SmokeLong Quarterly

In real life, are you a pet mom, or a no-pet mom? Is this story rooted in truth? A lost pet or an over-petted household?

I am a pet mom. I am a child mom. Yes, this story is rooted in trooth! But some of it is lies.

There is a recurring theme of keeping things warm. Is that what drives this mother? The need to keep things warm, safe… possibly to a fault?

This mother would like to be warm—but she’s given up her quest for warmth. Her heating bills are already too high.

Sheila has either gotten these animals for her kid, or the kid’s dad has, but we don’t know which is true and we’re told not to ask. Does Sheila know the truth?

Sheila does know the truth, and if you ask her, she’ll give you an answer. But if you ask her again an hour later, she might say something else.

The cat and the mother are named, but the kid is just “the kid.” Why?

I think it’s so the kid can’t Google her name and have this story come up. It’s OK if the cat Googles her name.

Where do you think the frog came from?

Some people on the block ran an “exotic pets” business—at least that’s what they claimed. Sheila was like, Yeah, sure! “Exotic pets!”