Written for Lael Adair. She wanted to know more about the dog Dib and Gaz mention in one of the episodes. So, here's my take on it.

The Dog

"It's actually not all that strange when you consider it." The voice drifted softly across the hum of the fluorescent lights marching across the ceiling. "His mother died when he was young and he's been trying to come to terms with it through all of this paranormal ghost business."

Dib's head shot up from his notebook and he frowned as he turned towards the two skool counselors. "My mother's not dead."

Both women stopped talking and looked at him. The younger had a look of "oh crap, I just got caught gossiping", which she had, and the older had a sympathetic "I told you so" face.

"No, seriously," Dib went on, "My mother lives in Oklahoma."

Neither woman looked like they believed him. "Look, the rumor about my mom was just that - a rumor. Someone overheard my father tell someone else that my mother was 'as good as dead' and took it to mean that she was sick with an incurable disease. It made him look less like an asshole that way and gave my mom an out from the endless tabloid questions about their marriage problems. They both played along when the news hit and my mother moved."

Dib shrugged. He probably shouldn't have said anything, but these were counselors - they weren't supposed to repeat anything. Not that it had stopped them a few minutes ago.

"Your mother isn't dead?"

Dib immediately regretted his decision and shook his head solemnly.

"Why don't you ever see her?" asked the younger counselor. "You're never absent from skool."

"We visit sometimes in the summers, but it gets a little suspicious when dad packs us up and sends us out to the middle of nowhere for a month."

The women nodded in understanding. "Do you ever talk to her?"

"Oh yeah, all the time," Dib said with a smile that he couldn't hide. "She calls every Thursday. She would have loved to take us with her but that would have been hard to explain. Instead she took the dog. The dog is what started it anyways."

"The... uh... dog?"

"Yeah..."