“Reggie The Egyptian Rescue Dog” :Karim Tells Us About Himself

My name is Karim and I think I am about three years old. I was born in Egypt like Reggie. I am part Havanese and weigh the same as Reggie which is about 18 pounds.

I was bought in a marketplace by a family with a little girl. I forget their names. This may because I do not want to remember my life with that family. They fed me and gave me water. The little girl was nice to me in the beginning but the parents soon changed their mind about having me as a pet. I spent most of my young life in a crate even when the humans were around in their home. They ignored me except for that little girl who was too young to properly care for a dog. Although she was nice to me most of the time she pulled my tail really hard and that made me squeal in pain.

You might want to say I was ignored. Can you imagine a dog being locked in a crate almost all the time? I was sad and lonely and grew to really hate these humans. A dog likes to move around and be as free as a domesticated dog can be. These humans were cruel and the man smoked cigarettes a smell that really bothered me. His wife thought I was dirty and cursed at me for being a filthy creature. I was locked up so much I never made any friends with the neighbourhood dogs. In fact dogs began to frighten me.

Then a terrible disease like a plague hit Egypt and it was called COVID. The man and his wife owned a small local restaurant and because people were afraid of catching COVID they stopped eating out and the man and his wife had to close their restaurant. They became mean with me claiming I brought them bad luck and one day they took me far away from my home on a bus and left me in a very run-down part of Cairo. They returned home without me so I became a street dog.

Reggie has already told you what it was like for him. It was really the same for me. But instead of being frightened I felt free. I felt what I think a dog should feel like. But food and water was hard to come by. Like Reggie there were kind people that sometimes would give me food and water but a dog had to learn how to steal food to live to see tomorrow. The big dogs were not nice to us smaller dogs so I formed a pack of small tough dogs to defend ourselves and steal and hunt for food including rats.

After living on the streets for over a year my fur was matted and I was covered in flees. Like Reggie I was injured and found myself in an animal hospital. It was the same hospital Reggie was in. I was not bitten by another dog but hit by a motorcycle on purpose and for fun as when I lay on the street with a big gash on my scalp I heard laughing. Like Reggie a policeman took me to the animal hospital. It might have been the same good policeman. I am not one to pray to Allah like Reggie because Allah deserted me the moment I was born. Humans deserted me except for the kind policeman and animal doctors. I had much anger toward humans. The same Canadian rescue society that brought Reggie to Canada brought me there too to Toronto and I ended up with Bob and Fay.

Bob and Fay have shown me nothing but kindness so much so I began to trust them quickly and of course Reggie was in and out of my pack so I could trust him. But for dogs and humans I do not know I become frightened and lunge out at them. They have done nothing wrong to me so why am I so bad?

Reggie tells me it is post traumatic stress disorder caused by my past life. I don’t understand these complicated words but Reggie puts it another way saying I had such a terrible life in Egypt I lose my head and lunge as a way of forgetting those terrible times but a special person has been working with me every day for awhile now and I have just about stopped lunging except for humans on skateboards, rollerblades, scooters and joggers. Dillie and Reggie do the same thing so Fay and Bob are willing to live with a little bit of lunging.

Speaking of Dillie I think he is a spoilt dog that knows little about life and I snarled at him a few times when I arrived at Fay and Bob’s house but Reggie set me straight that was a stupid thing to do for a rescue dog. I recognized this and apologized to Dillie who understood enough about my past to forgive me. He is a true leader and from a tradition of great and fearless Scottish hunting dogs. He comes from a noble tradition but I am from the gutters of Cairo. Being street smart, I let Dillie be the leader of the pack. I also like him as he helps me understand humans that care and respect dogs. These are not humans I have much experience in dealing with.

I love my life in Canada and the snow is so much fun. Reggie and I love rollicking in the snow but Dillie prefers the warmth of inside the house. After two years on the street and homeless and hungry If I believed in Allah I would thank him. I think of my brothers and sisters in Egypt and hope they are well.

“Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog” :Dillie the Westie Speaks About Karim and Reggie: Together We are the Rat Pack! (A Children’s Story)

First of all, my name on my registration papers with the Canadian Kennel Club is Dylan Saunders. But I have at least a dozen nicknames such as Snookums, Poopie, Dillie, Dillykins, Lambchops and Sweetie are just a few but most often it is Dillie and that suits me fine.

I am older than Reggie and Karim. I am 13 years old and I sleep more than I used to and puppies were so much fun when I was a puppy but as an adult dog I find them too much to handle as they jump all over me and want to play. I just want some peace and quiet. I realize that my time on earth is getting shorter. I have seen and heard about many humans and dogs dying. We all must die one day and all we dogs and humans must accept that and make good however much time we have left. Reggie loves living for sure but he looks forward to meeting Anwar in the “world beyond” where all living creatures go when they die. There are people and dogs I want to see in that world but until I get there I wake up each day happy to be alive. My heart is not always regular and at the animal hospital Dr. Murray says I have a heart murmur but I don’t let that stop me from doing the things I love the most being eating, getting treats, playing with my toys and sleeping!

Bob and Fay gave me warning about Reggie and Karim so I would not be surprised. I was excited! Reggie is a very intelligent dog. He watches the news every night and loves BBC documentaries. He understands English better than me. But he is a very tough dog having lived on the streets of Cairo by himself and that was very difficult. I have had it easy for all my life with my bowl always filled with kibble, lots of cold drinking water, toys and the best of care and the most love a dog could ask for.

Reggie and Karim respect my territory and we never fight over food nor with each other. Reggie and Karim know what it is like on the streets and realize they must respect me and Bob and Fay or they think they may end up on the street again.

But I understand what it is like living with caring humans. I know how to read them. I know what their tone of voice means. Both Reggie and Karim are more used to living with mean humans than I am. They are beginning to trust humans and that may take time as they were kicked at, spat upon and cursed a good part of the time. I can help them understand how good humans treat dogs so they can feel safer and more trusting. Karim has been longer on the streets than Reggie and he trusts Bob Fay and I but had a problem with fear and aggression lunging against other humans and dogs he does not know but a trainer has helped him become less fearful.

I can say I loved it when Bob and Fay retired because they are around the house with me so I spent very little time alone. I mean there was a dog walker that took me out when they used to work but that’s not the same! Reggie and Karim keep me company when Bob and Fay leave the house so I enjoy having them with me. They are part of our new family! I also do my best to keep them out of trouble. I enjoy being the leader of the pack and that means Karim and Reggie respect me. I can teach them things and they can teach me things too. They are my brothers and I am so fortunate to have them as brothers. I also know I will probably die and go to the world beyond before they do so they can take care of Bob and Fay as they love me so much they will be so sad when I pass on. There will be Reggie and Karim to take care of them You think humans take care of dogs? They do but we take care of humans too . Love and respect goes both ways.

I love it when all three of us dogs go on walks and the humans all say what a handsome group of dogs we are. The dogs also know how tough Karim and Reggie can be so we get a lot of respect from them. I love that movie “Ocean’s Eleven”. We are the Rat Pack! I love Reggie and Karim and will do all I can to make their lives in Canada so much better than it was in Egypt.

RKS Wine: The Penniless Pensioner’s Engagement Party: Wine Planning: A Little Set-Back; The Opening Toast and THE BIG BLUFF?

As we recounted in an earlier story PP and Celine Serpent are engaged and I have a contract to select the wines for their engagement party. PP, seeing that Celine has paid my consulting fees, assumed she is paying for the wine but surprised him by saying the groom and groom to be should pick up the bar tab! I think PP must have turned as white as ash knowing his Panamanian bank accounts were still frozen so he pleads me keep it cheap!

We have a couple of things going for us. Firstly, the engagement party reception will be held outside and it most likely will be hot. A warm summer day has a couple of advantages. Guests will the thirsty and will quickly down a welcoming toast and the outside warm air will play havoc with their tastebuds so we can escape without Champagne and its attendant cost. I’m not sure where PP obtained the money to pay for the wines but he said it is an advance for a book he is writing “A Fall From Grace”. How much it is he did not say but he talks of it being made into a movie and he’ll be rolling in dough! But until then he is on a tight budget.

