The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hand, by Gerald Allan Sohl

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Title: The Hand

Author: Gerald Allan Sohl

Release Date: April 19, 2010 [EBook #32055]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from Imagination Stories of Science and
Fantasy January 1955. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence
that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.

THE HAND

by

Jerry Sohl

Alice knew that Dobie was a good dog, even if he did have an
alarming habit of hunting down rabbits and gophers. But one
day he brought her--

* * * * *

Alice McNearby was washing breakfast dishes and looking out the
kitchen window at the November sky when she first spied Dobie. The way
he was sneaking up to the house she knew he had killed something.

She dried her hands on her apron and tried to put down the suspicion
that gnawed at the edge of her mind as she went to the door. During
the past month Dobie had killed a cat, a pheasant, two rabbits and a
field mouse and it seemed it would be only a question of time until he
got one of the chickens or even one of the suckling pigs. That would
be all Mac would need to throw one of his wild spells and he'd
probably take a gun to Dobie as he had threatened to do. To make it
worse, Dobie seemed to know how Mac felt and often growled at him. Mac
didn't growl back but the look in her husband's eyes was enough to
convince her Dobie's continued existence was in doubt.

It was a wonder to Alice that Mac hadn't done away with him already,
judging from the comfort she derived from the dog. Dobie never
fretted, never whined and seemed so appreciative of everything she did
for him. She had scolded him for his killing but found herself unable
to put her heart in it because he seemed to love it so. Instead, she
a