metimes in a clumsy, disinterested sort of
way, but it's not the classic boy-dog relationship. If the dog is merely
a symbol, as you suggest--"

"I didn't say 'merely' a symbol. If I'm right, an association as strong
as this one could be devilish awkward and even dangerous, hooked to a
hair-trigger mind like his. What if something happens to the dog before
his dependence or whatever can be broken? Dogs get run over, you know,
and even their normal life span is short. Maybe we ought to try to break
it up ... damn this headache."

* * * * *

_(Regret/Despondency) Degraded to pain ... static/thick tongue.
(Resignation) Delay, delay, delay ... break conversation. Time
wrong._

* * * * *

"You been bothered with headaches lately?"

"Off and on--nasty sort of twinges. If I trusted myself with a
carpenter, I'd let you give me a check-up. Well, let's cut this short.
What I was going to say ... let's see ... oh, since Timmy seldom pays
any attention to the dog, why does the dog stick to him like a shadow?"

Clancey grunted.

"That dog's no fool, stupid as he is. Clumsy, homely, and half-witted
enough to sit on a tack for five minutes before he howled--I've seen
him do just about that--he knows when he needs a protector. If it
weren't for Timmy, the hound would have been destroyed long ago as
an act of mercy. Helen and Jerry are resigned to him, of course, for
Timmy's sake, but have you noticed that the dog reacts much the same
as Timmy if they get separated? Casts about at once for a way to
rejoin him, and the longer he's delayed the more he panics. Maybe it's
a two-way switch--maybe Timmy and his dog are indispensable symbols to
each other!"

"You dream up any more lulus like that, you keep them to yourself.
Psychopathic dogs I draw the line at. Clancey, there is only one
conclusion to be drawn from these here solemn deliberations. Throw out
the textbooks and roll with the punches."

"Amen."

V

"There should be no deaths!"

Phil turned that one over in his mind, cautiously. A good deal of his
attention was needed for the task of nursing his old car along the ruts
of the dirt road, but the murmured exclamation impelled him to steal a
glance at the boy sitting beside him. This was the spring of Timmy's
tenth year--the sixth year of his friendship with "Uncle" Phil--and
those years had taught Phil more than he realized, if less tha