I say let’s try a couple and see which is best suited.

We start with an organic Prosecco in a very traditional flasked bottle. In addition to being made from 100% Glera grapes I think the bottle would appeal to many of Serpent’s friends who are a bit on the flaky and artistic side according to PP. Like most Proseccos it has a platinum colour. Aromas of pear, Granny Smith apples with a twist of pineapple. It has a certain crispness to it but far from the acidic rip of Extra Brut and Brut Champagnes. There is some tangerine, asparagus and kiwi on the palate. I think the guests will not be wowed but not disappointed. As PP knows Celine is a very wealthy lady and people make the assumption the wines she serves will reflect that wealth. Most won’t even dare think they are budget wines! The Big Bluff is what PP is hoping for.

(Villa Teresa Organic Prosecco, Non-Vintage, DOC Prosecco, V.T. SRL, Vittoria Veneto, Italy, $15.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 544056, 750 mL, 11%, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 89/100).

The other choice is a rosé Spumante called La Pìcia from Monte Del Frá, It has a delicate pink colour. On the nose raspberry, peach, strawberry and choke cherry. On the palate a nice crisp acidic bite but no where near the bite you get with Champagne. On the palate whipped cherry Jello…are you seasoned enough to remember that product from the 1960’s? But there is a light dusting of strawberries, ruby grapefruit and cranberries. All in all fruity and light. A blend of Corvina and Molinara.

(La Pìcia Spumante Extra Dry, Monte del Frá, Bardalino Chiaretto, DOC Chiaretto 2019, Monte del Frá, Somma Campagna, Italy, $21.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 19048, 12%, 750 mL, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 90/100).

PP is a bit pissed off with me as he thought he made it clear $16.00 a bottle was his limit. However due to his book advance he is willing to splurge. He likes the look of the Villa Teresa bottle which will appeal to Celine’s “flaky artistic friends” but he likes my thoughts on both wines tried so he chooses both. I tell him as long as they are served very chilled both are thirst quenching and in fact both have more character than many entry level Champagnes. Next what are we going to match the canapés with!

“Reggie The Egyptian Rescue Dog ” :Reggie’s First Christmas

Should a dog that prays to Allah and believes in his powers be celebrating Christmas? I am not so sure but my heart tells me that if we all accept some divine presence there is no reason a Muslim dog could not celebrate Christmas. Both Jesus and Allah helped people so why not celebrate their lives but again I am not a sophisticated religious type only a dog but if it makes your soul feel good I feel good about celebrating Christmas. Just in case in my morning prayers I tell Allah what I am celebrating and ask for forgiveness should I be wrong.

We dogs are up early and there will be no sleeping in on Christmas Day! Bob is surprised we are up so early but we go on an earlier than usual morning walk and it is snowing with big fluffy flakes that make our noses cold. All the dog walkers wish a “Merry Christmas” to each other.

We come back home and quickly have our morning kibble and a traditional Greek Christmas breakfast for Bob and Fay, Melomacaruna (honey cookies), corobedies (almond cookies with icing sugar) and baklava. We all get a few crumbs of each and Karim and I remember a few shopkeepers and bakers gave us stale Egyptian pastries that taste like these Greek pastries. Fay once had a grandmother that lived in Egypt for a few years. Do I have some cosmic connection to Fay? Fay and Bob have several cups of tea. Oh why are they so slow! We want to open our presents!

But wait, there are socks hanging over the fireplace with our names on each of them. Bob tells us Santa Claus was here when we were sleeping and left special presents in stockings. We are watchdogs so how could this be! We tear open the wrapped presents in the stockings. There are toys and balls in a pile when we are done. Then we all have a big box we tear open with our teeth. A new bed and a set of shiny bowls for kibble and water with our names on each. We are barking with excitement and Bob calms us down and we begin to play with our toys. We share them but the beds and bowls are our special property. We spent the morning playing with our toys and racing around the house careful not to knock the Christmas tree down. Dillie knocked it down when he was a silly puppy and it fell right on him. He laughs about it today but he tells us he was a very scared puppy even though he was not hurt.

