“Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog”: : Reggie and Bob Receive Nobel Prize for Literature! Dillie Makes Scotland Proud! Why all These Calls From Nicole Kidman? Our Invite to Camp David: Chapter Thirty Nine (39)

Bob is on fire with his novel “Reggie The Egyptian Rescue Dog”. It is on the number one position for novels on the New York Times Best Seller list for 32 weeks in a row. Additionally he has signed a huge deal with Big House Publishers to convert his internet published novels “Life at Megacorp”, “Virus # 26” and “Mutantism on the March” into hardcopy novels. He has been offered options by Big House Publishers for an additional three novels. And the Hollywood studios are approaching him about converting his novels into films. Quite frankly it is getting out of control and my sense is Bob wants a simpler life of walking about the neighbourhood with Dillie and I and writing yet another novel but his fame is catching up with his previously unpublished fiction and he is heading to the stratosphere in riches and fame. And why is Nicole Kidman phoning Bob on a regular basis?

In this rush of fame and fortune Bob has been notified he has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for “Reggie The Egyptian Rescue Dog” for narrowing the divide between Christians and Muslims primarily due to me a Muslim dog living happily in a Christian world where love and security unite the world. And me, Reggie, has been specifically invited to the awards ceremony to be awarded same prize. A human and a dog co-winner of a Nobel Prize!

Imagine all this fame and impetus towards world peace sparked by me trying to eat a few morsels of food from a Rottenwhiler‘s bowl. Fate plays a strange role in our life doesn’t it? Thank goodness our nice walled home in the Bridle Path has big gates and a security team protecting us as there are cameras. There are journalists from all over the world wanting to speak to Bob and take a picture of me. Not even Drake’s mansion has been mobbed like this.

Bob repurposes his tuxedo and I get an extra special grooming and off we all go in our newly purchased Embraer private jet to Stockholm for the awards ceremony. There are more dogs than humans on the plane. Dillie the Westie is mellow and so supportive. He gives me the confidence to get through the awards ceremony by saying I am and will always be a dog and loved in mute fashion by so many dogs all over the world. Dillie is so wise and calm he relaxes me with his worldly insight.

Ollie sniffs thoroughly both inside and outside the airplane for explosives. Good to go! The Mookster has combed his intelligence experts for potential threats. None! Kit Kat is reviewing diagrams the grounds and interior of the palace where the award will be given. Penny is in the hotel lobby discretely hiding behind a potted plant watching comings and goings.

We enjoy the long flight to Stockholm and the music of Gordon Lightfoot calms all of us. We arrive at 9 a.m. the day before the award ceremony. Bob and Fay take all us dogs for a long walk in this beautiful city of Stockholm before throngs of people that laugh and clap as we proudly swagger down the streets,  Before we fall into an exhausted sleep back at the hotel Bob puts on the “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” by Mr. Gordon Lightfoot to calm us down before we sleep. I love that song but in my bones I feel a sense of dread for no apparent reason!

We wake up refreshed after such a long trip. After breakfast Dillie the Westie and the security team go out for a long walk in Stockholm with many strange sights and smells and a few local dogs come to greet us strange Canadians.

When we return to the hotel after our walk the press is waiting for us. I am big news globally as the only dog to ever receive a Nobel Prize. As I look out in the crowd I long to see Anwar my former owner but I know he is The Land Beyond with Karim but I look nonetheless. I feel that they are with me to share my special moment. It is OUR MOMENT. We go to a fancy Nobel laureate lunch and a rehearsal. In the evening the King of Sweden will give out the awards. Dillie the Westie and I receive a bath and a fluff out in the afternoon after the lunch. We got a little muddy on our morning walk. Our security team is hard at work at the awards venue.

A big limousine arrives and whisks us the royal palace for the ceremony. I see Fay in the room holding Dillie. There is silence as the King walks into the room. Bob picks me up and we walk up to the King and Bob bows and I give a bark of respect and the entire room breaks up with laughter. The King ruffles my head and says,” Reggie you have taught the world a lesson in respect.” I have a shiny medal on my collar now and it is much bigger than my rabies vaccination tag!

We attend a press conference where Bob makes a statement, “The book ‘Reggie The Egyptian Rescue Dog’ was written by me with the help and inspiration of Reggie. After finishing each chapter I read it to him. If he agreed he would bark and if he disagreed he would growl. Each chapter you have read received a final bark of Reggie approval. I hope the book reaches many children and in a gentle and non didactic way creates a sense of respect for different cultures and religions.”

