Following Boo

Ghosts make different sounds in different languages. Why do you think this is so? Can you match the sounds and the languages below? Norwegian Kekeke! Japanese Boo! Spanish Bø! English Hou! French ¡Bu!

Bobbie Pyron (1957–) is an American writer of books for young readers. She loves animals, and her favorite is the giraffe.

!Remember! You don’t have to understand all the words in a story to enjoy it. BOBBIE PYRON Following Boo The first time we saw him, my little sister thought he was a ghost. In some ways she was right, though there’s not really a word for what he was. We’d parked in the Ponce De León Travel Park outside St. Augustine, Florida. Stop five in the longest family vacation ever. My family is okay, but after two weeks, being stuck in a rented RV with my parents and little sister was getting old. Dad said we needed this vacation, especially Mom, after everything that had happened. Maybe so, but I didn’t see Vurderingseksemplar how driving from Maryland to Florida would make things though selv om rented leid right, the way they used to be. vacation ferie I sat on the picnic table watching what Dad called “swamp RV (recreational vehicle) bobil fog” creep from the forest on the other side of the park. I was getting old her: wondered what my friends were doing back home. And then begynte å bli kjedelig make things right thinking about home made me think about who wasn’t there gjøre ting godt igjen anymore. My throat tightened. swamp fog sumptåke throat hals “Nathan, look!” Maggie said, her eyes wide. On the other tightened side of the park, something had wandered out of the misty snørte seg sammen misty tåket, disig shadows of the forest. squinted myste Maggie grabbed my hand. “It’s a ghost!” I squinted into the fog and pulled Maggie a little closer.

“It’s just a dog.” The dog stopped about 15 feet from us and wagged his tail. He was mostly black, with white on his feet and chest. He looked like a mix of everything. A real Heinz 57, as Grandpa would have said. The dog trotted over and looked at us with smiling eyes. “Who do we have here?” Dad asked as he brought out plates of burgers and chips. “I don’t know,” I shrugged, scratching the small white star on the dog’s chest. “He just wandered up.” “Must belong to another camper,” Mom said. She stood beside me and squeezed my shoulder. But there were no other campers in sight. We’d stumbled across this place when Dad had taken yet another wrong turn. It wasn’t even on our RV camp map. Maggie wrapped her arms around the dog’s neck. “He’s mine,” she said. “I’m naming him Boo.” Boo was Maggie’s nickname for Grandpa Lou.

Vurderingseksemplar 15 feet 4,5 meter wagged logret Heinz 57 her: blandingsprodukt trotted travet brought out kom ut med shrugged trakk på skuldrene squeezed klemte We’d stumbled across Vi hadde kommet over had taken yet another wrong turn hadde kjørt feil nok en gang

thunderstorm tordenvær brewing bygget seg opp strangely underlig desolate forlatt, øde gust of wind vindkast rusty rustne swings huskene creaking sound knirkelyd creepy skummelt, ekkelt off-season lavsesong shrug skuldertrekning grinning smilte whined pep reluctantly nølende amusement park fornøyelsesparken pass stå over, bli hjemme perched satte seg jammed stappet vines slyngplanter dense tett Spanish moss navnet på en tropisk plante hung (hang) hang silver tendrils sølvtråder rustled raslet leaves (leaf) blader palmettos en type palmer Suddenly, I felt like a thunderstorm was brewing in my stomach. I ran into the RV. “Sorry!” Maggie called out.

“It’s okay,” I heard Dad say. “He just needs some time alone.”

When I came out that evening, Boo was still there. He followed close as we wandered around the campground. It was strangely desolate. A gust of wind blew the rusty playground swings back and forth, making a creaking sound. “It’s creepy here,” I said to Dad. “Must be the off-season,” he said with a shrug. “Besides,” he added, grinning, “isn’t it nice having the place to ourselves?” When it was time to go to bed, Maggie insisted Boo stay, but Dad said we had to let him go because he belonged to someone else. But when I opened the RV door to let Boo out, he just looked up at me and whined, like he didn’t want to go out by himself. “Go on,” I said softly. He hopped out reluctantly, and I watched him wander across the park and into the forest. The next morning, Dad and Maggie packed up for a day at the amusement park. “Nate, you coming?” Dad asked. “I think I’ll pass,” I said. Somehow, going to an amusement park seemed like the wrong thing to do. Mom smiled. “I’ll pass too. I want to update our vacation blog and hang out with Nate.” After they left, Mom perched next to me on the picnic table. “Want to go for a walk, maybe talk a bit?” I hopped off the table and jammed my hands into my pockets. “Maybe later,” I said, not looking at her. “I want to Vurderingseksemplar check out the forest, see if I can find where Boo lives.” Mom sighed. I knew what she wanted to say: Being mad at the world won’t bring him back. You have to talk about it sometime. Things she’d already said. Instead she called out,

“Be careful. There’s no telling what’s out there!” I trotted across the park to the edge of the woods. The vines were so dense, I couldn’t see more than five feet in front of me. Spanish moss hung in long silver tendrils from the trees. I glanced back at our RV. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. Just then, something rustled in the leaves. Boo pushed through a thick bunch of palmettos and wagged his tail.

