Free Every Living Thing by Cynthia Rylant Page A

windowsill and picked up the box. He set it on the teacher’s desk.
    â€œWhen somebody throws a match into a forest,” Leo began, “he is a murderer. He kills trees and birds and animals. Some animals, like deer, are fast runners and they might escape. But other animals”—he lifted the cover off the box—”have no hope. They are too slow. They will die.” He lifted Charlie out of the box. “It isn’t fair,” he said, as the class gasped and giggled at what they saw. “It isn’t fair for the slow ones.”
    Leo said much more. Mostly he talked about Charlie, explained what turtles were like, the things they enjoyed, what talents they possessed. He talked about Charlie the turtle and Charlie the friend, and what he said and how he said it made everyone in the class love turtles and hate forest fires. Leo’s teacher had tears in her eyes.
    That afternoon, the whole school assembled in the gymnasium to bring the special week to a close. A ranger in uniform made a speech, then someone dressed up like Smokey the Bear danced with two others dressed up like squirrels.Leo sat with his box and wondered if he should laugh at the dancers with everyone else. He didn’t feel like it.
    Finally, the school principal stood up and began a long talk. Leo’s thoughts drifted off. He thought about being home, lying in his bed and drawing pictures, while Charlie hobbled all about the room.
    He did not hear when someone whispered his name. Then he jumped when he heard, “Leo! It’s you!” in his ear. The boy next to him was pushing him, making him get up.
    â€œWhat?” Leo asked, looking around in confusion.
    â€œYou won!” they were all saying. “Go on!”
    Leo was pushed onto the floor. He saw the principal smiling at him, beckoning to him across the room. Leo’s legs moved like Charlie’s—quickly and forward.
    Leo carried the box tightly against his chest. He shook the principal’s hand. He put down the box to accept the award plaque being handed to him. It was for his presentation with Charlie. Leo had won an award for the first time in his life, and as he shook the principal’s hand and blushed and said his thank-you’s,he thought his heart would explode with happiness.
    That night, alone in his room, holding Charlie on his shoulder, Leo felt proud. And for the first time in a long time, Leo felt fast.

Retired
    Her name was Miss Phala Cutcheon and she used to be a schoolteacher. Miss Cutcheon had gotten old and had retired from teaching fourth grade, so now she simply sat on her porch and considered things. She considered moving to Florida. She considered joining a club for old people and learning to play cards. She considered dying.
    Finally, she just got a dog.
    The dog was old. And she, too, was retired. A retired collie. She had belonged to a familywho lived around the corner from Miss Cutcheon. The dog had helped raise three children, and she had been loved. But the family was moving to France and could not take their beloved pet. They gave her to Miss Cutcheon.
    When she lived with the family, the dog’s name had been Princess. Miss Cutcheon, however, thought the name much too delicate for a dog as old and bony as Miss Cutcheon herself, and she changed it to Velma. It took Princess several days to figure out what Miss Cutcheon meant when she called out for someone named Velma.
    In time, though, Velma got used to her new name. She got used to Miss Cutcheon’s slow pace—so unlike the romping of three children —and she got used to Miss Cutcheon’s dry dog food. She learned not to mind the smell of burning asthmador, which helped Miss Cutcheon breathe better, and not to mind the sound of the old lady’s wheezing and snoring in the middle of the night. Velma missed her children, but she was all right.
    Miss Cutcheon was a very early riser (a habit that could not be broken after forty-three years