\u2019d served on the Bellport force for several years, and his first partner was one of the best cops in the unit, my uncle Mark. But about a year ago a deadly on-the-job explosion killed my uncle. He was gone, just like that. And so was half of Dodge\u2019s hearing, and his job.<\/p>\n

My poor pooch went from the top of the heap to the bottom \u2014 partnerless, homeless, jobless. Ka-boom! The only silver lining was that those nightmarish events led Dodge to me. When we lost Uncle Mark, my whole family sort of fell apart. Nobody knew what to do or how to be.<\/p>\n

Then Dodge came to live with us, and little by little, we got better. We kept going. I can\u2019t speak for every Sullivan, but Dodge definitely saved me. When he moved in he gave me a reason to get up in the morning. He gave me his friendship. His trust. His loyalty. His love. Not to mention the fact that he seriously improved my detective skills. Just remembering losing Uncle Mark was awful, and made my hand automatically drop into Dodge\u2019s fur for comfort.<\/p>\n

Sensing that my thoughts were wandering (reading my mind was a thing he just did), Dodge nosed my palm.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.<\/em><\/p>\n

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