Magpie and Piper stop in the hall outside the great room.

“What the heck is that racket?” asks Magpie.

“I got Dingo a skwunk.”

“A what?”

“A squeaky skunk,” she answers.

“Sounds like somebody’s murdering a family of bagpipes.”

They stick their heads in. Dingo shakes his new toy, flips it in the air, catches it, drops it, chases his tail and runs into an end table, growling furiously the whole time. Looks up at the young monks, shakes himself, and resumes the assault on Skwunk.

“I don’t care what the abbot thinks,” Magpie says, yelling over Piper’s hysterical giggling. “That mutt is insane.”