Fay puts a big turkey in the oven. A turkey looks like a big chicken but it is stuffed with wonderful smelling stuffing. There are little cabbages called Brussel sprouts and carrots. Around noon there is a smell like Karim and I have never smelt before. Dillie tells us it is the smell of the turkey cooking. He also says we most likely will get a piece of turkey meat! Oh all of us can’t wait.

But there are Lexis, Mick and Drew coming for an early dinner. Lexis is the daughter of Fay and Bob and Drew is their son. Lexis and Mick have a little daughter Katie. But before they come over we are all going upstairs to watch what Bob calls a Christmas classic narrated by Burl Ives called “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”. It is beautiful story and we three dogs are joyed to see a deer as the hero of the story. Wow! He can fly and his nose glows red! Perhaps he is descended from some magical creature from the times of the pharaohs. And we all love Santa Claus and now know how we got our presents.

When you are a street dog there is no magic except perhaps how Karim and I arrived in Canada. This whole Christmas celebration is magic.

Lexis, Mick and Drew arrive and Bob has set a roaring fire. We greet our guests and snooze by the fire as the humans open their presents. In fact we get a present from Lexis and Mick and from Drew. Doggie peanut butter cupcakes. Fay says to us that we are getting a special Christmas meal so we will wait until New Year’s Eve for the peanut butter cupcakes.

The humans drink a bottle of something that goes pop when it is opened and they turn on the radio to listen to Christmas Carols that we dogs have been listening to for weeks and are growing tired of listening to.

Fay and Bob get the dinner ready and Bob makes a special sauce called gravy. He takes our Christmas present bowls and puts carrots, the little cabbages, mashed potatoes, carrots and a big piece of turkey meat in gravy. We all gobble it down and Karim and I feel like great Egyptian leaders of pharaoh times eating a feast fit for the pharaoh! The food makes us very sleepy and we fall asleep in our beds. Karim, is not used to eating so well so the poor guy farts up a storm. Dillie says it is the Brussel sprouts. We wake up as the guests leave and the cold air bathes us.

It seems like Bob and Fay spent a couple of hours cleaning up. After that we go to the bathroom outside in the backyard and go upstairs and watch a funny movie “Home Alone”. Karim laughs and Dillie is asleep on Bob’s lap. Karim and I try to get as many belly rubs as possible!

What a day! Bob takes us out for a walk in the crisp cold air in our new coats and after that humans and dogs go for a sleep. I have never been so happy. All a dog wants is to be cared for and loved and I am getting that in Canada. I wish a Merry Christmas to my original master Anwar and I think I hear a big laugh and Anwar saying, “I love you Reggie”.

“Mutantism on The March” :Chapter 92 “Terrorism and Swiss Cheese”

The mayor of Montreal, Droolpoop, was in a bit of a purple funk. While the world fair EXPO 67 was doing very well the prospect of the upcoming municipal elections was unnerving although he stood and excellent chance of retaining his position. The contractors filled their pockets and the Mafia had done very well selling tainted horse meat at Expo 67. Droolpoop was in the preliminary stages of planning for a bid for the upcoming summer Olympics. Thank goodness no one had vandalized the American Pavilion at Expo 67 because violence in Montreal would not bode well for any Olympic bid! However, some snoopy investigative journalists were braying like donkeys about tainted meat being sold at Expo 67 concessions and this could blow up into something nasty. Selling tuberculosis infected horse burgers could only taint the outstanding reputation of the city. Matters quickly worsened with criminal charges being laid against several prominent mobsters and in their defence they claimed Droolpoop had encouraged their nefarious acts. How ungrateful could they be. Droolpoop had no idea who sold the twenty aged Montreal police horses to Costello Weiner and Frank Company. Droolpoop claimed they were being sold to a well-known American restaurant chain in Nicaragua. Well at least something good could be said about the presence of organized crime. They were always there to bear the brunt of any criminal act!

