Pap and Mam planned a trip to Hartford to visit Aunt Aurelia. I wasn’t going. Aunt Aurelia kept a stash of candy in her pantry. That part I liked. But she always made me sit on the itchy sofa with her and talk about school. And she kept the temperature in her house hotter than July.
I had other plans.
“I guess you’re old enough to stay on your own for a while,” Pap said.
I listened for the sound of the truck engine firing up. Seemed like it took Mam and Pap half the morning to leave. Finally I heard the crunch of gravel under tires. I saw the dust kicked up behind them as they turned onto the road.
Now it was my turn. I was going to Concord to get Sable.
I had been walking for fifteen minutes, maybe, when Elton Cobb pulled up alongside me.
“Where you heading, Tate Marshall?” Mr. Cobb asked.
“Clear to Concord,” I said. “To fetch my dog.”
“Your folks know about this?” Mr. Cobb asked.
“No, sir,” I said.
“Get in, Tate,” Mr. Cobb said.
He drove me back home.
“Where are your folks?” he asked when he pulled into the empty drive.
“Off to Hartford,” I said. “Visiting family.”
“You look like you mean to get back on the road as soon as I drive away, Tate.”
“I do, sir.”
“Look. I have business in Concord on Tuesday,” Mr. Cobb said. “You get permission from your folks and I’ll take you with me. We’ll drop in on that dog of yours.”
“Yes, sir!” I said.
I spent the rest of the day counting how many hours there were between now and Tuesday. I was going to Concord.
* * *
Mam and Pap pulled in a little after seven that night, hours later than I’d expected. I’d already done my chores and fed Eden. I wasn’t hungry myself. My stomach kept fizzing up at the thought of bringing Sable home.
Mam and Pap sat at the kitchen table, looking exhausted.
“What took you so long?” I asked.
“Aunt Aurelia didn’t recognize us,” Pap explained. “She wouldn’t let us in.”
Pap cleaned his fingernails with the blade of his pocketknife as he spoke. “She thought Mam was from some agency,” Pap said, grinning.
“I’m beat,” Mam said, scowling at the stove.
I knew this wasn’t the best time to be asking about Sable. I should have let them settle down. But I couldn’t help myself.
“Could we bring Sable back now?” I asked.
Pap spread his hands out on the tablecloth and studied them, sighing.
“I built a fence, Pap.”
“There’s other things you could have done around here a lot more useful than that,” Mam said.
Mam and I glared at each other.
Then she dragged herself out of her chair. “I’ll fry up some eggs for supper.”
I had to make Mam understand how important it was to me, bringing Sable back.
“You sit down, Mam,” I ordered. “I’ll cook dinner tonight.”
Mam gave me a funny look, but she settled back into her seat.
I fried up potatoes and onions, eggs and ham.
Pap made soft noises as he ate, dipping his bread into a puddle of egg yolk.
“Thank you, Tate,” Mam said, finishing the last of the potatoes. She wiped her mouth with a napkin. “That was real good.”
“My fence is good, too,” I said.
Pap sighed.
“Can I at least go down and visit her? Doc Winston said to come anytime.”
They stared at me.
“Mr. Cobb will drive me. He said he’d drive me on Tuesday if you gave permission.”
Pap rested his hand over top of Mam’s. She studied me a minute, then she nodded.
Pap sat back in his chair. I poured out two cups of strong coffee, and set one down in front of each of them.