Touchdown for Tommy (3 page)

“You can see the pilots, too,” Tommy pointed out.

“I know,” said Mrs. Kilbourne. “They look very real.”

Mrs. Kilbourne was from the Child Welfare Department of Lewiston. She not only liked airplanes; she liked sports, too. Ever
since Tommy had met her, and talked with her about things he liked to do, he had liked her.

“Do you want to speak with Tommy especially, Mrs. Kilbourne?” asked Mr. Powell.

“Well, I came to see Tommy, of course,” she said. “But I would very much like to talk to you folks.”

Mr. Powell nodded slowly. “Okay.” He
turned to Betty. “Why don’t you put on your coat and you and Tommy go out on the porch for a while?”

Tommy carried his model planes back to his room. Then he stepped out to the porch. Betty was already out there. They sat on
the red metal chairs.

“What do you suppose Mrs. Kilbourne wants, Tommy?” Betty asked.

Tommy shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe she just wants to know how I’m behaving.”

Betty looked curiously at Tommy. “What has that got to do with her?”

Tommy stared at a crack in the floor. “If I wasn’t getting along here, she’d find another home for me, I guess.”

“Even if Mom and Dad wanted you to stay?”

“No. I don’t think so. Only if I wasn’t behaving and they
didn’t
want to keep me.”

They sat for a while in silence. They could hear Mr. and Mrs. Powell and Mrs. Kilbourne talking inside, but the voices were
just a hum behind the wall.

What were they saying? Tommy remembered the money he had found in the backyard and had almost spent. He remembered the rough
way he had played football. There were so many things he hadn’t done right. Wouldn’t he ever learn?

He rose and stood by the rail. A truck roared by. It scared a flock of sparrows off the electric wires. Far in the distance
the sky was turning a deep red and purple and orange. Soon the sun would set and night would come. Tommy would stay up a little
while longer, then he would have to go to bed.

The door opened. Mrs. Kilbourne came out. She put out her hand to Tommy. Tommy took it.

“It’s been nice to see you again, Tommy,” she said. “I’m glad to hear that you’re enjoying yourself with the Powells. Mr.
Powell told me you’re quite a football player, too. I’m glad to hear that. I must get along, now. Good-bye, and good luck,
Tommy. Goodbye, Betty.”

Tommy touched his dry lips with his tongue. “Good-bye, Mrs. Kilbourne,” he said softly.

He went into the house. He heard the car drive away, and looked at Mr. and Mrs. Powell.

“Am I going to stay here?” he asked, a lump coming to his throat.

Mrs. Powell smiled. “Oh, yes. You’ll be with us for a while yet. After all, you’re supposed to be with us at least six months.
That means you’re sort of on trial here with us. You remember Mrs. Kilbourne told you about that when you first came to us?”

Tommy nodded. “How long have I been here, Mrs. Powell?”

“Five months,” she said. “So you still have another month, Tommy. But don’t worry. We had a boy once who stayed with us for
two years. It’s all up to you, Tommy.”

T
ommy and Betty walked to school Monday morning. Betty kept talking about her arithmetic. Tommy hardly heard. Another month,
he thought. Another month and probably Mrs. Kilbourne will take me away.

It’s all up to you, Tommy,
Mrs. Powell had said. But I
am
trying my best, he thought. What else can I do?

He was quiet in school. Ms. Bleam asked him if anything was wrong. He said no, nothing was wrong.

“Let’s take out our reader,” Ms. Bleam said, “and turn to page twenty-six. Tommy, will you start reading, please?”

Tommy found the page. He started to read.

“Please stand, Tommy,” said Ms. Bleam.

Tommy stood up. “‘One day Joseph arose early in the — in the —’”

“‘Morning,’” said Ms. Bleam.

“‘— in the morning. He ate — ’um —”

“‘Breakfast,”’ said Ms. Bleam.

“‘— breakfast, and walked down the road. He found a goose …’” He kept reading, missing words now and then, words he had remembered
even last week, but which he could not remember now.

“You must study more, Tommy,” advised Ms. Bleam. “Did you get a good rest last night?”

“Yes,” said Tommy. “Yes, I did.”

After eating his lunch, Tommy went out to the field with the boys to play scrub football.

Jim Neeley looked at Tommy. His eyes darkened. “If you’re going to play, I’m going back inside.”

“So am I,” said Tim McCarthy. “Who wants to get a leg broken by a guy who thinks he knows how to play football?”

