Boys -- Fiction; Dogs -- Fiction; Science fiction; Short stories; Telepathy -- Fiction
After a little while mommy called me and said lunch was ready. She was
still white and I said can Bobby come too and she said of course Bobby
can come, Bobby's a nice dog, so we went in to eat lunch. Mommy was
talking real fast about what fun it was to play in the barn and was I
sure I wasn't too cold because it was below zero outside and the radio
said a snowstorm was coming, but she didn't say anything about Bobby and
me being out in the barn. She was talking so fast I couldn't hear what
she was thinking except for little bits while she set my lunch on the
table and then she set a bowl of food on the floor for Bobby even though
it wasn't Bobby's time to eat and said nice Bobby here's your dinner.
Bobby came over and sniffed the bowl and then he looked up at me and
said it smells funny and mommy said nice Bobby, it's good hamburger just
the way you like it--
And then for just a second I saw what she was thinking and it was
terrible because she was thinking that Bobby would soon be dead, and I
remembered daddy saying a long time ago that somebody fed bad things to
the Bennet's dog and the dog died and I said don't eat it, Bobby, and
Bobby snarled at the dish. And then mommy said you tell the dog to eat
it and I said no you're bad and you want to hurt Bobby, and then I
picked up the dish and threw it at mommy. It missed and smashed on the
wall and she screamed and turned and ran out into the other room. She
was screaming for daddy and saying I can't stand it, he's a monster, a
murderous little monster and we've got to get out of here before he
kills us all, he knows what we're thinking, he's horrible, and then she
was on the telephone, and she couldn't make the words come out right
when she tried to talk.
I was scared and I said come on Bobby let's lock ourselves up in my room
and we ran upstairs and locked the door. Mommy was banging things and
laughing and crying downstairs and screaming we've got to get out,
he'll kill us if we don't, and a while later I heard the car coming up
the road fast, and saw daddy run into the house just as it started to
snow. Then mommy was screaming please, Ben, we've got to get out of
here, he tried to kill me, and the dog is vicious, he bit me when I
tried to make him stop.
The next minute daddy was running up the stairs two at a time and I
could feel him inside my head for the first time and I knew he was
angry. He'd never been this angry before and he rattled the knob and
said open this door Jimmy in a loud voice. I said no I won't and he said
open the door or I'll break your neck when I get in there and then he
kicked the door and kicked it again. The third time the lock broke and
the door flew open and daddy stood there panting. His eyes looked
terrible and he had a leather belt doubled up in his hand and he said
now come out here and his voice was so loud it hurt my ears.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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