Rescuing Carmella
The girls never asked for much for Christmas. We were in the car; I was driving them to their weekly appointment with the therapist. I could see them in the back seat in the rearview mirror.
“Mom,” Tianna said, “I want a dog for Christmas.”
Tianna didn’t speak much. Like her 10-year-old twin sister, Gianna, she lives with multiple disabilities. Both of them are legally blind; Gianna is autistic; and Tianna has selective mutism. Getting a word out of her could be difficult. She certainly never spoke to strangers, and sometimes, I worried, she wouldn’t even tell me what was on her mind. That’s why I had to pay attention to this dog request.
“But we already
