If life's a perspective then Theodora Dickinson's was rubbish. She didn't think herself much, not through any eyes-especially her own. Yes, yes, much of it wasn't her fault. Theodora, didn't exactly help, though: if you hear anything long enough you become it, and Dory had heard it all from Mother.
Her daughter was "tubby" and "mousy". She lacked "verve" and "nerve". Her Mother resented her for not being like her: a would-be social climber who could only land a vicar. Mrs. Vicar still climbed though, all the way to Grand Dame of the parish and no one, not her daughter or that "black mongrel" would stop her.
To survive, Dory (Sorry Dory if you must) made two friends. One which existed, only, in her head and the other her browbeaten dad. They played together, they dreamed together and they survived Mother together. But this mother would never stop, not until Sorry Dory became Dory again and she-and Dad-stood up to her.
She needed help. She knew it and her overburdened psyche did as well. So did the Universe, God, the Buddha or whomever had sent the annoying, intrusive and mysterious, Angus Fitzpaws. But Angus was only one mystical, debonair terrier and his Dory had many issues.
Like her job. Theodora didn't work, she laboured. She was a receptionist at a prestigious London law firm and hated it. Like any den of wig-wearing snakes, scheming abounded. Some schemed to get ahead, like the viper on stilettos, Valerie Gloucester. Others did so to do good: David, Dory's outspoken, yet real, friend. However, Higginson, the head of the firm, schemed for a change.
Dory also lacked a love life, but Angus would see to that. "All bitches deserve love and pups-if they want of course," he once said. To help make that possible, future litter a possibility Angus used all his intrusiveness and guile to set up a chance meeting with Dory's perfect dog-much to her chagrin.
Angus' biggest issue though was Dory herself. Somehow in her pitiful state she still found the stubbornness to keep digging her own hole. Try as he may, and he did many times, Dory refused to fight for herself. She refused to do the work, to heal, because she didn't want to. But Angus isn't the surrendering kind. The mystical him refused. One way or another he would get his Sorry Dory sorted.