Speaking of Nicaragua, Droolpoop’s bliss was shattered as on the closing day of Expo 67 the Nicaragua Pavilion at Expo 67 was firebombed. The mutants were immediately suspect as it was well known they had never tired of attacking the Sam Moza regime in Nicaragua and the guerilla fighters who were gnawing away at it. But the mutants were not so rash as to increase political repression on themselves. However they were delighted privately. The mutants could never pull off a firebombing given their small numbers in Montreal. They were too weak and the police could easily crush them. Squid had praised the virtues of revolutionary violence but mostly in the lesser developed world. Sophisticated spying technology was all too prevalent in industrialized countries hence terrorist acts were virtually useless.

In his book “Terrorism and Swiss Cheese” he had made his views known, “Terrorism and repression are bedfellows. Acts of terrorism invite blatant physical repression. In the developed world it is more acute where the apparatus of repression is highly developed and effective. Through legislation, often disguised as “emergency orders” countless people are liquidated or tossed into the brig. And the happy brainwashed majority will clap seeing these actions as a positive manifestation of law and order for the “public good”. Those who contest the abuse of democratic rights will be labelled as terrorists or criminals.

What a total farce. It is the high rates of literacy in the developed countries which stifle acts of revolutionary violence. The masses read the mass media piled high with mistruths. This is called free speech but observe carefully and see just how free it is. For example in the United States if only the public really knew what was happening in Vietnam. The Lie has been so perfected by the American military industrial complex and internalized by journalists forgive them for they do not know what they write and say. The masses can’t see the simple fact that the media is supported by advertisements. Those who advertise increase their business by exploiting people. When there is political opposition to their greed and frequent genocidal projects and products they are angered which is then by osmosis and economic realities transferred into the media they support. I emphasize this attitude need not be overt. When a terrorist group attacks this or that corporation or threatens their interests the press respond as all lackies must. Who wants to see the big bosses, those who pay their salaries, criticized?

We have a different situation in lesser developed areas of the world where literacy has not reached universal levels. Populations there are less susceptible to mass brainwashing. Daily doses of media repression float by unnoticed. It flows through the masses as if they were Swiss Cheese where the multitudes of holes contribute to the overall healthiness of the masses. The masses remain uncontaminated. In the lesser developed countries, the police and army are weak and can’t effectively repress. The political leaders would rather fatten their bank accounts and indulge in lavish overconsumption rather than buy more helicopters. Thus revolutionary violence, if organized, can function with more success although hundreds may be wiped out in clumsy governmental retaliatory raids. Only such highly professional and dedicated terrorists like Santa Claus or Tarzan can function in a developed country. Notice in developed countries Santa Claus relies on hit and run techniques. To stay in the vicinity of the attack would be suicide. He knows his enemies are equally professional and they outnumber him.

In the lesser developed countries people are often forced to fight their rulers as not to would mean liquidation. This is not the case in developed countries due to a higher standard of living. Here discontent and dissatisfaction is catered to due to a higher standard of living and through a highly developed and profitable industry of sex, drugs, alcohol, lotteries, rock n roll, film etc. This escapist industry is one of the most effective tools of repression invented. It makes one forget, a luxury which millions can’t afford in less developed countries.”

Poetry Break: “The Criminalization of Front-Line Workers”

The Criminalization of Front-Line Workers

Do you remember but a few months ago
Blind and unwavering praise for COVID front-line workers
poor exhausted heroes a wonderful political tool
For many a deceived fool
to maintain iron fisted COVID rule
Of the politico-medico elite
Martyrs and heroes
an example for all
but if they don’t get vaccinated they take the fall
to sit like bad boys and girls in some detention hall
and they don’t take the jab
suddenly the heroes become the politico-medico elite scab
ready to be terminated or harassed with regular COVID testing
oh how the political elite blessed
have become criminals
laying bare the politico-medico elite ruse
which rightfully should be metaphorically blown up with explosives and a fuse
and where is the media that took part in creating the front-line holy grail?
they have turned their backs on the shrine to front-line heroes they helped to create
more COVID fodder
to avoid the political totter

Robert K. Stephen

“Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog” :Reggie’s Naughty Christmas Eve (A Children’s Story)

Hello. Let me introduce myself. My name is Reggie and I am the luckiest and happiest dog in the world. Please read my story and find out why I am saying this.

