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Dog Days - Michael Pryor

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Michael Pryor says...
See how Dog Days begins

Cover blurb:
Phil is full of Great Ideas. Unfortunately, Phil's Great Ideas usually turn into Great Disasters. So when he decides to set up a dog walking service, the dogs end up walking him, then running away.
To help find the missing mutts, Phil and his mate Marco set up a pet detective agency. But as usual, things don't go according to plan ...

Michael Pryor says:
Dog Days is another Phil and Marco adventure. I like writing about these guys, because Phil's loony schemes usually end up in unexpected ways - and Marco is always there to pick up the pieces.
Phil is always looking for ways to make money, and I thought something innocent like walking dogs would be the perfect place for Phil to start. There are so many ways he could muck it up!

'Dog Days' begins:

I heard the howling a long way off. It was good howling, I had to admit. It sounded as if someone had taken the best howls from every horror movie, put them in a blender, and made a sort of Super Howl. It was the sort of noise that make's people's hair turn white. A howl like this would usually come from a haunted house or a ruined castle. The weather would always be windy, with a bit of rain and thunder, most likely. and the howl would usually mean madness and terror was on the way.

But since it was a sunny Saturday morning, I just shrugged, took another bite of my toast and went back to reading the newspaper.

The howling got louder, which made it hard to concentrate. Sometimes it almost sounded like words, then it would sound like growling.

I went to the front window and looked outside. I couldn't see anything, but the howling was still getting louder. I opened the door and went into the yard. Nothing there either. But something was thundering down the street towards me.

It was Phil. He was white-faced, wide-eyed and wailing. I could understand why he was wailing. It was because he was on rollerblades and he was being dragged along by about a dozen barking, yapping, slobbering dogs.

'Slow down!' he was yelling. 'Stoppit! Stoppit! Stoppit, you mongrels!'
I sighed as his screams drew closer. Because of all the stupid things I'd seen Phil do in the past, this didn't surprise me at all.