Sarah Knight 
After 437 days without Otis, I whistled three notes beside a road six miles from home and a filthy orange cat suddenly lifted his head. My name is Dean Holloway. I’m 56, and I live outside Knoxville, Tennessee, with my wife, Marla. Otis had been our cat for almost nine years. He wasn’t fancy. Orange …
For almost three hours, I thought the scratching above my head was a loose strap. Then Derek looked up and told me to stop the truck. Not slow down. Stop. We were a little north of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, about 145 miles into a moving job that was supposed to end in Duluth before dinner. …
My father called at 11:47 p.m. and said, “Fig is dying, Lenora. But I don’t think he’s waiting for me.” I stared at my laptop. I was forty-two years old, living three hours away from the house where I grew up, and I had a presentation at eight the next morning. My father, Russell, was …
Three months after I buried Archie, I walked into the same shelter where I’d found him eight years earlier and nearly dropped what I was carrying. There was Archie. At least, for one stupid, impossible second, that’s what my brain told me. Same gray-and-white face. Same dark patch near one eye. Same broad chest and …
My cat started faking a limp the same week I couldn’t afford the treats she thought she was owed, and somehow, she knew exactly where I was breaking. Her name was Lila. She was a small white cat with one folded ear, a round belly, and the kind of face that made strangers say, “Aw, …
I heard the crying before I saw the kitten, and what my building planned to do made my stomach drop. It was almost 7:30 on a Thursday night, the kind of evening where everybody just wanted to get home, heat up leftovers, and forget the day ever happened. I was walking through the employee parking …
My nine-year-old son spent two years saving for one dog. Then, on the day he finally got one, he gave almost everything away. Tucker started asking for a dog when he was seven. Not once or twice. Every week. “Mom, I’ll feed him.” “Mom, I’ll walk him.” “Mom, I’ll clean up after him. Even the …
Eleven minutes after I gave Moxie a bath, I found him flat on his back in the mud, kicking his legs like he’d won the lottery. I just stood there on the back porch. “Moxie.” He froze. For half a second, I thought maybe he felt guilty. Then he rolled over and rubbed the other …
The dog had been tied to that tree so long he had stopped barking. But every time a car slowed down, he still stood up. That was what made me pull over. I was heading home after a long day fixing cabinets in a house outside Columbus. I was tired, hungry, and thinking about nothing …
I watched a one-eyed dog get passed over eleven times in less than two minutes. What broke me was watching him grab the same old ball for person number twelve. His name was Neron. I was 58 years old when I first saw him on my phone, sitting at my kitchen table with a cup …
Hank had been drunk for maybe three minutes when he challenged a laundry basket to a fight, missed it completely, and fell over backward. That was when I stopped laughing. My name is Vernon Pike. I’m fifty-five, divorced, and until that night, I would’ve sworn my dog had better judgment than half the people I …
I watched an old black-and-white dog chase a disappearing car down the highway, and the worst part was realizing the driver had seen him. My name is Marshall Voss. I’m fifty-three, and until that afternoon, I would’ve told you I was the kind of man who minded his own business. Then I saw Riley. I …
Five days after the flood, I pushed open our swollen front door and called my deaf dog’s name. Then something scratched behind a wall. Tilly had been part of our family for thirteen years. She was a yellow Lab with a gray muzzle, stiff hips, and the stubborn belief that every meal needed to be …
For six years, Cleo treated my golden retriever like an oversized piece of furniture. Then one morning, she walked over and pressed her head against his face. I actually laughed. That was before Barney tried to stand up. My name is Emmett Rourke. I’m 59, I live outside Dayton, Ohio, and until recently my household …
The stray dog I’d been trying to keep out of my yard disappeared into a flooded hole and came back carrying something alive in her mouth. My name is Elaine Dorsey. I’m 57, I live alone in a little house outside St. Louis, and until that afternoon, I thought I knew exactly what kind of …