We have a grand banquet with the prize winners. Dillie the Westie and I have ground venison and rice. We meet many important and fascinating people. A winner from Scotland comes up to Dillie the Westie and says that Dillie is a wee Scot and has made Scotland proud! I am glad to see there are many people that want to see my best friend and mentor Dillie the Westie as he is also an important character in the book. That sweet dog has not an ounce of jealously in his old and wise body.

On our last day in Stockholm all of us are invited to a private lunch with the King and his grandchildren who want to meet and pet me and Dillie the Westie. Before we go to the airport Joe, I mean President Biden, calls us to congratulate Bob and I on our prize. President Biden tells Bob a secret and invites us all up to a place called Camp David in the summer. What is President Biden’s secret? Are we going camping with the President?

After our takeoff Bob tells us President Biden’s secret which is United States and Iran have reached a “nuclear deal” but I am not sure what that means. “Reggie The Egyptian Rescue Dog” said President Biden, has softened the heart of the Iranians.

RKS 2024 Wine: Château Castagnac from Fronsac

Fronsac, think Bordeaux. Think red wine. Think Merlot. Think of possible luxury at a discount price.

We try a Château Castagnac from a good year in Bordeaux, 2020. It is Merlot and aged one year in French oak.

The grapes were grown in a three-hectare herbicide free vineyard in clay-limestone soil near the town of Saint-Aignan. 25,000 bottles were produced.

Aroma: Soft and mellow if not lush. Full of plum with a thick fruity streak of cassis and blackberry. Classy.

Palate: Full bodied and stern. In its youth and certainly needs time to flesh out. There are ill mannered tannins out in the wine world and this is not one of them. One senses the fruit starting to emerge from the iron dome of tannins. Prediction here of a fruitier and softer wine over the next 6 years. Ready to open now but if you can wait until October 2024 do so. The longer you wait the softer and more fruit laden the wine will be. I noted after the wine had been opened for 24 hours there was a tiny seam of acidity which has me a bit concerned. I have noted when natural yeast is involved there is a higher risk of notable acidity.

Personality: I punch way above my price. Keep me aside for a few years and listen to your adoring guests praise you savvy.

Cellarbility: Drink by the end of 2029.

Food Match: Roast veal in a pesto crust.

Price: $24 CDN (Ontario).

RKS 2024 Wine Rating: 92/100. Jamessuckling.com 90.

(Château Castagnac 2020 AC Fronsac, Vignobles Coudert, Villegouge, France, 750 mL, 13.5%).

“Reggie The Egyptian Rescue Dog” : The Final Cut: Reggie Has Tea with Gordon Lightfoot and a Surprise for Bosco: Chapter Thirty Eight (38)

Bob, Fay, Dillie, Bosco and I were invited to tea at Mr. Gordon Lightfoot’s home. Mr. Gordon Lightfoot is a neighbour to Drake, Bob and Fay. Bob had purchased some Greek pastries at Serrano Bakery on Pape Avenue in Toronto to bring over to Mr. Gordon Lightfoot’s. Bob had also downloaded some of his music and it really is from a different era but I enjoy listening to it especially the song about the sinking of some ship the Emma Fitzgerald? I can’t excise that song out of my mind and keep humming it to myself.

Mr. Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian singer and guitar player, is a geezer but has a sparkle in his eyes and has taken a fancy to Bosco who is not so stinky as all of us dogs had a grooming and bath before teatime. Bosco jumped up on Mr. Gordon Lightfoot’s lap!

The humans had jasmine and oolong tea and Bob was so happy to have his favourite teas in a relaxing living room full of guitars. There were cucumber sandwiches and all matter of dainties for the humans. After our promotional film tour it was a joy to just relax and do nothing. We canines had oatmeal and chicken cookies. They were YUMMY! Unfortunately they gave Bosco gas. Just about all food gives that guy gas! Bosco has a stinky aura.

Mr. Gordon Lightfoot asked if we would like to hear a song and Fay said “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” which is the tune stuck in my head! Oh he played it on his guitar so beautifully I felt sad that so many men had died on that ship. I gave a couple of barks of appreciation after his performance. Mr. Gordon Lightfoot says he had received applause many times but clapping and not dog barks. He said thank you to me and said he would sing “If You Could Read My Mind”. That was a wonderful song too and I gave him another few barks.

Mr. Gordon Lightfoot was so happy I liked his songs he invited all of us to his upcoming concert at Massey Hall in Toronto. We would have back-stage passes, meet musicians and go to a big party afterwards.

