Fishbone's Song (10 page)

All there in my brain, in my thinking.

And I knew.

I knew.

Knew that it would not last forever. That I would go on bigger and bigger loops in the woods, longer and longer until maybe like the Old Blue hounds, I would find a different place to be, to think, to live. Or I would come back and Fishbone would be gone, would still be there, the shell, the body sitting in the chair but the inside would be gone, maybe to see Jesus or his baby sister or his ma that he couldn't remember. Gone.

Had to happen. I was always going longer and
longer, trying to see more, and it would be hard to get back if I went much farther. Had to push the edge of the dream out and out. Had to see my own life, my own self, how I would turn out and why I would become whichever way I went.

Or Fishbone would be gone. He was old, creaking old, rocking-chair old. Said once everybody he knew was gone, dead and gone. So either I would run so long there was no coming back or Fishbone would go. Away. Inside himself.

One or the other.

But not
now
.

Not just yet.

For the now we had, the very
now
that we had, we would keep eating meat fried in bacon grease with gravy and biscuits and I would talk about what I saw, and Fishbone would tell story-songs with his boots shuffle-patting on the board floor of the porch while he kept time and wove my stories into his stories. Closed his eyes and dozed into his
memories so I could learn, I could be more, could grow more while he sipped 'shine and danced in his thoughts.

That was how it would stay.

For now.

Just for now.

Also by Gary Paulsen

Dancing Carl

Dogsong

Hatchet

Sentries

Shelf Life: Stories by the Book

Six Kids and a Stuffed Cat

This Side of Wild

Tracker

Woodsong

SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Text copyright © 2016 by Gary Paulsen

Jacket illustration copyright © 2016 by Tim Jessell

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Jacket design by Krista Vossen

Interior design by Hilary Zarycky

The text for this book was set in Centennial LT Std.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Paulsen, Gary, author.

Title: Fishbone's song / Gary Paulsen.

Description: First edition. | New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, [2016] | Summary: “Deep in the woods, in a rustic cabin, lives an old man and the boy he's raised as his own. This sage old man has taught the boy the power of nature and how to live in it, and more importantly, to respect it. In
Fishbone's Song
, this boy reminisces about the magic of the man who raised him and the tales that he used to tell—all true, but different each time”—Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015039684| ISBN 9781481452267 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781481452281 (eBook)

Subjects: | CYAC: Nature—Fiction. | Self-reliance—Fiction. | Country life—Fiction. | Storytelling—Fiction. | Old age—Fiction. | Foundlings—Fiction. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Animals / General. | JUVENILE FICTION / Lifestyles / Country Life. | JUVENILE FICTION / Social Issues / Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance.

Classification: LCC PZ7.P2843 Fis 2016 | DDC [Fic]—dc23

LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2015039684