Dog Whisperer Read Online Free PDF Page B

loved music more than anything else, and could play any instrument she picked up, although piano and saxophone were her favorites.
    While they were waiting for second period to start, Emily told Karen about her latest news—and, like Bobby, Karen said, “Wow” several times, in response.
    â€œHow do you feel about it?” Karen asked, after hearing all of the details.
    That was a good question—that still didn’t have a definite answer. “I don’t know,” Emily said. “It feels like a big adjustment.”
    â€œBut, you know some stuff now, at least,” Karen said. “So, it’s not just this total blank in your mind.”
    Yes, but it was both more—and less —than she wanted to know, in many ways. She now knew where she had been born, that her mother must be smart, since she got into a really demanding college, and that she was probably never going to have any idea who her birth father was, except that he maybe—possibly, perhaps—had gone to Bowdoin, too.
    â€œIt doesn’t seem right that she has twins now,” Emily said, “but doesn’t bother getting in touch with me.”
    â€œMaybe she feels like she would be getting in your way,” Karen guessed.
    Maybe. But, as far as Emily was concerned, it just seemed cowardly.
    â€œIf you’d grown up in Atlanta, you probably would have had a Southern accent and all,” Karen said.
    That was true. Emily considered that. “You’re right. I would be completely different, wouldn’t I?”
    Karen nodded. “Yeah, you’d be saying ‘Y’all,’ and calling people ‘sugar’ and ‘honey’ and things like that.”
    Which was hard to imagine. Her actual accent was a combination of New York and California, with New England expressions like “wicked” creeping in here and there. “Do you think I would still be myself?” Emily asked curiously.
    Karen looked very wise. “Nature or nurture. Hmmm.”
    She sounded so serious, that Emily laughed. “Tell me what you think, Professor Mankins.” Karen’s father, Dr. Mankins, was a music professor, and Emily suspected that someday, Karen would be one, too.
    Karen grinned. “Well, I mean, you would still be smart and nice and everything, but there’s stuff you probably do now that’s because of your parents, and maybe some of that would be different.”
    There were almost too many possibilities to consider. “I wonder if I would still love animals,” Emily said. If, for example, her birth mother was allergic or something, and didn’t have any around.
    Karen nodded. “You definitely would. Your father would probably rather not have had pets, but you always wanted them, even when you were really little.”
    That was true. Her mother liked animals, but didn’t require them, the way Emily did. As far as she could tell, her father had still never completely adjusted to the idea of pets running around the house and doing things like jumping on beds and sitting on the kitchen table, although he seemed to love Josephine and Zack a lot.
    â€œI wonder if I would still like music,” Karen said thoughtfully. “With, you know, the same parents as like, birth parents, but growing up with other parents.”
    There were no clear answers to that, either. “I don’t know,” Emily said. “You would still have talent , but if you had parents who never listened to music, I wonder if you’d still be interested.”
    â€œPredisposition,” Karen said in her professor voice.
    Maybe, yeah.
    The bell rang, and they all filed out to the crowded hallway to go their second-period classes. In Emily’s case, that meant Spanish, which she enjoyed, even though she sort of wished that she could have taken French, instead. French always seemed—elegant. From there, it was on to language arts, social studies, and then,