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Show 21 "Come on," Dyna coaxed her closer. "The biggest bite's for Granny Goose, right7" They met at eye level, the fence between them. "Easy now " Dyna warned and gingerly poked the last piece of roll through a hole in the chain link fence. Gotcha! snapped Glub-Glub, but Dyna had whisked her fingers away in time* "You bitchy old bird! I don't know why I bother with you." Glub-Glub flat-footed it away, her fat rear end bobbing like a baby's diapered behind. Later, thinking about it, Dyna realized she might have missed Oscar altogether that afternoon. The most direct route to her house lay straight across the park, a quarter mile. Some days she didn't detour to check on her cantankerous old goose, but the minute she saw Oscar, she was glad she had. Something was wrong. He was trying to get up off the grass, but he couldn't make it* He tried scooting backward on his elbows, bracing his shoulders against a tree. Finally he raised himself to a sitting position. What'8 wrong with him? Dyna thought, hurrying to pick up her books. He must be sick. "Hey, Oscar," she said, breathing hard by the time she reached him. "What are you doing here?" He didn't act as if he heard. His head swayed to one side, away from her. Dyna sat down on the grass beside him. He smelled terrible! "I saw you over here," she went on. "I stopped to feed the ducks. You remember how we used to feed the ducks together?" His eyes closed. "Hey," she leaned forward, "are you okay?" Slowly, Oscar's thin body slipped sideways to the ground. It was unreal, like in a movie, like someone caving in on TV . . . in slow motion* It would have been funny if he'd been someone else. Poor old dude, he didn't even know she was there! Dyna reached over to check the pockets of the Eisenhower jacket he always wore. Sure enough, a fifth, drained dry. It was then she |
