Dovey Coe by Frances O'Roark Dowell Read Free Book Online Page B

what I could tell, Tom and Huck and Amos worked themselves out a kind of code. If Tom or Huck ever seen a thing they wanted Amos to take notice of, they put their nose in hishand and sort of nodded their heads toward whatever it was that got their interest.
    Amos, on his part, made a collection of signals he used to talk to Tom and Huck with. I remember one afternoon, me and Amos was up on Katie’s Knob looking for crampbark, which is good for soothing aches and whatnot. Amos clapped his hands three times, and Tom and Huck took off running.
    â€œYou trying to scare them dogs away?” I asked Amos. “That’s too bad, because I don’t reckon Daddy’ll get you any more if you chase these ones off.”
    Amos grinned and rolled his eyes, to let me know what he thought of my jokes. A couple of moments later, Tom and Huck was back at our feet, and then just as quick they was off again. Amos nodded in the direction they’d run off to, and we followed them fifty yards through the woods, catching up with them at a bend in the creek where all sorts of weeds and flowers was growing. Though we didn’t find any crampbark there, we did find a right nice patch of foxglove good for picking.
    The way I seen things, us Coes had everything we needed in this world. Some might see us as poor, but that was their problem. We had savedup the money to send Caroline to college, which is more than many a richer family in town had done for their children. Parnell Caraway, for one, would not be packing his bags to go off to an institution of higher learning anytime soon. And if he had his way, nor would Caroline.
    To my way of thinking, Parnell was a prime example of riches not necessarily making a man satisfied with his life. He had just about everything he could want, plus a little extra. He had silk shirts and ten pair of shoes, a genuine cowboy hat from San Antonio, Texas, and an automobile his daddy bought him secondhand. But for all them things he had crowding up his life, he still walked around looking for new, shiny things to add to his collections, and Caroline was one of the items on his list.
    For a while there, in those first days of August, it felt to me like all them I known were under a spell—except for me and Amos, of course. And Caroline, well, she floated through her days as though she might take to the air at any minute. The main picture I have of her from that time is her long hair whipping out the window of Parnell’s automobile as they drove down the road and off to Asheville. She was living the grand life of her dreams, and Mama and Daddy was lettingher do it. Oh, I’d see Mama worrying her hands when Caroline drove off in that car, but she was staying true to herself and keeping out of Caroline’s business. Myself, I thought this foolishness ought to be stopped, but I’d said my piece once, back in July, and no one seemed to heed it.
    Parnell took Caroline’s change of feeling toward him as a victory. I could hardly stand to look at him, but he took every chance he could to get me by myself and give me a hard time, now that he thought he had won this particular war. One afternoon, when Caroline was helping Mama put supper on the table, Parnell turned to where I was sitting across the porch from him. I was deep involved in Robinson Crusoe, which is a right good story by Mr. Daniel Defoe.
    â€œWhy you read all them books for, Dovey?” he asked me, running a hand through his silky dark hair and trying to catch his reflection in the front window. “Why ain’t you inside learning how to make supper so you can get yourself a man someday?”
    â€œMaybe I don’t want to get myself a man someday,” I told him, not bothering to look up from my book.
    â€œWell, I reckon that might be a good thing, come to think of it. I imagine a feller would havea hard time warming up to you. It’s a shame you didn’t get none of Caroline’s good