Everything is settling down nicely with Bob, Fay, Dillie, Karim and REGGIE!

It is cold outside. Poor Karim is not used to the cold but Dillie, Karim and I have such beautiful winter coats when we swagger down the street on our walks I think the entire neighbourhood is admiring the FRIENDLY PACK of Scottish and Egyptian dogs. We feel with our leader Dillie The West Highland Terrier who is Bob and Fay’s 13 year old Westie we are so cool like the Rat Pack we all saw on Turner Classic Movies a few nights ago. Dillie is Sinatra, Karim Sammy Davis Junior and I am Dean Martin. We are so cool. We are on top of the world. Even Dillie has gained some energy as he keeps up with us and at 13 years old that’s great for him.

I am not sure what this Christmas is but it is very important for those who call themselves Christians. Their Allah seems to be called God and his son Jesus and it is time to celebrate his birth and everyone seems to give presents to each other on Christmas Day.

Fay and Bob have set up a wonderful smelling tree with lights and funny little shiny balls hanging on it. And there are shiny presents wrapped in wonderfully coloured paper. Karim and I are fascinated by the shiny boxes which I understand are opened on Christmas Day. Fay and Bob’s children will come over and they will have a special drink called Christmas punch and open presents with the fireplace crackling. We dogs are so excited! We are hoping to get a big piece of the big bird they eat called “turkey”.

Bob and Fay go out on Christmas Eve, which I think is the day before Christmas, to a neighbour’s house where they will drink something called wine and eat many special treats. We dogs love peanut butter as a treat but I am not sure what the humans eat for special occasions.

Dillie, Karim and I love to look at the Christmas tree with its lights and special shiny balls. We are all so happy and grateful that Allah or God has thrown us together. We see the shiny boxes and get a bit crazy and rip them up so the paper is all over the floor. Dillie joins us so we think it is OK. The living room is a mess like a terrorist bomber in Iraq had detonated a bomb. All of us enjoyed our fun but now are thinking we have done something wrong and hide.

Bob and Fay come back from their party. I hear Bob say “Holy Shit! What have these devils been up too?” Then Fay and Bob laugh and call our names softly and we come for pats on the head and belly rubs. It is the season for love and forgiving but as we go on our Christmas Eve walk Bob tells us we have been naughty but that it has been a long year for all of us and as his God forgives he will follow him and forgive us but he warns us don’t you ever do this again! Bob and Fay are so kind to us sometimes even when we are not good.

We all go to bed as Bob and Fay wrap up what we destroyed. But we are so very excited about Christmas Day. I tell Karim that Dillie has told me there are presents for dogs? I have never celebrated Christmas before so what presents could Karim and I receive as Cairo street dogs? We are used to hate and anger and are not used to be forgiven for the bad things we do so perhaps being forgiven and loved is the biggest present of Christmas.

Fay and Bob put out cookies and milk for a man called Santa Claus that will come down the chimney and give us presents. After our Christmas Eve walk Bob says that we have been so naughty and if we dare eat the cookies for Santa we are in big trouble. We poor Cairo street dogs are so happy about this Christmas we will not eat the cookies although early in the morning Dillie tells us we can eat the cookies very quietly and return to bed and we do enjoying the sweetness of these shortbread cookies. We are all so excited about tomorrow where Dillie says we will all receive toys. I drift off to sleep too tired to say my prayers but Anwar, my original owner, comes to me and says how much he loves me and how proud he is of me even if I have torn up the shiny boxes under the Christmas tree.

I feel in my heart that Allah or Bob and Fay’s God have a special and tender heart for all dogs. If it is Allah or a Christian god they seem to be the same to me. Love, forgiveness and compassion!

