Grave Undertaking (25 page)
“It’s from your mom and me,” she said.
I turned to Mother, and she pulled a sheet of legal paper from her pocket. “You thought we wouldn’t know,” she said. “I found your wish list stuck in the magazine.”
She read aloud, “Christmas. Bird dog. Want more than anything.” She winked at me. “And that last part’s even underlined.”
I didn’t know what she was talking about, and then it hit me. She had the list of notes I’d jotted down during my first conversation with Ted Sandiford of Hoffman Enterprises. The self-described bird dog who needed to close a deal by Christmas and who told me he’d wanted to run his family’s funeral home more than anything.
I started laughing and couldn’t stop. Everyone joined in, thinking I was surprised and delighted that my wish had been discovered. Susan handed me the carton. A wet black nose nudged the lid aside. Puppy breath rose into my face.
Scrambling for traction on the smooth cardboard, a yellow lab no more than eight weeks old looked up and yipped at his new master. It was love at first sight.
“Thank you,” I said, and leaned over the box to give Susan a kiss.
“I had to get the puppy out of the house early,” said Tommy Lee. “Samantha’s fallen in love with it. She doesn’t know I’ve gone back and got this little guy’s sister from the litter for her. I’m guaranteed to be a hero for at least a few hours today.”
I set the box on the floor and the puppy immediately tipped it over and escaped. He waddled with hind legs outracing his front ones until he ran into my father’s shoe. Dad reached down and stroked his head. Then he looked up with the grin of, well, a kid on Christmas morning.
“You have to name him,” said Mom.
“Oh, he already has a name,” I said.
I whistled.
Democrat ran to me.
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