11 June, 2008

Puppy Dog and Tail

In “Fiddlers”, the last of Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct novels, Detective Andy Parker tells Detective Ollie Weeks a story about a little puppy dog walking across the railroad tracks:

“He is a little white puppy dog, and this train comes along, and the wheels run over his tail, and he loses the end of his tail. And he’s very said about this. So he puts his head down on the tracks and he begins crying his heart out, and not paying any attention. And just then another train comes along, and runs him over again, cutting off his head this time. You know the moral of that story, Ollie?”

“No, what’s the moral?”

“Never lose your head over a piece of tail.”