Read Online The True Gift by Patricia MacLachlan - Free Book Online Page A

sudden sweet memory of teaching him how to read. He was four years old and he grinned for two weeks when he figured out the mystery of words.
    â€œWe’ll have snow,” says Papa, looking up at the sky. Liam and I laugh, and Mama laughs too. We call Papa the Weather Man.
    And suddenly, as if his words bring it on, snow begins to fall; flakes one by one, slowly at first, then harder. Papa turns onthe windshield wipers, and we watch the back-and-forthing of them.
    â€œI hope the library stays open if it snows,” says Liam.
    â€œThat library is always open,” says Mama. “That library has been open ever since I was a little girl.”
    We turn into the long dirt driveway to Grandpa and Gran’s house, past the meadow where White Cow turns her head to watch us go by.
    â€œWhere’s Rosie?” asks Liam. “Where’s the donkey?”
    â€œDon’t know,” says Mama. “Can’t see her.”
    The snow is coming harder now and isbeginning to stick to the road. It is almost dusk.
    â€œDid you bring your money?” asks Liam.
    I nod.
    We have worked weekends and after school to earn money for Christmas presents. I babysat for the three Cooper children across the street. Liam and I both mowed lawns and shoveled snow when it came. Once he painted a shed. There are only two stores in Gran and Grandpa’s small town. But that is enough for us to buy presents for everyone.
    Liam holds up a red sock with a gray stripe. It is fat with his money.
    I smile. The car passes the barn and pulls up to the front porch of the big white house. There are Christmas lights in every window. Gran and Grandpa come out to wave. Their terriers, Emmet and Charlie, bark fiercely at us, then race down the porch steps happily for jumping and licking.
    Snow falls harder.
    We’re here!

Chapter Two

    We eat turkey and potatoes and green beans and salad.
    â€œCharlie!” Grandpa’s voice is loud.
    Emmet scurries under the table.
    Charlie stands on hind legs at the counter, trying to lick a pie sitting there. He turns his head to look at Grandpa.
    We laugh.
    â€œOnce Charlie hopped up on my chairand ate my dinner,” says Grandpa, getting up and making Charlie lie down. “When I went to the door to pay the paperboy.”
    â€œHe is lured by food,” says Gran, smiling. “He doesn’t care if we speak sharply to him.”
    â€œEmmet does,” says Liam.
    â€œThat is because Emmet is
thinking
about sneaking our food too,” says Grandpa. “Emmet has a conscience.”
    â€œWhere’s Rosie, the donkey?” says Liam. “I didn’t see her.”
    â€œShe went back to her own home,” Gran says. “Her owner bought more land, so he has room for her now.”
    â€œI miss her,” says Grandpa.
    â€œWhat about White Cow?” asks Liam. “Does she miss Rosie, too?”
    Gran, Mama, and Papa get up to clear the dishes from the table.
    â€œDon’t know what cows think,” says Grandpa.
    Charlie follows them, and Emmet comes out from under the dining room table to follow too.
    â€œI can’t say that I can read the mind of a cow either,” says Gran. “Cows aren’t pets, you know. Like Charlie and Emmet. They’re different.”
    â€œI don’t think she’s eating as well as she used to, though,” says Grandpa at the kitchen sink. He begins to cut the pie.
    â€œWe used to have a little herd of cows,” he says. “I liked those cows. They were funny and strangely intelligent.”
    â€œAll eyes and big flat faces,” says Gran.
    â€œWhat happened to the herd?” Liam asks.
    â€œOh, we sold the cows to people who wanted them for their herds,” says Gran.
    â€œWell, what about White Cow?” asks Liam.
    â€œYes,” says Grandpa, smiling at Gran. “What
about
White Cow? Where did she come from?”
    â€œSomewhere,” says Gran, waving her hand as if