little of the food as long as you remain still and silent, understand?"

"Okay," nodded Comet enthusiastically. Somehow Ewan had the faint feeling that Comet understood neither of the words, but there was no time for explanation. And so, without further delay, the two entered the alleyway.

Mirage was very surprised to see Ewan bringing along a yearling Border Collie to their meal. "Ewan, who’s the kid?" she asked as she stared at Comet narrowing her eyes slightly as she always did when she met a dog she did not know.

"Sorry Mirage," said Ewan. "I had to bring him with me. He’s the new cadet on the force, Comet. Comet, this is my mate Mirage."

"Wow," Comet blurted, not taking his eyes off Mirage. "You’re hot."

Ewan was absolutely livid with this comment. "COMET!" he shouted. "What on earth is wrong with you?! Is that how you treat someone else’s mate? You should be ashamed of yourself!"

As demeaning as Comet’s little comment might have been, Mirage couldn’t help but smile at the pup. "Well now," she said firmly but not harshly, "aren’t you a little pistol?"

"Pistol?!" said Ewan still fuming at Comet. "Try machine gun! He has absolutely no manners and further more," he raged until Mirage shot him a glance that softly told him to give him a break.

"Ewan," she said. "You’ve got to get back to work soon. All I want is a quiet meal with you. We might as well make the best of the situation." When Mirage was right, she was right. Ewan said nothing more and sat down by the makeshift table that Mirage had prepared. On the table was a large dog bowl of assorted meats that Mirage probably swiped from dumpsters and the police station. Ewan never knew how she did it, but Mirage was always one who could get what she wanted.

"Now that’s much better," she said sitting herself down. Comet came to join the two but refrained at first when he saw the look that Ewan gave him, but Mirage gave Ewan a look of her own and he took his eyes of Comet who sat down beside the two. For a while nobody spoke and nobody ate, except for Comet who was already stuffing his face as year old pups that are growing tend to do. Ewan was about to reprimand him, but Mirage beat him too it and gave Comet a look that was not severe, but had enough authority behind it that told him to take smaller bites. The meal resumed as silent as ever.

At last Ewan decided to break the awkward silence. "So, Mirage," he said. "Have you heard anything new lately?" Ewan knew that Mirage was always aware of everything around town. She would never call herself that, but Mirage was an enormous nose and extremely stealthy about it. She was so good at finding things out, that Ewan often used her as his personnel informant to get the low down on criminal activity.

"Ewan, I got to tell you something," she said leaning into the table while simultaneously giving Comet a look that said 'private business, go away kid.' When Comet saw that Mirage did not want him to hear what she had to say he picked himself up and walked out of the alley. "Okay," she said as soon as he was gone. "I was walking down by the cannery yesterday and I noticed one of the workers acting kind of funny."

"What kind of funny?" asked Ewan. "You mean like 'ha-ha' funny or 'something ain’t right here' funny?"

"The second one," she said. "As he was unloading boxes, there was just something about him. He had a look. I’ve been on the streets before and I know when people are up to something. He had that look about him."

Ewan honestly did not know what to think about what Mirage had just told him. Although Mirage would never lie to him, she did not always have one hundred percent of the facts. One time she warned Ewan that one of the dogs had said that a man was taking a gun to school and Ewan burst into the classroom, creating quite a ruckus and finding no man with a gun. He did however find Freddy Mann, a third grader with a cork gun that he had brought for show and tell. "Okay Mirage," he said deciding to humor her. "I’ll take a look into it."

Mirage sensed that Ewan did not fully believe her. Her ears slicked back slightly. "I’m serious Ewan, I really think something is going on down there."

"I’m not saying I don’t believe you," he said. "It’s just sometimes you don’t always have your facts down one hundred percent."

"What’s that supposed to mean?" said Mirage, her temper beginning to rise.

"Oh nothing," said Ewan. It was just then he realized that he needed to get back to work. "I gotta go," he said kissing Mirage on the forehead (which she absolutely hated) and sprinted out of the alley, calling back as he went, "I love you! I’ll see you later this evening!"

.................................................................................................................................................

