Rascal

by Sterling North

One problem that puzzled me was theological. I asked myself how God could be all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-merciful and still allow so much suffering in the world.

The question we all have.

It is true we were at war, observing heatless, meatless, and wheatless days, and conserving sugar.

crayfish (or “crawdad” in the terminology of the region). This fresh-water lobster has claws that can pinch severely, an armored body, and a delicious tail.

He was a casual parent who never tried to stop me from risking any hazard,

While we ate our picnic lunch, Rascal was busy slightly depleting the next generation of snapping turtles.

This makes me sad. Wish he has stopped the raccoon from eating them. Or only allowed a few of them to be eaten.

My mother had told me that seeds carry in their “memory” the whole complex pattern of stem and leaf and flower and fruit, and she had shown me how the stamens and pistils begin the seed-making process all over again.

The miracle of life. We too carry all the information in our genes.

I twisted a plump ear from a stalk in one of my rows, stripped back the husk, and handed the corn to my pet, who had carefully watched the whole performance. Rascal went slightly berserk.

“An eagle soars on straight pinions. The osprey has a slight bend in the wings. Our bird is only crested with white. The mature bald eagle has a head which is entirely white.”

“Well, son,” Bert said, “you can’t get anything in this world without working for it.

“Why, son,” he said, “I’d be cheating you if I took more than twenty-five cents for that leash and collar.

Great man.

It seemed to me a wicked thing, to take a wild raccoon kitten from the woods—a little animal who loved speed and adventure and exploration—and to imprison him like an animal at the zoo.

Now you are learning. You took this wild animal but you were young and didn’t know better.

Mike had bet that he could go twice around the track while Thurman and his Ford made a mere three rounds! There was one shrewd catch, however. Donnybrook needed no cranking, and Thurman must wait for the starting gun before cranking his Ford, jumping into his roadster, and streaking off after the stallion and his master.

“Earnest Hooton, who lives next door to us, is studying anthropology. And he has a theory that the hands teach the brain.”

Aunt Lillie came out to greet us, wiping her hands on her apron in that perpetual gesture of humbleness which seemed to afflict whole generations of farm wives, who gave so much to so many in return for so little.

Ernest performed a strange service for any male in that household. He helped his mother put breakfast on the table, and suggested that she sit down to eat with the rest of us.

So happy this tradition is gone.

his own personal watch with its chain finely braided from my mother’s chestnut hair.

But since signing my peace treaty with the muskrats and other wild animals, I was finding that peace does not always bring prosperity.

is good to remember that I was given those swift and shining skates early enough in my life so that I could use them for three happy winters. By the fourth winter I was in a wheel chair. And even when I learned to walk, I was never able to skate again.

This is so sad.

case weather—fog so thick you could cut it with a knife.