Tommy stared. “I — I didn’t break anybody’s leg!”

“No! But you’re trying hard to!”

“Oh, stop that,” said David Warren. He stepped between Tommy and the two boys. “Tommy never tried to break anybody’s leg.
He’s always played rough because that’s the way they played where he came from. They never played by rules. Don’t worry, he’ll
learn the right way with us. But he can’t learn if you don’t give him a chance. Come on, Tommy. Play on my side.”

They played till the first bell rang. Then they went inside.

That afternoon, when they returned home from school, Betty and Tommy found Mrs. Powell very happy about something. She was
humming a popular tune and skipping from stove to sink to table and back again like a happy bumblebee. Her eyes danced. A
couple of times she winked at Tommy.

“Well, Mom,” exclaimed Betty at last, “are you going to keep us in suspense forever?”

“What do you mean by that?” Mrs. Powell tried to hide her smile, but she couldn’t.

“You know what I mean,” said Betty. “You’re hiding something from us.”

Mrs. Powell laughed. “Okay. I’ll tell you. But it’s especially for Tommy.”

Tommy’s eyes widened. “For me?”

“Yes. Mr. Powell telephoned me this
afternoon. He said that when he comes home tonight, he’ll have a surprise for you. There! You see? I shouldn’t have said anything,
Betty. Now both of you will be more anxious than ever!”

Every few minutes, Tommy looked at the clock on the wall. Mr. Powell arrived home each night about six-thirty. Tonight, the
minutes just dragged.

Finally the car drove into the garage. Mr. Powell was home! And then the door opened, and Mr. Powell came into the house.

Both Betty and Tommy looked at him, and he looked at them. But he had nothing with him. His hands were empty.

T
ommy turned to Mrs. Powell. Her eyes met his. They had just a touch of a smile in them.

“Mom said you had a surprise for Tommy,” said Betty softly.

Mr. Powell’s brows arched. “She did? Well, now —”

Suddenly a soft whimper sounded just outside of the door. The room was silent for a long second. The sound came again.

Tommy rushed to the door and opened it. He caught his breath. Right on the top step
was the cutest little black-and-white cocker spaniel he had ever seen!

“A puppy!” cried Tommy. “A little cocker spaniel puppy!”

The pup’s large brown eyes rolled up sadly at Tommy. His long, curly-furred ears quivered. Tommy picked the pup up in his
arms and brought him into the house.

Betty screamed with surprise. “Let me hold him!” she cried, stretching out her arms. “Let me hold him! Ple-e-ase!”

“Wait a minute,” said Tommy. “I just got him.”

The pup was soft and warm against him. He licked Tommy’s cheek. Tommy laughed. Boy! A dog! He had never had a pet before.
And this one was his. His!

“Oh, please!” Betty pleaded again. “Let me hold him! Or is it a ‘her,’ Daddy?”

“It’s a ‘he,’” said Mr. Powell, chuckling.

“Betty,” said Mrs. Powell gently, “I’m surprised.
You always said that you didn’t care for dogs. We wanted to get you one a long time ago.”

Betty blinked a few times and clasped her hands together in front of her. “I guess I never knew they were so cute,” she said.

Tommy grinned. He held the puppy out to her. “Here. Hold him,” he said.

Betty took him and held him close. The pup looked around with his big sad eyes and blinked.

Mr. Powell pulled thoughtfully on his ear. “I probably should have brought home two dogs,” he said.

“No. One is enough,” said Tommy, smiling. “This one could belong to both of us — Betty and me.”

“That’s right!” cried Betty. “We both can have him!”

Tommy smiled. “We can take turns feeding him.”

“Sure we can,” exclaimed Betty happily. “We’ll have to buy him puppy food and make a bed for him to sleep on.”

“You’ll have to name him, too,” said Mrs. Powell.

“That’s right!” said Betty. “Let’s call him — let’s see — Wag!”

“How about letting Tommy suggest a name for him?” said Mr. Powell.

Tommy thought a while. He looked at the pup’s stubby tail. It was wagging back and forth furiously. Tommy grinned. “I think
Wag is perfect for him!” he said.

“Okay. We’ll name him Wag,” said Mr. Powell.

Wag wiggled his long ears and turned his sad-looking eyes on Tommy.

Tommy smiled and hugged him very hard.

M
r. Powell found a box in the basement. Mrs. Powell folded an old quilt, placed it inside the box, and put the box in a corner
of the kitchen.

