Schatz

(or, sweethearts)

When my parents separated, my mother, younger sister, and I moved into her father’s house in Rindge, New Hampshire, about half an hour from the Massachusetts border.

My grandfather had a German Shepherd named Schatz, which I later learned means “sweetheart.” To my nine-year-old ears, though, the name meant something else entirely. It sounded sharp. Viole…