Excerpt from “Henry, The Dog with a Nose for News” Book 2: The Phantom Pooch
“Happy Halloween, Henry!” says John, examining my Ghost Dog costume with pride. The white sheet covering most of my body had had scissors taken to its edges to make it look extra-spooky. The two holes for my eyes made it possible for me to see out of the sheet, and I was wearing a glow-in-the-dark collar under it for maximum spookiness. “Betcha you never though of a ghost dog costume, didja?”
Oh, if only you knew I think, pondering our Phantom Pooch situation. Halloween had sprung up out of nowhere, but it was not a major setback. It was only one day, after all.
As John went upstairs to change into his human-sized ghost costume (not just a white sheet with torn-up edges, eyeholes, and a glowing collar), I shifted my hind paw so it wouldn’t snag on the sheet. I wondered what all my friends were going as.
Suddenly, a noise from behind me caused me to turn around. “Ah!” I shrieked, “Oh, It’s just you.” Baxter had crept up behind me in his mummy costume (his body wrapped in tissue paper and some strands dangling off, with a fake rope chain attached to his foot for some reason), and was now laughing his snout off.
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A few minutes later, we stepped out of the house and into the evening. Nighttime hadn’t arrived yet, it would in maybe an hour or so (how should I know, I’m not a fortune-teller).
As we made our way downtown, we passed several dogs I hadn’t met, and some I had. A large malamute with a Viking Helmet and a fake suit of chainmail passed us, along with a Basset Hound dressed in a mini trench coat and detective’s hat. He looked like he was doing his best to keep the fake pipe in his mouth. We also passed Sherman, whose kilt and classic Scottish beret made it clear he wanted to represent his namesake country. As we neared the town square, the sound of he did the MASH, the monster mash! reached our ears. Six humans in zombie costumes stood on a stage inside the gazebo, playing instruments. Two held guitars, one played the drums, one sang at the front of the stage with a microphone stand, and two at the back sang what I presumed was “Backup.” “Hey! Henry!” Sherman trotted up to us, tail wagging, “There’s a costume contest for pets over there! Fred already entered me, do you want to?”
“OK!” I said, “Come on, Sherman. Let’s get John to enter us.” We raced over to John, and I pawed his leg. “What is it, Henry?” he said, then noticed the REGISTER HERE FOR PET COSTUME CONTEST sign. “Oh!” he exclaimed, “You want me to enter you? OK!”
As John went over to the booth to enter us, we discussed all the different costumes we had seen. When John came back, he gave me and Henry free Dog Biscuits shaped like pumpkins. They tasted DELICIOUS!