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Show must have made of us that first year: FATHER. "Big, gentle, strong. Slow of foot-couldn't run down rabbits if he was starving to death. (But then, most of them outrun me too.) Quick and sure of hand-cut a porcupine quill out of my cheek when I thought it'd go burrowing in forever. I won't trifle with him. Never pets me but he likes me. Keeps affection covered up from others too-shows it in what he does. We can count on him." MOTHER. "More playful than Father. Likes jokes. Makes wonderful smells come out of pots and pans. She held my jaws closed while Father cut out that quill and I thought the two of them would kill me. But they meant well, I've decided. She's strong and gentle too." EL VERA. "Unhappy with the desert. Shadows and sun come in swift changes. Likes me. One minute she has Father's cheerfulness-then blackness. When she sings sadness and finds sadness with her fingers in big yellow box with mouthful of white and black teeth, I howl sadness. She doesn't like that one bit." CARLTON. "Still a puppy. Rough and kind by turns. Pets me more than the others do but forgets to give me water and food. Stares into books. Should hunt and play more. Faster on foot than Father but not very fast at that. I'll have to watch him like a hawk or he'll never grow up. Has a lot to learn." |