The last thing Old dog wanted was to be left at home for he was old and dag-nab it anyhow they knew he liked to go, even if he did have to sleep in the back while they did their thing. At least he was there to guard the car and to see what was going on.

It had to be her fault, that skinny yellow-headed woman who took the nice smiling fat lady's place when the smiling lady, his mistress was no more. But the new one had spoken and his master had listened.

Old dog watched them get into the yellow truck and drive off. He turned, went back into the house and crawled up in her chair, and shoot, so it would mess up her cushions. Then he went back outside and stretched out in the sun to take a nap.

It wasn't long before Old dog was dreaming, dreaming of he and his master chasing a thousand cottontail rabbits. And in his dream Old dog was so fast he would chase down a cottontail, grab them by the neck and then take them back to his master, who was standing on his crutches admiring Old dog's work. Boy was he having a ball when something woke him up, rudely woke him up.

"I say Old dog you do look comfortable there in the sun," a rather high-pitched voice said as it woke him.

Old dog stirred, stretched, then scratched and looked around to see Rufus red fox, a casual friend standing in the yard. "Hey there Rufus, come join me and catch some warm zzzzzs." Old dog then stood and walked over to Rufus.

"You know Old dog, it is a good thing you are not a watch dog for I could have stolen the whole house. Look, the back door is open." Rufus laid the rat he was carrying on the ground so he could talk with Old dog.

Old dog saw the open door, thought of the blonde headed woman, and his eyes rose up. "Hey Rufus, you like cherry pie?" Old dog had hit on an idea.

"Cherry pie? Oh my, I haven't had any cherry pie in a dog's age, oops, excuse the metaphor. "Yes I love cherry pie."

Old dog shook himself. "Well come on, I know where there is a fresh cherry pie, just baked and not yet cool which we can partake of."

"You sick Old dog? Something wrong?" Rufus and Old dog got along but he had never invited him in for pie.

"No Rufus. You want cherry pie or not?" Old dog headed for the house with Rufus in tow, straight through the open door and into the kitchen they went.

"Old dog, oooh I smell something good, man does it smell good." Rufus's mouth began to water. Rufus began to look around for he had never been in a house before.

"Rufus hop up on that counter, step in the pie, and walk around on the counter top. Then push it off the counter so it will land in the floor and then lets eat."

Rufus stepped into the pie, which was oh so warm on his paws, then he trotted across the cabinet top then back to the pie. Stepped into the pie again, then trotted around again. "Pie coming down, " Rufus yelled as he put his nose against the pie and pushed it to the edge of the counter. The pie sort of balanced there on the edge of the counter then it went flop and fell to the floor, splattering about.

"Chow time," Old dog yelled as he took a big piece of pie and began to eat it.

Rufus immediately jumped down and grabbed a smaller piece and the two normal enemies just grinned and ate cherry pie.

When they were about full Old dog looked about, grinned, and spoke to Rufus. "Would you jump back up on the cabinet and push that white milk carton and the canister off into the floor?"

"What you doing Old dog, what are you doing anyway? Man usually any critter come around that is OK, but look at the house and you would tear them up. Now you want me to sort of wreck the kitchen? What is with it?" Rufus stopped and looked down at his friend.

Old dog grinned a big wide grin and explained how the old mistress had passed on and the new one didn't care for him and didn't want him to go with his master when he went someplace.

Rufus understood. When the two were finished their stomachs were full of cherry pie and the kitchen was a big mess. "Guess I had better get my rat and head home afore the wife thinks I have run off on her," Rufus said, and he headed for the door and the field where he had left his rat.

"Thanks Rufus, thanks a lot, maybe next time there will be a beef roast or something else for a picnic." Old dog watched Rufus go up through the field and under the fence.

Old dog went to the shed, slid through the doggie door, and then went over to the corner, where he lay down and started to gnaw on an old bone. And was he content and smug, for he had shown her.

When the yellow pickup pulled into the driveway, the man immediately said, "You left the door open."

"I did not, it must have been that dog!" the blonde lady replied. "You think I would leave a door open?"

"Well, I came out through the garage and you came out through the back door and the back porch and Old dog cannot open the back door, or hasn't before." The man turned off the engine, set the parking brake, and climbed out.

The blonde lady grabbed two bags and quickly went into the house. In a second there was: "What the heck, what the heck!"

The man ran into the house and saw the mess.

"That dog did this, I know it. That dog did this just to spite me for not letting him go with us. That dog!"

The man looked and saw red paw prints on the counter top and on the floor was the milk carton and sugar, with red paw prints all through them. Then he noticed the pie was about all gone, eaten up.

"Honey, look at the size of these paw prints. They are not Old dog's, these look like some other critter's paw prints. You should not have left the pie there on the counter with the milk and sugar, and the door open. You must be more careful for this is the seventh time you have left the back door open."

The lady swelled up, rose up on her toes, put her hands on her hips and snarled, "I did not! I did not leave the door open. You must have left the milk on the counter. I know the sugar canister was back in its place right here." She quickly took her coat off and started to clean up the mess, while the man beat a hasty retreat to the shed. He knew not to laugh at her now.

