An Early Winter Read Online Free Page B

says.
    Granddad nods, pleased with the response, as always. "I can tell you about intelligence in a cat." He seems to be speaking not only to the man or to Mrs. Hutchins behind the desk or to Tim but to a room full of people who aren't here. The people of Sheldon he left behind when he quit his practice, perhaps. "I knew a fellow who had a cat. She was female, and as will happen if no one takes care of the situation, every spring she had a litter of kittens."
    Tim knows the story. It's one Granddad once read to him from an encyclopedia about cats. Only he's never before heard him tell it as though it had happened to someone he knew.
    In the story, the cat's owner didn't want the trouble of finding homes for a litter of four or five kittens, so when they were born, he drowned all but one kitten and left that one for the mother cat to rear. The next spring when the kittens came again, he did the same thing. The spring after that, the cat became pregnant again, but this time produced only one kitten. The owner was surprised, but relieved. After all, no one likes killing kittens. Then, four or five weeks later three more kittens came out of hiding.
    "See," Granddad says, concluding his story, "she left one kitten out for everyone to see, because she knew that one would be safe, and the rest she kept tucked away. Now, don't you think that's smart?"
    Mrs. Hutchins and the man agree that was, indeed, smart. Tim agrees, too. Because the story does prove the cat's intelligence, no matter whether it came from a book or from Granddad's own experience.
    Dr. Hutchins appears from behind the door of the examining room. "Leo!" he says. "How good to see you. What are you doing here?"
    "Just telling old Muffins here a story," Granddad says, and Dr. Hutchins looks confused. Tim notes with satisfaction that young Dr. Hutchins doesn't seem to know who Muffins is. It will be a long time before he will know his practice the way Granddad did.
    Granddad nods in Tim's direction. "We came to ask a favor," he explains, "my grandson and me."
    Dr. Hutchins smiles. One front tooth overlaps the other crookedly, giving him a slightly nerdy look, but he seems friendly enough.
    "That old pickup camper I sold you a while back..."
    "Yes?" Dr. Hutchins's glance slides cautiously to his wife.
    Tim bristles. Why is the man looking at his wife that way? And what does he need her here for, anyway, pretending he's got some kind of big city clinic that requires a receptionist up front to greet the patients? When people brought their pets to see Granddad, they knew when his office hours were and they just came. No one had to greet them, to tell them to sit down and wait.
    Tim was the only help Granddad ever had ... or wanted, and he didn't waste his time standing out front greeting people, either. He did important work like cleaning out the cages and walking the dogs. Sometimes he went out to farms with Granddad, too. He'd even helped deliver a calf once.
    "Well, you see," Granddad is explaining, "it was Sophie's idea to sell the thing. Never mine. I'm not such an old man that I—"
    Tim interrupts. "We'd like to borrow it. That's all. Just for a little while. If you don't mind, that is."
    "Going fishing, Tim?" Dr. Hutchins asks. Again he checks out his wife in that sneaky way. You'd think the man couldn't do anything without her approval, couldn't even decide whether to loan a lousy secondhand camper back to its real owner or not.
    "Yes," Tim says firmly. "We're going fishing."
    "Just you and your grandpa?" It's Mrs. Hutchins asking now.
    Tim suddenly understands the territory they are in. Grandma has talked to these people. Heaven only knows what she told them about his grandfather when she sold them the clinic and the camper. Now they have it in their heads that he's not to be trusted anymore. Not even with a camper he's repaired, driven, gone camping in for years and years!
    "Not just us," Tim says, his words tumbling over one another in his urgency to get them