Read Online A Dog's Way Home by Bobbie Pyron - Free Book Online Page B

to know what that means, but I do know it’s high time for some music.”
    â€œMama,” he said to Meemaw, “go and grab that old autoharp of yours. Abby, get your guitar.”
    â€œI’ll get my banjo tuned up,” Mr. Singer said.
    Daddy swatted Mama on the behind. “And you go park your sweet self at the piano, my lovely Holly Prescott Whistler. It’s long past time we had some music in our house.”
    We all hurried to do what Daddy’d said. We tuned and argued about what song to play. Daddy put the fiddle under his chin and struck the first sweet notes of “The Wind That Shakes the Barley” and we all got swept away. Then he swung right into a fast version of “Rocky Top.” We about got dizzy trying to keep up. Olivia sang at the top of her lungs. We all laughed so hard, we didn’t even hear the wind and sleet slapping the house. I decided right then and there that Thanksgiving beat Christmas hands down.
    I took my fingers off my guitar strings to give them a rest. Purely out of habit, my hand dropped to the side of my chair to scratch Tam’s ears. But there was no soft fur, no tongue licking the tips of my fingers. Only sad emptiness sat beside my chair.
    Â 
    Two weeks, six days, and eight minutes after Daddy left for his tour, he called.
    â€œHey, peanut!” he boomed over the phone. “How’s the best girl in all of Harmony Gap doing?”
    â€œPretty good,” I said. “I got a test tomorrow in civics,Daddy. Why in the world are they giving us a test on the last day before Christmas break I will never understand.”
    â€œDoes seem kind of crazy to me too,” he said with a laugh. “Maybe Olivia will let you cheat off her paper.”
    I laughed too and burrowed deeper into the blanket on the couch. “Olivia would never do that, and you know it.”
    â€œWell, I’ll be home by this time tomorrow night.”
    â€œReally, Daddy?”
    â€œReally and truly, darlin’. And I’m coming home with some big news.”
    â€œTell me,” I said. For just a minute, I wondered if he knew something about Tam.
    I heard somebody telling him to hurry up.
    â€œI got to go, Abby. I’ll tell everybody tomorrow night.”
    â€œBut Daddy…”
    â€œSleep tight, sugar. Tell your mama and Meemaw I’m coming home tomorrow.”
    I held the phone to my chest. Mama came from the barn all covered with snow.
    â€œDaddy just called,” I said.
    â€œHumph…” she grumbled, pulling off her boots and shaking snow from her coat.
    â€œSays he’ll be home by this time tomorrow night and he’s got big news,” I said.
    Mama came over and plopped down on the end of the couch. She pulled my feet into her lap and started rubbingthem. Her hands were cold, but I didn’t mind.
    â€œWhat do you think that news could be, Mama?”
    â€œI hope it’s that he won the lottery.” Mama laughed. But it was a tired kind of laugh.
    I nudged Mama with my foot. “What would you buy with a million dollars?”
    This was a game me and Mama played when we were driving in the car. Sometimes we named serious things like food for all the starving animals in the world. But most of the time, it was just plain silly stuff like our own Ferris wheel or the world’s biggest, fanciest popcorn maker like in the movie theater.
    This time, though, Mama just stared up at the ceiling and said, “Peace of mind.”

CHAPTER 16
Tam
    T he last days of fall gave way to cold rain and sleet. After a wet, miserable day of travel, the dog and the coyote found the remains of an old wooden shed in a clearing. They hid in the thick laurel, watching and listening for signs of humans. Satisfied they were safe, they slipped under a split-rail fence and into the dry, dark shed. The air smelled of rotten hay and corn. Rusted farm tools and tattered feed sacks lay scattered in the far corner. Rain