As the man opened the shed door he saw Old dog get up and trot over to meet him. "Hi there old fellow, seems we experienced a raid by a critter, a critter ate the wife's cherry pie and pushed the milk and sugar canister off the cabinet." He knelt and began to rub Old dog and scratch behind his ears. The man was also thinking that if Old dog had been in the yellow truck, it would not have been broken into and the radio and the two packages stolen from the back. For nobody came near the truck when Old dog was on guar duty.

The man felt something sticky, looked down, grinned and pulled out his red bandanna, "I had better wipe this Cherry pie off your paws before you get blamed."

He carefully wiped Old dog's paws and made sure there were no tell tale signs left. The man walked over to the old rocking chair, sat down, took out his pipe, filled it, tamped it and then lit it and leisurely smoked a nice slow bowl.

Old dog lay at his feet.

The quietness was rudely broken by, "Honey. Honey come here please, honey I need you." And the blonde haired lady stuck her head into the shed.

"Coming," the man replied as he rose and started into the house. "Come on Old dog," he said and they headed into the house. "What you need?" He ambled into the house with Old dog right behind.

"Look at this, come here and look at this," the blonde lady said from the living room.

"What? What is it?" the man asked as he rushed into the living room. Standing there pointing to the messed up chair, her chair, her messed up chair, the lady was in tears for this was her special chair.

"He did this, he got in my chair and messed it up, look at the mess, look at this mess," she said. The man walked over, bent down and looked at the hair, immediately biting his lip.

It isn't dog hair, this is skunk hair. Lordy, lordy are we lucky Old dog was in the shed or we would have a skunky house." He did recognize the dog hair and knew the dog had done it in spite.

"I did not leave the door open and it was that dog. That dog!" She grabbed the broom and swung it at Old dog. "And I caused someone to steal the radio and my packages, those two dresses, those two pretty dresses, the only two dresses like of that style and colors, that would fit me?"

The man moved quickly, grabbing the broom from his wife's hands. But Old dog had sensed the broom and had gotten out of the way. The man looked at the blond haired lady, his wife, "Sit down! Sit down right now and be quiet!"

And she did. And as she sat, tears, small tears, started to form in the corner of each eye and to slowly roll down her cheek. "I am sorry, maybe Old dog didn't do it." She was generating the tears, and normally when she showed a tear the man would do anything to appease her. "But it has just been such a tense day, such a horrible day. I make you a pie, your favorite, and it is eaten by some wild thing. And my kitchen, my sparkling clean kitchen, was messed up. Then the truck was broken into and my new dresses stolen, the dresses I planned to wear to the concert Friday night, and the other one to the reception on Sunday." She put her hands over her eyes and bawled.

The man just stood there and waited, a minute, two minutes, five and finally she stopped the crying. Then he spoke. "First off, I care for you, care for you a lot, but ever since we married you have shown disdain for Old dog. Now Old dog is my pet and he has been around for a long time and doesn't have many years left. He is my dog and he will go with me when I go and whereever I go. The truck was broken into and those things stolen because of me. It was my fault. I had gotten so used to the Old dog being in the truck that I just forgot, and did not think about someone taking stuff. We never locked any vehicle and I know that is remiss of me. That is my fault.

"I'm sorry," the blonde headed woman said as she turned the tear generator on and begin the crying routine at full tilt.

This should have mellowed the man out.

Old dog stood just around the corner, where he could hear, but not be subjected to the wrath of the blonde lady.

The man continued, in a slow low and clear voice, never once raising his voice. "You are a sloppy housekeeper. You leave things out all the time and you leave doors open all the time. And you know I hate that kind of thing. But I have tried to learn to live with it, hoping you would improve. That I can live with, but you have just committed a cardinal sin."

The woman cringed for she had never seen him this way.

"You tried to hit the dog, you lashed out and tried to hurt something who has done you no harm. I saw you kick the cat the other day, but I kept my mouth closed. I don't like it, I do not like it one bit and I will not stand for it. Do you understand? If you must vent your anger, vent it on me for I can defend myself and can fight back, but never again strike any animal!"

"You don't love me. You love that Old dog and that fat old cat more than you love me . . . . . ." Then she jumped up and ran into their bedroom and closed the door.

The man put his gloves on and went out and started to chop wood. Needless to say Old dog was close behind. The man went into the barn, turned the Oldies radio station on and began to chop wood. He did not stop till it was dark, then he went inside. And a funny thing happened after that. The blonde haired lady started to keep the house cleaner and neater, and did not cry or gripe, and shucks she was even nice to old dog and closed the doors. But they knew better than to sit in her chair or get on any furniture, including the yellow cat.

About a week or so later Old dog was sunning himself when Rufus came by. "Hey Old dog, I surely could use some pie, old buddy old friend."

Old dog jumped up and said, "Shhhhhhhhhhh, don't say it out loud, don't say anything for she might hear and I will be in trouble.

The two went up by the barn and Old dog told Rufus what had happened and thanked Rufus profusely for his help. He told of the change in the blonde haired lady. And when he was done, Rufus shook his head, laughed, and said, "And they call me a wily old fox?"

Old dog grinned, then looked a bit sheepish as he said, "And they say they lead a dog's life."

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