Then Mr. Gordon Lightfoot dropped a bomb on us. He said with a sly smile on his face he was becoming more of a lonely old man and needed some company like perhaps a dog. I am a bit surprised when Fay asked Mr. Gordon Lightfoot if he would like Bosco as his own. Mr. Lightfoot looked shocked and accepted Fay’s offer.

You know Bosco was never really a member of our family. He retained his arrogance but not his bad manners. He also was a stinky dog and between you and me had a persistent farting problem. So that night we said good-bye to Bosco knowing he would do a great service to Mr. Gordon Lightfoot. They seemed to get along so well and we noted he seemed very happy and frisky when around Mr. Gordon Lightfoot. No longer was he a third fiddle but king of his castle plus he could visit us as we were next door and often out being taken for walks at the same time.  True to the Bosco character he never turned to us to say good-bye. It so happened that in the early 90’s Mr. Gordon Lightfoot was in a coma and lost his sense of smell so he won’t have to worry about that stinky Bosco.

Bob and Fay discussed the comment Mr. Gordon Lightfoot had said about being lonely so he became a regular guest over at our house and we’d often go for tea at his house. Mr. Lightfoot had a huge hit after “adopting” Bosco called “Dogs in Our Lives” and the lyrics included positive remarks about Bosco! There are rumours that Bob hears about a sequel to Disney’s “Reggie The Egyptian Rescue Dog” and Mr. Gordon Lightfoot’s new song would be a must.

RKS Literature: No Work For the Undocumented Latino in Los Angeles

“Later Cándido stood on streetcorner with two hundred other men while she shrank by his side. The talk was grim. There was a recession. There was no work. Too many had come up from the South, and if there was work for them all six years ago, now there were twenty men for every job and the bosses knew it and cut their wage by half. Men were starving. Their wives and children were starving. They’d do anything for work, any kind of work, and they’d take what the boss was paying and get down on their knees and thank him for it.”

“The Tortilla Curtain”, T.C. Boyle, Penguin 1996

RKS Literature: Understanding Caravans and the Sense of Entitlement

“The right to work, to have job, earn your daily bread and a roof over your head and a roof over your head. He was a criminal for daring to want it, daring to risk everything for the basic human necessities, and now even those were to be denied him. It stank. It did. These people, these norteamericanos: what gave them the right to all the riches of the world? He looked around at the bustle in the lot of the Italian market, white faces, high heels, business suits, the greedy eyes and the ravenous mouths. They lived in their glass palaces. With their gates, fences and security systems, they left half eaten lobsters and beefsteaks on their plates when the world was starving, spent enough to feed and clothe a whole country on their exercise equipment, their swimming pools and tennis courts and jogging shoes, and all of them, even the poorest had two cars. Where was the justice in that?”

“The Tortilla Curtain”, T.C. Boyle, Penguin Books 1996

Travels to a Different Time: Travels of My Mother: 17July1971: Othos, Karpathos, Greece: The Most Beautiful Greek Island Yet!

Dear Mother:

We have been on Karpathos for 9 days and in three more we sail for Crete. This island is the most beautiful Greek island yet. We met a Greek girl in town who invited us to a real Greek party. We went there and met a charming Greek couple my age. They asked us to visit them. They are very kind people and very thoughtful. The wife is so clean and a fabulous cook and would put any Canadian housewife to shame. We stayed with them for two days.

We leave for Crete tomorrow at 4 a.m. and the trip takes 6 hours. We will be beat when we arrive. You can go crazy with fruit in this country So much variety and so cheap. There are melons of every colour and shape. The Honeydews are so sweet and must be because they ripen in the sun.

I am still resisting smoking and it takes will power. I will have to take up smoking when I return to help dieting. There is too much good food here and fattening!

I am brown as I can’t escape the sun. The heat is dry and I have NO back trouble here at all. So glad to have a few months without pain. The houses here are $15 a month to rent. The are lovely, cool and clean. Food is cheap and swimming the best.

Wel this is all for now. We are going for a walk.

Love M

“Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog”: The Final Cut : Reggie’s Security Team on the Mend: International Repercussions of The Mexican Shuffle: Chapter Thirty Seven (37)

My prayers were answered. And the prayers of the citizens of Beamsville where Penny hails from too!

Penny clung to life hovering on the edge for three days. Bob, Fay and Penny’s mistress were by her bed 24 hours a day. Bob brought in a world leading veterinarian from Athens to provide the very best care. Penny pulled out of the hungry jaws of death 4 days after her crash. Poor Penny has lost hearing in her left ear.

