A Dog's Promise by W. Bruce Cameron

Author:W. Bruce Cameron
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

{ TWENTY-THREE }

My nose told me ZZ and Li Min were in the house, but I didn’t see them as we turned down a hall and into a room with a fire burning in a hole in the wall. Lacey and I rolled and played and chewed on each other, but reacted whenever Burke said “Hey! Settle down!” We could hear anger in his voice, so we usually did Sit, being good dogs, until one of us bit the other in the face.

“This isn’t something you get a vote in, Burke. Please understand that.”

“I do understand that. I do. I get that. But you’re only seventeen!”

“My dad’s sister was seventeen when she got married.”

“Okay, that’s certainly relevant. Um, I have to ask,” Burke held his hand out in front of his stomach. “Are you…”

Wenling frowned. “Really fat?”

“Come on.”

Lacey sprawled on her back, her teeth showing, and I put my jaws around her neck.

“No, I’m not. Doesn’t it occur to you that maybe I want to do this?”

“Really, though? So you’re not going to college?”

Lacey twisted and jumped up and I bowed, ready for more.

“Of course I am. No one said anything about not going to college. But speaking of that, it really hurt when I sent you a message about being disqualified from the Air Force Academy and you said nothing. Why couldn’t you have answered me?”

I glanced at Burke because he seemed to be staring at the floor. “You’re right. I should have. I’m sorry. I wasn’t in a good place.”

“Okay,” Wenling responded quietly.

“But you’re going to MU, right? Unless you’re married, I mean.”

“I am going to MU, and so is Grant. We’re in love. People in love get married.”

Lacey and I lifted our noses in exactly the same motion. A heavy rain was pounding its way toward us.

“People in love don’t get married when one of them just graduated from high school. I mean they do, but, I just can’t see you doing that. Is it because of your parents? Your father?”

Wenling shrugged, sighing. “Maybe a little.”

“This is so wrong! He’s got some insane ideas that are a hundred years out of date and you’re just caving to him?”

Wenling was sad. She wiped tears from her face and Lacey was right there, wagging, trying to lick her wet cheeks, hoping to make Wenling feel better. “My father says I have dishonored the family.”

“God, that’s just so…” Burke lifted his hands and dropped them in his lap.

“He was raised with very traditional values. Honor is very important to him. I think it was worse that it was in the barn, where he works, than anything else.”

“Why didn’t you just use my bedroom? It has a first-floor window.”

Wenling laughed through her tears.

“I’m actually serious.” Burke was quiet a moment, his frown deepening. “Your dad is traditional. Plus he wants the farm, right? If you marry Grant, it will be in the family. Like you’re a prostitute.”

Wenling’s mouth dropped open. Lacey nuzzled her hand. “That is the most offensive thing you’ve ever said to me, Burke Trevino.

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