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The Pets of Arroyo Loco

Did you know that forty percent of human-headed households in North America include non-human animals? It’s true! Of course an even larger percentage include unintentionally acquired non-human animals such as rodents, lizards, and a large variety of beetles, bugs, and other species we would prefer not to discuss today.

In addition to its quirky human characters, Arroyo Loco also boasts of several equally quirky non-human characters. Those of you who own paperback copies of any book in the Estela Nogales series can see the names and locations of the human characters on the map located at the front your book(s). Everyone else can see the map for Fire at Will’s on this web site by going to the Map tab. What about the non-human characters? They keep popping up in the stories, but who and where are they?

Shiner and Scout, of course we know are Estela’s border collies. We hear plenty about them and their antics in each story.

Mocha, Peaches, Custard, and Spumoni are Helen’s domestic cats. They usually join in the fun by escaping from Helen’s screened-in “catio” and wandering around on the hills.

Zero is Marla Weisel’s psychopathic basenji. We’re never quite sure what Marla sees in this dog, but in many ways they do make a matching pair.

Itches is Sunshine’s beagle. Beagles, as you may know, are prone to running away, usually after a prey animal such as a domestic cat recently escaped from its “catio”. Look for more about Itches in Missing Mom.

Tippy is a surprise addition to the community, also arriving in Missing Mom.

As you can see, Arroyo Loco is somewhat below average in its number of non-human neighborhood characters. I wonder which household will be next to acquire a non-human member, and what species it will be…