Preface

This book written in simple English prose with the fullest intention of entertaining the reader. However, do not fear to pick up a Webster's Dictionary; it is an incredibly fascinating book, a journey in itself. Read The Adventures of Buttons with your parents, share it, and enjoy.

There are a very few animals not native to Oklahoma. I have strayed into the world of fantasy fiction with the introduction of Sara, but I still like to go adventuring, too. All of the dogs who join Buttons I have known personally. They were and remain grand, in my memories.

tio,

RWlL

Ssserek’s End

The small, black figure negotiated the last of the back porch steps in a controlled fall, executing a forward roll in her haste to reach the fence. Winding her way through spring-fresh daffodils, she reached her goal only to stop and cautiously look back. No one was to be seen, and she bent down, seeking the small hole in the soft dirt she had begun the day before. With hardly a glance, she began to dig, bits and pieces of dirt flying furiously backwards along her rotund body. It took but a moment for her to dig a hole big enough to permit her to push her long-tapered snout outside the confines of the wooden fence.

She worked her way forward and glanced at both sides before emerging into the field that seemed to go forever all about her.

She snorted, a quiet, soft snort to be sure, but it cleared her nose which worked quickly to pick any strange or mysterious scents. Finding none, she bound forward. Free at last, Buttons was again into the field, seeking new horizons and distant adventure.

Her stout legs rapidly carried her forward along the barely perceptible paths of the rabbits and mice that inhabited the stretch of fence along her masters’ backyard. The day was bright, the sky clear of living creatures. Only distant cirrus clouds passed far overhead. Buttons paid no attention to them for her nose was close to the ground, sniffing to the left and then to the right. Small gouts of dust swirled into the air with each snort. Strange and alluring scents filled her nose with the passage of the early morning’s activities. How she would have liked to investigate each of them, but her Jon waited in his room while she greeted the day for the first time. Jonnie was wrestling with a new shirt for school, and was gathering his books and paraphernalia because the school bus would be along in minutes. Buttons has no other thought than the odors and drifting breezes that brought so much information to her.

She continued her race through the brown thatch of grasses that reached above her shoulders. Her pace was fast and her passage swift. Where she went made no difference for she was seeking whatever the field had to offer for fun and adventure.

The field sloped gradually from southwest to northeast toward the old and rusting fence of the graveyard which lay partially within the field. A tall line of ancient oaks split the graveyard into an ancient portion and newer sector. The heavy branches of the oaks protected the greater portion of the graveyard and provided homes for innumerable birds and four-legged creatures. These latter were Button’s goal this late morning. But for the moment, she was content just frolicking along. Her world was in her nose, and the many new and enticing odors that reached her keen, though young, senses totally blinded her to the large sinuous form before her.

The rope-like body was large, even for its kind. Button’s headlong rush was quickly detected and the creature’s passage through the tall, dry grass slowed but rather in anticipation or curiosity was not evident.

Buttons, of course, paid no attention. She gamboled along at her ground-eating pace totally oblivious to the fate that awaited her. Her passage was abruptly halted as she bowled into the form before her. A loud grunt greeted her as she unceremoniously sat back on her haunches.

“Wow,” she exclaimed as she looked at her roadblock. “Boy, are you big!” Moving forward, she peered over the large, round back. “Hey, you’re even shorter than me.” As she moved toward the head that towered above her, her nose was sniffing along the ground, examining the newcomer more closely than many had in the past. “Hey, where’s your feet? I can’t find them. I have four, you see.” Buttons rolled over on her back to the amazement of her new acquaintance. Her forelimbs