♫Yummy yummy yummy♫
♫I got steak in my tummy♫
♫And I think I could eat yours too♫

High Stakes

Chapter 7

    A few minutes later, our meals arrived. Everything appeared to be prepared to perfection: mashed potatoes loaded with sour cream and cheese, carrots sautéed in butter and brown sugar, and, yes oh yes, the steaks. Pure unadulterated beefy perfection. I inhaled deeply then attacked my dinner with gusto.
    Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
    I couldn’t be sure if anything shady was going on behind the scenes, but at that moment I didn’t care. I was Miss Steak’s new number one fan.

Chapter 8

    I was busy licking my plate when I happened to notice Morgan’s dinner was nearly untouched. I looked up to find her staring at me with her lip slightly curled up on one side.
    “Don’t you like your food?” I asked incredulously.
    “Somehow I really don’t feel like eating anymore,” she replied. I was proud of her for staying in character. There was no way anyone would believe she was anything but a Labrador if she ate all that meat at once.
    “I’m going to ask to meet the chef,” I told her in a quiet voice. “By the way, if you’re not going to eat that, I could.”
    She pushed her plate over to me and muttered something about “disgusting nummy noises” which made me wonder if perhaps she really was better off not eating in public anyway.
    When Samantha came to take our plates, I asked her to give my compliments to the chef. “If he’s not too busy at the moment, I’d love to meet him and tell him myself,” I added. As she headed off to the kitchen, I noticed Morgan looking askance at some of the other waitresses. “What’s the matter?” I asked.
    “Maybe it’s just me, but don’t you think that besides Matches and Samantha the other girls here all look like a bunch of flewsies?” she whispered.
    I glanced around inconspicuously. I could see a tall black Labrador, a dark Cairn terrier and Sadie, the hostess. Miss Matches had passed by once or twice but had either not recognized us in our disguises or, if she had been tipped off to our presence by Samantha, had avoided making eye contact. I didn’t think anything seemed unusual, but I did notice that Sadie, the lab and the terrier seemed to avoid Miss Matches and Samantha. About that time, Samantha returned to our table with the chef following behind, wiping his paws on a clean white apron. He was a brindle PitKita and he introduced himself as Bullet.
    “I’m so honored to meet you,” I said, pumping his proffered paw. “It’s just not every day I get to meet a chef with such talent. You have a gift with beef.”
    Bullet looked a little embarrassed. Miss Matches happened to be walking past our table with a tray of desserts and she heard my compliments. She beamed and gave him a wink. So this was the boyfriend she had mentioned. I decided I needed to get to know Bullet a little better. I was already working on a plan.