Wyoming Read Free Page A

to bite him through the muzzle,”
    “Does it snow in Wyoming?”
    “Oh, yes, baby, it snows a lot in Wyoming. It gets very cold there.”
    “Toy would have liked it.”
    “I’m sure he would.”
    “Mom, can we drive to Wyoming?”
    “You mean now?”
    “Uh-huh. Is it far?”
    “Very far. We’re almost to Georgia.”
    “Can we go someday?”
    “Sure, Roy, well go.”
    “We won’t tell anyone, right, Mom?”
    “No, baby, nobody will know where we are.”
    “And we’ll have a dog.”
    “I don’t see why not.”
    “From now on when anything bad happens, I'm going to think about Wyoming. Running with my dog.”
    “It’s a good thing, baby. Everybody needs Wyoming,”

Saving the Planet
    M OM, WHAT WOULD HAPPEN if there was no sun?”
    “People couldn’t live, plants wouldn’t grow. The planet would freeze and become a gigantic ball of ice.”
    “In school they said the earth is shaped like a pear, not round like a ball”
    “So it would be a huge frozen pear spinning out of control The planets in our solar system revolve around the sun, Roy. If the sun burned out, Earth and Mars and Venus and Saturn and all the others would just be hurtling through space until they crashed into meteors or one another.”
    “Will it ever happen?”
    “What, baby?”
    “That there won’t be any sun?”
    “I don’t think so. Not in our lifetime, anyway. Oh, Roy, look at the horses! Nothing is more beautiful than horses running in open country like that.”
    “Dad’s never going to live with us again, is he?”
    “I’m not sure, baby. We’ll have to wait and see. You’ll see your father, though, no matter what.”
    “I know. Mom. I just hope you’re right about the sun not burning out.”

A Nice Day on the Ocean
    Y OU KNOW THAT FRIEND of Dad’s with one eye that’s always mostly closed?”
    “Buzzy Shy. His real name is Enzo Buozzl What about him?”
    “A waiter at the Saxony said Buzzy wanted to give him five dollars to let him kiss his fly/’
    “Who told you that?”
    “I heard him tell Eddie C”
    “Heard who?”
    “Freddy, the waken Why would Buzzy want to kiss Freddy’s fly?”
    “Did Buzzy ever touch you, Roy?”
    “He pinched me once on the cheek when I brought him a cigar Dad gave me to hand him. He gave me a quarter, then tried to pinch my face again, but I got away. It hurt.”
    “Buzzy Shy is sick, baby. Stay away from him. Promise?”
    “Promise. He doesn’t look sick.”
    “The sickness is in his brain, so you can’t see it.”
    “Eddie C. said for ten dollars Buzzy could kiss his ass and anything else.”
    “Who’s Eddie C?”
    “A lifeguard. I think at the Spearfish.”
    “These aren’t nice boys, Roy. I don’t want you talking to them.”
    “I wasn’t talking to them, Mom, I was listening.”
    “Don’t listen to them, either. I’ll talk to your dad about it. I don’t want Buzzy Shy bothering you.”
    “Dad and Buzzy are friends.”
    “Not really. Buzzy helps out sometimes, that’s all.”
    “How did his eye get like that?”
    “He was a prizefighter. Somebody shut it for him.”
    “Maybe his brain got hurt, too.”
    “I don’t know, baby. He was probably born with the problem in his head. Don’t go near him again.”
    “Mom?”
    “Yes, baby?”
    “I like the sky like this, when it’s really red with only a tiny yellow line under it.”
    “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky at morning, sailor take warning.”
    “What’s that mean?”
    “Tomorrow will be a nice day on the ocean,”
    “Sailor’s Delight would be a good name for a red Popsicle, don’t you think, Mom?”
    “Yes, Roy, I do. Remember to tell your dad. I’m sure he knows someone in the Popsicle business.’

Perfect Spanish
    B EFORE YOU WERE BORN , I got very sick and your dad made me go to Cuba to recover. I stayed in a lovely house on a beach next to a lavish estate. It was a perfect cure for me, lying in the sun, without responsibilities,”
    “Was Dad with