My Friend Bobby Read online

  My Friend Bobby

  by Alan E. Nourse

  Copyright © 1954 by Alan E Nourse

  This edition published in 2015 by eStar Books, LLC.

  www.estarbooks.com

  ISBN 9781612103372

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE HUMAN RACE WHEN, BY MUTATION OR OTHERWISE, TELEPATHY BECOMES A NORMAL CHARACTERISTIC? WHAT WILL IT DO TO HUMAN.RELATIONS, TO PARENTS . . . AND CHILDREN?

  My Friend Bobby

  by Alan E. Nourse

  My name is Jimmy and I am five years old, and my friend Bobby is five years old too but he says he thinks he really must be older than five years old because he's grown up already and I'm just a little boy. We live out in the country because that's where Mommy and Daddy live, and every morning Daddy gets into the car that we have out in the barn and rides into the city to work, and every night he comes back to eat supper and to see Mommy and me and Bobby.

  Once I asked Daddy why we don't live in the city like some people do and he laughed and said you wouldn't really want to live in the city would you? And I said I thought it would be fun, and he said but you couldn't have Bobby in the city, so I guess it's better that we live out in the country after all, and anyway Daddy says that the city is no place to raise kids these days. I asked Bobby if I am a kid and he said he guessed so but I don't think he really knew what that meant because Bobby isn't so very smart. But Bobby is my friend and I like him.

  Mommy doesn't like Bobby very much and when I am bad she makes Bobby go outdoors even when it's very cold outdoors. Mommy thinks that I shouldn't play with Bobby so much because she says after all Bobby is only a dog but I like Bobby. Everybody else is so big, and when Mommy and Daddy are home all I can see is their legs unless they look down at me from way up high, and when I do something bad I am afraid of them because they're so strong. But Bobby is strong, too, and he isn't any bigger than I am, and he is always nice to me. He has a long shaggy red coat and a long pointed nose, and a nice collar of white fur and people sometimes say to Daddy what a nice collie that is and Daddy says yes isn't he and he takes to the boy so. I don't know what a collie is but I have great fun with Bobby and sometimes he lets me ride on his back and we have secrets with each other even though I don't think he is very smart. But I don't see what is wrong with Mommy and Daddy because they don't understand me when I talk to them like I talk to Bobby and they just pretend like they can't hear me.

  I am sorry when Daddy goes to work in the morning because Daddy is nice to me and takes me and Bobby for walks. But Mommy never takes me for walks and when we are alone she is busy and she isn't nice to me. Sometimes she says I am a bad boy and makes me stay in my room even if I don't do anything bad and sometimes she thinks things in her head that she doesn't tell me. I don't know why Mommy doesn't like me and Bobby doesn't know either but we like it best when Mommy lets us go outdoors to play in the barn or go down to the creek. If I get my feet wet Mommy says I am very bad so I stay on the bank and let Bobby go in, but one day when Bobby went into the water just before we went home for supper Mommy scolded me and told me I was bad for letting Bobby go into the water and when I told her she hadn't told me not to let Bobby go in she was angry and I could tell that she didn't like me.

  Almost every day I do something that Mommy says is bad even when I try specially to be good. Sometimes right after Daddy goes off in the morning I know that Mommy is angry and is going to spank me today because she is thinking how she will spank me, but she never says so out loud. Sometimes she pretends that she's not angry and takes me up on her lap and says I'm her nice little boy but all the time I can hear her thinking about how she doesn't like me and how she doesn't even want to touch me and wondering why my hair doesn't grow nice like the Bennet twins that live up the road. I don't see how Mommy can say one thing and really say something else inside her head and when I look at her she puts me down and says she is busy and will I get out from underfoot, and then pretty soon I do something that makes her angry and she makes me go to my room or she spanks me.

  Bobby doesn't like this and once he growled at Mommy, and then Mommy chased him outdoors with a broom before she sent me to bed, and I cried all day because it was cold outdoors and I wanted to have Bobby with me.

  I wonder why Mommy doesn't like me?

