MEET HOBIE
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Name: Hobie
Breed: Mutt of the canine universe
Primary Novel Master: The Sherburne Inn
In The Novel: Hobie is the amalgamation of the stray dog. Living on the patio of the Sherburne Inn and surviving off the kindness and scraps of others. However, there's something unexplainable about Hobie when the other dogs are in his presence- a sixth sense karma that helps bring a presence of peace, communication and when necessary , action. But the real secret of Hobie is that he is the book's only fictional main canine with a fascinating genesis as explained below.
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MASTER'S FORUM
 Kathy Sweet on Hobie
Hi Tom,
I was just reading the Sherburne paper and I saw where you were looking for information on the dogs of the 70's.
I moved to Smyrna in 1974. I started dating Hobie Sweet and we moved in together after a while. He owned the dog Sam at the time and he and his son lived alone for quite some time on Route 80, it was the old Wright farm.
I guess Sam though I was an intruder at the time. He probably sensed I was really not a dog person. I am a cat person but I was nice to Sam.
He would just take off and go where ever. I would get calls from people to come and go get Sam all the time. Each time I would have to go further to get him. This kept up every day until I saw he was "living" at the Sherburne Inn. He would hang out on the steps of the Sherburne Inn and I told Hobie, "I guess he has moved up in the world. He is where he wants to be and I will no longer go get him". He wandered Sherburne for a long time and I assume he eventually died.
Sam was a comic. He had a great personality but a mind of his own. He was friendly to me and all, but just didn't want to stay after I moved in. He was a short haired brown dog. Nothing special to look at but a real character.
I miss old Sam and Hobie and I and the kids talk about him every so often. I hope he is in Doggie Heaven and happy. He probably found a hotel up there to stay at. I think he had the life of Reilly after he left us.
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Tom's Notes:
When Kathy wrote me she did not know the premise of the book was to be recounted from Doggie Heaven.
And it gets more interesting...
I emailed Kathy and told her I was not familiar with her dog Sam. Since there was already a Sam in the book, I offered to make a fictional dog on her behalf named Hobie who hung out at the Inn. A while later when Mark submitted his information, you'll notice he referred to Sugar's original owner calling him Sam. I still didn't put the pieces together until I had a phone conversation with Mark and he mentioned Sugar originating in Smyrna. Then it hit me... Kathy's Sam, who I dubbed Hobie, is actually Sugar.
So, Kathy Sweet responds to my ad assuming that she can make a small contribution to my book and she ends up finding the history of her boyfriend's long lost dog after all these years. Pretty neat!
And I end up getting an integral character, Hobie, out of it all.
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Kathy sent me the below reading. She said it reminded her of me.
~DEATH~
WHAT A WONDERFUL WAY TO EXPLAIN IT !!!!!
A sick man turned to his doctor,
as he was preparing to leave the examination room and said,
"Doctor, I am afraid to die.
Tell me what lies on the other side."
Very quietly, the doctor said, "I don't know."
"You don't know?
You, a Christian man, do not know what is on the other side?"
The doctor was holding the handle of the door;
on the other side came a sound of scratching and whining,
and as he opened the door,
a dog sprang into the room
and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.
Turning to the patient, the doctor said,
"Did you notice my dog?
He's never been in this room before
He didn't know what was inside.
He knew nothing except that his master was here,
and when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.
I know little of what is on the other side of death,
but I do know one thing...
I know my Master is there and that is enough."
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