Chasing Redbird by Sharon Creech Read Free Book Online Page B

puppy.
    â€œDo you like him?” Jake asked.
    I stroked the puppy’s back. “Of course I like him.” I handed him back to Jake. “But I can’t keep him.”
    â€œWhat? Sure you can. He’s yours.”
    â€œWhy? Why for me ? Why not for someone else?”
    Jake looked down at his feet. “I know I’m older than you, Zinny—”
    â€œThree whole years older,” I said.
    â€œI know it, but—I just want you to have him, that’s all.” He jammed his hands in his pockets. “You’re a hard nut to crack, Zinny Taylor.” With that, he jumped off the porch and headed for his truck.
    â€œTake it back!” I shouted. I’m not sure whether I meant the puppy or what he said about my being a hard nut to crack. Maybe it was both. You might think that I would’ve been convinced by this puppy, that I’d believe that Jake really did like me and not May. But I wasn’t convinced. Tommy Salami had gone on giving me gifts for a long, long time. So had the others. You couldn’t trust boys, I had decided, no matter how nice they seemed, no matter how many gifts they shoved into your hands, no matter what they said. I guess you could say my mind was pretty much made up about Jake Boone and what he was up to.
    May was fit to be tied. “What’d he go and give you a dog for? What in the world are you up to, Zinny? Are you out of your ever-loving mind? You don’t have a lick of sense, Zinny. What you know would fit in a nutshell.” She yanked all her ribbons off her dresser and threw them on the floor. She was really piling on the agony.
    â€œDon’t see what you’re having such a conniption about,” I said. “I didn’t ask Jake to bring me these things—”
    May gathered up the ribbons. “Who said anything about Jake?”
    â€œYou did—didn’t you?”
    â€œI never.” She threw the ribbons back on the floor and looked wildly around the room. I thought she was going to blow a gasket. “Look at that bed of yours—why, look at it! Why can’t you make up your bed like a normal human being?”
    At dinner, all anyone could talk about was the puppy, who was curled up on an old blanket in a corner of the kitchen. Everyone took turns jumping up to see if he was okay. We hadn’t had a dog for two years, not since our last one was hit by a truck. Dad said he didn’t mind having a dog around, but he wanted to know who was going to take care of it. Ben, Will, Sam, Gretchen, and Bonnie all assured him that they would.
    â€œWhat about you, Zinny?” he asked. “From what I can gather, this dog belongs to you.”
    May said, “I don’t think we should have a dog. It’ll just chew up everything. It’ll get into my stuff, I know it will.”
    â€œFine,” I said. “I’ll give it back.”
    â€œNo, no, no!” My brothers wouldn’t hear of it. They fell all over themselves promising to take care of it.
    That night, after my sisters were asleep, I crept down to the kitchen and rescued the puppy from his lonely corner. I took him back to bed with me, petted him until he fell asleep, and gave him a name: Bingo. The name reminded me of Aunt Jessie leaning down to pick up her wonders and saying, “Bingo!”
    Two days later, when I was in Mrs. Flint’s store, I asked her if she had any specials.
    â€œWhat do you mean, ‘specials’?” she said.
    â€œYou know, special prices—or a free bag of cookies—”
    â€œWell, doesn’t that beat all creation!” she said. “A free bag of cookies! I’m trying to make a living here—which one are you?”
    â€œZinny.”
    â€œI’m trying to make a living here, Zinny. Free bag of cookies! Whatever next—?”
    On my way out, I saw this sign on the notice board:
    LOST: 2-MONTH-OLD BEAGLE PUPPY.
    ANSWERS TO NAME OF