Seventh Heaven by Hoffman Alice

Author:Hoffman, Alice [Hoffman, Alice]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical, Fantasy, Contemporary, Adult, Romance
ISBN: 9780425188484
Amazon: 0425188485
Goodreads: 163815
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 1990-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

THE DOG SLEPT BESIDE THE BED, ON A SMALL blue rug, and at night he ran through his dreams. He ran through the grass and through the rain and in between stars set into the black night.

“Whoa, boy,” Ace would say sometimes, and from where he lay in bed he would stretch out and pat the dog’s head. But the dog never woke from his dreams. He only whimpered and turned on his side, and then began running once more. Someone had once cared for this dog, so it did not come as a complete shock to find that someone cared for him again, and he gave himself completely to Ace. All Ace had to do was purse his lips and the dog would run to him before he whistled. The dog spent a good deal of his time waiting for Ace, in the bedroom—where Marie grudgingly allowed him to stay, although she would have preferred the basement or, better yet, the yard—or in the schoolyard, near the door Ace always came through when the bell rang at two forty-five. Someone had once cared for him, that’s all he knew. Someone had bought him a leather collar with a silver tag that read: My name is Rudy. I belong to Cathy and I live at 75 Hemlock Street. Ace had slipped the name tag off the dog’s collar, but he couldn’t throw it out. He kept it in the inside pocket of his leather jacket, and already the name tag had etched its shape into the pocket, leaving a permanent ridge.

“Rudy,” Ace would whisper as the dog slept beside him. “Go, Rudy,” he would call as he threw a stick across the playing field after school. He had waited for somebody to ask where in hell he had gotten a purebred German shepherd overnight, but nobody did. For the first few days he had kept the dog hidden in his bedroom. He had smuggled in hamburger meat and bowls of milk. He set down newspapers for the dog to pee on. During the first week Ace let the dog on his bed at night, where he curled up beneath the covers, exhausted from the treatment Cathy Corrigan’s father had doled out. The dog’s paws were cold as ice and there was still blood between his pads, which left faint red streaks on the floor.

When Marie discovered the pee-stained newspapers in the garbage, she tracked down the dog. She had a nose for anything unclean, and, as far as she was concerned, dogs were worthless creatures. Ace expected her to give him the third degree and scream for the dog to be taken to the pound. But all Marie did was announce that she wouldn’t have the dog up on her furniture, and she wouldn’t have him begging at the dinner table, and she expected Ace to walk him three times a day. That evening, as soon as the Saint came in from work, Marie said, “Go see what your son brought home.

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