The Truth of Me by Patricia MacLachlan

Author:Patricia MacLachlan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins

8

The Breathing of Animals

I wake early. Maddy is still sleeping. A slice of first light comes through the tent door, but the sun hasn’t come up. I put my hand over to touch Ellie. She isn’t there.

Very quietly I slide from my sleeping bag and look out of the tent.

And there is Ellie, sitting quietly. Just behind her a deer and a fawn are grazing. On the log are two raccoons eating something. A rabbit, then another, then two more come out of the woods. Chipmunks race after each other in the underbrush. Ellie sits there very silently. Once her tail wags. The animals don’t seem to see her. Or if they do, they don’t mind.

I slide back into the tent and touch Maddy’s shoulder. She looks up right away. I don’t speak, but Maddy sees me looking out of the tent. She crawls from her sleeping bag and looks, too.

“Oh, yes,” she says softly. “Look at that good dog. Just look at her.

“Good work, Robbie,” whispers Maddy.

“Good work, Maddy,” I whisper back.

We watch for a while, then quietly come out of the tent. I wait for the animals to run off.

But the animals stay.

I sit on the other end of where the raccoons sit, listening to them eat and chatter.

I hear the breathing of animals.

Ellie comes over for me to pat her.

The sun comes up, spreading light.

The deer raise their heads to see it.

But the animals stay.

“Want to camp again tonight?” asks Maddy.

Maddy has scrambled eggs in a black frying pan over the fire. Ellie has eaten her breakfast.

“Yes,” I say.

Maddy nods and I grin.

“What’s funny?”

“You’re beginning to nod like Henry.”

Maddy nods again.

We both laugh.

“When you spend time with people, you begin to act like them. And think like them sometimes,” says Maddy.

“I plan to act and think like you,” I say.

Maddy is silent.

She blinks her eyes, and I think she is trying not to cry.

Ellie gets up and stands between us, waiting for whatever food is left. The animals have gone with the sun—disappearing into the cool, dark woods.

We come off the mountain in the afternoon. We leave the tent up, with the sleeping bags inside. Maddy and I each take a handle of the food basket and walk down the hill.

“I can’t wait to tell Henry about the animals,” I say.

“Henry won’t believe it,” says Maddy. “He doesn’t think it’s true.”

I look at Maddy for so long that she finally looks back at me over the basket.

“The truth is, Henry doesn’t care if it’s true,” I tell her. “He told me he likes you the way you are.”

This time Maddy can’t blink the tears away. I pretend I don’t see.

But Ellie looks up, watching Maddy. When Maddy doesn’t look at Ellie, she nudges her hand with her nose. Ellie does it again. And again, until finally Maddy reaches over to stroke Ellie’s head.

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