A joint CSIS/FBI/CIA investigation of the crash concluded her Oodlechopper was brought down by a Russian Handheld Stalin 6000 hand rocket launcher. Shrapnel from the explosion had a butterfly shape unique to Russian missiles launched by the Stalin 6000. Tsar Putin denied any Russian involvement whatever than means.  Forensics identified the attackers as two Egyptians and a Somalian. “The Brothers of the Correct and Only Islam” proudly claimed responsibility. I said if that organization of misfits harmed any of our security team or our family they would pay the price. Consider a Reggie fatwah issued on the head of Mustafa Saddam head of the Brothers. Mustafa’s half brother Rohit was identified by Penny’s Oodlecopter camera transmitted to us before her crash.

    Rohit Saddam captured on Penny’s Oodlecopter

    The Government of Canada really had no country to blame aside from Russia. Egypt arrested the leadership of the “The Brothers of the Correct and Only Islam” who were residing in Egypt. Mustafa Saddam according to the CIA is residing in Afghanistan. The Mookster’s espionage contacts will no doubt give me an exact location in Afghanistan and I along with some of my team will be “visiting” for fatwah purposes.

    Kit Kat suffered a concussion and needed 12 stitches to his head. Ollie’s burns were minor and he was out of the animal hospital in a flash perhaps as he was overly flirtatious with his nursing staff. Ollie is a real charmer.

    Travels to a Different Time: Travels of My Mother: 23July1971: St. Nicholas, Crete, Greece: Greeks Fastidiously Clean

    Dear Andrew:

    The first thing we did when we arrived was to check the post office but there was no mail from you or Barbara. I went this morning to check again but no mail. I sure hope we hear from you before we leave here. Next stop will be Iraklion up the island. Rob and I went swimming in a large saltwater lagoon today just outside the hotel. It is used for swimming races with lanes. There is a high diving board.

    The hotel is lovely and new with a modern bathroom. With a breakfast included a double room is $3. Rob has gone spearfishing and I am on the balcony enjoying a cool breeze. I think I need a new bathing suit as a dog chewed its shoulders. I am sure you would love Greece. There are so many islands and all so cheap. In many islands we have lodged and eaten for $5 a day.

    The island of Karpathos was wonderful. Very quiet and only two couples sleeping on the beach. Our new hotel there was $1.20 a night. In Canada it would easily be $30. The Greeks are fabulously clean but do not use deodorant or disinfectant the latter not even used to clean hotels. Once we leave Crete we plan to go to Skopelos, Skiros, Mykonos and Thira then to Thessaloniki in Northern Greece.

    Good-bye Mum

    “Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog” : The Final Cut: Reggie’s Security Team Shines at a High Price: Penny in Critical Condition After The Mexican Shuffle: Chapter Thirty Six (36)

    Mr. Antonio shouts to us in lockdown that we are safe to leave. Such a tough man is shaken. We can see it in his face and hear it in his voice. There is a smell of explosives in the air. He is carrying Penny wrapped in a blood-soaked blanket and shouting at us to get her to the animal hospital. Drake’s security team comes rushing over whisking Penny away to the best animal hospital in Toronto. Kit Kat has a gash on his head and is bleeding profusely. This is so unreal and neither human nor dog can understand this.

    Mr. Antonio sits down and after a big swig of Vintage Port spills the beans.

    Mr. Antonio relates a story of the courage and bravery of Penny, Kit Kat and Ollie

    Penny in her Oodlecopter spotted a group of Mexicans in traditional outfits just down our Park Lane street. Ollie was sent to investigate. These men claimed they were in costume for a party. Plausible thought Ollie or at least until he detected the smell of explosives which was confirmed by noting one of the “Mexicans” with explosive devices taped to his body. No doubt Penny concluded this was a suicide mission by “The Brothers of the Correct and Only Islam”.

    Penny put her Oodlecopter into dive mode and fired her zucchini sized missiles at the “Mexicans” who returned fire crippling Penny’s Oodlecopter sending it crashing to the ground. Ollie nearby dragged Penny from the wreckage. Penny’s mission was successful as the “Mexicans”, who were not really Mexicans but terrorists, were all terminated with extreme prejudice. Ollie suffered minor burns and was rushed along with Penny and Kit Kat to the animal hospital.

    Investigators survey the wreckage of Penny’s Oodlecopter. How could a dog survive such a crash?

    I prayed like I have never prayed before. Matters are in Allah’s hands now.

    RCMP and Toronto Police Services confirmed that this was an attack by “The Brothers of the Correct and Only Islam”. The goal was to eliminate Bob and myself. But there was an additional objective of assassinating Drake as his music and videos were blasphemy.