A Perfect Friend by Reynolds Price

Author:Reynolds Price
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SOC035000
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Published: 2000-12-27T05:00:00+00:00

But of course all night it was Sal who came and went in Ben’s quick dreams. Still they didn’t wake him. So far as he knew, there were no strange creatures or spirits outside to brush his windows. The dreams that passed through his mind were as real as his visit this afternoon to Sal’s own tent. Oddly, though, again and again she sniffed his body from top to toe; but she never spoke to him. Ben tried to send silent words to her—about how glad he was to know her and how these days with her had changed his outlook on all his future.

From here on, he really would start to study hard to be a veterinarian maybe fifteen years from now. He’d be the kind of vet who works for a zoo and heals big animals of all the harm that comes their way because they’re captured and can’t find the natural herbs and medicines that grow in their native parts of the world. In his dreams Ben told Sal that more than once and in great detail, but she still never spoke. She didn’t seem sad or the least bit sick, but she kept her silence.

In the dreams Ben of course was badly disappointed, but somehow he knew this was make-believe. He even told Sal in his normal voice “Girl, this is not real. This is nice but wrong. Tomorrow morning we’ll both be rested and can share each other’s thoughts again.”

In the dream Sal nodded as if to say Yes, and that freed Ben to roll to his side and sleep like a worn-out boy till morning.

The morning itself was bright and warm. Ben woke up early before his father, so he hurried to dress and feed Hilda. Again Hilda looked no worse than ever, a tired old dog who seemed mildly glad to see him and watch him fix her food. But again she seemed to have nothing to tell him. In fact she seemed to avoid his eyes, so he set her bowl down and gave the top of her head a few rubs. Something told Ben not to try to persuade her to say more than she’d already said. Her news might turn out to be hard or sad; and if that was so, he’d rather learn it as it happened in his life, not from this poor creature that his mother had raised from an orphan pup.

Instead Ben hurried back inside to fix his own breakfast of cereal and toast. He worked as quietly as he could manage so as not to wake his father. Then he sat to eat it in the silent kitchen. Several times he had to slow himself down. He had no idea of when Mr. Grimlet and Duffy would give Sal her morning bales of hay, but he didn’t want to get to the fairgrounds too early and risk running into a tough clown or acrobat who might think he was some kind of poisoner and run him off or call the police.

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