'Dog Logic' by Traci Mullins

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“Where’s Peanut’s Christmas stocking?” my mom asked me. Mom had decorations strewn across every inch of the living room.

“I dunno.”

“Well, will you help me look for it?”

I gave her my best teenage groan and headed to the attic. The only thing I found was a box of tangled tree lights and stockings for our previous dachshunds, Peaches, Paisely, Pippi, Penny, and Percy, which only made my chest ache.

“Can’t find it,” I yelled, heading to my bedroom to pick up my backpack. There was Peanut, curled up in a bright red Christmas throw she’d dragged into her crate. Her stocking was hung on her kennel with care, and there was a bulge in the bottom. I reached in and found a ball, a small plush reindeer, and two pieces of rawhide, chewed furiously down to nubs.

And my mom says dogs are stupid.

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