With all her big brothers and sisters off to school, our ranch became a lonely place for our three-year-old daughter, Becky. She longed for playmates. Cattle and horses were too big to cuddle and farm machinery dangerous for a child so small. We promised to buy her a puppy but in the meantime, “Pretend” puppies popped up nearly every day.
I had just finished washing the lunch dishes when the screen door slammed and Becky rushed in, cheeks flushed with excitement. “Mama!” she cried, “Come see my new doggy! I gave him water two times already. He’s so thirsty!”
I sighed, another of Becky’s imaginary dogs.
哥哥姐姐都去上学以后，对我们三岁的女儿贝基来说，农场就成为一个寂寞的地方了。她渴望伙伴。牛马太大了，她无法抱在怀里。农业机械对这么小的孩子也太危险。我们答应给她买个宠物，不过同时，“虚构”的宠物每天都会出现。
我刚洗完午饭的`盘子，纱窗门就砰地被撞开，贝基跑了进来，兴奋地满脸通红。“妈妈!”她叫着，“快来看看我的新狗狗!我已经喂他两次水了，他都快渴死了!”
我叹息了一声，又是一只贝基虚构的小狗。
“Please come, Mama.” She tugged at my jeans, her brown eyes pleading, “He’s crying — and he can’t walk!”
“Can’t walk?” Now that was a twist. All her previous make-believe dogs could do marvelous things. One balanced a ball on the end of its nose. Another dug a hole that went all the way through the earth and fell out on a star on the other side.
Still another danced on a tightrope. Why suddenly a dog that couldn’t walk?
“All right, honey,” I said. By the time I tried to follow her, Becky had already disappeared into the mesquite.
“Where are you?” I called.
“Over here by the oak stump. Hurry, Mama!”
“来呀，妈妈。”她使劲拖着我的牛仔裤，棕色的眼睛里透出乞求的眼神。“他一直在叫——他还不会走路呢!”
“不会走路?”这倒是一个预想不到的变化。她以前编造的狗狗都会做令人惊异的事情。其中一只会在鼻尖上平稳地顶着一个球不让它掉下来，另一只挖洞穿越了地球，从另一端掉到星球上去了，还有一只在能在钢丝上跳舞。怎么突然有了一只不会走路的狗狗呢?
“好吧，宝贝。”我说。还来不及跟上她呢，贝基就已经消失在豆科灌木丛中了。
“你在哪儿啊?”我喊道。
书香门第
