Miss Alice was on her porch when they got there. She was holding a skinny little white puppy in her arms. The pup looked at Goomby and Ben and Elliot with scared dark eyes. Hesitantly, it wagged its tail.
“Why, where did he come from?” Goomby exclaimed. She reached out a wrinkled tanned hand and stroked the pup. “He’s not from around here.”
Mr. Hendrick came over from next door. The Olsen family, who lived farther up the road, hurried
to join them. The neighbors agreed. Nobody had ever seen the pup before.
“I think he was dropped off by a car this morning,” Miss Alice told them. “I saw a car come through, not anybody we know. And then there was this poor little mite, out in the road.”
Mr. Olsen made a sound of disgust. “It’s terrible how people do that with a pet sometimes. They don’t want them anymore, so they drop them off like a sack of peanuts.”
“That’s awful,” Elliot said indignantly. “Hello, boy. Hello.” He stroked the puppy’s nose.
“I can’t keep him,” Miss Alice said. “I’m at my sister’s so much. I hoped one of you might take him.”
Mrs. Olsen shook her head. “We’ve got three dogs already.”
“I’m more of a cat person,” Mr. Hendrick said.
Ben looked into the pup’s frightened eyes. He imagined how awful it would be, to be dumped in a strange place with strange people. He had a dim memory of feeling like that when his parents died.
He longed to say, “I’ll take him.”
He had never had a dog. But when summer was over, he would be in school all day. Grandma and Grandpa would be working, as usual. It would mean extra trouble for Goomby.
He felt Goomby’s sharp dark eyes on his face. She drew a breath, and Ben felt a flare of hope. But before she could speak, Elliot said, “I’d love to have a dog.”
Miss Alice turned to him gratefully. “Really, Elliot?”
“Yes, ma’am. It sounds like fun.”
“Well, it’s a big responsibility, too,” Miss Alice told him. “I’d have to ask your mother.”
“Okay. I guess you don’t have a phone?”
“Yes, I do,” she replied. She hesitated for a moment, studying Elliot’s face. He wore a sincere, hopeful expression, with none of his usual superior smirk.
Ben’s thoughts flashed to all the times Elliot had made fun of Miss Alice and her bells, always behind her back, of course. And now Miss Alice was looking at him with a kind of fondness! Grownups never seemed to see through Elliot, he
was so polite, so two-faced. Ben felt a familiar despair. He wished he could be like that, saying and doing the right things to get his own way. But he never knew what to say.
He didn’t know now.
Miss Alice made up her mind. She asked Elliot, “What’s your number?”
He told her. She went off, still holding the puppy.
The boys waited silently while she made the call. Ben’s heart thumped. He thought Mrs. Lorton might say no, and then Goomby might say …
But in a minute Miss Alice was back, smiling. “It’s fine with your mother. You can take him right now, if you want.”
“Oh, I do.”
She placed the pup in his arms. “You can buy a collar and leash at Nelson’s Hardware. You’ll need to hold on to him until he learns his name and where he lives.”
Elliot nodded. “This is wonderful, Miss Alice. Thanks a lot.”
“Well, you’re welcome. Give him a good home,” she answered, beaming.
Elliot put the pup down. The little dog looked bewildered. Elliot snapped his fingers and said, “Come on, fella.”
The pup spotted a squirrel. He ran toward it, barked, and scared it up a tree.
Elliot laughed. He repeated, “Come on.”
Miss Alice said, “I should have given him a rope to tie on that pup.”
The pup threw one more bark up the tree at the squirrel, then trotted after Elliot.
Ben watched them go. There was an ache inside him.
After supper Grandma and Grandpa and Goomby watched TV. Ben sat alone out on the porch. The woods grew dark. Fireflies appeared dimly, their lights blurred by smoke.
Ben imagined what it would be like if the pup were his. Ideas bubbled in him, sweet as soda.
He imagined the dog waiting for him to come home from school, sitting on the porch. The pup
would see him walking along the road. He would run forward, wagging his tail really hard. Maybe he would jump up and lick Ben’s face. Ben had seen one of the Olsen dogs do that, almost knocking the littlest Olsen kid off his feet. The memory of it made him laugh.
He would teach the puppy to catch a Frisbee, and not to chase cats. Mr. Hendrick hated it when a dog chased his cats.
They would go fishing together, keeping each other company on the bank of the creek. A wonderful sense of hospitality warmed Ben, thinking about it. He would show the puppy his favorite places, share a piece of corn pone with him, maybe teach him to swim.
But after a while, sitting in the dark, his imaginings faded and he was just Ben again, alone. It was Elliot who had the dog.