“During these fall and winter months we’ll keep Wag inside,” she said. You could tell by the warmth in her voice that she
loved the little fellow, too.

The words echoed and re-echoed in Tommy’s ears. These fall and winter months? What did she mean by that?

Was
he
going to stay with them? Maybe
the Powells knew. Maybe Mrs. Kilbourne knew. But
he
didn’t know.

If he could only make the Powells like him. Really like him, so they wouldn’t want him to go away.

“Mom,” Betty said after she came home from school that following Monday, “can I stop at Kathy’s house tomorrow after school?”

“Did she ask you?” asked Mrs. Powell.

“Of course! She said that her mother said it was all right. She wants me to stay for supper, and then her mother will drive
me home later.
She
suggested it. Oh, can I go, Mom? I mean
may
I?”

Mrs. Powell shrugged. “Well, all right. Then we’ll have Kathy over for one evening.”

Tommy could hardly wait till Tuesday came. He could have Wag for a whole evening all to himself.

Finally it was Tuesday, and Tommy asked
Mrs. Powell if he could take Wag outside with him. Mrs. Powell must have realized how happy he was to have Wag to himself.

“You certainly may, Tommy,” she said. She didn’t even ask him where he was going.

Tommy didn’t know where he was going either. He just wanted to get outdoors with Wag. Wag was only a pup, but there was no
snow and it’s always more fun with a dog outdoors.

The October air was nippy. The temperature had dipped below the freezing point the night before, and the sky was cloudy. Tommy
dressed warmly and carried Wag outside in his arms.

He put Wag down, and they both ran around for a while. Then Tommy rolled on the lawn and Wag crawled over him and bit his
ears. Of course, Wag didn’t
really
bite. He didn’t hurt at all. He was just having a lot of fun, too.

“Oh, Wag, I sure love you,” Tommy cried. “I sure do!”

Tommy thought of the creek. The creek was only a short distance away. It was beyond the fence that marked the Powells’ property.

“Come on, Wag!” yelled Tommy excitedly. “Come on!”

Tommy spread the fence apart and crawled through. He ran through a field of frost-nipped alfalfa. Wag came stumbling after
him. His long black ears flapped like twin flags, and his tail stuck up high.

Wuf! Wuf!

“You poor little fella,” said Tommy. “You have trouble running through this, don’t you? Come on. I’ll carry you.”

Tommy picked Wag up. He carried Wag down to the creek. The water was crystal-clear and shallow. It looked awfully cold.

Tommy stepped on a shiny flat stone at
the edge of the water. His foot slipped! He tried to catch his balance. He couldn’t! He fell into the water!

At the same time Wag slipped from Tommy’s arms and fell into the water, too.

T
error took hold of Tommy as he saw Wag up to his neck in the cold, rippling water. Wag’s eyes were large with fright. He was
whimpering and turning around in the water, looking for a way out.

“Wag! Oh, my poor Wag!” cried Tommy.

Tommy pushed himself to his feet. He splashed through the water, swooped Wag up into his arms, then stepped onto dry land.
Wag’s curly fur stuck to his body. Water dropped from him in big drops.

Tommy held him tightly. Wag shook in his
arms from the cold. He’ll freeze, thought Tommy. If I don’t get him dried and warm, he’ll surely freeze!

Tommy choked back tears. His teeth chattered. If he didn’t get into a house and take off his clothes, he might freeze, too.

Suddenly he thought of David Warren’s house. It was closer than the Powells’ house. The only trouble was that the Warren house
was located on the
other
side of the creek.

Tommy stood a moment. His feet felt like they were caking into ice. He knew he should go home to the Powells. But he was afraid.

He decided to go to David’s house. He had to hurry. Chills were going all the way through him.

Tommy ran down along the bank of the creek. He reached the road, crossed the short bridge, and raced to the white house
where David Warren lived. He knocked on the front door and stood shivering while he waited for someone to answer.

Mrs. Warren came to the door. Her eyes widened in alarm as she saw Tommy. “Tommy! My goodness! Come inside, quick!”

The instant Tommy was inside, David came running into the living room. He stared at Tommy.

“Let me take the puppy!” he said. “I’ll wrap him in a towel and get him warm and dry before he catches pneumonia!”

“David, show Tommy to your room,” ordered Mrs. Warren. “Take off your clothes, Tommy, and put on some of David’s. Hurry, young
man, before you catch pneumonia, too!”