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

waving away the talk. “She came from somewhere.”
    The subject was closed. But not for Liam.
    â€œDo we know if she’s lonely?” Liam asks.
    â€œWell, she has that whole beautiful meadow all to herself,” Gran says. “That’s good for a cow.”
    Liam frowns.
    â€œMaybe that isn’t good enough,” says Liam softly.
    Everyone turns to look at Liam.
    A sudden trickle of dread comes over me.
    â€œLet’s have pie!” says Gran, trying to be cheerful.
    â€œWhat do you want for Christmas,Mom?” asks Mama. Gran drops a coffee mug and it shatters on the floor.
    â€œA coffee mug,” she says, making Mama laugh.
    A Christmas tree stands between the dining room and living room, waiting for us to decorate it. It has only little white lights on it now. The white lights could be stars in a winter sky. I steal a look at Liam, and he is staring at his pie. I know him. He will think and think and think about White Cow alone in the meadow. Those thoughts of his will flow out like smoke, surrounding us all. He will spoil our vacation. I know this.
    I kick him under the table, and he looks up, startled.

    He smiles. “Pie!” he says too cheerfully.
    I know Liam. Liam is not thinking about pie.
    Dinner is over. Mama and Papa are getting ready to drive home.
    â€œWe’ll be back Christmas Day,” says Mama. “Don’t let them get away with any more than I do,” she says to Gran. “I wish we could stay.”
    Gran smiles. She likes this time with us as much as we like being alone with her and Grandpa in the house.
    â€œWhere’s Liam?” asks Mama.
    We look around.
    Suddenly, I know where Liam is. I knowwhere Liam always is when we visit Grandpa and Gran.
    â€œI’ll find him,” I say.
    I take my coat from a hook by the door and go outside to the porch. It has snowed more since we first got here, and I can see Liam’s footprints in the snow down the sidewalk. I follow them to the driveway, then across to the paddock gate. There is a slice of moon above. And then I see Liam, standing just inside the fence next to White Cow. Some of the moonlight falls on White Cow, making her look like a marble statue. She looks at me as I walk up to the fence.
    Liam turns and looks at me too. “She’s lonely,” he says.
    â€œShe’s a cow,” I say. “Cows don’t care.”
    Liam turns back to White Cow. He strokes her side, then he turns and opens the gate. He walks past me up to the house.
    White Cow stares at me.
    â€œYou’re a cow,” I whisper to her. “Just a cow.”

Chapter Three

    Mama and Papa have gone. It is quiet in the house.
    My bedroom overlooks the short dirt road that winds down to the town with its two markets and the elementary school, the post office and the lilac library. Liam’s bedroom overlooks the meadow, the big barn, and White Cow.
    The moon is higher when I walk intoLiam’s room. Liam is looking out at the meadow. Snow has dusted everything, and the moon outlines trees and bushes and the shining brook that runs through the fields.
    â€œLiam?” I say softly.
    He turns. “What?”
    â€œYou know what, Liam? We’re going to take walks and read books and shop for Christmas gifts for everyone and help Grandpa and Gran and go to the library. We’re going to have fun! Right?”
    Liam looks at me steadily, the same look he had when he was four years old, trying to figure out how to read.
    â€œRight,” he says. He turns back to look out over the meadow.
    â€œAnd feed White Cow,” he adds. “I always feed White Cow. And Rosie, when she was here.”
    â€œLiam?”
    I speak more softly because I’ve hurt his feelings.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œYou are a worrier.”
    Liam turns to look at me. “So are you.”
    â€œWhite Cow is fine. She is happy in the field and the barn,” I say.
    â€œMaybe,” says Liam.
    Then