Whippoorwill Read Online Free PDF Page B

whining.
    Ignore him,
I thought.
    He kept whining, though, and I thought of him grabbing that Daily Growler, and thought of his paw swiping at my hand in a gentle way, and I tried to figure out what Father Jasper would do. He would call it a sin to ignore the dog, I guessed. So I shoved more of the clementine into my mouth and grabbed the lead from where I had left it on the porch the other day and I went around the stockade fence.
    Wally went up on his chain, dangling his feet and trying to roll his paws like a horse rolls its hooves, and I looked at him for a ten count before I realized what had changed.
    His yard had been raked. Not just raked, but really cleaned. He had a new water dish and he had kibbles in his bowl and even his house—a junky thing no matter how you sliced it—had been knocked together a little with extra pieces of board so that it appeared more solid. Someone had put a bag of grass clippings inside as a bed.
    â€œWhat’s going on over here?” I asked Wally, raising my voice a little like people do with dogs and children.
    He put his front feet down, spun, and barked. I walked closer. To my astonishment, he also looked bathed. His fur glistened in the spring sunshine and his teeth looked better, his eyes brighter. The whole thing didn’t feel so depressing.
    My father,
I thought.
    I walked over and knelt down just within reach, but not close enough so he could maul me. He spazzed and chucked his head against me. In the entire world, the only thing that dog cared about was keeping me right where I was.
    His fur felt warm when I touched it.
    â€œOh, you good boy,” I said. “You good boy. Who was nice to you? Was it my dad? Did someone come over and clean you up?”
    I was still petting Wally when Danny Stewart came out the back door.
    â€œHe looks better, right?” Danny asked.
    No introduction, no hello, no how are you, no what’s new? He simply walked out and started talking. He wore a sweatshirt with a picture of a black guy smoking a cigarette. The smoke trailed up over his shoulder. Underneath the picture a blue script said ALL ABOUT THE BLUES . For the first time I noticed Danny’s sideburns had grown out. They were long and shaped like two snow shovels on either side of his head. I couldn’t tell what look he was going for. It was half greaser, half rockabilly, but it made him more interesting.
    â€œYou did this?” I asked.
    â€œI only go half days to the tech. I saw you out here before. It would have been funny if it hadn’t been so sad.”
    â€œIt wouldn’t have been funny if you had kept the dog decently to begin with.”
    â€œIt’s not a perfect world.”
    â€œIt can be a better world.”
    â€œI thought you’d be happy,” he said, and came over and let Wally jump up on him.
    Wally stood with his paws over Danny’s shoulders. Wally was a really big dog.
    â€œYou shouldn’t let him do that,” I said. “It teaches him that it’s okay.”
    â€œIt is okay.”
    Danny rubbed Wally’s ribs.
    â€œIt makes him impossible for other people to be around. He’ll jump all over them. You have to train a dog.”
    â€œYou train him if you want him to behave so much. He’s okay with me.”
    â€œHe’s your dog.”
    â€œLook, my dad took him in payment for a job. The dog crapped everywhere in the house and ate everything he looked at. Dad was going to take him to the pound, but I talked him out of it.”
    â€œHe’d have a better chance at the pound.”
    â€œMan, you know just about everything, don’t you? You get nosebleeds sitting up there in judgment?”
    â€œJust simple facts.”
    â€œAnyway,” Danny said, pushing Wally down, “I admit he needed cleaning up. So I did that. I thought you might like it.”
    â€œI do. I do like it. I’m glad you did it.”
    â€œHe’s a nice dog. He doesn’t mean