  One day I was a bad boy and let Bobby come into the house before Mommy told me I could. Bobby hadn't done anything bad but Mommy hit him on the back with the broom and hurt him and chased him back outdoors and then she told me I was a very bad boy. I could tell that she was going to spank me and I knew she would hurt me because she was so big, and I ran upstairs and hid in my room. Then Mommy stamped her foot hard and said Jimmy you come down here this minute, and I didn't answer, and then she said if I have to come upstairs I'll whip you until you can't sit down, and I didn't dare answer because Mommy hurts me when she gets angry like that. And then I heard her coming up the stairs and into my room and she opened the closet door and saw me.

  I said please don't hurt me Mommy but she reached down and caught my ear and dragged me out of the closet. Then I bit her hand, and she screamed and let go and I ran and locked myself into the bathroom because I knew she would hurt me bad if I didn't. I stayed there all day long and I could hear Mommy running the sweeper downstairs and I couldn't see why she wanted to hurt me so much just because I let Bobby come in before she told me I could. And I could tell that Mommy was afraid of me even though she was much bigger than I was and I don't see why anybody as big as Mommy should be afraid of me but she was.

  Then when Daddy came home I heard him talking to Mommy, and then he came up to the bathroom and said I want to talk to you Jimmy open the door. I said I want Bobby first so he went down and called Bobby and then I opened the door and came out of the bathroom. Daddy reached down and lifted me high up on his shoulder and took me into my bedroom and just sat there patting Bobby's head for a while and I couldn't hear his think-talk very well.

  And then he said you've got to be good to your Mommy and do what she says and not lock yourself up in rooms any more, and I said but Mommy was going to hurt me, and Daddy said when you're a bad boy your Mommy has to punish you so you will remember to be a good boy, and she doesn't like to punish you but she does it because she has to. I knew that was not true because Mommy likes to punish me but I didn't dare say that to Daddy. Daddy isn't afraid of me like Mommy is and he is nice to me most times, and he said will you promise to be nice to Mommy, and I said yes if Mommy won't hit Bobby any more with the broom. And Daddy said after all Bobby can be a bad dog just like you can be a bad boy can't he? And I didn't think Bobby was ever a bad dog but I said yes I guessed so. And I wanted to ask Daddy why Mommy was afraid of me but I didn't because I knew Daddy liked Mommy more than anybody and maybe he would be angry at me for saying that Mommy was afraid of me.

  But that night I heard Mommy and Daddy talking down in the living room and I sat on the top step so I could hear them, and Bobby sat there too, but I could tell he didn't know what they were saying because Bobby isn't very smart and can't understand word-talk like I can. He can only understand think-talk, and he doesn't understand that very well. Downstairs Mommy was crying and she was saying Ben you don't understand, there's something wrong with the child, he knows what I'm thinking, I can tell by the way he looks at me that he knows.

  And Daddy said darling, that's ridiculous, how could he possibly know what you're thinking, and Mommy said he does, he does! Ever since he was a little boy he's known —oh, Ben, it's horrible. I can't do anything with him because h
e knows what I'm going to do before I do it.

  And Daddy said oh, Carol, you're wrong, you're making things up, the child is just a little smarter than most kids is all, and Mommy said I can't help it, I just can't bear it any longer, we've got to take him to a doctor. I don't even like to look at him, and Daddy said you're tired, you're letting little things get on your nerves. Perhaps the boy does look a little strange, but the doctor said it was just that the fontanelles weren't closing quite right and that many children don't get a good growth of hair before they're six or seven, and after all he isn't a bad-looking boy, and Mommy said that isn't true, he's horrible! I can't bear it, Ben, please do something, and Daddy said but what can I do? You're just excited about what happened today and I talked to the boy and he was sorry and promised he would behave himself.

  And then Mommy said and that dog— it follows him around wherever he goes, and he is simply wicked if the dog isn't around, and Daddy said isn't it perfectly normal for a boy to love his dog, and Mommy said no, not like this, talking to him all the time, and the dog acting exactly as if he understands— there's something wrong with the child, something horribly wrong.

