Preface To The Stories
How
They
Came
To
Be
Tinker
Toy
was
my
joy.
My
world.
Living
alone,
it
was
just
the
two
of
us
for
over
nine
years.
When
you
live
with
a
willful,
headstrong
calico
for
that
long,
memories
are
bound
to
pile
up.
As
I
write
in
Her
Story,
Tinker
Toy
believed
she
was
a
tiny
human
who
just
couldn't
speak
English
very
well.
How
did
I
know
that?
Why,
she
told
me,
of
course.
I
wrote
Her
Story
to
try
to
get
her
life
down
in
black
and
white.
I
found
out
that
there's
not
enough
gigs
of
space
on
the
web
to
hold
all
of
those
memories.
Stories
of
things
she
would
do,
get
into,
get
out
of,
kept
going
'round
and
'round
in
my
head.
I
needed
to
get
them
out.
Down.
Whatever.
But
I
couldn't
write
them
using
her
name.
I
would
cry.
If
I
gave
the
stories
to
Runner
and
used
her
name
it
was
easier.
Then
the
memories
would
flow
down
to
the
keyboard
and
I
could
continue.
So,
that's
how
the
Adventures
of
Runner
started.
With
memories
of
Toy
put
to
Runner's
name
and
pictures.
They're
meant
to
be
simple.
Fast.
Sometimes
silly.
They
have
been
fun
to
write.
I
hope
they're
fun
to
read.
Thank
you,
Karel
This
collection
is
dedicated
to
the
memory
of
Tinker
Toy.