Comet was running around in the street everywhere they went. Ewan tried to get him to walk like he did, but like other things with Comet, gave up when he realized the pup was essentially un-teachable. As he ran around Comet pretended he was fighting crooks and gang members and would occasionally start kicking or barking at a random post or wall. He was just rounding the corner of a building when he saw something that made him stand stock still. On his face was written a look of awe and fear.

"Comet, you can’t be running off like this," called Ewan searching for him. "Come on I have to go home." To his surprise Ewan found Comet hugging the side of a building, trying to get a peek around the corner. "Alright Comet, what are you doing now?" he asked him, figuring this could only mean trouble.

Comet immediately shushed Ewan. "Not so loud," he whispered. "Is she still there?" he asked Ewan.

Not knowing who "she" was Ewan took a look around the corner to find a small group of year old females chatting with each other. One of them was a stunning, yellow haired Border collie who Ewan guessed was who Comet was talking about. "You mean her?" he asked raising an eyebrow toward the pup.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Okay here’s my plan."

Ewan did not like the sound of this. "Oh boy," he groaned. "Not another plan," he said, still aching from Comet’s last plan.

"This one is good," Comet assured him, "You walk toward that alley past the girls and then call my name and I’ll pass by while you watch to see if she notices me."

"I’ve got a better plan," said Ewan. "Just talk to her."

"What are you, crazy?!" said Comet. "I can’t do that."

"And why not?" questioned Ewan.

Comet appeared to be searching for an answer that did not make him look bad. "I don’t know," he settled for. "I just can’t."

"You’re afraid to talk to her aren’t you?" asked Ewan remembering a time in his life when he got all wobbly in the legs every time he tried to talk to a female.

"No," said Comet very defensively. "I just want to see if she’s interested in me before I go wasting my time talking to her."

"I’m sure she’d be very interested in you," reasoned Ewan, "like a pathologist with a harmful strain of bacteria under her microscope."

"Please just do this," Comet begged shamelessly, "I promise to do whatever you say if you help me."

Comet had set the bait. Nothing appealed to Ewan more right there than having the power to tell Comet what to do. "Alright, fine," Ewan finally replied, "but as soon as we’re through with this you are going to go straight home and not leave until I come get you tomorrow understand?" Comet nodded and Ewan walked down the street passed the girls (who didn’t pay him any attention whatsoever). He felt stupid for doing this, but he figured it was worth it to get Comet out of his fur for a little while. "Comet," he called out to the other side. "Will you come here for a minute?"

When Comet rounded the corner Ewan saw the funniest thing he had seen in a long time. Comet was not running or even walking. He was strutting, and with each step he thrust out his chest a little trying his best to make himself seem bigger. His fur had been slicked back with his paws and on his face he bore a smile that was so genuinely ridiculous that had any of the girls actually seen him they would have broke down laughing immediately. As Comet walked past them, Ewan watched to see if the female Border collie noticed him... and as he expected, she never even looked towards the poor pup. At last Comet reached Ewan and quickly dove into the alley that Ewan was waiting by.

"Well?" asked Comet anxiously, "Did she see me?"

"No," said Ewan. "And that’s probably for the better. I saw you and in my opinion you looked like an imbecile."

"What?" Comet wilted, dissapointed but apparently convinced that his plan still had legitimacy of working. "You must not have called my name loud enough. Come on let’s do it again!"

Ewan would have protested to that, but to his luck the girls all got up and begin to walk toward the alley he and Comet were in. Actually 'toward' wasn't quite the right word. They were walking past the alley that they were in, but Comet thought they were coming toward him-- so he did the only reasonable thing in his mind left to do. He jumped into a nearby dumpster and hid until they passed by. "Are they gone?" he asked peaking over the edge of the dumpster.

Ewan rolled his eyes at the pup. "Yes. Now get out of there before you get any dirtier than you already are."

"Hello what’s this?" came a voice, entering the alleyway. "Trying to get rid of your assignment already I see," said Orde who had just got back from his work with Rex.

"Captain Orde," said Comet, "can I ask you a question?"

"You’re going to ask it anyway, aren’t you?" asked the captain dryly.

"Captain Orde, what's love?"

"What? You’re asking him what love is?" asked Ewan incredulously.

"What’s that supposed to mean?" demanded Orde.

"Oh nothing,