  Then Daddy was quiet for a while, and then he said if it will make you feel any better we can have Doctor Grant take a look at him, maybe he can convince you that there's nothing wrong with the boy, and Mommy said please, Ben, anything, I can't stand much more of this.

  Then I went back to bed, and Bobby curled up on the foot of the bed, and I asked him what were fontanelles, and Bobby just yawned and said he didn't know but he thought I was nice, and he would always take care of me, so I didn't worry anymore and went to sleep.

  I have a panda out in the barn and the panda's name is Bobby too and at first Bobby the dog was jealous of the panda until I told him that the panda was only a make-believe Bobby and he was a real Bobby. Then Bobby liked the panda, and the three of us played out in the barn all day. We decided not to tell Mommy and Daddy about the panda, and kept it for our own secret. It was a big panda, as big as Mommy or Daddy, and sometimes I thought I would make the panda hurt Mommy but then I knew Daddy would be sorry so I didn't tell him to do it.

  Bobby and I were playing with Bobby the panda the day the doctor came and Mommy called me in and made Bobby stay outside. I didn't like the doctor because he smelled like a dirty old cigar and he had a big red nose with three black hairs coming out of it, and he wheezed when he bent down to look at me. Daddy and Mommy sat on the couch and the doctor said let me have a look at you young fellow and I said but I'm not sick, and the doctor said ha ha, of course you aren't, you're a fine-looking boy, but just let me listen to your chest for a minute.

  So he put a cold thing to my chest and stuck some tubes in his ears, and listened, and then he looked in my eyes with a bright light, and looked into my ears, and then he felt my head all over. He had big hairy hands and I didn't like his smell but I knew Mommy would be angry if I didn't hold still so I let him finish looking at me. Then he told Daddy some big words that I couldn't understand, but in think-talk he was saying that my head still hadn't closed up right and I didn't have as much hair as I should but otherwise I seemed to be all right. He said I was a good stout-looking boy, but if they wanted a specialist to look at me he would arrange it.

  But Daddy said would that cost very much and the doctor said yes it probably would and he didn't see any real need for it because my bones were just a little slow in developing, and Mommy said have you seen other children like that, and the doctor said no, but if the boy seemed to be normal and intelligent there wasn't any need to worry. Then Mommy told me to go upstairs, and I went but I stopped on the top stair and listened.

  Then the doctor said now what is it that's really bothering you, and Mommy told him what she had told Daddy, how she thought I knew what she was thinking, and the doctor said to Daddy Ben, have you ever felt any such thing about the boy? And Daddy said of course not, he sometimes gives you the feeling that he's smarter than he should be but any parents think that sometimes.

  And then Mommy broke down and her voice got loud and she said he's a monster, I know it, there's something wrong, he's different from us, him and that horrible dog. The doctor said but it's a beautiful collie, and Mommy said but he talks to it and it understands him, and the doctor said now, Carol, let's be reasonable, and Mommy said I've been reasonable too long, you men just can't see it is all, don't you think I'd know a normal child if I saw one?

  And then she cried and cried, and finally she said all right, I know I'm making a fool of myself, maybe I'm just overtired, and the doctor said I'm sure that's the trouble, try to get some rest, and sleep longer at night, and Mommy said I can't sleep at night, I just lie there and think, and the doctor said well we'll fix that, enough of this nonsense now, you need your sleep, and if you're not sleeping well you should see the doctor.

  And then he went away, and pretty soon Daddy let Bobby in, and Bobby came upstairs and jumped up and licked my face as if he'd been away for a hundred million years. And pretty soon Mommy called me down for supper, and she wasn't crying any more, and she and Daddy didn't say anything about what they had said to the doctor. Mommy made me a special surprise for dessert, some ice cream with chocolate syrup on top, and after supper we all went for a walk, even though it was cold outside and snowing again. Then Daddy said well, I think things will be all right, and Mommy said I hope so, but I could tell that she didn't think so, and she was more afraid of me than ever.

