'Dog Logic' by Traci Mullins

“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.