In the last episode, I introduced you to DEA Agent Sa-li Ma and his five-year-old daughter Maggie Rose. One of my loyal readers noted that Chinese names are generally last name first but not so with Ma. His family “Americanized” most of their names three decades earlier. Thanks, Dick Raymond, for giving me a chance to explain the name. Oh, and by the way, I knew the original Sa-li Ma back at Stanford…

Now, it’s time to meet FBI Special Agent Charles “Uncle Griz” Griswell, Ma’s best friend and Maggie Rose’s “Uncle.” Griz stands 6’5″ tall, a Black man with a shaved head and a  goatee. Griz was Ma’s wife’s partner who brought him the news of her death. Griz and Ma are brothers under different colored skins. Married to Eleanor, “El,” they have three kids, More important, Griz has an FBI drug dog, a Belgian Malinois named Oscar. Maggie Rose and Oscar are best friends. As a drug dog Oscar will figure prominently in the task force. Here are a couple of samples of Uncle Griz to show off his personality.

They stopped at the bathrooms before riding the escalator to baggage claim. Maggie Rose continued her nonstop chatter until she reached the bottom. A dog barked. She stopped, found the source of the bark, and called, “Oscar!”

Shaking free of her father’s hand, she bolted across the lobby and threw her arms around the dog’s muscular neck. His tail scythed the air; his tongue washed her face. She only looked up at the sound of a deep voice. “Hi, Button.”

“Uncle Griz!”

The tall man swung her into the air. She squealed when he kissed her cheek.

“You tickle.”

“I missed you.”

“Daddy, why didn’t you tell me Uncle Griz and Oscar would be here?” She tightened her grip on Griz’s neck.

“Because I didn’t know.” Ma put out his hand and felt it enveloped in his friend’s. “You’re early.”

Griz set Maggie Rose on the floor. “Hey, I got your text just as El and I returned from vacation. Seemed like a good time to come out, get the lay of the land, and find a place to live.”

FBI Agent Charles Griswell, “Uncle Griz” to Maggie Rose, pounded Ma on the back.

“Oscar.” The Belgian Malinois planted a last kiss on Maggie Rose’s face before sitting beside Griz, waiting for his next command. “Good boy.”

The tail thumped.

Next: When Griz first enters Ma’s house, he struck by the fact that there isn’t a door alarm.

Ma unlocked the door and stepped aside for Maggie Rose and Oscar to thunder through the house.

Griz raised an eyebrow. “No alarm, huh?”

“Not yet.”

“Now I see why you wanted me to bring my James Bond kit.”

And the story is off and running. Ma and Griz will face a series of questions about drug- and gun-running which the task force will have to resolve.

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When I’m not writing and editing my fingers off, I’m reading. The last few books are Cheryl Head’s Time’s Undoing, Bradley Harper’s Queen’s Gambit, Geraldine Brooks’ Year of Wonders, and Garrett Graff’s The Devil Reached Toward the Sky. Yup, I read all over the place. I read after I finish writing and editing for the night, often in bed.

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Next edition: meeting Kjell Ryssdahl and his explosives dog, Zeus. Join me next time. Until then, add a comment and tell me what you’re reading.