Lesson 2: Where the Red Fern Grows

I suppose that there’s a time in every young boy’s life when he’s affected by that wonderful disease of puppy love. I don’t mean the kind a boy has for the pretty little girl that lives down the road. I mean the real kind, the kind that has four small feet and a wiggly tail, and sharp little teeth that can gnaw on a boy’s finger; the kind a boy can romp and play with, even eat and sleep with.

I was ten years old when I first became infected with this terrible disease. I’m sure no boy in the world had it worse than I did. It’s not easy for a young boy to want a dog and not be able to have one. It starts gnawing on his heart, and gets all mixed up in his dreams. It gets worse and worse, until finally it becomes almost unbearable.

If my dog-wanting had been that of an ordinary boy, I’m sure my mother and father would have gotten me a puppy, but my wants were different. I didn’t want just one dog. I wanted two, and not just any kind of a dog. They had to be a special kind and a special breed.

I had to have some dogs. I went to my father and had a talk with him. He scratched his head and thought it over.

“Well, Billy,” he said, “I heard that Old Man Hatfield’s collie is going to have pups. I’m sure I can get one of them for you.”

He may as well have poured cold water on me. “Papa,” I said, “I don’t want an old collie dog. I want hounds—coon hounds —and I want two of them.”

I could tell by the look on his face that he wanted to help me, but couldn’t.

He said, “Billy, those kind of dogs cost money, and that’s something we don’t have right now. Maybe some day when we can afford it, you can have them, but not right now.”

I didn’t give up. After my talk with Papa, I went to Mama. I fared no better there. Right off she said I was too young to be hunting with hounds. Besides, a hunter needed a gun, and that was one thing I couldn’t have, not until I was twenty-one anyway. I couldn’t understand it. There I was sitting right in the middle of the finest hunting country in the world and I didn’t even have a dog.

 

Vocabulary:

 

Suppose: To think that something is likely to be true. 

Example Sentence:  I suppose that you’ve already heard the news?

 

Affect: To influence, to cause someone to change

Example sentence: The building was badly affected by the fire.

 

Wiggle: To move from side to side.

Example sentence: He was wiggling his hips to the music.

 

Gnaw: To bite something with a lot of small bites.

Example sentence: He was gnawing on a bone.

 

Infect: To give someone a sickness or disease

Example sentence: Thousands of people were infected with the virus.

 

Unbearable: Too painful or horrible for you to continue to experience.

Example sentence: The heat was unbearable.

 

Afford: To have enough money to buy something.

Example sentence: I can’t afford a new computer.