Poetry Break: Get Your Will Ready

Yes rely on the “scientists”
government lackies
urging two jabs and now it’s up to three
the scientific mind has saved us or has grossly miscalculated
blaming a new Delta variant not their incompetence in predicting it
well what does it matter
we idiots with the three shots may be shortly dead
with an untested in the long term vaccine
from a Trump Warp speed
will be underground and the daisies will be sprouting seed
and the unvaccinated bastards we so haughtily criticized
will be alive and grateful they never complied

Robert K. Stephen

RKS Wine: The Penniless Pensioner Low Life Wine Fraud and Wild Tuscan Boar Stew

PP phoned me up the other day in an excited mood. Looks like he has a new girlfriend Celine Serpent a wealthy widower living in Rosedale. You might want to say she invested a paltry $200,000 with Bernie Madoff and being on the upper end of the Ponzi scheme she doubled her money. He said if she gave him her entire fortune to invest she would be wealthy beyond all expectations. She disliked his cologne so she balked. Well some of her French aristocratic friends were fleeced.

PP extricated himself from Madoff criminal proceedings nearly bankrupting himself with all the fancy New York attorney fees. So once living in a swank penthouse, “The Lonsdale”, he is now living in humbler quarters figuring out the best way of tapping into his Panamanian bank accounts so he can regain his former lifestyle.

Celine has invited him (and his pajamas and toothbrush) to her Rosedale mansion for an Italian themed dinner including his favourite Wild Tuscan Boar Stew and Gnocchi with mushrooms. Although PP still has some of his handmade Harry Rosen suits and shoes his wine cellar was sold off. But he has an empty bottle of a Super Tuscan wine Sassicaia he can fill up and recork with some passable Tuscan juice thinking guests will be so tipsy from the Franciacorta bubbly they will be downing they won’t know the difference. He mentioned he bought a Tuscan Monte Antico on sale at the LCBO for $13.95 and would that be passable especially since his favourite wine critic James Suckling gave it a 90? Am I a compliance guy at a high-flying boiler-room securities dealer? Sometimes I feel I am being used!

As for aroma this wine has a bucketload of cheerful cherry a classic marker for Tuscan Sangiovese. Ample black cherry, blackberry and you can add that up and say it’s a pretty classy wine. Impressive palate with a solid core of sweet cherry and blackberry. Short finish. Smooth and impressive but it is too cheerful and sassy to be a brooding Sassicaia but get a room of COVID liberated individuals on a patio partying like its 1967 PP could be following in Rudy Kurniwan’s footsteps and pull it off. Naughty PP! I warn PP Celine could have some of her ruined French friends at the party and perhaps they plan to poison him although all criminal charges against him in the Madoff swindle were dropped. He hung up on me.

A good match for most tomato based Italian pasta sauces. If you believe in the stability and boredom of a “house wine concept” this might be for you.

PP phoned me a couple of days after the Rosedale party delighted he “pulled it off” and Celine had asked him to marry her! Could I be the wine advisor for their engagement party? I advised him his freebies had come to an end and he laughed saying it looked as if the Panamanian funds were going to rolling in. Finally some money will be rolling my way. My fee will be $25,000 for the engagement party. A cheque payable to RKS Wine Consulting was just couriered to me and signed by Ms. Serpent.

Monte Antico is 85% Sangiovese, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Merlot.

(Monte Antico Toscana IGT 2016, C. Santa Lucia, Pontedera, Italy, $ 13.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 69377, 750 mL, 13%, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 91/100).

“Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog” : Karim’s Little Lunging Problem(A Children’s Story)

Hello. Let me introduce myself. My name is Reggie and I am the luckiest and happiest dog in the world. Please read my story and find out why I am saying this.

If you are reading this you are human. Do you really know what it is like living the life of a cast-off dog on the streets of Cairo? No you don’t as you are not a dog. You would have to had led the life Karim and I lived in Cairo to understand what I think you humans refer to as “Mean Street”.

Please understand not all Egyptians hate dogs. There were many families in Cairo that had small dogs as pets but due to COVID-19 many Egyptians lost their jobs and any could no longer afford to pay for dog food or animal doctor bills so many of us cast-offs were a product of COVID-19. The lucky ones were accepted by animal shelters but many were just left off in a street far away from their home so they would not know how to return.

