Hey tailblazers, I'm Rebecca Cunningham and this is Girl Tales, a kids podcast of feminist

stories for a new generation. Before we get started, I want to wish a very happy birthday

to Grace and a happy belated birthday to Piper. And I want to send some other special shoutouts

to Ren and Ryan.

Girl Tales is brought to you by families like yours. If you would like to hear your child's

name at the top of our next episode, head to patreon.com slash Girl Tales and donate today.

Now onto our episode. This is The Telltale Toy by Nina Kee. Enjoy!

I'd like to tell you about a friend of mine. Well, honestly, even though he's a pet,

he's more like Rebecca's and my family member. He's our dog, cheese.

I adopted cheese several years ago and because he's a rescue, he has a lot of funny little quirks.

He can be shy when he meets new people for the first time.

He hides under the couch when he hears loud noises.

And he can get very scared by things he's never seen before, even if they're things that aren't

scary to us, like bubbles and cake. So when Rebecca first met cheese, they got off to a little bit

of a rough start. Cheese barked at Rebecca and hid under the couch. She ran away from her whenever

she tried to come close and even chewed up one of her favorite pairs of sneakers.

To help cheese get more used to her, Rebecca brought him a special present.

A toy in the shape of a heart. It had a cute little face with the right blue

but in eyes and a yellow yarn smile. And it squeaked when I gave it a little squeeze.

I sewed it myself with one of my old t-shirts and some stuffing.

Said Rebecca proudly. I thought maybe if he has something that smells like me,

it'll help him get used to me being around. I gave her a hug. The heart toy was adorable

...