Rereading: MR. WILMER by Robert Lawson.

Mr. Wilmer is an accountant, a shy man who has lived in a boarding house and worked at the same company for many years without attracting much notice. One day on his way to work, Mr. Wilmer is passing a mounted policeman and seems to hear the horse talking in his head. Thinking he’s mistaken, Mr. Wilmer goes on, but at lunch he visits a nearby zoo, and hears a lion there, Toby, complaining about a terrible toothache. Mr. Wilmer discovers that he can speak to the lion in the same small inner voice, and he finds a keeper and urges him to have Toby’s teeth examined. Doctors have been unable to find the source of the lion’s pain, and are amazed to discover he’s right.

Thus begins a whole new life for Mr. Wilmer. He’s fired from his accounting job, but quickly hired by the zoo as their animal liaison, tasked with talking to all the animals to see how they can be made happy. He’s soon acquired a secretary, Miss Sweeney from his old office, a beautiful Irish girl with red hair who was one of Mr. Sweeney’s few friends, and she helps him tremendously by organizing his time and fending off all the offers he’s getting from agents, sponsors, advertisers, and so on. What will happen when Mr. Wilmer gets his wish to live in the country with some of his animal friends?

Wonderful story, one of Lawson’s best. This would have made an excellent screwball comedy with James Stewart. The animal talking is handled differently, and perhaps less believably, than in Hugh Lofting’s Dr. Dolittle books, but it’s all great fun and recommended.

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