Black Dog Short Stories Read Free

cabinets for outrageous prices, or toys for children—that one was fun, and Natividad wanted to linger, but Keziah looked bored. There was a shop that sold many kinds of fancy chocolates, with little squiggles on the top so you could tell which kind was which. Keziah bought a dozen tiny little chocolates, and made Natividad buy a dozen for herself, and they walked down the street eating them. Natividad exclaimed at the flavors, which she mostly didn’t recognize, and Keziah laughed at her, but not in an unfriendly way.
         After that there was another shop that sold things for pets, including sweaters for dogs. Natividad had never imagined putting a sweater on a dog , but she actually saw two people with little dogs dressed in sweaters. Imagine, a country so cold even the dogs needed sweaters! She craned her neck, trying not to be obvious as she stared. The dogs were cute, though. So small she could have held either one cupped in her hands. No wonder they needed sweaters.
         In the middle of the whole big shopping area stood a beautiful enormous Christmas tree, and beyond that were more shops, and a fountain to mark the boundary between the shopping area and the ordinary street, though the fountain was turned off because of the cold and Natividad did not even know what it was until Keziah told her.
         Keziah found a moonstone bracelet at one place, but the bracelet had a silver chain, so she couldn’t try it on. She asked for platinum, but they didn’t have one like that. Keziah frowned so fiercely at the girl in the shop that the girl actually took a step backward, so Natividad touched the back of Keziah’s hand and wished she would be calm. She whispered that if she wanted the bracelet, Natividad could blood the silver for her. Then she hesitated because on second thought, if Keziah wore a silver bracelet, blooded or not, it would make every other black dog in Dimilioc uncomfortable. On third thought, though, Keziah might like that idea.
         Keziah transferred her frown to Natividad, who couldn’t quite figure out what was in the older girl’s mind. It would have been much easier to go shopping with Alejandro, really.
         The girl in the shop said maybe they could make a bracelet to order. So Keziah said that she would think about it, in an abrupt tone that meant she was still angry and stalked out of the shop, with Natividad hurrying to keep up.
         After that Natividad thought maybe she had better pick the shops for a while. So she insisted on visiting a place that sold old books, but though she bought Miguel a book about European history and also a book about Japanese art, she couldn’t find anything she was sure her twin would really think was special. Nor anything at all for Alejandro.
         “But maybe Amira would like a book of fairy tales?” she suggested. “This one is pretty. Look at the pictures. I like this one with all the cisnes .  I don’t know the word in English . . .”
         Keziah said scornfully, refusing to look, “A book?  Black dog children do not like books.”
         Natividad nodded, not arguing. “I know, but sometimes Alejandro used to like to listen to Mamá read stories.”
         But it was a mistake to say this because even after so long it was painful to think about Mamá, about the evenings when their whole family had gathered to listen to her read aloud. Keziah looked like she might be remembering painful things, too. Natividad quickly led the way out of the shop.
         She found a place that sold the most amazing kinds of soap. She lingered over a kind that was supposed to smell of chocolate, and it really did, too. She loved it, but she wasn’t sure she really wanted to use soap that smelled of chocolate. She bought a nice smooth bar of soap that smelled of roses instead.
         After that there was a place that sold the most amazing, complicated puzzles, made of all these cut-out pieces of stiff paper that you