Katie Tenney

"Dad, where's Fido?" Susie was home for the weekend, and was looking for her dog.

As a 24th birthday present, her boyfriend had given her a dog. His only condition was that he would name it whatever he wished.

The dog then received the name "Fido."

It was truly a hideous dog, but when Susie saw it shivering in the pound with sticks and leaves sticking out of its fur, she thought it was the most adorable thing she had ever seen.

Unfortunately, Fido was truly a stupid dog.

Fido had jumped out of Susie's second story apartment window twice (and been hurt because of it once), had thrown up in the car every time he had been in it without fail, and, the one time they left Fido in the care of someone else, Fido had gotten pregnant.

Two things had come out of that union—one, they learned that Fido was a girl (how they had missed it, no one knew), and two, that Collie and whatever breed Fido was did not make pretty puppies.

In the end, Susie was forced to move Fido and the puppies in with her parents.

This was one of her weekends home, and she was excited to see her dog again.

"Well," Jim, her father, began easily. "Fido and the puppies had to go to the farm."

"What farm?"

"The, uh, farm…you see, we couldn't keep Fido and her puppies here anymore—there wasn't enough room. So, we gave them to a nice farmer so that they could run and play whenever they wanted!!"

There was an incredibly mind-wrecking pause as Jim waited to see his daughter's reaction.

"Oh." Susie frowned. "Okay…I'm going to miss Fido, but I'm sure she's a lot happier on the farm!!"

Jim sighed in relief. She had bought it.

The rest of weekend was spent in joy, with no second thought about the fate of Fido.

 

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"What happened to Fido, mommy?"

It was over twenty years later, and Susie had married her boyfriend and had two children.

She was currently telling her kids stories about Fido, who had the stories memorized.

Her youngest—a daughter just about to turn 11—had asked the aforementioned question.

"Well, Fido and her puppies went to live on a farm." She answered.

Her son rolled his eyes. "A farm, mom?"

Susie was confused. "Yes."

Her daughter giggled. "Sure, mommy. Sure."

"What are you two talking about?"

"Mom, you can tell us that she died—we're old enough to know that." Her son answered indignantly.

"She didn't die—she went to live on a farm!"

Her children gasped. "You really thought that Fido went to live on a farm?!" they were stunned. How could she not know?!

Susie sat there in the driver's seat, unable to believe it. "Of…of course I knew, sweetie!"

"Wow, mom…" her daughter laughed.

"You had us going there for a minute…" her son could breathe again.

Susie laughed nervously.

Susie needed to call her mom.