Free Stardust by Rue Volley Page B

heart.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

 
    Chapter Seven
    Charlie
     
     
     
     
     
    When I was little, I had a puppy. I had begged for one. Begged, and anyone who has been around children when they are hell bent on getting something, knows exactly how it can be. Children chip away at will and sanity when they really want to get something, and I wanted that puppy bad.
    I did the good grades, the chores…all of it. I worked really hard to convince my parents that I was mature enough to care for another being. So, after weeks of trying, crying, writing notes and resorting to begging…they gave in and I got him. I got Charlie.
    Charlie was a good dog, saved from the local pound, obviously dropped off in a litter and if I had any real skill I would have saved all five, but I didn’t know that saving Charlie was actually not the best thing that could have happened for him. How could I? I was a kid.
    So we brought Charlie home and at first, it was awesome. He barked and played, won the family over with his big brown eyes and floppy tail. He was the best thing that had ever happened to me…which is something a child says when they have no real experience in life. I know this now, I didn’t then.
    Then one day, I got up and decided that Charlie and I would go on an adventure. I packed water and bologna sandwiches in my little backpack and I headed out early. I didn’t ask, I didn’t leave a note, I just left…and took him with me. I headed to the train station and there I decided to walk the tracks. I didn’t have any money so I couldn’t exactly take a train ride with Charlie. I just wanted to spend the day going farther than I had ever gone before. So, about an hour in, I had to stop and eat and I shared my food with Charlie and gave him water to make sure he was as good to go as I was. I talked to him about everything and I will never forget how he looked at me. His eyes wide as if he could understand every word and maybe he did, who knows, right?
    We continued on until we reached a bridge. It was old but sturdy and I stood there with Charlie by my side as we stared across it. I leaned up and looked at the water below. To a child, it was bigger than anything I had ever seen before. Charlie started to bark and I looked across the tracks as I saw a white rabbit standing there. Now Charlie was a hound, a beagle, and before I could stop him. he started to run across the tracks, over the bridge and towards that white rabbit. I called out to him but I had to set my fear aside and follow him as quickly as I could. The wood creaked under me as I picked up speed and then I heard it, the train whistle coming from in front of us. There was no way I could have known, one…I was a child and it did not occur to me, and two…the tracks curved and went into the side of a mountain that they had burrowed out for it.
    I stopped and called out to Charlie but he ignored me as his excitement to catch that rabbit was all that he could think about. I turned and started to run as I could hear the train getting louder behind me, it was barreling through the tunnel now and I knew it as the whistle echoed as if it was in a vacuum. I reached the end and jumped to the side into the tall grass as I looked back and saw Charlie standing there, wagging his tail and staring at me. I waved to him and called out, but the approaching train drowned me out. He turned just as the train hit the bridge and I buried my face in my hands as I could not watch. I was blown back into the tall grass as the train barreled by me. The force of it making it hard for me to stand up, but after it passed, I slowly stepped out and onto the train tracks to see a small body lying there, it was Charlie.
    I ran to him and he looked as if he was simply sleeping, I pressed my small hand to his side and shook him, but he didn’t move and his body lay still. I picked him up and cradled him as I walked all the way back home and then sat down on my porch steps. My parents