“Hey mom, handled Marvin’s tomatoes again. Ate Big Mac with Stuffy Duck. Kids still flee faster than pies disappear. Love, your Sophie Girl.”

Listen to the story here.

Spencerville. It ain’t like anything you’ve seen before, and it’s all because of creatures like Sophie. A dame with paws as soft as cotton yet a glare that could scorch you faster than sunburn.

“Y’know, it’s a funny kind of place, Spencerville,” I tell myself, as I wander down the cheerful lanes of Pug Palace, past Fetch! Toys and Treats. But I didn’t just come for a browse. I had work to do.

After all, being the white English Bulldog, one of Sophie’s responsibilities was to ensure that Pup-Tastic Pizza located at Retriever River maintained their standards. No one dares to give Sophie a mouthful of cheesy heaven with a slice of… dare I say it…tomato.

“Marvin! Marvin!” Sophie barked, her voice echoing through Chow Down Chow Chow. “Get your act together! No tomatoes on the pie, got it?”

Poor Marvin, always on the receiving end of Sophie’s culinary critiques. Yet all of us had a slightly terrified respect for the bulldog who had sniffed her way to the top.

She was always out and about, patrolling places whether it was the Upper Collie Canyon or the doggy-delightful riverside. And if she wasn’t doing that, you’d find her at The Doggy Depot with her favorite Stuffed Duck, fighting it out in tug-of-war matches. She’s lost many, but she keeps going back, a real fighter, that one!

Between all that tug-of-war and pizza inspection, she chillingly avoids children and delivery-persons. It’s the look she gives them, and boop, they’re gone quicker than a Pup-Tastic pizza at dinner time. She’s a lady of discerning taste, no doubt, but we all know children and bellboys ain’t part of that menu.

The best part of the day? Ah, well, that would be when Sophie has extricated all tomatoes from sight. When she settles down with Stuffed Duck and a juicy Big Mac from the bustling Chow Down Chow Chow, filled with characters as colorful and quirky as herself.

She’s got allies, sure, like Lil Dot and Fat Russell. They all share the Spencerville spirit, a strange mix of stubborn bulldog tenacity, and a bit of bulldog pessimism too. And Angie, though she ain’t a bulldog, she’s just as steadfast as any of them.

Life here in Spencerville ain’t always biscuits and gravy, but with Sophie at the helm, it really is quite an exciting ride. At the end of the day, when I see her make her way back home to Pearl, that old familiar warmth fills the air. There’s something comforting about that, knowing that even here, in a town that’s a little topsy-turvy, some things remain the same.

The End.