and I took off, Georgie slip-sliding back and forth across the floor of the minivan. Her legs seemed like they couldn’t quite bear up underneath her. But she didn’t moan or cry out in pain. She didn’t actually make any sound at all. When we got to the veterinary ER, we called the front desk and a broad man in a black face mask came out and carried her in the building. The last glimpse we had was of her tail, wagging lazily, as the sliding doors closed behind her. Five minutes passed, then ten. “Do you think it’s kinda bad?” I asked my daughter at last. “Or just bad? Or really bad? I think it’s only kinda bad.” “Mom!” she said, turning to face the car door. “Stop it! You’re stressing me out.” Finally, my phone rang. It was the vet. She asked me to repeat the story of how we got here. After I did, she asked a question. “Is there any chance,” she said, “that there’s marijuana in your house?” “Um...” I started to grin. One of Sarah’s brothers had been attending college in Michigan; the other had been doing a semester abroad in Ghana. Thanks to the virus, they were newly home with us in Los Angeles—and apparently making the best of it. “Maybe?” I said. The dog, she said, was showing “classic signs of marijuana toxicity,” but not to worry; Georgie would be fine. Leave her in a dark room. Let her sleep it off. “She’s just high,” the vet said. I started to giggle. My daughter asked what was going on. I put the vet on speaker, asked her to repeat the diagnosis. Sarah and I laughed until we just about cried. When they brought the dog back to the car, my daughter, still giggling, covered her in kisses. “Stoner dog,” I crooned to Georgie. “You’re just a stoner doggie, aren’t you?” As for what she ate, apparently it was a cookie with more than just flour and sugar. One young man left the cookie out on the counter in the other one’s room. The person whose room it was failed to throw it out when the night was over. And in the morning, when no one was looking, the dog’s excellent sense of smell led her to discover what others had missed.
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