Rufus and the Unbearable Question

When Rufus McManus, the husky dog, had a question—"What is home?"—he thought about it for a while. He couldn't get it out of his head. So, he asked his friend, Howler Dawson, what it meant. Howler answered, “I think home is what some guy said in a song. I think he said, ‘Home is wherever you are if there's love here too.’” Rufus thought, Maybe that's true, but I need to figure it out for real. Determined, Rufus went to the smartest guy he knew—his neighbor, Harrison Potter, who was literally the smartest guy in the world. Rufus came sliding down the hill on his street on his sled and ran up to Harrison’s house, knocking on the door. Knock, knock, knock! Harrison opened the door and said, “Oh, it’s you. Come in.” Rufus stepped inside and said, “I have a question that’s been really bugging me lately. It’s UNBEARABLE!” “What is it?” Harrison asked. “What is home?” Harrison thought for a moment and then answered, “Home can mean anything to anyone, anywhere in the world. Home can be a place filled with love, care, and many other things that make it the best place in the world. But home can also mean hate, discomfort, abuse, and other horrible things that make it the last place you want to be.” Rufus was horrified by the thought of home being such a terrible place for some. “How do you know that?” he asked. “I just got that from the internet,” Harrison replied with a shrug. Rufus rolled his eyes and thought of the perfect person to ask—his stepfather, Jason Maximus. He burst through the door of his house and shouted, “Where’s my dad?” But instead of finding Jason, he saw a bunch of people and a disco ball. “What are you doing here, Aiden Chlorine, Ethan Gump, Rider Lecture, Amelia Sparrow, Harold McLane, and Noah Jones?” he asked, surprised. Then he realized something. Not everyone has their own home—some share one. But in the end, home is what you make of it. Smiling, he shouted, “Let the party roar!”—a line he remembered from his dad. And at that moment, Rufus understood: Home is my life.