Of Drinks and Dogs

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The following was overheard in the Irregulars’ common room, during a discussion between Takahashi, Lee and Randy. After a few attempts to get a a “real drink” from Bruce Wolf, Takahashi related the following tale)

There was, at one time, a lady that I was quite enamoured with and due to some opposition from her maternal grandfather we had complicated meeting arrangements.

We had found a location that suited our purpose and she was using the excuse of walking her Sapsaree (it's a dog, you know) to leave her family's house. One evening, in the autumn, it was becoming too cold to leave the animal outside so she brought it in with her.

Now Sapsaree are known for being gentle, playful, loyal and protective. This example of the breed was all except the first. I'll never know whether the hair had covered the beast's eyes, but it went for me as soon as it entered the room. Though only medium size, Sapsaree are quite strong. In my valiant efforts to fight the thing off without doing it a permanent injury I fear that I completely lost the lady's respect. It's not helped that the breed's nickname is "ghost hunting dog" perhaps she

believed me to be some kind of bakemono.

I only saw her once more after that, in completely different circumstances, and I fervently hope that she didn't recognise me.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Any further explanation was cut off by Takahashi’s passing out)