  For a while I thought Mommy was going to be nice to me and Bobby. She was very nice especially when Daddy was home but when Daddy was away at work sometimes Mommy jumped when she saw me looking at her and then sent us outdoors to play and not come in until lunch. I liked that because I knew if we weren't near Mommy everything would be all right. When I was with Mommy I tried hard not to look at her and I tried not to hear what she was thinking, but lots of times I would see her looking at me, and then looking at Bobby, and those times I couldn't help hearing what she was thinking because it was so loud inside my head that it made my head hurt. But I knew Mommy would be angry so I pretended I couldn't hear what she was thinking at all.

  One day when we were out in the barn playing with Bobby the panda we saw Mommy coming down from the kitchen and going through the snow toward the barn and Bobby said look out Jimmy Mommy is coming and I quickly told Bobby the panda to go hide under the hay so Mommy couldn't see him. But the panda was so big his whole top and his little pink nose stuck out of the hay. I was sure he'd be seen.

  And Mommy looked around the barn and said you've been out here for a long time, what have you been doing, and I said nothing, and Bobby said nothing too, only in think talk. And Mommy said you are too, you've been doing something naughty, and I said no Mommy truly we haven't, and then the panda sneezed, real loud, and I looked at him and he looked so funny with his nose sticking out of the hay that I laughed out loud. And Mommy looked angry and said what are you laughing at and I said nothing, because I knew Mommy couldn't see the panda, and he looked funnier than ever sticking out of the hay.

  Then Mommy got mad and grabbed my ear and shook me until it hurt bad and said you naughty boy, don't you lie to me, what have you been doing out here? And it hurt me so much I started to cry, and then Bobby snarled at Mommy, loud and low, and curled his lips back over his teeth and snarled some more. And Mommy got real white in the face and let go of me and she said get out of here you nasty dog, and Bobby snarled louder and then snapped at her.

  She screamed and she said Jimmy you come in the house this minute and leave that nasty dog outdoors and I said I won't come, I hate you, and Mommy said Jimmy! You wicked little monster, and I said when I get big I'm going to hurt you and throw you down in the wood shed and lock you in until you die and make you eat coconut pudding and Bobby hates you too.

  And Mommy looked terrible and I could feel how much she was afraid of me and I said I'll hurt you bad when I get big, and then she turned and walked back to the house. And Bobby wagged his ta
il and said I won't let her hurt you and I said Bobby you shouldn't have snapped at her because I was thinking what Daddy would say when he came home but Bobby said I like you and I won't let anything ever hurt you. I'll always take care of you no matter what. And I said promise? No matter what? And Bobby said I promise. And then we told Bobby the panda to come out but it wasn't much fun to play anymore.

  After a little while Mommy called me and said lunch was ready. She was still white and I said can Bobby come too and she said of course Bobby can come, Bobby's a nice dog, so we went in to eat lunch. Mommy was talking real fast, about was I having fun playing in the barn and was I sure I wasn't too cold because it was below zero outside and the radio said it was getting colder, and she wasn't saying anything about what I had said or what Bobby had done and she was talking so fast I couldn't hear what she was thinking except in patches.

  And she set my lunch on the table and then she set a bowl of food on the floor for Bobby and said nice Bobby, here's your dinner. And Bobby came over and sniffed and then he looked up at me and said it smells funny, and Mommy said nice Bobby, it's good hamburger just the way you like it—

  And then I saw what she was thinking for just a second and it was terrible because she was thinking that soon Bobby would be dead, and I remembered Daddy talking a long time ago about somebody feeding bad things to the Bennet's dog and the dog died, and I said don't eat it, Bobby, and Bobby snarled at the dish.

  And then Mommy said tell the dog to eat it, and I said no, you're bad and you want to hurt Bobby, and then I picked up the dish and threw it at Mommy. It missed and smashed on the wall, and she screamed and turned and ran out into the other room. She was screaming for Daddy and saying I can't stand it, he's a monster, a murderous little monster and we've got to get out of here before he kills us all, he knows what we're thinking, he's horrible, and then she was on the telephone, and she couldn't make the words come straight when she tried to talk.