It all began when my younger brother, Chris, and I went over to Aunt Barbara and Uncle Howard’s for Thanksgiving. My aunt and uncle lived on a farm at the opposite end of town, and Chris and I loved going there. We lived on a farm, too, and we had to do the morning work before we left. When we finally got to my aunt and uncle’s, Chris and I went outside to see if Uncle Howard needed help with anything. He and Dad had decided to clean out the yard before dinner. Chris and I both helped. But we still found time to ask Uncle Howard a lot of questions about turkeys. He thanked our help, and handed us two turkey eggs when we finished the cleaning work.

“You kids put those under a setting hen,” he said, “and in twenty-five days, you’ll have a couple of fine turkeys” Chris was so excited that he nearly dropped his egg on the way to the house. At dinner, we both couldn’t wait for the grownups to finish talking so we could go home and tend to our eggs. Dad put the eggs under an old hen, and every day Chris and I would check to see if they’d hatched yet.

Twenty-five days seemed like forever. Finally, on the twenty-sixth day, Chris and I walked home after school to find the old hen scratching on the floor. Behind her were two little turkeys, falling over their feet and looking sort of confused.

It wasn’t long before the little turkeys began growing feathers. The old hen would stare at her two strange-looking babies, obviously puzzled as to why they looked so different from her other babies. When they got older, we could tell that they were both toms (雄性) Chris named one Bill, and I named the other Timothy. Day by day, both of them grew up and became stronger and stronger.

Thanksgiving day arrived again, but somehow we couldn’t find Bill.

We decided to save Timothy from ending up on Thanksgiving table.

Ripple, a cat in my family, liked to follow us everywhere they went. Our house was just a mile from my school. So instead of driving every day to my school, we would walk down a wooded path which was almost straight except for one fork (岔路) in the road a little way down the path. At the fork, we would turn left, which would take us the rest of the way to my school. If we turn right, the path would lead us deeper into the forest, far away from the town.

Ripple would follow us down that path every day. On weekdays, my dad and I would get ready for our walk, with Ripple following closely behind. When we got to school, my dad would drop me off inside as Ripple waited patiently at the door. After I was safely inside, my dad and Ripple would then start their journey home.

One day, it was snowing, and more snow was falling at a steady rate. Still, we headed out with Ripple following closely behind. We walked with heads down to avoid the blowing snow, and we barely spoke, as our faces were hidden into our coats. Because of this, when a small sound broke through the snow and the wind, we looked at each other in puzzlement, wondering if the other one had said something. But as we listened more, we found it couldn’ t be heard clearly, but was still there, and it made us both turn around to see what was making that noise in this white land.

A good distance away from where we now stood, Ripple sat in the snow and the cold.

We admitted that Ripple had a better sense of direction than we had.

Two fast friends were Willie Brown and his little dog Bounce. Willie could never think of taking a walk without Bounce. Cake and play were equally shared between them. Willie taught his dog many running tricks and often said that Bounce could do almost anything in the world but talk. There came a time, however, when Bounce really told Willie’s father something, though he could not talk. Let me tell you how he did this.

It was on a bright summer afternoon. Willie had strolled with Bounce down to the river, which was not more than two blocks from his father’s store. Willie began to throw stones into the water, and to watch the ripples as they made one circle after another. Bounce lay on the grass, watching the flies that buzzed around his nose, and catching any that came too near. There were some logs floating in the river near the store. Willie jumped upon one of them, to see if he could throw a stone across the river.

He drew back, and sent the stone with all his might. Just as it left his hand, the log turned, and he fell into the water. He was very much frightened, for he did not know how to swim, and there was no one to hear, though he called as loud as he could for help.

Poor little Bounce gave a great yelp of distress. If he had been a big water dog, he could have jumped in and brought his master out. He ran up and down the bank two or three times, barking, looking first at Willie and then around.

Suddenly he started running, as fast as he could.