Читать книгу Where Dreams Blossom: The Wind of Past Times - - Страница 5

With a newly brushed head of hair and a stomach full of oatmeal, Rusty bounced all the way to school. He practically skipped down the sidewalk, his sneakers squeaking with every step. He couldn’t wait to see what this «school» thing was all about. Was it like a giant dog park, filled with exciting smells and friendly faces?

He burst through the school doors, a wide grin plastered across his face. The hallway was a kaleidoscope of sights and sounds: children chattering, lockers slamming, and the faint aroma of floor wax and… were those peanut butter sandwiches he smelled?

A little girl with bright pink pigtails stared at him. «Wow, Ethan, you’re really happy today!» she exclaimed.

«Woof!» Rusty barked, then quickly clamped his mouth shut. He meant to say «Hello!», but he’d forgotten he was supposed to talk like a human now. He gave her a big, goofy grin instead.

The little girl giggled. «You’re funny, Ethan!»

Rusty followed the stream of children down the hallway, his nose twitching, trying to identify the source of the peanut butter smell. He found it! A little boy with a Spider-Man lunchbox was unwrapping his sandwich. His name was Billy. Rusty’s eyes widened. He’d never seen anything so appealing in his life.

Completely overwhelmed by the delicious smell, Rusty lost all sense of personal space. He went straight to Billy and began sniffing furiously at the lunchbox, practically burying his nose in it.

Billy, startled by the sudden, intense sniffing, yelped and jerked back, nearly dropping his sandwich. «Hey! What are you doing, Ethan? Get out of my face!» he exclaimed, clutching his lunchbox defensively. He looked around, bewildered.

The teacher, Mrs. Gable, a kind-faced woman with a warm smile, rushed over. «Ethan, what’s going on?» she asked, her voice gentle but firm.

Rusty, feeling ashamed, tucked his tail between his legs… or rather, tried to. He forgot he didn’t have a tail anymore. He looked up at Mrs. Gable with wide, apologetic eyes, his nose still twitching from the irresistible aroma of peanut butter.

«Ethan,» Mrs. Gable said softly, kneeling down to his level, «we don’t sniff people’s lunchboxes like that, okay? That’s too close, and it’s making Billy uncomfortable.»

Rusty nodded, feeling his ears droop. He knew that. He just… he just couldn’t help himself. The peanut butter smelled so good!

«Maybe you should step back and give Billy some space,» Mrs. Gable suggested. «And then we can start our reading lesson.»

Rusty shuffled off to the bathroom, feeling like the worst student in the entire school. Being a human was harder than he thought. There were so many rules!

As he washed his hands, he gazed out the window at the playground. He saw Ethan, his real self, running wild and free in the yard, chasing a ball and barking with glee. A pang of longing hit him. He missed the freedom, the smells, the simple joys of being a dog.

He sighed. He had a feeling this «school» thing was going to be a lot more complicated than he anticipated. Maybe he should have stayed home and chased squirrels instead.

While Rusty struggled to navigate the human world of school, Ethan was having the time of his life in Rusty’s body. He spent the morning exploring every corner of the neighborhood, sniffing out new smells, marking his territory (much to the dismay of the neighbor’s prize-winning rose bushes), and generally causing a delightful amount of canine chaos. He even managed to snag a discarded hot dog from a nearby park, a culinary masterpiece that tasted a million times better than anything Mom ever made. But as the day wore on, a gnawing feeling started to creep in… loneliness. There was no one to share his adventures with, no one to scratch him behind the ears, no one to… tell him he was a good boy.

He missed Mom. He missed his warm bed. He even missed… gasp… school.