|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 7
The woman spoke in the tone of horrified contempt that might well
have been hers had she found a rattlesnake and a brace of toads
in her son's pocket. And she lowered her voice, as is the manner
of her kind when forced to speak of the unspeakable. She moved
back from the puppy's politely out-thrust forepaw as from the
passing of a garbage cart.
"A female dog!" she reiterated. "Well, of all the chuckle-heads!
A nasty FEMALE dog, with your birthday money!"
"She's not one bit nasty!" flamed Dick, burying the grubby
fingers of his right hand protectively in the fluffy mass of the
puppy's half-grown ruff. "She's the dandiest dog ever! She--"
"Don't talk back to me!" snapped Mrs. Hazen. "Here! Turn right
around and take her to the cheats who sold her to you. Tell them
to keep her and give you the good money you paid for her. Take
her out of my yard this minute! Quick!"
A hot mist of tears sprang into the boy's eyes. Lass, with the
queer intuition that tells a female collie when her master is
unhappy, whined softly and licked his clenched hand.
"I--aw, PLEASE, Ma!" he begged chokingly. "PLEASE! It's--it's my
birthday, and everything. Please let me keep her. I--I love her
better than 'most anything there is. Can't I please keep her?
Please!"
"You heard what I said," returned his mother curtly.
The washerwoman, who one day a week lightened Mrs. Hazen's
household labors, waddled into view from behind the billows of
wind-swirled clothes. She was an excellent person, and was built
for endurance rather than for speed. At sight of Lass she paused
in real interest.
"My!" she exclaimed with flattering approval. "So you got your
dog, did you? You didn't waste no time. And he's sure a handsome
little critter. Whatcher goin' to call him?"
"It's not a him, Irene," contradicted Mrs. Hazen, with another
modest lowering of her strong voice. "It's a HER. And I'm sending
Dick back with her, to where she came from. I've got my opinion
of people who will take advantage of a child's ignorance, by
palming off a horrid female dog on him, too. Take her away, Dick.
I won't have her here another minute. You hear me?"
"Please, Ma!" stammered Dick, battling with his desire to cry.
"Aw, PLEASE! I--I--"
"Your ma's right, Dick," chimed in the washerwoman, her first
interested glance at the puppy changing to one of refined and
lofty scorn. "Take her back. You don't want any female dogs
around. No nice folks do."
"Why not?" demanded the boy in sudden hopeless anger as he
pressed lovingly the nose Lass thrust so comfortingly into his
hand. "WHY don't we want a female dog around? Folks have female
cats around them, and female women. Why isn't a female dog--"
"That will do, Dick!" broke in his shocked mother. "Take her
away."
"I won't," said the boy, speaking very slowly, and with no
excitement at all.
A slap on the side of his head, from his mother's punitive palm,
made him stagger a little. Her hand was upraised for a second
installment of rebellion-quelling--when a slender little body
flashed through the air and landed heavily against her chest. A
set of white puppy-teeth all but grazed her wrathful red face.
Lass, who never before had known the impulse to attack, had
jumped to the rescue of the beaten youngster whom she had adopted
as her god. The woman screeched in terror. Dick flung an arm
about the furry whirlwind that was seeking to avenge his
punishment, and pulled the dog back to his side.
Mrs. Hazen's shriek, and the obbligato accompaniment of the
washerwoman, made an approaching man quicken his steps as he
strolled around the side of the house. The newcomer was Dick's
father, superintendent of the local bottling works. On his way
home to lunch, he walked in on a scene of hysteria.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|