“Hey, you,” I said, patting his head. “You going to show me where you live?”

Woof! Boo pushed through the wall of vegetation and disappeared. I plunged in after him, stumbling over tree roots. Vines clawed at my shirt and grabbed at my legs and feet, scratching my skin, but I kept going. I dropped to my hands and knees to crawl under a branch, and my foot hit something sharp. The ground was wet. Swamp water seeped between my fingers. I scraped a spiderweb off my face and peered into the woods for Boo. There was no way I wanted to get lost in this jungle.

Woof! Boo stood in a small patch of sunlight on a barely discernible trail. And then he was gone again. I looked down at my feet, which were covered in cuts. There was a deep gash on my heel. My flip-flops were covered in blood. Behind me, I couldn’t see anything but foliage. It was as if the park and the RV and Mom never existed. There was no turning back now. I took a deep breath and forged ahead. Finally, we came to a clearing. There, in the shadows, stood an old, boarded-up building surrounded by a weedy parking lot. A crumbling fountain sat in front. I could tell it had been beautiful once; now the fountain brimmed with stagnant water and bugs. A large, faded sign on top of the building declared, “Eternal Springs Resort.” Boo leaned against me. One of his back legs trembled. “You okay?” I asked. In reply, he limped behind the building and along an overgrown path. “Not another bushwhack in the swamp,” I groaned. I found Boo in a beautiful, sunlit clearing on the banks of a stream, drinking. Gingerly, he eased himself into the water and started swimming. “Great idea,” I said, kicking off my flip-flops. I put my feet in the cold water, wiggling my toes and watching the blood wash away. It felt awesome. Closing my eyes, I listened. Wind rustling leaves. Birds singing. The gurgle of the stream. A magical oasis in the swamp. “Grandpa would have loved this,” I whispered. Grandpa, so full of life, so invincible.

Woof! I looked up and saw Boo prancing toward me with a stick in his mouth, like a puppy. Whatever had been wrong

plunged dukket stumbling snublet clawed at rev i branch gren seeped sivet patch flekk barely discernible knapt synlig trail sti Vurderingseksemplargash flenge, sår foliage løv no turning back ingen vei tilbake forged ahead kjempet meg videre clearing åpning, lysning boarded-up gjenspikret surrounded by omringet av weedy full av ugress parking lot parkeringsplass crumbling som holdt på å falle sammen fountain fontene brimmed with fylt til randen med stagnant dårlig bugs insekter faded sign slitt skilt declared her: viste Eternal Springs Resort feriestedet “Den evige kilde” trembled skalv limped haltet overgrown path gjengrodd sti bushwhack strevsom tur gjennom bushen groaned stønnet sunlit solfylt on the banks of a stream ved en bekk gingerly forsiktig wiggling vifte awesome fantastisk gurgle of the stream klukkingen fra elva oasis oase invincible uovervinnelig prancing spankulere

with his back leg was fine. His limp was completely gone. I chased him along the stream for a while, wrestling the stick from him and playing fetch until we were exhausted. Finally, I flopped on the ground and Boo curled up beside me, panting. I buried my face in wet dog fur and felt a knot in me loosen. “Let’s go,” I finally told Boo. And that’s when I noticed it: The skin on my feet was completely healed – new as a baby’s skin. How could that be possible? I shivered.

Since there was no sign of Boo’s family, Mom and Dad said we could adopt him. But before we took him home with us to Maryland, Mom wanted to have him checked out. We found a vet down the road – Dr. Brewster. She wasn’t much taller than I was, but she looked like she could wrestle an alligator. “Seems healthy,” she said, after checking Boo’s eyes and ears. “How old do you think he is?” I asked. “Could be 5 or 6.” She took off Boo’s collar. “These tags look old. I’ll run a check on the number and see if I come up with something.” A few moments later, Dr. Brewster came back, shaking her head. “According to these tags, this dog is 50 years old. The tags were registered to a dog named Roscoe in 1947.” Dad frowned. “Well, the records must be wrong.” “My granddaddy was the vet then. He kept excellent records,” Dr. Brewster said. “It’s more likely that Roscoe’s tags ended up on Boo somehow.” “Or maybe he’s found the Fountain of Youth,” Mom said, with a chuckle. Everyone laughed – except me. A strange feeling came over me as I thought about what happened at the stream, the way Boo’s limp disappeared and the way my feet healed. When we got back to the campground, I told Dad that we couldn’t keep Boo. “I’m pretty sure I know where his family is,” I lied. “It would be wrong to take him away.” “Are you sure?” Dad asked, surprised. I was sure. Somehow that stream was keeping Boo alive. Taking him home with us meant that he would die one day. “We have to leave him here,” I said firmly. “But you said ...” Maggie sobbed.

