Brain strained at the end of his leash, each step a struggle to get a little farther. Penelope was glad that he wasn’t a particularly big dog. It was hard enough to get him to go where she wanted as it was. If he weighed another twenty or thirty pounds, he’d be dragging her behind him. Lucky for her, he was the runt of the litter.

Finally she had had enough of the incessant tugging and lost her temper.

“Brain, stop it!” She shouted.

The golden retriever whimpered and looked back with such shame that Penelope immediately felt guilty. She patted her thigh and he bounded back to her.

She scratched his head. “I’m sorry, boy. I shouldn’t yell at you, you’re just a dog. I guess I’m worried about dad. He’s been gone too long.”

Brain barked and wagged his tail. Penelope recognized that he was trying to reassure her. Since Brain looked like so many other dogs, it was easy to forget that he was much smarter than the average dog, so smart that her dad had named him Brain.

“I wish I knew where Dad hid my iBook.”