This was very cruel to dogs that relied on humans for love and protection. Many dogs became angry and mean against humans as they felt betrayed. Imagine being in a caring and loving home, like me, then poof you are a street dog surviving to live. Can you imagine the terror of being alone with animal control trying to shoot or poison you? Here in Canada they let you live and put you in a shelter. Allah help you if it is a kill shelter. In a kill shelter you are put to sleep forever if no one comes to adopt you but at least you have hope. Street dogs often have no hope.

Street dogs often loose their manners and forget their training. They poop and pee wherever they want. They fail to obey most commands from humans fearing it is a trap to grab and kill them. One day a group of teenagers were smoking hashish in a back alley and they held out a piece of chicken for me and my tummy was so empty it was hurting. As I walked over to the boys I heard a couple of them chanted in English “KILL”. Thankfully I understand English so I ran off. Street dogs learn not to trust humans as they are dangerous. But some humans were good humans and fed us and gave us water to drink. Most simply ignored us but we will never forget those that tried to kick us or hurt us. For many of us that stays trapped in our minds.

So we come to Canada with bad attitudes toward human beings. And a long trip on an airplane to a new country we know nothing about. Please don’t expect us to be like many happy Canadian dogs who are loved, protected and so well taken care of. I was on the street for what I think was close to a year and felt, angry, mistreated, abused, hated, threatened and most of all painfully unloved. Can you expect me to jump up and wag my tail and thank those who rescued and adopted me?

I told you before I saw a BBC documentary when I was with Anwar about British soldiers in Afghanistan who returned home with post traumatic stress disorder which they call PTSD because they keep reliving some of the horrific situations they were in. Yes I think many of us street dogs of Cairo suffered from PTSD. The longer a dog is on the street the more the chance of it developing PTSD. Me? I think my daily prayers to Allah made me strong and hopeful but do you remember that VERY STUPID MISTAKE I made of biting Bob on my first day with Bob and Fay. I was frightened of humans even though I knew Bob was a good human. Something in my past just made me do it but after I bit Bob my vision went gray and I saw Anwar’s spirit giving me a smile saying that he missed me so very much and that my prayers had been answered about being safe and being loved and that I was to go to Bob and nuzzle him and ask for a belly rub. Anwar said he would be watching me and guiding me in my new life and to trust and be nice to Bob, Fay and Dillie.

Karim was I think a few years older than I was and although a cute white Havanese he was on the street longer than me. I persuaded him to be nice to Bob, Fay and Dillie and he saw quickly how right I was. But there is a trainer that comes to Bob and Fay’s house a couple of days a week. She says Karim suffers from fear and aggression lunging meaning where he is in situations with strange people and dogs he might try and lunge at them although it is not anger or meanness that causes him to do this but just because his experiences on the streets of Cairo have taught him to be fearful of most humans and dogs.

Dillie, Bob and Fay’s West Highland Terrier and I lunge at joggers when they run too close to us, skateboarders, rollerbladers and sometimes big dogs but Fay and Bob put up with it because it does not happen often. Karim goes nuts with almost all dogs and humans he sees if he does not know them. The trainer left Bob and Fay a video how to make Karim more relaxed and part of the training indicates lots of liver treats and kind words with encouragement help. Dillie, Karim and I watch this video and laugh at ourselves for being so silly.

After three weeks of training Karim has relaxed so we can on our walks swaggering like a FRIENDLY dog pack which is both proud and free. Karim is on track! He has gone to the animal hospital and Dr. Furby laughs and says Karim, like me, is “fit as a fiddle”. Karim has found his forever home. Dillie has been so understanding of me and Karim. Without the support of this wise and kind dog we’d be back for adoption. Even Karim treats him as the leader of our pack. A Scottish dog and two Egyptian dogs. We are one big happy family. The cruel days of Egypt are fading away slowly for Karim and Reggie! All three of us dogs would love some goat bones. Do they eat goat in Canada?