“What?” said Katie that night over dinner, her eyes bulging. Her chicken tender froze halfway to her mouth, and a little blob of ketchup fell from it and landed on her pants. “But … why?”

Mom looked at Amy expectantly, as though to say, Well, I called it. Have fun explaining this one. Dad also looked to her, though he seemed more baffled than anything else.

“I just think he should have a forever home,” said Amy softly, staring into her dinner. “I mean, he’s not even our dog. He’s a stray.”

“But he’s our puppy now!” Katie protested. “We’ve had him for weeks!” She put the chicken tender back on her plate. Amy knew that was a bad sign—Katie loved chicken tenders and would eat as many as she could at any given time. Mom had made them tonight to hopefully ease the pain that Amy would cause when she floated the idea of giving Rover away. If Katie wasn’t hungry any longer, it meant she was really hurt.

“I know, sweetie, but Amy feels very strongly about this,” said Mom softly. “And she is right—we did just find him by the side of the road.”

Katie’s eyes glistened with tears, and her cheeks turned so red they were almost purple. “But he’s my friend,” she said, her mouth opening into a gummy, spitty grimace. “I love him so much.”

“Well, let’s calm down for a second,” said Dad, holding up his hands and obviously trying to do whatever it took to stop a full-on explosion. “I mean, Patricia, Doc Chevram gave Rover a clean bill of health. There’s no reason to worry about him being a stray. We’ve all had a pretty tense few days after what happened at the fair, so let’s not take it out on Rover.”

As if on cue, Rover trotted into the dining room. He looked up at Katie and gave a soft, concerned whine. Katie leaned over and threw her arms around his neck with a sob. Rover looked up at the rest of the family with big, confused puppy-dog eyes. Dad clucked his tongue and looked sadly at Amy.

“See?” said Dad. “He’s just settling in. It’s not his fault. Is it, big guy?”

Amy felt a surge of frustration, and before she could stop herself, she blurted out what came to her mind: “He’s just acting nice. There’s something wrong with him.”

“Amy, calm down,” said Mom.

“Why does he scare Stormy so much?” she said, caught up in the hot rush of her emotions. “He scares every animal he comes in contact with. Dad, at the vet, all the animals in the waiting room got upset when Rover showed up. He’s what made those rats freak out at the science fair.”

“Okay, Amy, that’s quite enough,” Dad warned.