with all her big brothers and sisters off to school, our ranch became a lonely place for our three-year-old daughter, becky. she longed for playmates. cattle and horses were too big to cuddle and farm machinery dangerous for a child so small. we promised to buy her a puppy but in the meantime, “pretend” puppies popped up nearly every day.

i had just finished washing the lunch dishes when the screen door slammed and becky rushed in, cheeks flushed with excitement. “mama!” she cried, “come see my new doggy! i gave him water two times already. he’s so thirsty!”

i sighed, another of becky’s imaginary dogs.

哥哥姐姐都去上學(xué)以后，對我們三歲的女兒貝基來(lái)說(shuō)，農場(chǎng)就成為一個(gè)寂寞的地方了。她渴望伙伴。牛馬太大了，她無(wú)法抱在懷里。農業(yè)機械對這么小的孩子也太危險。我們答應給她買(mǎi)個(gè)寵物，不過(guò)同時(shí)，“虛構”的寵物每天都會(huì )出現。

我剛洗完午飯的盤(pán)子，紗窗門(mén)就砰地被撞開(kāi)，貝基跑了進(jìn)來(lái)，興奮地滿(mǎn)臉通紅。“媽媽!”她叫著(zhù)，“快來(lái)看看我的新狗狗!我已經(jīng)喂他兩次水了，他都快渴死了!”

我嘆息了一聲，又是一只貝基虛構的小狗。

“please come, mama.” she tugged at my jeans, her brown eyes pleading, “he’s crying — and he can’t walk!”

“can’t walk?” now that was a twist. all her previous make-believe dogs could do marvelous things. one balanced a ball on the end of its nose. another dug a hole that went all the way through the earth and fell out on a star on the other side.

still another danced on a tightrope. why suddenly a dog that couldn’t walk?

“all right, honey,” i said. by the time i tried to follow her, becky had already disappeared into the mesquite.

“where are you?” i called.

“over here by the oak stump. hurry, mama!”

“來(lái)呀，媽媽。”她使勁拖著(zhù)我的牛仔褲，棕色的眼睛里透出乞求的眼神。“他一直在叫——他還不會(huì )走路呢!”

“不會(huì )走路?”這倒是一個(gè)預想不到的變化。她以前編造的狗狗都會(huì )做令人驚異的事情。其中一只會(huì )在鼻尖上平穩地頂著(zhù)一個(gè)球不讓它掉下來(lái)，另一只挖洞穿越了地球，從另一端掉到星球上去了，還有一只在能在鋼絲上跳舞。怎么突然有了一只不會(huì )走路的狗狗呢?

“好吧，寶貝。”我說(shuō)。還來(lái)不及跟上她呢，貝基就已經(jīng)消失在豆科灌木叢中了。

“你在哪兒啊?”我喊道。

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