he
isn't any bigger than I am, and he is always nice to me. He has a long
shaggy brown 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 fun with Bobby all the time. Sometimes he lets me
ride on his back and we talk to each other and have secrets even though
I don't think he is very smart. I don't know why mommy and daddy don't
understand me when I talk to them the way I talk to Bobby but maybe they
just pretend they can't hear me talk that way.

I am always sorry when daddy goes to work in the morning. Daddy is nice
to me most times 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 when
I haven't done anything bad and sometimes she thinks things in her head
that she doesn't say to 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 down by 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 at all that day.

Almost every day I do something that mommy says is bad even when I try
specially to be good. Sometimes right after daddy goes away in the
morning I know that mommy is angry and is going to spank me sooner or
later that day because she is already 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 that she doesn't really like me
even when she tries and she doesn't even want to touch me if she can
help it. I can hear her wondering why my hair doesn't grow nice like the
Bennet twins that live up the road. I don't see how mommy can be saying
one thing out loud and something else inside her head at the same time
but when I look at her she puts me down and says she's busy and will I
get out from underfoot, and then pretty soon I do something that mak