“Is it true your dog can talk?”

“Otto’s a canine of few words. I may need to interpret his speech for you.”

“Okay.”

Twenty mostly-quiet minutes later.

“I’m leaving.”

Otto spoke.

“There! Told you he could talk.”

“You call arf talking?”

“Yeah. He’s a German Shepherd. That’s short for arf-wiedersehen.”

John H. Dromey’s short stories have appeared in Mystery Magazine and numerous other publications.