Mom put her hand on my shoulder. “A very bad smell drifted through my bedroom window all night long. Can you boys find out where it’s coming from and remove it?” “Sure, Mom.” I grabbed the shovel from the garage in case we had to bury something. Then I got an idea. “Hey, Mom, I bet Streak can find it. She has a nose for stuff.” The more good things I could say about Streak the better. “I believe that one hundred percent, Cal.” Me, Julio, and Streak set out with our noses and the shovel. I’d forgotten all about Stella until I saw her in the window making kissy faces at me. I held up the pooper scooper shovel blade and pretended to lick it. Her kissy face froze. “That is so disgusting!” she shouted, her voice muffled by the window. Julio tapped my arm. “Look. I think your dog found it.” Just outside Mom’s window a dead toad lay bloated and maggoty on the grass. Streak crept up to it. “No!” I said. “Come away from that.” Streak backed off. Julio pulled his T-shirt up over his nose.
