By Piper Bayard
Flat Spooky is a wannabe spook whose mother was a Russian Honey Trap and father was an extra in The Bourne Legacy. He came home with me from his birthplace in the back seat of a Ford Focus in San Francisco to be my Spook Consultant when Holmes is tied up with his other work.

Flat Spooky driving across the Bay Bridge into San Francisco from his birthplace on Treasure Island.
Once he got to our house, he immediately began practicing his stealth techniques on our dog, Parker. Parker was not amused. In fact, he ran out of the room before I could get a picture.
When Flat Spooky disappeared the other day, I finally located him curled up on the couch with his new best friend, Grumpy Cat, and one of his true love Allison Brennan’s books.
He was incredibly excited when I found him. . . .
Spooky: “Look! She has a plain dot at the end of almost every sentence. She’s thinking of me!”
Me: “That’s called punctuation. It’s in every book.”
Spooky: “But it’s in HER book!”
In an attempt to explain, we took a “look inside” at Allison’s new Lucy Kincaid novel, DEAD HEAT. It didn’t help. He was only more convinced of her adoration.
It was clear he needed to get out more. So I took him on a hike in the mountains to practice his forest stealth technique should he ever be called on to hunt down the Taliban or kidnapped adventure tourists who waste our military’s time and resources on a fairly regular basis by doing things that their mothers and common sense warned them not to do.
The first thing he did was run ahead on the trail and hide in this cactus to try and see if I would spot him. It wasn’t the best choice, as he quickly discovered that getting into cactus is much easier than getting out of cactus.
Spooky: “Will Allison still want me with all of these cactus prickles?”
Me: “She didn’t want you before.”
Spooky: “She does want me! You saw all of the dots. You can’t deny it!”
His next move was to hide in a tree to spy on the trail below us in his hopes that Allison would walk by.
Me: “She doesn’t live in this state.”
Spooky: “She travels.”
Then a wind kicked up. I took him home and put him to bed. A few hours later, I checked on him and discovered he had comforted himself with a bag of chocolates . . . My chocolates.
He is now in the dog house eagerly awaiting the arrival of DEAD HEAT. Parker is not amused.
How do you suggest I deal with this little guy’s crush on Allison Brennan?
I suppose I shouldn’t send him a signed copy of Dead Heat … it might get Flat Spooky’s hopes up! XOXO
He would definitely faint and probably insist on keeping it next to him on his pillow. But it would mean the world to him to see that you thought of him at the end of almost every sentence and proved it by signing your name. 🙂
The further adventures of Flat Spooky. I love it. 🙂 Take the poor guy to a book signing. And tell him to stop eating your chocolates. LOL.
I’m concerned: how many times his own bodyweight did he eat in chocolates? Judging by those wrappers it must be more than a few. An intervention might be needed.
An intervention, indeed, if I’m going to keep him out of the paper shredder. Grumpy Cat has already tried shoving him through there once. If Flat Spooky goes after Grumpy’s chocolate, I don’t know if I’ll be able to save him.
At least you’ll know if he’s been sneakily reading Alison’s books, via the chocolate smudges on the pages. 🙂
And I’ve found more than a few! 🙂
Perhaps if you took Flat Spooky to a prosthetist and got some artificial legs made for him, he might stand a chance (pardon the pun.) Maybe Allison might be attracted to a taller version of him. He might also need some prosthetic arms, since showing emotion in conversation is easier with hand gestures. Even if she still rejects him, she could soothingly hold his artificial hand while she did it. It might ease the pain.
I talked to him about that, Richard. He thinks that if he got prosthetics, he would look entirely too average. He thinks it’s far more impressive to go through life as a disembodied head. But he did ask me to thank you for your suggestion and concern. He does appreciate it. 🙂
With all the chocolate he’s eating, he’ll soon be called FAT Spooky!
LOL. Indeed. 🙂