limp haltingen chased jaget playing fetch kastet pinnen exhausted utslitt flopped slengte meg ned curled up krøllet seg sammen fur pels panting pesende knot knute loosen løsne healed grodd shivered skalv vet (veterinary) dyrlege collar halsbånd tags navneskilt records arkivene kept excellent records hadde veldig godt arkivsystem chuckle klukklatter sobbed hulket

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“Get out of here!” I yelled at Boo. Boo looked at me, confused. “Go home!” I shouted, shooing him away. Boo slunk into the woods, his head low, his tail down, whimpering. Mom reached out and touched my arm. “Nate ...” I jerked away and ran into the RV, feeling horrible and nauseous and hating this vacation more than anything. That night, I couldn’t sleep. Maggie had cried and cried. “You said Boo was ours,” she wailed. “Nathan’s right, honey,” Mom said. “Boo belongs here with his family.” “But we’re his family,” Maggie said. “We love him.” Suddenly I remembered my last day with Grandpa. I had been sitting next to him in the hospital room when he had opened his eyes, his face twisted with pain, and taken my hand. “Don’t look so sad, Nate,” he had said. “It’s my time. I’m ready.” I had wanted to shout at him, “No! You can’t leave me!” But I hadn’t said anything. “I’ve had a long life,” Grandpa had whispered, gripping my hand harder. “A life filled with love and family. What more could I ask for?” I sat up in bed. Maggie was right. Boo belonged with us. I knew exactly what I had to do. I slipped out of bed, tiptoed to the door, and stepped outside. A wall of swamp fog had crept in from the forest, enveloping everything. I couldn’t even see the playground. The thought of looking for Boo at night filled me with dread. But before I had taken one step, I heard a familiar sound.

Woof! Boo pranced out of the fog, eyes shining, tail wagging. I knelt beside him and buried my face in his wet fur. “Let’s go home,” I whispered.

confused forvirret slunk (slink) lusket av gårde jerked away rykket unna nauseous kvalm tiptoed listet meg dread frykt pranced spankulerte buried begravde VurderingseksemplarThe Fountain of Youth The idea of a Fountain of Youth is found in many old legends across the world. The legends say that you will become young again if you drink from the Fountain of Youth.

UNDERSTANDING

1 Answer the questions. a What does Maggie think Boo is at first? b What does Boo look like? c Where does Boo lead Nate? d What happens to Nate’s cuts and Boo’s back leg in the stream? e What does the vet find out when she checks Boo’s tags? f When Nate’s mother mentions The Fountain of Youth, what does Nate remember? g Why does Nate change his mind about adopting Boo? h What makes Nate finally decide to keep Boo? VIEWPOINTS 2 Discuss the questions. a Why do you think Maggie names the dog Boo? b Nate finally decides to bring Boo home. Do you think this is the right thing to do? Why or why not? c What does the story tell you about Nate’s relationship with his grandfather? d If you could stay young forever, would you? Why or why not? TEXT ANALYSIS 3 Answer the questions for text analysis. Author: Who wrote the story? Narrator: Who is telling the story? Setting: Where does the story take place? Vurderingseksemplar

Characters: Who are the main people involved?

Plot: What happens in the story?

Theme: What is the story really about?

Common themes in literature: Good vs. evil Revenge Growing up Courage Love

CREATIVE CORNER

4 Draw the fountain of youth from the text.

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WRITING WORKSHOP

5 Describe Boo in a short text.

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LANGUAGE LAB

6 Spelling: there or their? a There is not a word for what he was. b I thought about who wasn’t ___. c He went back to ___ RV. d Boo was still ___. e ___ were no other campers in sight. f ___ Grandpa had died. g Boo was ___ dog now. 7 Grammar: The present simple Fill in the right form of the verb. a A dog suddenly comes (come) out of the forest. b Nate and the dog ___ (go) for a walk. c Maggie ___ (decide) to name the dog Boo. d The boy and his family ___ (take) Boo to a vet. e Dr. Brewster ___ (say) that Boo ___ (seem) healthy. f Nate ___ (remember) what his Grandfather said to him. g The cuts ___ (heal) from the water in the fountain. h Nate ___ (miss) his grandfather. i Boo’s real owners never ___ (show) up.

there = der their = deres Vurderingseksemplar

8 The present simple and questions with to do a Ask a partner five questions starting with Do you ___? For instance: Do you like dogs or cats more? b Then write down the answers. Marcus likes dogs better than cats. Emma likes cats better than dogs.